Posts tagged ‘mosquitoes’
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Malaria-Resistant Mosquito Engineered
Scientists in Arizona have engineered a genetically modified mosquito which cannot pass malaria to humans. They’ve introduced a gene affecting the mosquito’s gut, which prevents the malaria parasite from developing. The ultimate aim is replacing wild mosquitoes with the lab bred population – although scientists say this would take at least a decade to achieve and many question if it is possible at all.
Image: Lead researcher Michael Riehle holds up the genetically altered mosquitoes. © Riehle Lab, University of Arizona
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Mosquitoes Not a Big Fan…
If you find yourself bugged by mosquitoes this summer, why not try a house fan instead of chemicals to keep them at bay? The reasons behind this repellent may surprise you.
From the New York Times:
Studies have found that wind is an effective method against mosquitoes and other airborne pests. The reason seems obvious: it prevents them from circling and landing on you, like a windstorm keeping a plane from its descent. But that is not entirely the case. A fan dilutes and disperses the carbon dioxide you exhale. Carbon dioxide is one of the major chemicals that attract mosquitoes. The wind from a fan also cools you off. Sweat, lactic acid and body heat attract mosquitoes — factors that a fan can help minimize.
For more ideas on how to ward off bloodsuckers the non-toxic way, Lifehacker has some handy tips.
Image: “Am I attractive?” (shown at Pestival 2009), a collaboration between artist Susana Soares and Dr. James Logan’s team from Rothamsted Research, UK, illustrating how certain body chemicals attract mosquitoes. Dr. Logan hopes that his team’s research will help develop safe, naturally-occurring insect repellent as well!
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Mosquitoes Inspire New Acoustic Sensors
Following on from mimicking bats’ echolocation to invent new ultrasonic imaging systems, a team from the University of Strathclyde is now studying male mosquito sensors in detecting the flapping wings of their lover. In the future, the ability to harness this behaviour means science would be able change bandwidths and change sensitivity ‘on the wing’ so to speak and develop new types of acoustic sensors.
This means when you swallow capsules that have drugs inside, they could burst using this new ultrasound. Creating a multipurpose transducer that could do imaging and deliver drugs at the same time. Cool or what!
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Insect-Based Terrorism
A workshop at the University of Florida, titled “Counteracting Bioterrorist Introduction of Pathogen-Infected Vector Mosquitoes,” addresses ‘the use of pathogen-laced mosquitoes to spread a deadly disease’. Yikes!
How real is the threat? Many of the world’s most dangerous pathogens already are transmitted by arthropods, the animal phylum that includes mosquitoes. But so far the United States has not been exposed to a large-scale spread of vector-borne diseases like Rift Valley, chikungunya fever or Japanese encephalitis. But terrorists with a cursory knowledge of science could potentially release insects carrying these diseases in a state with a tropical climate like Florida’s, according to several experts who will speak at the workshop.
Anyone looking for further info on ‘insect-terrorism’ might also be interested in Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War (OUP) by Jeffrey A. Lockwood.
(via Schneier on Security)
photo: Dr James Logan
