Mosquitoes are an unpleasant fact of summer. But 2012 has been especially bad for running into these irritating insects. Because some carry West Nile Virus. And they're known to have infected some 2,000 people in 48 states this year. At least 87 people have died from the infection, which can cause swelling in the brain. Almost half of the cases have been in Texas. And to lower the risk of infection, some areas have taken extreme measures , including aerial pesticide spraying. But people can take some simple measures on their own to reduce their risk. In an essay in Annals of Internal Medicine, public health experts make recommendations. First, simply avoid areas likely to have mosquitoes. And if you can't—or don't want to—stay indoors, wear long clothes that cover your skin and use insect repellant. Eliminating standing water, such as that pooled in puddles or unused containers, can also help reduce mosquito breeding grounds and populations overall.Stopping the mosquitoes' spread helps in the long run—which is what we have to deal with. Because scientists say that West Nile virus is, unfortunately, here to stay.

“I think what is most remarkable about Dexter is his capacity for stress management.”Michael C.Hall, in a conversation about his TV character at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City on October 24th.He spoke with psychologist Kevin Dutton, author of The Wisdom of Psychopaths. “And I think that's because of his ability to, as the heat goes up, his internal temperature goes down. The crazier things get, the cooler he feels. He almost craves chaos. He seems to attract it, cultivate it, encourage it, because it's the only thing that somehow soothes him.” “Yeah, it's very realistic actually, because what you find is that the more chaotic a situation, the more that psychopaths have to make decisions under pressure, the better their decision-making gets. And we've seen it with Dexter, the more the pressure builds, the cooler he gets. And that is exactly what you see with psychopaths, it really is.”

In planet formation, as in adolescence, you've got your late bloomers. Such is the case for a ....nearby.... star called TW Hydrae. At some three million to 10 million years of age, it's relatively old for a young star. That is, TW Hydrae formed much more recently than our sun but is past the point at which most fledgling stars are still encircled by a ....massive.... disk of dust and gas—the stuff of planet formation. But a new analysis shows that TW Hydrae retains a surprisingly hefty circumstellar disk, .....implying..... that the star could still be forming giant planets. The study appears in the journal Nature. Researchers from the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands ....pointed.... the European Space Agency's orbiting Herschel Space Observatory at TW Hydrae to investigate the star's disk. They ......detected..... a heavy hydrogen molecule called hydrogen deuteride. From that .....measurement.... they were able to estimate the abundance of ordinary hydrogen, which makes up the bulk of the disk. The result: TW Hydrae still has enough raw material left to make 60 Jupiters or so, ......despite.... its maturity. For aging stars, then, perhaps 10 million is the new 30.