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New Laser System Targets Mosquitoes
An anonymous reader writes "In the Cold War the so-called 'Star Wars defense system' proposed using lasers to destroy incoming Soviet missiles. In a 2007 brainstorming session aimed at combating malaria, Dr. Lowell Wood, the architect of that system, proposed modifying his original idea to kill mosquitoes. The cover of today's Wall Street Journal contains an article that highlights this initiative as well as a few others, like using a giant flashlight to disrupt mosquitoes' vision and using the insects to vaccinate, in the war against malaria. The system is intelligent enough to avoid noncombatants like humans and butterflies and can even tell the difference between females, the blood-drinkers, and males. My favorite quote: 'We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power.'"
Everyone else got hit by lasers?
...but where are you supposed to keep the sharks?
I'm a little concerned by this. Suppose you disrupt the vision of mosquitoes. If it turns out to have permanent effects on the mosquitoes, they'll be easy prey for predators. Fewer mosquitoes... but then perhaps fewer predators, or more pressure on other potential prey. Suddenly other species go unchecked or apex predators have less food because that ecological niche filled by mosquitoes is empty. Am I the only one who thinks that humans need to stop fucking around the with the order of things and deal with it? Finding a cure for malaria (in our own bodies, which we're at liberty to fuck with) makes a lot more sense than disrupting ecosystems that were doing perfectly fine before we came along.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
TFA is a bit thin on details, I wonder how the performance of this system compares to one of the numerous CO2+odor attractant trapping systems already in use. Frickin lasers(pew pew pew) are certainly cooler; but the whole exercise is rather silly if a simple mechanical system that runs on propane and pheromones is more efficient.
And where can I get one?!
Talk about a solution in search of a problem. So let me understand this. We are going to go into 3rd world countries and install autonomous flying drones that zap bugs with on board lasers? Isn't there perhaps a cheaper solution?
When did they get good enough to hit the warheads? Did the press stop covering the testing when they started showing some success? I just haven't heard of a big "star wars" defense system test that succeeded.
Think Deeply.
Standing water in your backyard can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, so we advise installing at least a few sharks.
I want one in my back yard. Could be really entertaining.
Seriously, in my area we have bats, and mosquitoes aren't much of a problem.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Remember the movie Real Genius? We in NH, would need something that size to unload our Mosquitos. They get big enough up here to carry you off.
"So, ten out of ten for style, but minus several million for good thinking, huh?"
If the geiger counter does not click, the coffee, she is not thick.
Is this new?? I've seen this movie here the first time in 2005 or something!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSIWpFPkYrk
If you read David Brin's "Earth", you will note that there is an explanation of how "Star Wars" technology was modified to control infestations of africanized bees(killer bees) in local apiaries. The book was published in May of 1991.
The premise was that honey bees flapped their wings at a lower frequency. Targeting the higher frequency enabled the device to precisely target only the invading killer bees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSIWpFPkYrk
Well, that'd depend on whether the lasers follow the "golden rule". If they're overcooked, the acrylamide could lead to an increased cancer risk in small rodents. Field mice might prefer the crispy taste of flame-grilled grasshopper though.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
y'know....
generally, every life form slots in somewhere in the ecosystem "in balance" - it either keeps something else from overrunning the place (rabbits becoming a pest in Australia due to lack of predators), or is, say, a food supply for something else (rabbits in places where there ARE predators)
what I want to know is, is there such a slot for the mosquito? what "purpose" do they serve? are they a food supply for anybody, or do they just make life miserable for everything else? would there be problems for the ecosystem if the mosquito becomes extinct? because if there isn't, I can't think of a better candidate for extermination than the mosquito. if we could get rid of them, would they be the first species humanity exterminated AND made the world a better place by doing so?
(yes, i know, it's gonna take a LOT of laser-shooting robot drones to rid the planet of 'em... hrm, maybe that's how skynet REALLY comes about :-)
With my Zimbabwen $1000000000 bill. I think that puts the price scale about in line with SDI
Since when were the humans non-combatant in this?
Sounds like a very American attitude...
Max.
As I see it this could serve two purposes at once. The first one has already been stated in taking care of mosquitoes. The other would be if this system were deployed in key locations, we could turn every marsh and swamp in the world into techno/rave hot-spots, thus taking care of another issue I currently have! Brilliant!
