weapon of mosquito destruction

I came across this article when i was surfing on the BBC site for news about the coup in Madagascar:

LONDON, England -- Scientists in the U.S. are developing a laser gun that could kill millions of mosquitoes in minutes.

The WHO has reported that around half of the world's population is at risk of malaria.

The laser, which has been dubbed a "weapon of mosquito destruction" fires at mosquitoes once it detects the audio frequency created by the beating of its wings.

The laser beam then destroys the mosquito, burning it on the spot.

Developed by some of the astrophysicists involved in what was known as the "Star Wars" anti-missile programs during the Cold War, the project is meant to prevent the spread of malaria.

Lead scientist on the project, Dr. Jordin Kare, told CNN that the laser would be able to sweep an area and "toast millions of mosquitoes in a few minutes."

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people from the bites of female mosquitoes.

It is particularly prevalent in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world and kills an African child every 30 seconds, according to the World Health Organization.

There are an estimated 300 million acute cases of malaria each year globally, resulting in more than one million deaths, the WHO reports.

Responding to questions about any potential harm the laser could pose to the eco-system, Kare said: "There is no such thing as a good mosquito, there's nothing that feeds exclusively on them. No one would miss mosquitoes," he said.

"In any case," he added. "The laser is able to distinguish between mosquitoes that go after people and those that aren't dangerous. What remains to be seen is how precise we can get."

He added that other insects would not be affected by the laser's beam.

Kare said the lasers could be mounted on lamp post-type poles and put around the circumference of villages, to create a kind of "fence" against mosquitoes.

The research was commissioned by Intellectual Ventures, a Washington, U.S.-based company that was founded by Nathan Myhrvold, a former Microsoft Corporation executive.

His previous boss, Bill Gates, who funded the research, asked Myhrvold to look into new ways of combating malaria

Sometimes reality sounds weirder than you could imagine. not in this case though: the idea for a mosquito-laser was already hilariously advertised in 2005 on youtube by the Groen brothers

That was my first thought. The second brought me back to an old and wise man in Chiang Mai, Thailand. In july 2008 i did a ten day meditating retreat in a buddhist Temple (a report on that great and in hindsight hilarious experience will follow later on this blog).

On the day 'i got out', still dressed in white meditational clothing, i decided to pay a visit to the little insect museum. I was welcomed by the owner/founder/cleaner/guard Mr. Manop Rattanarithikul , 76 years old. Yes the museum was open. So open, in fact, that weaver birds came flying in and out. Though most of the other animals in the museum were dead. 4,668 species from all over the world.

The animals he had worked with all his life were mosquitos. When he was nine he had to flee with his parents to the border with Burma. Malaria was prevalent in those mountains and the young boy got ill. Very ill. Everyone who saw him thought he would die. His spleen was huge and so seemed his head, much bigger than the rest of his body.

His parents finally in all despair took the boy to an old witch/ herb-lady who lived at the edge of the village. She gave him several infusions to drink and pierced the skin around his anus with a citrus pine. It started to bleed. He told me he had never endured such pain again in his life. I can believe him. She repeated it 9 times.

He broke to sweat during this treatment, which is a good sign apparently and amazingly, this boy who was given up by most, recovered.

After the war there was no money to go to university in Bangkok and at the age of 18 he got a job as an assistant to Mr. Ernestine Thurman , a world renowned entomologist, who was doing research on malaria prevalence in Thailand. The eager and bright Manop soaked up everything he could learn and when Mr. died a year and a half later, he had become the no. 1 expert on mosquitos in Thailand.

He then went to university and met his wife who is now a professor specialized in....mmmosquitos!

They did a lot of research together and Manop discovered no less then 18 new species some of which now carry his name. In order to determine a species you have to let it draw blood. And sure enough, both Manop and his wife Dr. Rampa Rattanarithikul became contaminated with the malaria parasite more than once. He came very close to dying again!

Nevertheless, he says he has never killed one mosquito on purpose in his life and he never will. Of the thousands of kinds of mosquitoes, it turns out, only 44 are known to carry deadly diseases like malaria, dengue fever, Japanese encephalitis and filariasis.

The rest are not only safe, they're helpful. It's a fact that ought to shut up people who wonder why the mosquito exists at all, but we always tend to focus on the bad apples.

The bug's benefit is in toughening up the immune systems of humans and other animals that get bitten, which is a small price to pay for a bit of itching and scratching.

“Mosquitos are nature’s way of naturally transmitting immunity, vaccinating people to resist virus. An illness is a living being that will have to die like any living being.”, he explains. “it is us humans who are the most villainous species on earth”.

This shooting with a gun on a mosquito is a typical example of subtle american solutions: we'll nuke em!
And Bill Gates, who wants to be remembered as the biggest philanthropist who ever lived, is spending all his money on saving lives, which is great. But to what kind of a future? By not giving the Windows source codes Microsoft is obstructing the development of a 100$ dollar computer developed for third workd countries by MIT. You can't keep people alive so they can have kids and then many more will suffer and die of starvation later!

The museum is at 17 Nimmanhenda Road Soi 13 and open daily from 8 to 5. Admission is Bt300, plus Bt100 if you want to take pictures, and it's wellused income. Call (053) 211 891 or email insectmuseum@hotmail.com.

Did you know that the humming of mosquitos is actually there love song?