News Humans

Want to avoid mosquito bites? Step away from the beer

Certain habits boost mosquito appeal, tests at a music festival reveal. Others keep them at bay

A mosquito with a red abdomen lands on the edge of a green glass.

Mosquitoes’ biting preference may be influenced by an assortment of human behaviors, such as whether someone drinks beer and wears sunscreen.

bombermoon/Getty Images

By Meghan Rosen

For three hot days in August 2023, at one of the biggest music festivals in the Netherlands, a line of people snaked outside the entrance of four welded-together shipping containers.