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I wonder how much ecological damage is done by humans trying to protect their communities from disease borne mosquitos. I grew up with parents that urged me to prevent pools of standing water, but don’t lots of non-mosquito insects need standing water to breed?
Keep in mind malaria also kills lots of animals besides humans.
Nothing ever matters less than your, "aim". Intentions are massively overrated. What matters are the actual effects as measured in objective reality. One of the many reasons society is the toilet that it is is because so many judge initiatives and propsals on what they are "intended" to do or what the "aim" of a proposed action is. The Inquisitor who burns you alive because he intends to purify your soul is just as bad as psycho who burns you at the stake because he wants to watch you burn.
What unintended consequences could large scale deployment have?
On top of that the spider venom is probably bad for the fungus. Apart from taking away resources from synthesizing actually useful proteins, it kills the hosts much more quickly. The fungus probably prefers to kill the host slowly in order to cover more distance.
I wonder how much ecological damage is done by humans trying to protect their communities from disease borne mosquitos. I grew up with parents that urged me to prevent pools of standing water, but don’t lots of non-mosquito insects need standing water to breed?
Edit: 2 downvotes. At this point, HN might as well switch off voting. It has become ridiculous.
Here is something else for you to vote down:
2 + 2 = 4
Take that, suckers!
What unintended consequences could large scale deployment have?
The fungus is supposed to be deployed on a rather small scale. It is not infectious for other insects, so it's probably not able to spread very far. Most of all, it is already freely spreading in its natural form, and does not lead to mass extinction of these malaria mosquitos, proven by the fact that they still exist... On top of that the spider venom is probably bad for the fungus. Apart from taking away resources…
Yet.
It’s definitely possible for it to adapt to infect something that’ll help it proliferate farther.
I wonder how much ecological damage is done by humans trying to protect their communities from disease borne mosquitos. I grew up with parents that urged me to prevent pools of standing water, but don’t lots of non-mosquito insects need standing water to breed?
I know that certain species of Killifish in Africa can survive and reproduce in pools left behind by foot-prints. So, yes, quite interesting micro-ecosystems can exist.
Not using what we can against something this horrible is a choice, too. And one that has the greater of consequences.
It's easy to poke holes in things from the sidelines. That action is actively causing us to drag our feet and kill a lot of people.
It should also be noted that mosquitoes are not depended on as a basis for any known food chain.
>The researchers say their aim is not to make the insects extinct but to help stop the spread of malaria. Nothing ever matters less than your, "aim". Intentions are massively overrated. What matters are the actual effects as measured in objective reality. One of the many reasons society is the toilet that it is is because so many judge initiatives and propsals on what they are "intended" to do or what the "aim" of a…
But if I understand the article correctly, the fungus is quite deadly to mosquitos, achieving "local" extinction quickly, which also stops further spreading of the fungus.
Predictable negativity from the comments here ignores that over one million people die of malaria per year. Not using what we can against something this horrible is a choice, too. And one that has the greater of consequences. It's easy to poke holes in things from the sidelines. That action is actively causing us to drag our feet and kill a lot of people. It should also be noted that mosquitoes are not depended on as…
Regardless, it’s a lot.
>The researchers say their aim is not to make the insects extinct but to help stop the spread of malaria. Nothing ever matters less than your, "aim". Intentions are massively overrated. What matters are the actual effects as measured in objective reality. One of the many reasons society is the toilet that it is is because so many judge initiatives and propsals on what they are "intended" to do or what the "aim" of a…
I know that it's frustrating when even scientists sometimes act with naive recklessness. A prime example is when people in the social sciences or economics don't think about individuals' incentives enough. But in this case I doubt that the people in question are unaware of the risk of overshooting their target.