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I would instantly quit my job and join any company who's mission was to eradicate mosquitos. Shit, I'm an engineer but if they were full on engineers and short

I would instantly quit my job and join any company who's mission was to eradicate mosquitos. Shit, I'm an engineer but if they were full on engineers and short on janitors I'd do that just to be a part of a team doing that work.

mrfusion 9y ago
I’ve got a bunch of ideas on cheap, simple mosquito traps. I’m just not sure where to start. Patents? If anyone wants to help, get in touch. Edit I guess I should build some prototypes as a first step.
- gschier 9y ago
  Ideas aren't worth much. Go build some prototypes and get the thing out there :)
- ryanseys 9y ago
  Do it! I've seen videos floating around E.g. [0] that are as simple as a giant fan that sucks in mosquitoes. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ
- atomical 9y ago
  Do you have any plans for a Crispr gene drive to wipe them out?
ryanseys 9y ago
We're hiring! [0] At Verily we have a project that is doing exactly that called Debug [1] where we are initially focused on Aedes aegypti. We already have started deploying our mosquitoes out in the field. Disclaimer: I'm a Software Engineer at Verily, though my main focus is on Baseline / Clinical Studies, however I helped build the website for Debug which was fun. Let me know if you have any questions! [0]: https://verily.com/roles/#open-roles https://verily.com/roles/#open-roles [1]: https://debug.com/ https://debug.com/
- samstave 9y ago
  What function in the general food-chain do these critters fulfill? What are the implications upstream in the chain should that, perhaps, food-base cause to the rest should they be eradicated. They suck for humans, but what % of a critical link are they to their immediate neighbors along the chain?
  - zaroth 9y ago
    The vast majority of mosquito species do not eat humans. The 1% of mosquito species which do can fuck off and die, as they’re literally responsible for killing tens of billions of humans. Seriously, we do a lot of damage to this world, but eradicating human blood suckers wouldn’t be one of them.
    - newnewpdro 9y ago
      You could just move somewhere mosquitoes don't thrive. Being regularly annoyed by mosquitoes is personally a distant memory, and I would not be in support of any attempt to eradicate them.
      - Retric 9y ago
        Mosquitoes thrive as far north as Alaska. The risks drop outside the tropics, but essentially every human on the planet gets bitten at some point.
      - kbutler 9y ago
        Where do you live? I've been bitten by mosquitoes in tropical, temperate, and near-polar zones, and at low, high, and mid elevation, in forests, deserts, jungles, and grasslands. And in cities, too, though maybe that's where they don't thrive, because if they do, they get "treated."
        newnewpdro 9y ago
        California I have never been bitten by a mosquito anywhere along the coast near the ocean and certainly not in any of the dryer/desert areas. I've spent a lot of time in the Mojave and other parts of SoCal, it's far too dry. Rattlesnake bites while hiking are a far greater concern of mine than mosquito bites, there are simply _zero_ mosquitoes in my daily life, it's a complete non-issue. The midwest is where I grew up, so I know what it means to have the outdoors made hostile by mosquitoes. It was relatively trivial to move to greener pastures, and I'm glad to have found absence of mosquitoes was one of the rewards.
paulcole 9y ago
Just curious which of the roles at Verily you’d be applying to?

mrfusion 9y ago

I’ve got a bunch of ideas on cheap, simple mosquito traps. I’m just not sure where to start. Patents? If anyone wants to help, get in touch. Edit I guess I should build some prototypes as a first step.

gschier 9y ago
Ideas aren't worth much. Go build some prototypes and get the thing out there :)
ryanseys 9y ago
Do it! I've seen videos floating around E.g. [0] that are as simple as a giant fan that sucks in mosquitoes. [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhV-o77RqQ
atomical 9y ago
Do you have any plans for a Crispr gene drive to wipe them out?

ryanseys 9y ago

We're hiring! [0] At Verily we have a project that is doing exactly that called Debug [1] where we are initially focused on Aedes aegypti. We already have started deploying our mosquitoes out in the field. Disclaimer: I'm a Software Engineer at Verily, though my main focus is on Baseline / Clinical Studies, however I helped build the website for Debug which was fun. Let me know if you have any questions! [0]: https://verily.com/roles/#open-roles https://verily.com/roles/#open-roles [1]: https://debug.com/ https://debug.com/

samstave 9y ago
What function in the general food-chain do these critters fulfill? What are the implications upstream in the chain should that, perhaps, food-base cause to the rest should they be eradicated. They suck for humans, but what % of a critical link are they to their immediate neighbors along the chain?
- zaroth 9y ago
  The vast majority of mosquito species do not eat humans. The 1% of mosquito species which do can fuck off and die, as they’re literally responsible for killing tens of billions of humans. Seriously, we do a lot of damage to this world, but eradicating human blood suckers wouldn’t be one of them.
  - newnewpdro 9y ago
    You could just move somewhere mosquitoes don't thrive. Being regularly annoyed by mosquitoes is personally a distant memory, and I would not be in support of any attempt to eradicate them.
    - Retric 9y ago
      Mosquitoes thrive as far north as Alaska. The risks drop outside the tropics, but essentially every human on the planet gets bitten at some point.
    - kbutler 9y ago
      Where do you live? I've been bitten by mosquitoes in tropical, temperate, and near-polar zones, and at low, high, and mid elevation, in forests, deserts, jungles, and grasslands. And in cities, too, though maybe that's where they don't thrive, because if they do, they get "treated."
      - newnewpdro 9y ago
        California I have never been bitten by a mosquito anywhere along the coast near the ocean and certainly not in any of the dryer/desert areas. I've spent a lot of time in the Mojave and other parts of SoCal, it's far too dry. Rattlesnake bites while hiking are a far greater concern of mine than mosquito bites, there are simply _zero_ mosquitoes in my daily life, it's a complete non-issue. The midwest is where I grew up, so I know what it means to have the outdoors made hostile by mosquitoes. It was relatively trivial to move to greener pastures, and I'm glad to have found absence of mosquitoes was one of the rewards.

paulcole 9y ago

Just curious which of the roles at Verily you’d be applying to?