A fragrant perfume has brought many a man and many a woman together. Orchid bees, too, appear to rely on scent when it comes to choosing a partner. In the course of their lives, the males compile a species-specific bouquet that they store in the pockets on their hind legs. One day, they release it. In order to attract the female, assumes Tamara Pokorny, biologist at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). She studies the flying perfume aficionados' collecting behaviour.

— Read more at How orchid bees find their personal scent, attract mates at Science Daily.

The research all started with smelly feet.

A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside, placed odor-collecting beads in their own socks to pick up a scent and placed them in an experimental wind tunnel with hungry mosquitoes, where the beads acted as a stand-in for a human.

— Read more at Mosquito Scent-Tracking Discovery Could Lead to Better Repellents at Scientific American.

Using flower scents created in a lab, a team of researchers at Ohio State University plans to lure mosquitoes into traps. The objective: Kill the pests that carry life-threatening diseases, including West Nile Virus and malaria. “Think of the perfume industry. It’s the same approach, but we’re using it to trap mosquitoes for public-health purposes,” said Philip E. Otienoburu, an OSU entomologist.

— Read more at OSU researchers create fragrance mosquitoes can’t resist at The Columbus Dispatch.