Intellectual Ventures Lab

Several years ago we had a thought. The discussion that followed looked more or less like this:

If mosquito populations can be effectively controlled, then we could make a huge impact in the fight against malaria.

Okay, so why not just shoot the mosquitoes out of the sky?

That’s absolutely preposterous…let’s do it!

It wasn’t exactly clear how to convince the disease carriers to fall from the air.  However, we were confident that a system could be designed that was far cleaner and more controlled than fumigation and certainly more efficient than old-fashion hand slapping.  Wondering if an unhealthy dose of photons might do the trick, we set out in search of an energy- and cost-effective way to kill a mosquito with light. This was no easy task as it became apparent that these insects, though tiny and seemingly fragile, are very resilient. Research engineer, Tom Nugent walks us through the various dosing experiments that have led us to our current method of mosquito elimination.

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:

Gizmodo – Badass Scientists Prepare Anti-Mosquito Laser

Engadget – Scientists shoot down malaria-carrying mosquitoes with frickin’ lasers

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