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At Vox’s climate desk, we’ve spent the past few months digging into a threat that’s easy to swat away in the moment — but increasingly harder to escape: the rise of mosquito and other vector-borne diseases in the United States. Most of us think of mosquitoes as little more than a summer nuisance. But climate…

The Arbovirus-Entomology Laboratory of the Texas State Department of Public Health Services is the epicenter of the Lone Star State’s work to contain dangerous vector-borne diseases. | Umair Irfan/Vox Austin, Texas — Under a microscope, a mosquito can look stunning. Their blue-green iridescent scales, purple bands, and attractive spotted wings shimmer — dazzling enough to…

A monarch butterfly lands on a milkweed plant in a neighborhood park in Staten Island, New York. | Benji Jones/Vox BROOKLYN, New York — When people imagine what nature looks like, this probably wouldn’t be it. On an overcast afternoon in August, I stood next to a strip of plants between the sidewalk and the…

An earthquake in Afghanistan killed over 2,200 people last Sunday, with some rural villages still unreachable by rescuers. | Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Getty Images By the time the earthquake struck, flattening mud-brick homes across Afghanistan’s eastern mountains last week, many nearby health clinics had already been shuttered for months. Mushtaq Khan, a senior adviser for…

There are over 200 types of mosquitoes in the US — but there are seven that are the most dangerous. There are more than 200 species of mosquitoes in the United States, but only a handful are known to be dangerous to humans because of the diseases they carry.  When the conditions are right, swarms…

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — How do you capture the deadliest animal on Earth, one that has been responsible for the death of more people than any other species in history? Here at America’s southern border, it’s not with high-tech weaponry, but with a black plastic tub of stinky water tucked under a bush. Surrounded by tall,…