Directed Energy Weapon Downs Mosquitos

wisebabo writes "Nathan Myhrvol demonstrated at TED a laser, built from parts scrounged from eBay, capable of shooting down not one but 50 to 100 mosquitos a second. The system is 'so precise that it can specify the species, and even the gender, of the mosquito being targeted.' Currently, for the sake of efficiency, it leaves the males alone because only females are bloodsuckers. Best of all the system could cost as little as $50. Maybe that's too expensive for use in preventing malaria in Africa but I'd buy one in a second!" We ran a story about this last year. It looks like the company has added a bit more polish, and burning mosquito footage to their marketing.

Comments

Nice

[girlintraining]

Well, to hell with the green movement... get me another 250 amp breaker box to my house! It's go time, you little bastards. I'm going to put some energy executive's nephew through college!

Re:Nice

[girlintraining]

P.S. this is the only sexist technology that I fully endorse. Just want that clear.

Re:Nice

[_LMark]

First: What's more impressive than the lasers that fry* the mosquitoes is the targeting and detection system that drives this crazy thing. Many people are looking at this and wondering how you pick out your targets. The system first scans the surrounding space and *listens*. What it is listening for is quite interesting. See, Malaria is an interesting disease because only specific mosquitoes carry it, and only the females. Since there could be many side effects to zapping any insects within range, or even any mosquitoes (regardless of species or gender), the laser targeting system listens for the precise wingbeat frequency of the female Anopheles Stephensi mosquito and then zaps only those.

*Technically speaking, the mosquitoes will not be fried in the final product. In addition to potential danger to other occupants of this system's effective bubble, it is planned for deployment to very poor areas of the world where electricity will likely be at a premium. As a result, they are also experimenting with the minimum amount of energy a laser strike must possess to render the mosquito infertile, because that interrupts the cycle necessary for Malaria transmission between humans.


Cheers,
Makr

Uh oh

[IndustrialComplex]

Woe be to the man who walks past wearing his fishing vest.

Add a techno soundtrack...

[gimmebeer]

..and a Roomba to clean up the mess, and you've got a party.

Evolution

[lappy512]

When will it be until mosquitoes evolve energy shields?

Re:Evolution

[TubeSteak]

Female mosquitoes that can sense the lasers at range and randomly avoid them come to dominate the species.

Who modded this up as interesting?
Nothing can sense a laser before it has hit.
Hence the warning "do not look into laser with remaining eye"

Re:Pardon my skepticism

[Chris Mattern]

The laser describes a perfectly straight line; no windage is needed. You therefore do not need to track the mosquito in three dimensions, but only two--no fine determination of range is required.

I want ONE!

[gurps_npc]

Note, I am one of those people who attract mosquitoes. You put me at a pond and I get bit and no one else does. I would pay $500 for a personal mosquito zapper, that works, let alone $50.

Re:I want ONE!

[jamesh]

Hire yourself out for parties. For $5/hour you could sit 10m away from the crowd and draw the mosquito's to you. You'd have your $50 in no time! You'd also have malaria, which is a bit of a downside.

Re:So much for the food chain

[natehoy]

First, mosquitoes are only one thing at their level of the food chain. Flies, noseeums, and plenty of other non-biting insects live at the same level.

Second, this is actually better than most current solutions. Mosquito magnets and skeeter deleters and other things attract all manner of insects, not just mosquitoes. Don't get me started on spray permethrin and other insecticides.

Third, mosquito populations are WAY up in my area because bats are being wiped out by that nose fungus infection. I haven't seen a bat in my area in a couple of years, unfortunately, and they used to be common.

Fourth, these units would only work in the immediate vicinity of houses. In my area, that means there's still a few hundred acres behind my house that remain prime mosquito real estate. I only want my yard, they can have the marsh.

And, finally, I don't care. I am, in fact, that self-centered.

Re:So much for the food chain

[ae1294]

Seriously, how self-centered are we?

God damnit this is /. how dare you come in here and try and spread your silly idea's about mosquitoes being important blah blah blah. What the hell man? THIS IS A GOD DAMN LASER WEAPON FOR KILLING BUGS! You don't get this? pewpewpew? no? FUCK! {throws chair}

Re:Pardon my skepticism

[gbjbaanb]

Man, if you're the kind of person who says "wow, a laser that shoots down mosquitoes, how cool. Lets dangle my balls in front of it", then you don't deserve to reproduce :)

Re:Darwin says...

[Red Flayer]

Darwin says, in a generation or two, the frequency changes...

So then we update the targeting software with the new effective frequencies.

Booyah! Take that, Science!

Intelligent design triumphs over evolution once again!