"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." -Groucho Marx
Seriously, the populace would be far better served by figuring out what indigenous creatures prey on the mosquitoes, and encouraging their habitat. If there aren't any, carefully try an introduction of bats / birds. Careful meaning "find out if they like to eat anything else that doesn't spread malaria."
Around here in the US, you can actually buy "bat boxes" that come with instructions on finding the best location. You have to leave it up for a couple months, but eventually, bam, you've got your own personal furry little mosquito vacuum...and they are damned efficient at it.
That would be the smart solution, but instead, we have local/city/state governments spewing chemicals into the air...
Please help metamoderate.
"We'd be delighted if we destabilize the human-mosquito balance of power. Yes gentlemen, we're on the way in and no one can bring us back. For the sake of our country and our way of life, I suggest you get the rest of our sharks in after them, otherwise we will be totally destroyed by mosquito retaliation. My boys will give you the best kind of start, fourteen hundred megawatts worth, and you sure as hell won't stop them now. So let's get going. There's no other choice. God willing, we will prevail in peace and freedom from fear and in true health through the purity and essence of our natural fluids. God bless you all."
Then he hung up. We're still trying to figure out the meaning of that last phrase.
Raise more dragonflies. Dragonflies eat mosquitoes.
Of course, if we would drain all the pools at foreclosed homes, that would have a significant impact as well.
Granted, if you're in the south where there are thousands of acres of swamp land, you might have a problem breeding enough dragonflies to make a dent in the mosquito population.
Then again, bats are wonderful eaters of mosquitoes. For those who have the room, bat boxes will provide an invitation for bats to do their work. As most bats don't come out until sundown, there will be no interference with your enjoyment of your yard during the day while at night, you can watch and cheer them on as they devour those annoying mosquitoes.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
In a 2007 brainstorming session aimed at combating malaria, Dr. Lowell Wood, the architect of that system, proposed modifying his original idea to kill mosquitoes.
There are 2 morals to this little story:
1: Who the fuck invites anti ballistic missile system developers to brainstorming sessions on how to fight malaria?
2: If the only tool you know how to use is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
Deleted
I wonder how the performance of this system compares to one of the numerous CO2+odor attractant trapping systems already in use.
My folks have two- and despite that, they still have tons of mosquitoes and the traps take weeks to fill up.
They have $$$ odor cartridges that last barely a week or two, the traps are really gross to empty (and usually full of really angry, hungry mosquitoes), you have to go to the hardware store often to fill the tanks, people steal the machines (they're expensive), the traps are ridiculously unreliable (they don't like getting wet...the idiots used exposed circuit boards and freakin' PC COMPUTER FANS). Nevermind they're burning LNG/propane 24x7 and use at least 30W-40W of electricity; not exactly enlightened from a climate/environmental perspective these days.
If you don't like mosquitoes, build/buy some bird and bat shelters and put 'em up.
Please help metamoderate.
No, just the squirrels.
I personally welcome our new intelligent laser wielding overlords.
Sewage Treatment Facilities - "Our duty is clear."
Given their high breeding rate, anything short of 100% extermination will mean mosquitoes that are immune to lasers within 10-20 years.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Of course surrounding your lair with a water filled moat might not be the best idea if you are wanting to get rid of mosquitoes.
I know a guy who owns property in rural Alaska (a very swampy area), and in summer the mosquitos are terrible. He has been experimenting with the propane powered mosquito traps, and has found that he can't leave them out overnight. The problem? They catch so many mosquitos that the trap fills up and causes the whole thing to burn up.
His solution so far has been to run 3 of them at once for short periods of time during the day when he can periodically empty them.
I'm not sure how much propane they use, but he has also complained about that. Since he has to fly it all in, and propane bottles aren't the most efficient use of weight/space in a plane. I also wonder about the environmental effects of using those on a large scale. How much C02 do they actually produce?
is invent a violent video game for mosquitoes, then they'll wipe themselves out in knife fights.
Nullius in verba
It works about 50% of the time if you know exactly when and where the mosquitoes are at the time of the attack.
How come I associate blood-sucking insects with that pitifully poor insurers' executives?
Methinks I would like to also be a Darth Vader of this product lasers having, and get Medieval with them.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I could see it being taken as a joke- but I'm serious.
