PALO ALTO, CA — A landmark study from Stanford University and partner institutions has definitively concluded that mosquitoes, the tiny blood-sucking harbingers of disease, prefer warm, wet climates to cold, dry ones. The findings, which researchers described as 'stunningly obvious in hindsight,' shed new light on why mosquito-borne illnesses like dengue fever are becoming more prevalent in regions experiencing warmer, wetter weather.

“For years, we’ve been operating under the assumption that mosquitoes were just as happy in a blizzard as they were in a tropical downpour,” stated Dr. Evelyn Thorne, lead entomologist for the study. “But our data, meticulously gathered from a recent dengue outbreak in Peru, clearly indicates a strong preference for conditions that allow them to breed, fly, and generally exist without freezing to death. It’s truly revolutionary.”

The study, published in the journal *Environmental Health Perspectives*, analyzed the aftermath of a cyclone in Peru, which resulted in a dengue outbreak ten times larger than usual. Scientists were able to correlate this surge directly with an abundance of standing water and elevated temperatures – factors previously thought to be 'mere coincidences' by some in the scientific community.

“We’re now exploring other radical hypotheses,” added Dr. Thorne, adjusting her spectacles. “For instance, preliminary observations suggest that fish might prefer water to land, and that birds exhibit a strong affinity for flying. These are early days, of course, but the implications for future public health strategies could be… well, they could be.”

Experts are now bracing for the inevitable follow-up study confirming that humans prefer not to contract debilitating viral diseases.