Travelers’ luggage is an attractive harbor for common bed bugs (Cimex lectularius), which then hitch a ride to new locations. Researchers at Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and Bedoukian Research, Inc., have found that DEET as well as several naturally derived compounds could protect luggage from attracting stowaway bed bugs. One repellent, a 5 percent solution of delta dodecalactone, applied to a cloth towel, repelled bed bugs for 276 days in a laboratory test. (Photo credit: Gary Alpert, Harvard University, Bugwood.org)