Anything with a high breeding rate will suffer 99.9% losses- the remaining .1% will be partially resistant to the problem and replace itself in a single breeding season. Even within days for bacteria.
If you cant' get 100%, it's better to pass.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Mark my dark, cynical, Orwellian words... You do not, n o t, want Pharmaceutical companies, NGO's and the "unnamed whomever else", to broach the technology of using insects to deliver vaccines. It takes little imagination to envision, how swarms of biological creatures carrying, already dubious, chemical formulations for "wet injection" into human beings, could go terribly, terribly wrong. Let's focus on the happy-go-lucky, devil-may-care, flying cars and 50% efficient solar; and leave the technologies of the technocrat-demon-overlords, in the adjacent Blade Runner-like dimensions, mmmmmkay?
You don't live in a big city,do you...
Think of the foxes, barn owls and red kites.
Deleted
... welcome our new laser-resistant mosquito overlords, bound to appear via natural selection.
Attitudes make the difference between Space and Time: we want to MAX our temporal, and MIN our spatial extension.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Mosquito&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2
http://www.michigan.gov/deq/0,1607,7-135-3313_46123_24554-68318--,00.html
Is that they include a bunch of speculative technologies, but completely fail to mention ones which are already proven to work and which are already available.
Deleted
So you simply don't care if the US is bankrupted and rendered insolvent, you just want a say in how its done, presumably to "feel safe."
Rather selfish.
I hope everyone realizes that inflation will pay a major role in funding unfundable fantasies, wiping the savers and the middle class out. The problem is, that other countries are growing tired of making our federal reserve notes worth something by buying our debt as treasuries. You talk about spending, but in order to "get what YOU want" you will sell debt to potential economic and military adversaries?
Real bright. What's really sad is that despite David Walker being an authority on these issues, people refuse to even watch him and listen to what he is saying.
First off, evolution isn't magic. The scenario you're describing assumes that some mosquitos could survive this weapon today. If we get away from the "one breeding season" assumption and allow a longer timeframe, it still assumes that a solution is within the range of biological adaptation, which is not a sure thing.
So the odds are we're not moving toward "laser-proof" mosquitos any moreso than we have bullet-proof deer running around. You might get mosquitos that evade the targeting system -- females that beat their wings like males, or individuals that present a profile that looks more like a butterfly to the computer. And if so... then you're back where you started, having played out a temporary repreive from the mosquito problem.
In other words, it's only better to pass if the adaptation in the mosquitos actually makes the problem worse.
"Can't be wiped out by lasers" isn't worse in the context that your alternative is to not wipe them out with lasers anyway.
The basic issue is that you have a laser system capable of reaching down into the atmosphere to kill things close to or on the ground. There are two basic problems:
1) That takes a LOT of power. If refueling the original star wars system was likely to be a problem, this is a million times worse.
2) Theoretically such a system could be revised to hit other targets. Who would control it? Suppose terrorists hacked it. Suppose the military co-opted it. All manner of bad things could happen with such a system. For example, imagine if you could blind even a small fraction of New Yorkers, especially those driving on the roads on rush hour.... The effect might be far worse than 9/11.....
I smell a cover for a new more powerful and destabilizing weapons platform in space. The thing simply can't be useful against mosquitos and the only real use I can see would be on the battlefield.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
"Anything with a high breeding rate will suffer 99.9% losses- the remaining .1% will be partially resistant to the problem and replace itself in a single breeding season."
Of course, a mechanism for resistance has to be available for this to happen. It is rather difficult to imagine how a mosquito could become "resistant" to a laser - it can hardly evolve into being transparent, or fully reflective.
The only avenue for "resistance" would be to cease to be attracted to humans, and thus not be in the area where the laser system is running. That sounds like a win-win for both humans and mosquitoes.
www.eFax.com are spammers
and turn a news article about a mosquito killing laser into a Democratic vs Republican argument.
Old. English version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSIWpFPkYrk
"I'm not much interested in interoperability. I want substitutability. I want to be able to throw your software out."
Hey...since we don't have that much of a malaria problem in the US, I can thing of one REALLY good alternate use for this system...targeting all the CCTV cameras around town. Especiallly the stupid redlight and speed cameras.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I would think these 'star wars' devices would be set up by well know spawning areas, or around villages. Yea, doesnt make sense to create a satellite for targeting these pesky little insects.
