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.

And the effects on other species?

[Chris Bradshaw]

Great, we'll rid the city of mosquitos... What about natural predation and balance in areas where these systems are deployed? There are species that depend on the these "pests" for survival?

http://www.mosquito-netting.com/predators.html

I know that there are concerns with insect born illness, but that these problems can and in my opinion be solved without wiping out an entire species from an ecosystem, no matter how annoying they are.

Is it just me, or does this seem a little extreme...?

Bats

[Anonymous Coward]

How does this system compare with just attracting bats to the area? Just attach little wooden bat homes near your golf course or whatever. Bats eat a lot of bugs.

Vapourware?

[martinmcc]

I watched a program about mosqitos recently, and they are actually pretty cool creatures. As mentioned before, it is only the female that drinks blood, and it is used for making babies (mosquito babies I assume, not human), not for everyday sustanance. When they drink your blood, they actually distill it in real time, excreting out what they do not need as they drink.

But anyway, asides from the possible environmental impact it may or may not cause, does this not strick anyone as being highly unrealistic. How much would it cost to put up a city wide net of sensors and magnets, not to mention the power cost, replacing broken components etc. etc. Smells to me like a lot of vapourware.

I think we should just all sit down with mosquitos and have a good long chat, I'm sure we could work out our differences and learn to live together in peace and harmony.

Re:Fighting malaria

[kellar]

at the moment, the best defence against malaria in [south] africa seems to be revisiting DDT.

Re:And then

[temcat]

I'm racking my brain, but I cannot think of a negative reason to remove mosquitoes from cities.

Frogs eat moskitos. You leave frogs without food. Won't anybody please think of the frogs?