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Light Barrier Repels Mosquitoes
kodiaktau writes "Dr. Szabolcs Marka has received one of five $1M grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue his experiments with using light beams to create mosquito barriers. This is the second grant he has received from the foundation and proves to be a deviation from the previous and more dangerous use of lasers to control mosquitoes. A video of the light barrier in action can be seen here"
What was it about the laser mosquito control that was dangerous? I can't find anything on this in either TFA or Google.
Obviously, we all fear lasers are just dangerous in general, especially if they're powerful enough to vaporize something as substantial as a structural portion of a mosquito's wing. But that system was supposed to be precise enough to tell what species and gender of mosquito it was looking at; that didn't sound to me like it was going to be a real eye hazard. So I presume there was some other risk that's less obvious?
If not, I believe this is an example of "begging the question", or something very close to it.
Won't the mosquitoes just adapt to ignore this 'barrier'?
I figure this will work for a year or so, tops. The evolutionary rewards for getting past it are huge.
No sig today...
Most insects are very heat sensitive and will die quickly when temperatures are elevated. So I suppose the mozzies see the IR light as a dangerous threat and move away.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
These people don't have an outlet to keep away the mosquitoes with a nightlight...
They do not even have enough clean water to drink.
Handing out $1,000,000? I'll take some.
And like the "death laser mosquito killer" is coming to a backyard near you soon. Yea right.
Gee, $1M could sure buy a lot of these: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Operated-Tennis-Racket-Shaped/dp/B003U55W6Y
And Mr Gates could certainly strong arm a much better price out of the supplier, or just buy the manufacturer.
The downside is that once in your hand, you cannot remove the racket, and are forced to buy upgrades.
"A Tennis Racket Bug Zapper For Every Child!"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
The unemployment rate of sharks has been extremely high.
Thanks to the research above, sharks with frikin' lasers attached to their heads can be first in line for this new job sector. I am sure Sharks everywhere express their gratitude to Bill and Melinda for funding the research which opens new opportunity vistas for unemployed sharks who are at risk of descending into a life of crime through underuse of their talents.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
The genetic solution to fighting the malaria mosquitoes?
If I remember correctly, one focused on making the mosquito deadly to malaria (thus stopping the transmission), the other on simply wiping out the mosquito without harming other insect life.
The most efficient solution so far has been to blanket ponds and similar with DDT... Killed everything, including the mosquitoes. Tiny side-effect there though...
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
Great research.
But this seems to me like overkill. A mosquito net works and is proven and costs very very little.
And hey, there actually already are charitable initiatives for this. http://www.nothingbutnets.net/
1M from the Gates Foundation could probably buy enough mosquito nets to cover the whole of Africa.
Seriously? Many of the people at risk are in poverty and don't have electricity. And why use additional electricity, when one of the greatest problems we face today is global warming...
Just use the millions of dollars to distribute cheap and environmentally friendly mosquito nets!
bugs suck
lazes are awesome
Several Winnipeg mosquitoes demonstrated their opinion of the "Light Wall" under a large banner that read, "Prototypes welcome, Einstein. Why do you think megafauna are extinct."
Some wore sunglasses and lounged on what appeared to be small beach towels. Others sported t-shirts reading "I gotcher emitter right here".
The dessicated remains of a grizzly bear had been propped up nearby, its dead paws holding a crudely-lettered piece of cardboard that read, "I never shoulda said "Suck This" .
Further developments are expected next spring with the hatching of a new generation of the worst bloodsucking parasites to be found outside Parliament.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Mosquitos in Africa are faar more agressie. They will just go through after a short time.
aaaaaaa
The risk is imminent that these methods are as much scam as most previous methods, however well meant they may be.
