Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Anopheles Beware!

And I'm not talking about the famous Greek philosopher, but the mosquito genus of malarial vector fame.

President Reagan's Star Wars weapons may be finding a valuable world health application:
American scientists are making a ray gun to kill mosquitoes. Using technology developed under the Star Wars anti-missile programme, the zapper is being built in Seattle where astrophysicists have created a laser that locks onto airborne insects...

The laser – dubbed a weapon of mosquito destruction (WMD) – has been designed with the help of Lowell Wood, one of the astrophysicists who worked on the original Star Wars plan to shield America from nuclear attack...

It is speculated that lasers could shield villages or be fired at swarming insects from patrolling drone aircraft. “You could kill billions of mosquitoes a night,” said one expert...
Detente is not a viable option, although the Obama administration has expressed a desire to negotiate with Anopheles leaders with no preconditions.

(H.T. Wicked Thoughts.)

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