Go go Gadget Nailgun!
US national debt decreased yearly from WW II until Reagan hit in 1980. He doubled it, Bush I increased it some more, and it leveled off under Clinton. Bush II doubled or tripled it. Obama is going to increase it, but mostly to repair the damage done by Bush II.
Yeah, because we all know that the President has complete and final budget-setting powers, right? Who controlled Congress under Reagan again?
Circle of life being what it is flying mosquitos may not feed many bats..
But larva feed Dragonflys and Fish in spades
Now I can't get an image of Tina Fey wielding lasers out of my head.
Thank you very much.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
At least the children of the military-industrial complex managers who have to find new markets now that the administration doesn't want to fund Star Wars any more.
The children in poor tropical countries? Now that would be a totally different subject. They would need cheap mass market solutions but where's the money in that?
thegodmovie.com - watch it
Not to mention, the espionage capabilities of system capable fo targetting a mosquito from space would be quite impressive.
But otherwise, what of human safety issues? I think there are plenty of those sorts of issues with this sort of system.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Yeah, because we all know that the President has complete and final budget-setting powers, right? Who controlled Congress under Reagan again?
Exactly. And who controlled congress during the Clinton years?
Clinton is getting way more credit than he deserves for the balanced budget, which the Republican congress voted for and passed.
The Urban Legend goes something like, "2 Post Grad students from Florida got a grant from NASA to build a Prototype Laser Tracking Device for Satellites. Both students got the same idea, the only thing small enough that was random enough for what was required were mosquitoes. After much work, and hardship, the students got the device to track the bugs, without burining them up. Then the students decrease the power of the laser just enough to only burn the wings off the critters." Folks in New Orleans at the time thought that such a device would be great in their backyard, right up to the point that their eyes would be forfeit if the laser nailed them also. I don't know if the story was true or not, but if the lasers could be adjusted so that you had different colors in a random pattern, what a cool show in your backyard you would have, right up until you nailed by the laser.
Hypothetical scenario where it is disadvantageous to use such a device:
The targeting system fails for mosquitoes who fly fast and are translucent.
Result:
Future generations of mosquitoes are fast and really damn hard to see. You won't know if it's your itchy rash that's acting up again, or if it's time to slap on some deet. And forget about the notion of "keep moving to stay bite-free" next time you're in a marsh.
The proper way of dealing whit mosquitoes in an urban area is to destroy all static water recipients. Mosquitoes use these recipients to put their eggs and reproduce. Destroying this will kill all mosquitoes in a matter of weeks.
I know this because in my town (Santa Cruz â" Bolivia) we have a dengue http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue epidemic. the government declared that one day all citizens went to their homes and clean all water recipients like old tires etc.
I think shiny mosquitos will have other, bigger problems.
Now if this system were installed in every swamp, birdbath, and outhouse as well as all other predators removed, we might see something interesting.
Well if you're going to be a self important pendant
Flavor Flav, is that you?
Do not bank towards laser and expose remaining compound eye
There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
http://xkcd.com/382/
Squirrels are more fun to zap.
You're a fool and a coward. No wonder you posted as AC.
I suppose then the converse must be true then.
Thats like saying some Hiroshimans are now resistant to atomic weapons.
+5 Funny
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
The effect might be far worse than 9/11.....
As bad as 9/11 times 1000?
Well, by 1996, chernobyl Voles who have only an annual breeding rate were showing adaption to radiation and proliferating in large numbers.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE7D61439F934A35756C0A960958260
And then there is the fungus that uses radiation like plants use sunlight.
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/20070422222547data_trunc_sys.shtml
Then there are the innumerable plants and grasses that *require* a major fire in order to reproduce.
--
So, no. It's more like saying ".1% survived some kind of interaction with the laser system long enough to reproduce". Those descendants almost all have that factor and may now tune it with each generation to be stronger. It could be they were at the fringe of the laser, or extreme range, or as others pointed out they fool the targeting system.
I thought I was being clear that you can't develop resistance if you have 100% fatality. But I'm certain that some of the survivors of hiroshima that reproduced survived because they were slightly more resistant to radiation-- just like the Voles above.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
> The basic issue is that you have a laser system capable of reaching down into the atmosphere to kill things close to or on the ground. There are two basic problems:
The first being, I really don't think anyone is suggesting we nuke mosquitoes from orbit. I mean, that would be really cool, and if they do it that way I hope I get a chance to see it in action. I can just imagine the gentle sparkle of flaming mosquitoes lighting up the twilight sky over Khartoum. It would be a tourist attraction.