For a really nice overview and analysis of electronic mosquito repellents, please see http://eprints.liv.ac.uk/665/1/Enyati_electronic_mosquito_repellents.pdf
Here is the summary:
"Electronic mosquito repellents for preventing mosquito bites and malaria infection
Malaria is a major health problem that particularly affects people living in sub-Saharan Africa and other tropical parts of the world. It
often causes considerable morbidity and mortality especially in children under ve. It is transmitted by mosquito bites from infected
female mosquitoes. Several strategies and approaches are available for preventing mosquito bites and malaria infection, including
repellents, and these approaches will be considered by those living in affected areas and by travellers to areas where there is high risk
of infection. Electronic mosquito repellents (EMRs) are designed to repel female mosquitoes by emitting high-pitched sounds almost
inaudible to the human ear. EMRs are claimed by their manufacturers to be effective in repelling mosquitoes and preventing disease.
No randomized controlled trials were found, but 10 eld studies looking at the number of mosquitoes caught on the bare body parts
of humans were assessed. These studies were conducted in various parts of the world with different species of mosquitoes and were
controlled for factors such as locality and timing. One study used just one observer with seven observations, while the highest assessment
included 18 observers with 324 observations. There was no evidence in the eld studies to support any repelling effects of EMRs, hence
no evidence to support their promotion or use. Future randomized controlled trials are not proposed as there was no suggestion in the
eld studies that EMRs show any promise as a preventive measure against malaria."
Gates uses his money for good research. Still, that article does show that Gates needs to have several independent evaluators, unknown to each other, too.
Well it's good to know that mosquitoes aren't going to become our FTL overlords any time soon.
Even if you could make these small, low power, and most importantly cheep enough, and even if the mosquitoes can't adapt. This has the fundamental problem that anything that casts a shadow in the beam is undetectable to humans, yet renders the device worthless.
I read the title as there being some breed of supra-light mozzies who were being upset by the speed of light limitation. Still, if that CERN work on possible FTL particles pans out, they'll be all happy again.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Are they repelled, or just mildly annoyed.
Also, they should incorporate UV light as a secondary feature so your can be mosquito free while tanning.
Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
AFAIK the laser app was the same ass the light app only that it used a laser to create the barrier itself and therefore needed a higher power laser beam. That makes eye injury from beams reflected off of shiny surfaces a possibility.
This app uses the laser only for marking the protected volume which is doable with a "safe" low power beam.
Anyway, I'm so buying two dozen of these when they come to market!
-- no sig today
what about the Blind mosquito?
-- no sig today
Come on. The lasers worked just as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGkPMZxWPpA
IR is a very broad spectrum. They don't say what the wavelength is, but I'd expect they're using near-IR, which is cheap, widely-available laser technology. Do you feel warm when you cover the front of an infrared remote? Near IR isn't a strong heat carrier unless you're pushing a LOT of photons... In which case this isn't a safe alternative to the high power bug-zapping lasers used in those wonderful videos.
Far-IR lasers are expensive, inefficient, finicky machines. They're not the sort of thing you'd deploy to fight malaria.
In between there's a whole lot of spectrum, but really, I think it's most likely they're using near IR, the mosquitoes see it, and for whatever reason they don't want to cross.
they could come up with a light barrier to keep the homeless from in front of my shop doorway; i'm tired of flushing the sidewalk every morning
The one thing that works great is electric rackets : they're (german patented?) device with a size half-way between a tennis racket and a ping pong racket. They're made of parallel solide "wires" with a space between them. They get charged with electricity and everytime something gets close to two wires, the energy is discharged and the mosquito goes EOL.
I go on vacation in a place very, very problematic regarding mosquitoes. My room as a full net deployed so I can leave the door open without having mosquitoes get in. Then I also have several of these electric rackets around the house. Instead of using a net (that's too gentle for the mosquito), I've considered building a door-sized equivalent of the racket: this not only would prevent them from getting in but would also kill every single mosquito touching the device.
1) "proves to be a deviation from" = is different than
2) how was the former use of lasers to down mosquitos 'dangerous'? I never saw anything about any observed or postulated danger to people unless they happen to vibrate precisely at the frequency of a female mosquito's wings?
-Styopa
obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSIWpFPkYrk the Starwars Musquito Defense System by groenbrothers.
A great parody on your average American-style commercial infomercial braincast(tm).
