Mosquito laser gun offers new hope on malaria

[Clintonista2]

AMERICAN scientists are making a ray gun to kill mosquitoes. Using technology developed under the Star Wars anti-missile programme, the zapper is being built in Seattle where astrophysicists have created a laser that locks onto airborne insects.

Scientists have speculated for years that lasers might be used against mosquitoes, which kill nearly 1m people a year through malaria.

The laser – dubbed a weapon of mosquito destruction (WMD) – has been designed with the help of Lowell Wood, one of the astrophysicists who worked on the original Star Wars plan to shield America from nuclear attack.

“We like to think back then we made some contribution to the ending of the cold war,” Dr Jordin Kare, another astrophysicist, told The Wall Street Journal. “Now we’re just trying to make a dent in a war that’s claimed a lot more lives.” The WMD laser works by detecting the audio frequency created by the beating of mosquito wings. A computer triggers the laser beam, the mosquito’s wings are burnt off and its smoking carcass falls to the ground. The research is backed by Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire.

It is speculated that lasers could shield villages or be fired at swarming insects from patrolling drone aircraft. “You could kill billions of mosquitoes a night,” said one expert.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article5908535.ece

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. Yeah, they can just plug it into the wall outlet in the huts

I hope they have 110 volts.

[Fla_Democrat]

2. Where do I sign up as a tester,

and will it work on yellow flies and horse flies. Summers here in the sticks can be brutal. :applause:

[soothsayer]

3. Hmm, so THAT explains the monster on Lost.

[dysfunctional press]

4. why is this linked to the times online and not the onion...?

:shrug:

[slackmaster]

5. "...smoking carcass falls to the ground...."

I love great writing!

[daleo]

6. Let's say 1 second per mosquito

3600 seconds per hour, 12 hours of darkness = 43200 mosquitoes per night. Mind you, if you had 10,000 lasers...