Mosquito lasers, and the power of technology to overcome poverty
Recently, I was complaining to my housemates about how annoying all these bugs were that were flying into our house, and someone should invent a laser that zaps them mid-flight before they could enter. We had a laugh and dismissed it as impractical.
Well, I’m really happy to announce that as of today, someone is doing just that. Scientists who worked on the old 80s anti-missile defense are taking their skills and using them to build high speed lasers, to kill mosquitos and stop the spread of malaria.
I really like this kind of solution because it sidesteps the hazards of traditional solutions like pesticides and genetics, and it doesn’t seem like there’s an easy way for mosquitos to adapt to this new predator. Further, the economics could work in this, as the components are likely available off-the-shelf, and the number of units needed (10 million+) would probably be enough to manufacture nearly at cost. The only challenge would be distribution, an extremely localized problem that is a hurdle to every initiative in the third world. How exactly would you come across to your average tribal leader if you just show up and say this black box keeps disease away? I’m reminded of the Arthur C Clarke quote “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding this project and it’s part of their larger vision to get people out of extreme poverty by solving fundamental needs like sanitation, disease prevention, and basic education. Projects like this show they can really think laterally about problems which is an impressive and altogether lacking capability in many large organizations. Here’s Bill Gates’ talk on malaria at the TED conference in February:
Who knows? Maybe historians will look back and point at a little mosquito laser as being a turning point in the struggle to overcome world poverty. Stranger things have happened.
