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This is completely unrelated to the point of the article, but this struck me: > To fight malaria, the lab has invented a “photonic fence” device that identifie

by enoch_r 12y ago

This is completely unrelated to the point of the article, but this struck me: > To fight malaria, the lab has invented a “photonic fence” device that identifies, tracks and zaps female mosquitoes (only females bite humans). Can anyone explain why it's important enough to only kill the females that we might want to add (presumably expensive) sex-identification technology to mosquito zappers that are aimed at eliminating malaria in poor countries?

Noxchi 12y ago
There isn't sex identification technology. Mosquitoes eat nectar from plants. They only use blood for mating purposes (and the female is the one that has to get it). So if there are mosquitos around humans, they are almost all female anyway (and the ones that aren't don't bite).
mbrameld 12y ago
It's not very expensive. They measure the frequency of the wing beats. You can even build your own: http://makezine.com/2010/08/30/make-23-how-to-shoot-mosquitoes-wit/ http://makezine.com/2010/08/30/make-23-how-to-shoot-mosquito...
Ryel 12y ago
I don't think this is what you're talking about but one of the ways of killing mosquitos is to lace a gallon of water with a chemical that attracts adults and kills them along with any eggs. In practice, this would basically target only females. After a quick search I found this link leading to a page of Intellectual Venture's http://www.intellectualventures.com/inventions-patents/our-inventions/photonic-fence/ http://www.intellectualventures.com/inventions-patents/our-i... It's pretty cool but unfortunately looks tied to IV. My first guess might be to avoid any criticism that by killing ALL mosquitos, they're harming the ecosystem. I guess that's wishful thinking for a company that I kind of despise even being on their website.
ebbv 12y ago
I'd guess the idea is if you kill all the mosquitos then you are decimating the food supply for the animals that eat mosquitos. But if you just kill the females at least it cuts whatever damage you're doing to the food supply by half.

by enoch_r 12y ago

Noxchi 12y ago

There isn't sex identification technology. Mosquitoes eat nectar from plants. They only use blood for mating purposes (and the female is the one that has to get it). So if there are mosquitos around humans, they are almost all female anyway (and the ones that aren't don't bite).

mbrameld 12y ago

It's not very expensive. They measure the frequency of the wing beats. You can even build your own: http://makezine.com/2010/08/30/make-23-how-to-shoot-mosquitoes-wit/ http://makezine.com/2010/08/30/make-23-how-to-shoot-mosquito...

Ryel 12y ago

I don't think this is what you're talking about but one of the ways of killing mosquitos is to lace a gallon of water with a chemical that attracts adults and kills them along with any eggs. In practice, this would basically target only females. After a quick search I found this link leading to a page of Intellectual Venture's http://www.intellectualventures.com/inventions-patents/our-inventions/photonic-fence/ http://www.intellectualventures.com/inventions-patents/our-i... It's pretty cool but unfortunately looks tied to IV. My first guess might be to avoid any criticism that by killing ALL mosquitos, they're harming the ecosystem. I guess that's wishful thinking for a company that I kind of despise even being on their website.

ebbv 12y ago

I'd guess the idea is if you kill all the mosquitos then you are decimating the food supply for the animals that eat mosquitos. But if you just kill the females at least it cuts whatever damage you're doing to the food supply by half.