Shooting Mosquitoes with Frickin’ Lasers
The Wall Street Journal just did a front page article about what we call the “photonic fence.” It is a system that finds mosquitoes flying around, identifies them by wingbeat frequency, and then shoots them out of the sky with a laser. The idea decends from Reagan era “Star Wars” which basically tried to do the same thing for missiles. Here’s a great quote by Jordin Kare:
“We like to think back then we made some contribution to the ending of the Cold War” with the Star Wars program, Dr. Kare says. “Now we’re just trying to make a dent in a war that’s actually gone on a lot longer and claimed a lot more lives.”
As always, the reinterpretation by various blogs is more amusing:
Machine vision and lasers — what could go wrong?
Seriously though — was wondering about such a thing to burn (not kill, just deter) raccoons and birds getting too close to my pond.
(Part of that could be as reactive as a hypothetical “star wars defense”, since birds could dive on the pond from above…)
Very cool idea!
I guess it will damage other insect species like bees, bery good for nature. Unless you will use it in a window, outside will be dangerous for the rest of insects.
Good idea! But how much powerful are the lasers? And how do you make that with the frequency?
regards from austria
Very Cool!
Some people can’t be bothered with reading up on it before posting. ie Scott Doty and Fernando. The thing can even tell the difference between male and female of the particular species.
I however would like it to target things like the biting gnats, flies and other biting/disease caring bugs. Is there a set of plans and open source code so that if development isn’t continuing that I could experiment
House flies. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve suffered with a damn fly in my house thinking, “I wish someone would invent a laser that could blast you out of the air.” The pure entertainment alone would be worth the price.
I live in Florida and during the summertime there are at least 8 mosquitos buzzing about my room at any point during the night, they are abslutely unbearable. If IV could market an indoor version that wouldn’t kill me in my sleep or shoot me in the eyes, I would definitely buy this product.
Having spent a short time in a Malarial zone part of the world, I would happily lend my support to this project. No more lung-choking sprays, less electricity spent on ineffective home vapour systems, a little entertainment
I’d love to know a little more about how this invention could be commercialised, especially if it could be done in such a way to proacticely support parts of the world that desperately need it for disease control.
One question – When are you going to start selling it?
Very good idea! When it can be buyed, and approximately how much it will cost?
Best wishes from Hungary
Someone’s been reading xkcd…
This sounds really awesome, by the way.
Watch the mosquitoes evolve quickly to resist it. I am guessing they’ll change their wing-beat frequency and flight patterns, but who knows, maybe they’ll get shiny. Evolution is hard to compete with.
Excellent…anything that kills mosquitoes is a step forward for us. There is a company in Colorado http://www.terraframe.com that is also contributing to the fight against malaria. They are using ontological engineering to track and map the disease as well as our variouis efforts to eradicate it. TerraFrame has received considerable global support for their efforts.
Mmm, evolution evolving in this context is very easy to compensate. It’s chemical evolution that’s hard because it takes millions of dollars and years of research designing a precision chemical that affects only the target, which can be defeated by a single enzyme change in the target insect. This kind of evolution is very easy to counter. Change the beat frequencies it targets. (change one number in the programming) Shinyness just means shoot it longer, but it’s highly detrimental to the mosquitoes without the laser, as it makes them more visible for their main predators.
Don’t know how much energy it requires to justify its use beyond a cool toy, and how expensive it is to be able to be used in places which need it most.
this is great technology and can be used in many ways,do the females seek blood only when they know they are pregnant,if so i believe i know a way to sterilize the males before the process starts,no chemicals,no residue ,no after effects.:)