When you get to New York's American Museum of Natural History, be sure to see the big mosquito. It's not just there to be horrifying; it had a purpose.
"The American Museum of Natural History's Giant Mosquito Model played an active role in public health education around the turn of the century. This wax model of an Anopheles mosquito (the hairs are made of brass wire) was created to inform the public in the New York City area about a dangerous outbreak of malaria, which is transmitted by mosquitos, and to make sure that the threat was taken seriously. When the mosquito is magnified to seventy-five times life-size, its potential for spreading disease becomes quite vivid -- somewhat horrifyingly so."
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/expeditions/treasure_fossil/Treasures/Giant_Mosquito_Model/mosquito.html?50
http://www.flickr.com/photos/edenpictures/3574804024/
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