African researchers testing whether Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes can ride high-altitude winds to travel long distances used large helium balloons flown as high as 290 meters, with netting attached to capture mosquitoes aloft. In a follow-up study, the researchers sent mosquitoes in tubes capped with netting up to similar altitudes for several hours and then examined their fitness afterward. The results confirmed that, after such flights, the mosquitoes remained healthy and capable of transmitting the pathogen that causes malaria. (Photo courtesy of Tovi Lehmann, Ph.D.)