The swamps to the east of New Orleans are an exciting place for a boy. Nine-year-old Terence "Skid" Beaumont is the youngest of four brothers. His father, Alrick, decided to build a shack here, prompted by a vision after a drunken bender. He was convinced he was set to make a killing from his property speculation, because New Orleans was bound to expand over the mire. That never happened and so the Beaumonts are stuck in the mud.

Is Mosquito, the high-pitched alarm only under-25s can hear, a blessing or a bane? Jamie Merrill sounds it out

More than 9,000 people have contracted the mosquito-borne disease since January

As new research claims to hold the key to suppressing the irritating sensation, Steve Connor explains what causes an itch

Glyndebourne productions which put Glyndebourne itself on stage are nothing new, but for Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos director Katharina Thoma has harnessed a strand of history which has hitherto gone unremarked. In 1940, with opera off the menu, Glyndebourne became a reception centre for evacuee children.

'I don't regret going to Africa. It gave me much more than just my illness...'

Now’s the time to stock up on macho moisturisers, soothing sprays and chic shaving gear for the hotter months ahead

From hip Berlin hostels to luxury luggage and Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-o-Matic ride

TV pick of the week: Mary and Martha

Matthew Allen weighed just six stone, was covered in leeches and mosquito bites and was left partially blind after setting off on an apparent test of his survival skills

Album art has a mixed history. You've got "so iconic I'm not even going to hyperlink" on the one hand (Abbey Road, Thriller, Aladdin Sane), nightmare-fodder on the other (Jesus Use Me, anything collected by this guy). Now fans are fighting over which category the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' sleeve, for their forthcoming album Mosquito, falls in to. What do you think?

Avian pox, which has spread among woodpigeons and house sparrows for a number of years, is now taking its toll of populations of the great tit

Imagine standing on the surface of the Moon, staring back at Earth and having in your grasp a device that allows you to see a tennis ball.