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Want to make yourself less appealing to mosquitoes? Our quiz has surprising ideas

By Andee Tagle,
Malaka Gharib
Published July 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM EDT
Do your ankles feel like a buffet these days? Test your knowledge of tactics to prevent bites.
Beck Harlan/NPR
Do your ankles feel like a buffet these days? Test your knowledge of tactics to prevent bites.

When it comes to preventing mosquito bites, many people turn to the obvious solutions: bug sprays or just staying indoors. But there are other effective, science-backed ways to keep those pesky mosquitoes at bay, some of which may surprise you.

Sammy Ramsey, a professor of entomology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Brian Byrd, a professor of environmental health sciences at Western Carolina University, share some of these tactics, which Life Kit has turned into a quiz.

See whether you can guess the answers to these questions. They may save you from a few mosquito bites!

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This story was edited by Meghan Keane and Hannah Chinn. The visual editor is Beck Harlan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at LifeKit@npr.org.

Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and sign up for our newsletter. Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit.

Copyright 2025 NPR

Corrected: July 15, 2025 at 2:00 PM EDT
An earlier version of the quiz incorrectly suggested that the only reason why mosquito repellent works is because it masks your body odor. In fact, it also produces a taste on your skin that mosquitoes don’t like.
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Andee Tagle
Andee Tagle (she/her) is an associate producer and now-and-then host for NPR's Life Kit podcast.
Malaka Gharib
Malaka Gharib is the deputy editor and digital strategist on NPR's global health and development team. She covers topics such as the refugee crisis, gender equality and women's health. Her work as part of NPR's reporting teams has been recognized with two Gracie Awards: in 2019 for How To Raise A Human, a series on global parenting, and in 2015 for #15Girls, a series that profiled teen girls around the world.
See stories by Malaka Gharib