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"1. Clothes and perfume matter &amp;quot;If you make yourself smell like a flower, the bees will come to you,&amp;quot; says Grayson Brown, PhD, director of the public health entomology laboratory at the University of Kentucky and past president of the Entomological Society of America. He also recommends wearing white when spending time outdoors because insects have a hard time seeing that color, he says. (Think of beekeeper suits.) Another reason to go light: You can spot what lands on you, adds Rosmarie Kelly, PhD, a public health entomologist at the Georgia Department of Public Health. 2. All spiders are venomous... But they&amp;#039;re unlikely to severely harm humans unless you&amp;#039;re allergic. &amp;quot;Most of them can&amp;#039;t produce enough venom, or their jaws are not strong enough to pierce human skin,&amp;quot; says Brown. As long as a spider doesn&amp;#039;t feel vulnerable, it won&amp;#039;t want to waste venom on people, says Kelly. It would rather inject venom into edible prey, such as crickets, flies, and grasshoppers. 3. Honeybees sting once \u2014 then die These social creatures are genetically programmed to sacrifice their lives to guard their hives. &amp;quot;To maximize that protection, the stinger and the venom sac pull out of a honeybee&amp;#039;s body,&amp;quot; says Kelly. &amp;quot;It gets one shot at you, and then it&amp;#039;s dead.&amp;quot; By contrast, wasps, hornets, and ants can sting multiple times, she adds. 4. Female mosquitos are like vampires &amp;quot;They need blood to develop their eggs,&amp;quot; says Kelly. Male mosquitoes get all their energy from nectar and plant sap. (However, male and female ticks both feed on only blood.) &amp;quot;The only insects that are going to bite you purposefully are those that are blood feeders,&amp;quot; says Kelly. 5. Bedbugs leave behind (almost) straight-lined bites &amp;quot;Bedbugs walk as they feed, taking blood, not skin,&amp;quot; says Brown. &amp;quot;They attack exposed skin so any lines formed by clothing, for example, a T-shirt sleeve, will be followed. If only a small amount of skin is exposed, all of the feeding bedbugs will climb onto the victim at that point and form a feeding line.&amp;quot; If you think you may have bedbugs, look for more than a straight bite pattern. For proper identification, entomologists like to see other telltale signs, such as blood spots and skin cast onto sheets. 6. Ticks hang out in low-lying vegetation &amp;quot;They crawl up to the top of a plant and hang on with their front legs and just sit there for days so they can get onto you,&amp;quot; says Brown, who notes that the critters can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever and Lyme disease. For extra protection against ticks, keep legs covered and soak your socks in Vaseline. &amp;quot;It traps ticks, and as they struggle, the Vaseline, or any grease, seals their spiracles [openings that allow air to enter], and they smother,&amp;quot; says Brown. 7. Ticks that most commonly feed off humans excrete cement They essentially glue themselves in place, says Kelly. &amp;quot;That&amp;#039;s why they&amp;#039;re hard to pull off.&amp;quot; Entomologists divide ticks into two broad groups: hard ticks and soft ticks. The more familiar hard ticks (such as dog ticks and black-legged, or deer, ticks) feed slowly, over hours, because their bodies can&amp;#039;t swell fast enough to accommodate the large amount of blood intake, says Brown. &amp;quot;They actually grow their bodies as they are feeding so as to become big enough to take in the blood. They must stay attached for the entire time, and that&amp;#039;s why they use the cement-like substance.&amp;quot; Soft ticks, mostly associated with rodents, feed quickly because their body is soft and expands rapidly, he adds. 8. Remove a tick with tweezers Grab it as close to the skin&amp;#039;s surface as possible, grasping its mouthparts. Be careful not to twist or jerk, which can cause mouthparts to break off and remain in the skin, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Then treat the area with rubbing alcohol, says Kelly. 9. Stinging insects inject venom Wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, honeybees, and bumblebees can get angry at you and leave behind an unwelcome present. The three percent of adults who are allergic to these stings can get an anaphylactic reaction and feel their throat tighten or experience nausea, diarrhea, or even cardiac arrest, says Sandra Hong, MD, an allergist at the Cleveland Clinic. If you&amp;#039;re at risk, she suggests avoiding picnics and drinking sugary beverages outside. If an insect approaches you, walk calmly away and don&amp;#039;t swat. (Spiders typically don&amp;#039;t cause anaphylactic reactions.) 10. Bugs have an incredibly short lifespan &amp;quot;A mosquito takes a week to go from egg to adult,&amp;quot; says Brown. &amp;quot;Once it&amp;#039;s an adult, it&amp;#039;s got maybe a week and a half.&amp;quot; 11. Typically, insects are harmless &amp;quot;Most of them are just scared out of their wits that they&amp;#039;re being held by this large animal,&amp;quot; says Brown. So don&amp;#039;t go out of your way to step on critters like big beetles that don&amp;#039;t plan to hurt humans.  12. A simple baking soda and water paste helps soothe bites &amp;quot;That generally works for almost any sort of bite,&amp;quot; says Kelly. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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