3 ms·

>we could drive the mosquitoes that cause malaria/yellow fever/dengue/etc to extinction. How?

• Jyaif 6y ago
  "Debug is a group of scientists and engineers developing technology to raise and release sterile mosquitoes to eliminate the ones that carry disease." And it's used in the real world: "Today, our scientific paper reporting near-elimination of Aedes aegypti from three neighborhoods in Fresno County" https://blog.debug.com/2020/04/nature-biotechnology-features-debug.html https://blog.debug.com/2020/04/nature-biotechnology-features...
  • jon_elbrook 6y ago
    Releasing sterile mosquitoes wouldn't eliminate the ones that carry disease. that's basically the opposite of natural selection.
    • ses1984 6y ago
      "sterile" is an over simplification, with something called gene drive, you can actually introduce sterility into the gene pool in such a way that spreads through the entire population driving it to extinction. Crazy.
      • jon_elbrook 6y ago
        I don't see how that could work. Clearly some mosquitoes are going to be resistant to the modification and will survive.
        • ses1984 6y ago
          I could explain it but not as well as if you just search for crispr gene drive.