When my brother and I were little we slept in the same room, and it was remarkable that during the summer he would be covered in mosquito bites, while I would have almost none. Now we may finally have an answer as to why that happened:

Mosquitoes do exhibit blood-sucking preferences, say the experts. "One in 10 people are highly attractive to mosquitoes," reports Jerry Butler, PhD, professor emeritus at the University of Florida. Incidentally, it's not dinner they're sucking out of you. Female mosquitoes -- males do not bite people -- need human blood to develop fertile eggs. And apparently, not just anyone's.

Growing up in the heart of rice country meant everyone had to deal with mosquitoes. Summer life simply stopped at sundown, and only a fool would leave a light on in their garage or on their porch. I still remember how we marveled at how our uncle's family in Kansas had a house with windows without screens, and how we could walk up to a street lamp there and not get sucked dry by millions of the tiny demons.