Why Mosquitoes Bite You and Not Your Friends — The Unfair Truth
If you're the designated mosquito buffet of your group, science says it's genuinely not your imagination.
Every group has one: the person who ends the barbecue covered in bites while everyone else escapes untouched. A viral explainer confirms what mosquito magnets have claimed for years — some people really are tastier.
Mosquitoes hunt by tracking the carbon dioxide you exhale, then home in on body heat and skin chemistry. People who run warm, breathe heavier, or have certain mixes of skin compounds show up like a lit billboard. Studies have even found blood type and what your skin's bacteria produce can play a role.
Two summer classics make it worse: exercise (more CO2, more heat, more lactic acid) and standing water nearby, which is basically a mosquito maternity ward. That forgotten bucket by the fence is doing more damage than you know.
The advice that actually holds up: dump standing water weekly, use a fan on the patio — mosquitoes are weak fliers and hate the breeze — and wear light colors. The 'eat garlic' thing, sadly for garlic lovers, has never held up. You're just delicious. Own it.
