DEET

[lsanderson]

The Secret of DEET? It Masks Odors That Usually Attract Bugs
By HENRY FOUNTAIN

DEET is the most widely used insect repellent in the world, and for good reason — just a dab or two of a DEET-laden liquid on exposed skin keeps mosquitoes and other bugs away.

It may be great stuff, but DEET (short for N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) has also been a great mystery since it was developed after World War II. No one has known why it does what it does. All researchers really knew, said Leslie B. Vosshall, a researcher at Rockefeller University in New York, “is that it had something to do with insect smell.” More