But, reading the article, they talk about must shorter distances, like, say, across the room. Although disappointing, this kind-of solves the power problem, and the hijacking problem, and the destabilizing weapons platform in space problem. (We'll leave that last one to the Chinese.)
I don't have an opinion about blinding commuters from space, except to say the view from space is pretty much straight down, so you'd have to get a bunch of commuters to all look up at the same time. But if you could do that, blinding them would be redundant.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Is there also one for relatives, I would love to try this on my mother in law, can't wait until it is on the market. I can already see howto's on how to kill your mother in law "by accident"
Look, you can break my back to force me to "need" a federal government that is turning this country into a police state and turn it into a quasi-socialist lie, but I will put up a fight. I have kids to educate and feed, and the stuff you sell (which is failing to various degrees everywhere else as implemented) is simply forcing a culture of failure on a once great, libertarian free country.
I will not be complacent with your "change," and there will be a point where civil war will become an option. See how hard you can push before you get it - like I say, I'm paying well over half my pay in taxes.
"your" plan will not work, its not fundable, you have to destroy the currency to fund it, and its really as simple as this: if you fund this insanity by borrowing from your economic and military adversaries you are not fit to administrate society. Rome fell. Kings who mis-manged their treasuries all fell. Every example of unhinged spending leads to the same result: systemic collapse.
So let's shoot to kill all the females but just knock the nads off the males to make em sterile.
Ah, that explains all those bacteria that are resistant to iodine, peroxide and who pretend to shiver in an ironic tone when you boil the little friggers in an autoclave.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
> You might get mosquitos that evade the targeting system --
Most likely by avoiding people[1], since that's where these things would be deployed. Uhm, do you see a problem with that?
[1] Mosquitos mostly prey on wild animals anyway, so avoiding people could be a very effective strategy.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
I think you will find that if you pick up a gun to subvert democracy, I will pick up a gun to stop you.
It's not my fault that California's government has been horribly mis-managed. I live in Texas and pay nowhere near 50% of my salary goes to taxes.
And I'm not suggesting we raise your taxes. Unless you make of $250 k a year neither is Obama. If you do make more than that I find your working stiff attitude more than a little disingenuous.
You can do your best to turn America in to a 3rd world shit-hole like India if you want. I will oppose you at the ballot box like I did in 2008.
> But I'm certain that some of the survivors of hiroshima that reproduced survived because
> they were slightly more resistant to radiation-- just like the Voles above.
Most of the people who died in the Hiroshima bombing were not killed by the nuclear radiation.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Exactly.
In other news, a marketing spoof on musquito laser defense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSIWpFPkYrk
Hivemind harvest in progress..
I think they're going about this all wrong. I think they should genetically engineer the mosquitos to become an "natural" means to inoculate against disease. Beginning with Malaria (ironic, in a sense). No need to get a flu shot, the mosquitos will take care of that for you. Measles, smallpox or diptheria vaccine due? How about tetanus? Sit outside for a few hours.
What could go wrong?
We're not necessarily trying to kill all the mosquitos ON EARTH, just the .000001% within say 5m of a human. I'd position a little point-defense laser turrent in my room while I sleep if it existed. Especially since I live in the first world and can easily afford electricity to run it.
On the off-chance laser-resistant (reflective/ablative skin??) mosquito stumbles into and out of the kill zone alive, it still has to compete with the other 99.999% of mosquitos who didn't get in here.
Now how come everybody forgot to meme that ?
Two years ago on Agriculture faculty in Belgrade my colleagues an I tested lasers on insects. We used different wavelength and power and I must said that result were astonishing! System like this very easy can change pesticides and cover large area without afraid that people or animal can be hurt. For spreading laser beam we used hi speed step motors.
I should point out that "we don't know of any dire consequences" suggests both "alright, git'r done" and "whoa, let's look at this carefully before we act."
Here's a relevant phenomenon that I recommend meditating on: personal overestimation by incompetents.
It's pretty clear that you are the unhinged lunatic here.
