“What makes the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, so good at transmitting malaria? This is no small question. In fact, it is what motivates Biologist Nora Besansky’s research in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Anopheles gambiae is driven to the point of obsession to feed on human blood.

“Carefully controlled studies in the field have shown that given a choice between a calf and a human, Anopheles gambiae will go straight to the human,” Besansky said.  This preference leads to at least one million deaths of malaria annually in Africa, most of them children less than five years old.

This mosquito will do anything - including the biological equivalent of morphing itself – to keep pace with humankind.