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Why some people are prone to mosquito bites By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent > Last Updated: 7:01pm BST 30/08/2007 Scientists have worked out why mosquitoes make a beeline for certain people but appear to leave others almost untouched. Specific cells in one of the three organs that make up the mosquito’s nose are tuned to identify the different chemicals that make up human body odour. To the mosquito some people’s sweat simply smells better than others because of the proportions of the carbon dioxide, octenol and other compounds that make up body odour. It is those people who are most...

The mystery nibblers have interrupted a pool party in Bolingbrook and picnics at Ravinia. They've been blamed for itchy splotches from western Kane County to Michigan vacation grounds. They've attacked in Willow Springs, Chicago Heights and La Grange. Nobody knows exactly what's causing the rash of rashes, but authorities think they've got a good idea of what they're dealing with, anyway—and they warn that it's likely something small, invasive and really annoying. Biting mites. "We don't have positive identification on the type of mite that it is. We do know that it is a mite," said Kitty Loewy, spokeswoman for...

Dogs in Texas are presumed safe until proven dangerous. But maybe not for long. Under a bill that got unanimous approval in the state House on Tuesday, dog owners could be sent to jail for up to 20 years after a first-time mauling, representing a sea change in canine jurisprudence. Prosecutors in Texas operate under the "first bite is free" principle: Until a dog is proven dangerous as determined by a documented attack or an official court order, their owners generally can't be held criminally liable. House Bill 1355 would establish felony penalties for the owners of dogs that seriously...

TULSA, Okla. - A family sitting down to dinner had to call police and an ambulance after a man allegedly bit off the nose of his girlfriend, authorities said. Jody Bennett came out of a back room of a north Tulsa residence on Thursday with a napkin over her face and said her boyfriend, identified as Greg Hill, had bitten her nose. Medics responding to the house saw that Bennett's nose had been severed and called police. "We looked around and tried to find a nose but couldn't find it," Cpl. Larry Edwards, a police spokesman, said. "I think he...

Check out THIS strange incident, as reported by a law student who attended our rally last Thursday to welcome President Bush to Los Angeles 8/12/2004 Pics From Bush in Santa Monica Today I went to the Bush fundraiser in Santa Monica today. Here are some pictures and a short report. I got there to 31st and Ocean Park Blvd about 2pm. The gathering was officially scheduled to start at about 3 and go until 5pm. Here's the scene as I arrived... -- snip -- A lady I was standing next to was BITTEN by the child of an anti-Bush lady....

Kerry’s vet photo fraud, II The Kerry campaign ran a much-hyped “Band of Brothers” photo of Kerry with 19 other fellow Vietnam Swift Boat commanders, which implied all 19 support Kerry’s bid for the presidency. All 19 did not support Kerry – only two did. Today, Iowa Presidential Watch has received information from Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth (www.swiftvets.com) that states: “We have new information that Ralph Dobson in fact considers Kerry unfit.”So, now Kerry is down to just one of the 19 Swift Boat commanders supporting him.We have updated the photo-graphic to show the truth about Kerry’s...

Hong Kong: A man has bitten a dog to death in eastern China after it attacked him as he walked home with friends after a night out, a news report said. The man, who was drunk, pounced on the dog when it nipped him on the fingers and cheek in Shanghai. He repeatedly bit it until it died, according to the South China Morning Post.

Suffolk County Health Department officials yesterday said they were "99 percent sure" the patients treated for brown recluse spider bites at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital did not have cutaneous anthrax. "I can't say it's 100 percent," said Dr. Patricia Dillon, the department's director of communicable diseases. "I'm never confident enough to say 100 percent. ... But there's no clinical evidence of anthrax, and testing to date [at the hospital] has not indicated any presence of anthrax." Officials at the Port Jefferson hospital, meanwhile, reaffirmed their diagnoses of the recluse spider bites in five people treated there since May. Some...