The mosquito era: As the world warms, these insects are thriving – and bringing disease
There are very few winners in the climate crisis, but scientists are pretty sure there’s going to be at least one: Mosquitoes. These insects – annoying at best, deadly at worst – thrive in warmth and humidity. As climate change ushers in more frequent and more severe heat waves, as well as storms and floods that leave behind pools of stagnant water in which most breed, it’s boom time for mosquitoes. For the first time in decades, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning of several locally acquired cases of malaria in the United States – news that has thrust mosquitoes into the spotlight. While it’s too soon to know whether these specific cases are connected to climate change, scientists have been warning that malaria could become more common in the US as temperatures rise there. It has raised fresh concerns about mosquitoes pushing into regions they have not been in for generations – or ever – and what that might mean for the spread of the deadly diseases they trans...