Wireless Sensor Networks for Killing Mosquitoes

aaditeshwar writes "It looks like sensor networks have some applications afterall, other than the usual stuff for defense and US military! AmBio has created a wireless mesh network of bugspraying "magnets" that report back data on the temperature, air conditions, and wind directions, and a central controller uses this data to turn ON or OFF the magnets in different areas. They plan to cover entire cities with such wireless meshes, and create an anti-mosquito shield around the city!"

Comments

Re:And then

[Indras]

When the bacteria eaten by the mosquitoes begin hurting us, everybody will realize that -after all- they were not just "bad".

Typical biological intervention which reverts against us.

Mosquitoes do not eat bacteria. They are nectar drinkers, with the female ones requiring an additional diet of animal blood.

I'm racking my brain, but I cannot think of a negative reason to remove mosquitoes from cities. Other than reducing spread of West Nile virus and malaria, the only real effect would be a lack of bug bites and a reduced diet for spiders and birds that feed on them.

Not just in tropical countries

[dreamchaser]

Diseases like West Nile Virus kill people every year in non Tropical climates as well.

Re:Fighting malaria

[RDW]

It's fatal in up to 2.7 million cases a year (mostly African children):

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/facts.htm

Birds

[se2schul]

... and the number of birds who feed on the bugs will be cut dramatically throughout the cities.

Re:And the effects on other species?

[meringuoid]

There are species that depend on the these "pests" for survival?

There are indeed. For instance, the mosquito is a crucial part of the lifecycle of the plasmodium. If mosquitos are eradicated, then the plasmodium goes with it.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, plasmodium sits just above HIV on the list of Species That Have Just Got To Go, but YMMV.