15 Things Mosquito Experts Never Do in the Summer

If you think mosquitoes suck, science is on your side. They don't actually bite, explains Lyric Bartholomay, a medical entomologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Veterinary Medicine: They have sucking mouthparts, not biting ones. "So they literally suck," she says, "and they figuratively suck, too."Their resume only gets worse from there. The mosquito is the deadliest animal on the planet, killing more people than any other creature by spreading malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, Zika, chikungunya, and other diseases. In the contiguous U.S., West Nile is the leading mosquito-borne disease, sickening about 2,000 people and killing more than 130 every year.Fortunately, protecting yourself doesn’t require surrendering your backyard—or spending the summer sealed indoors. It does require avoiding some surprisingly common mistakes. We asked mosquito experts what they never do during the summer, from overlooking tiny pools of standing water to relying on products that don’t actually work.They don’t ignore standing waterBird baths, koi ponds, and fountains are the easy stuff—the water you can see from the kitchen window. The real trouble is the more hidden water.Louisa Me...