4 ms·
It never took off because a) Mosquitos are small and hard targets and b) because philanthropists realized they could buy mosquito nets for billions with the fun
by stubish 5y ago
It never took off because a) Mosquitos are small and hard targets and b) because philanthropists realized they could buy mosquito nets for billions with the funding required to develop it. If it gets developed for mosquitoes, it will be a solution for rich people for decades.
- yakshaving_jgt 5y agoDo you have a source for that? My understanding was that the technology worked just fine, and that it wasn’t expensive because the system comprised of consumer electronics, like the laser from a Blu-Ray player and the GPU from a PlayStation.
- stubish 5y agoAnything with electronics is going to be orders of magnitude more expensive than insecticide treated nets, which cost cents. https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12936-016-1419-y https://malariajournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s1... is one of a number of studies measuring the efficacy. To compete in the quest to end malaria it needs to be cheaper per-capita, off-grid, and at least as effective. I think nets, mosquito or parasite eradication and vaccination are the only approaches anyone is seriously pursuing.
- kragen 5y agoIt never took off because the lab was a PR whitewash for the patent troll firm Intellectual Ventures, which wanted to appear less criminal and parasitic. They never had any intention of bringing it to market as a product. They've never brought any product to market, only extorted money from people who do. IV has not, as far as I know, broken any laws, a fact which deeply undermines the legitimacy of the US legal system.