Scientists Build Anti-Mosquito Laser

Would've loved, say, a dozen of these lasers every time I visit relatives back in Taiwan.

This thing can selectively kill them by gender which is pretty cool. Vaccines only help against the individual diseases spread by mosquitos, targeting the mosquitos directly is useful too.

I can see that, but note that there are always budget constraints, and it would not be unreasonable to ask whether there are other more cost-efficient ways of killing mosquitos or fighting malaria.

How many malaria-carrying mosquitos are there? Billions? Trillions? What would be the cost of burning them all with lasers? Given that biotech has made quite some progress, a more efficient solution would be perhaps to infect male mosquitos with some disease that does only kills female mosquitos, and when they f*ck the females, they would pass on the disease and remove malaria-carrying bugs from the face of the Earth.

Is it only me or the whole article reads, smells and looks like an hoax? Consider the evidence: a) "... are tuning the strength of the laser so that it kills mosquitoes without harming other insects or, especially, people." Laser barriers capable of killing people, directly out of the movies. b)"Each time the laser strikes a mosquito, the computer makes a gunshot sound. When the mosquito is hit, it bursts into flame and falls to the ground, and a thin plume of smoke rises." Go to Kongregate and you will find dozens of flash mini-games doing exactly that. c) "Other ideas include devices that disrupt the mosquitoes' senses of sight, smell, and heat; feeding them poisoned blood; infecting them with a genetically altered bacterium; and creating a malaria-free mutant to overtake the natural mosquitoes." I like "poisoned blood" most, because it can kill vampires too. But "Mutant mosquito from the outer space X bacteria controlled mosquitoes from hell" would be a blockbuster...

Could this be adapted into a crowd sourced game? Take turns at the helm of micro laser canon to stop Imperial Mosquitoes from taking the blood and lives of the Rebel forces.

Save some money on the AI. Pay to play the game. Prizes, badges, and acheivements. :)