Hivemind harvest in progress..
This is awesome. I'm tired of letters complaining about my sketer killer accidentally targeting planes. I hope some specs come out soon.
Having to work for a living is the root of all evil.
So, why don't sharks get mosquito bites?
I always thought it would be a good mosquito trap to heat a small bowl of water at 98.4 degrees and surround it with fly paper or something. May be the next version would use a decoy humidity signature generator and steer the mosquitoes to the trap.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Please put these in my home's windows so that I can leave them open without screens all summer long like I'm living in Hawaii!
ive a certain type of light here that i use to repel mosquitos. ive done it for a while and it works very well. whenever i turn it on they all got away from the scope of the light.
it seems that it needs to be a on certain light wave to work. it doenst need to be invisible to humans, but it helps sleeping i guess.
I'm also guessing mosquitos adapt and eventually wander through the light. Some of them are at my place as ive been using it for a long time. its rare tho, but, i guess eventually more of them will adapt.
i though it was more or less a common trick. if only i realized it was worth $1M. life sux!
heat = the energy of a large number of particles & heat = how it feels when the particles are you.
The people this solves the problem for don't even have clean running water. Where the hell are they supposed to plug this in with no electricity? Not to mention the price of the device plus generators and human/crank battery chargers.
Talk about over-engineering the solution!
I8-D
Fingers crossed.
Anyone who invents a non-carcinogenic method of repelling mosquitoes 100% effectively will be my hero for life.
Why not use fricken lasers on bats?
As crass as it sounds, the unintended consequence of this will be a massive population explosion in tropical third-world countries who will all need resources. A nice pandemic will go a long way to reducing humans' impact on the planet.
Oh, I can't wait for the day when mosquito zappers not only really work, but are inexpensive wearable accessories! I hate mosquitoes. I would love to have something in my hat, or belt buckle, or shoes, that is constantly scanning for mosquito-shaped flying objects and zapping them with miniscule lasers. Also, some kind of IR-equipped zapper hanging over the bed would be nice.
I think we should pour billions of dollars into mosquito extermination research. Sure, it may mess up the food chain a bit, but I frankly don't care. Let those birds, frogs, and dragonflies eat something else. Plenty of other buggies out there.
Eventually, I think we will have a sort of artificial dragonfly which will tirelessly hunt and kill mosquitoes around the house and yard. It will recharge on solar energy.
But real dragonflies should not be disregarded either. A dragonfly will eat many times its weight in mosquitoes every day, and it preys on both the larval stage of mosquitoes and the flying stage. Dragonflies are very skillful fliers. If you see lots of dragonflies near a pond, darting and diving in the air, they are your friends and are eliminating bloodsucking parasites for you.
A fun fact: prehistoric dragonflies grew to as large as 30 inch wingspans (based on known fossils).
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
IV will probably never make their photonic fence. They're just waiting to sue anyone else who wants to proceed with it. Both of these systems could make our lives mosquito free. I'm so glad there's an alternative to Intellectual Ventures' system that may actually see production!
WTF have we developed the "Star Wars" technology for, if not to shoot down evil malaria- and dengue-ridden mosquitoes?
I, for one, welcome the arrival of a portable automatic mosquito-blasting laser system. Even better would be one that automatically tracked and illuminated the target and, upon my command, blasted it!
Or you could just use mosquito nets. Very cool, but it's a solution in search of a problem.
Mad Software: Rantings on Developing So
I wonder what ideas he's had he felt were prohibited by the economy.
How are they producing this light? Incandescently? As far as I could tell from the article, they ARE using lasers- what else can produce high-intensity light at such a focus with that kind of efficiency? Now obviously it's different from aiming and zapping lasers at the bugs, but don't imply lasers are not being used unless they actually aren't.
So, can I build a hat that emits infra-red light in a sort of cone from my head down to my feet? Then I could take the mosquito repelling mobile!
should be a barrier for neutrinos as well!
AFAIK the danger with the lasers was the sharks that they were attached to.
One thing I know, and that is that I am ignorant...