Sorry, its you who are the liar and the misinformed here. And voilent and grabby.
The deficit is being temporarily ignored because if we can't rescue the economy we are all screwed.
Wrong, monetizing failures causes more. Japan showed us this for decades. But hey, you think you can fix a problem DECADES in the making with a quick fixer-upper, you are screwed in the head.
I see complaints about Clinton in Obama in your fanatical rant.
My complaints are with the federal government since Breton Woods. And you STILL didn't listen to David Walker, a clinton appointee and former head of the GAO. This isnt about fucking political parties, moron.
Funny how you left out any mention of Republican Geoge W Bush... Well not funny.. more like par for the course for a head in the sand "conservative"
He has a massive role in creating the fiscal issues faced today. Obama's programs will make this many many times worse and coopt future generations with a crushing debt load. Show me a single federal budget that was less than the previous. If this 3.6T budget goes, its never coming back barring systemic collapse.
Please remind yourself whose mess we are cleaning up here.
The United States Federal Government, The United States Federal Reserve, and the banks which were enabled to continue down wreckless paths by a quasi government agency known as the Federal Reserve whose actions are not subject to congress and whose members are unelected.
Inflation is a fact of life. I don't like defecits, but our economy is in the toilet we have bigger problems to fix.
Every inflationary road taken in history ends in collapse. Keynesian policies are widely regarded as no longer workable.
What good is a balanced budget in a country with a shattered economy?? Is that even possible?
Under what authority does the federal government derive the POWER to make the economy work? I'm curious about this.
While you do your best to ignore the obvious and blame a trend that has existed since well before you were born on the guy cleaning up your President's mess, I will just point out the obvious. You used to be able to buy a meal for a nickel and a car for $300. Is that Clinton and Obama's fault too? You are full of shit and your arguments are disingenuous at best.
What you don't take into account here is the relative percentages of people's wealth (both net and gross) and the costs of owning and maintaining houses, cars, standards of living.
Inflation via defecit spending is going to make it such that you will be paying a lot more by percentage of your income to maintain a given standard of living.
Your arguments are so poorly thought out and seek to blame "republicans" its really simply laughable.
You cant spend your way out of a hole buster if the creditors (e.g. China) start telling you they won't buy. Its simple. Now America starts to have to collaterize the debt with assets. We will be selling off chunks of American assets to back the new debt.
One day, it may even be necessary to sell alaska back to Russia because no one will take greenbacks to prop up a failing version of a modern Rome.
First off, evolution isn't magic. The scenario you're describing assumes that some mosquitos could survive this weapon today. If we get away from the "one breeding season" assumption and allow a longer timeframe, it still assumes that a solution is within the range of biological adaptation, which is not a sure thing.
You're killing me here. You're telling me that my plan to breed puppies that are nigh invulnerable, incredibly strong, or have the ability to teleport by placing litter after litter of them inside small air tight boxes that are then crushed by hydraulic presses isn't going to work? But I've already been through so many trial generations! It would be such a waste (of puppies) to give up now.
The enemies of Democracy are
Well, I can't remember all of the steps, but somewhere just before '????' and 'Profit!' is a step involving gorillas freezing to death.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
... if the US-GOV was a company it would be insolvent....
Here is a question for you: if you could print money without going to prison for it, could you not also spend however much you wanted to fulfill all your wishes that money could fulfill? You could also make all sorts of "friends" on whom you could lavish all sorts of goodies you got for "free".
If you were an intelligent person of integrity, you would not do this, because you know that the arbitrary medium of exchange we call money would eventually become worthless. The problem is that those now in government not only the United States government, have lost or are ignoring their intelligence and/or integrity. This is simply part of human nature. There are many, if not most, who know what is right and good for themselves and others, yet refuse to implement it in their own lives. They also know what it is highly detrimental to others and yet continue doing that as well. All of this is a manifestation of human selfishness, the extreme of which culminates in a sick form of greed.
All theory is gray
I work at the Intellectual Ventures Lab where this system is being created. Just wanted to respond to a few points in the comments:
DDT is non-discriminatory. It does kill mosquitoes, but it harms lots of other life forms as well. Because of its abuse, there are bans and economic sanctions that prevent its use. Changing that is a political problem.
Using lasers, we don't expect to eradicate mosquitoes entirely, but they can be a way to help reduce their populations enough that malaria can't survive. In particular, the laser system can help create a perimeter to keep people safe.
As far as we know, there aren't any species that rely solely on mosquitoes as a food source.
Thanks, I will try to respond if there are further questions here.
.... that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable...
Of course most people nowadays believe in the theory of evolution which teaches that all life, including humans, evolved out of the primordial slime millions of years ago. Only a personal Creator God is capable of bestowing certain inalienable rights to human beings. How can primordial slime, or warm nutrient laden pools and the subsequent impersonal "natural selection" mechanism impart any right whatsoever to any human being? Only another PERSON, not some object or process, can give or take away human rights. Only I as a PERSON, can give you rights concerning my property or objects of mine. The objects or property do not have the power to grant rights to anyone.
All the signers of the Constitution believed in a personal God, to whom they themselves, as well as all humans are ultimately accountable. They knew that it is the first and primary responsibility, yes indeed the reason why governments exist, to PROTECT (not give or take) these God-given rights. Today, to the extent that people both in and out of government no longer believe in their heart, that they are responsible to a supreme God, to that extent they take it upon themselves to lord it over other people. They have taken the position of rulers and manipulators of the public, rather than public servants.
All theory is gray
+5 Informative
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
o_0
And here I was thinking of some small device in my backyard looking something like a mirror-ball spinning at very fast RPMs...
Not so simple, no? I guess Home Depot won't be selling them anytime soon.
Life is not for the lazy.
To "Don't send a cannon to kill a mosquito." Sorry, I couldn't resist :P
I know a guy who owns property in rural Alaska (a very swampy area), and in summer the mosquitos are terrible. He has been experimenting with the propane powered mosquito traps, and has found that he can't leave them out overnight. The problem? They catch so many mosquitos that the trap fills up and causes the whole thing to burn up.
Sounds like it's time for a coin-op version.
They ought to take one of these things to the Everglades and crank up the power.
Throw in a BBQ and some cold beer and it would be the best Fourth Of July ever.
Personally, I remember going to my grandparents' house when I was little and my grandfather would pull out this giant bug zapper and we'd listen to mosquitos explode all night long. Ahhhhh..... makes me think of that "Real Men Of Genius" radio commercial.
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Only one survivor would need to survive and procreate to pass the beneficial genes into the pool.
On a geologic scale, humans can breed fast given no competition.
In 50,000 years we've gone from almost nothing, to enough to cause a massive deer like die off from over breeding.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Don't worry bro, these "devices" will be in the shape of a long and thing flashlight with a thumb button to activate. You then swing it around the swarm of mosquitoes to kill.
and it's "shooting mosquitos with FLAK fire". Oh the meta-irony.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
The problem with most so-called Keynesians is they don't save in the good times and run deficits in the bad times. They run deficits ALL the time. And I agree with you that the deficits will cause inflation and/or depreciation of the dollar (which are really two sides of the same coin, which is lower living standards for most Americans).
What was once true, is no longer so
We are likely to make the same mistake with Polio- forgetting to go the final inch. Almost eradicated is not the same as eradicated.
DDT was used terribly irresponsibly. They sprayed my whole suburban neighborhood in Michigan where no malaria had been seen in 100 years. They killed all the bugs and birds and probably started quite a few extra Dioxin cancers, to avoid a few bites.
But DDT is a really amazing insect repellent. Mosquitoes turn around and fly away from a house where the walls have been sprayed with just a small amount. That saves lives!
I'm a big believer in lasers and robotics to kill pest bugs on plants and weeds.
But we already know how to stop malaria. Long lasting mosquito nets and a bit of DDT and good basic health care and treatment of infected people is the answer we can afford.
Just because we used DDT irresponsibly shouldn't give us the right to ban it worldwide. We should have found a way to continue to use it in a more appropriate fashion. We could have taxed it to make massive applications unaffordable. Could have treated it as a prescription medicine for treating the house.
If we had regulated DDT right, the worlds 2nd biggest killer would no longer bother us, and one million people a year would not die of it.
pew pew pew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSIWpFPkYrk this idea is pretty old
... killing a mosquito with a cannon?
Show a man some news, distract him for an hour. Show a man some mod points, distract him for the rest of his life.
We'll nuke 'em from orbit. Its the only way to be sure.
Be as you would have the world become.