Directed Energy Weapon Downs Mosquitos 428
wisebabo writes "Nathan Myhrvol demonstrated at TED a laser, built from parts scrounged from eBay, capable of shooting down not one but 50 to 100 mosquitos a second. The system is 'so precise that it can specify the species, and even the gender, of the mosquito being targeted.' Currently, for the sake of efficiency, it leaves the males alone because only females are bloodsuckers. Best of all the system could cost as little as $50. Maybe that's too expensive for use in preventing malaria in Africa but I'd buy one in a second!" We ran a story about this last year. It looks like the company has added a bit more polish, and burning mosquito footage to their marketing.
Nice (Score:5, Funny)
Well, to hell with the green movement... get me another 250 amp breaker box to my house! It's go time, you little bastards. I'm going to put some energy executive's nephew through college!
Uh oh (Score:5, Funny)
Woe be to the man who walks past wearing his fishing vest.
"Burning Mosquito Footage?" YES. (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Nice (Score:5, Funny)
P.S. this is the only sexist technology that I fully endorse. Just want that clear.
Add a techno soundtrack... (Score:5, Funny)
Mosquitoes don't surf (Score:4, Funny)
PETA ... (Score:5, Funny)
... is going to throw a fit. A pissy hissy little fit. Good.
Evolution (Score:4, Funny)
Future Charity Commerical (Score:5, Funny)
"Your donation of only $2 a day could help this African village purchase a mosquito defense laser . . . "
Re:PETA ... (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry, an anti-PETA laser is already in works, to be brought to you by US DoD!
Re:Add a techno soundtrack... (Score:5, Funny)
Heck, mount it on the roomba to patrol.
That would be pure awesome.
Somebody do this and post on youtube, now!
Re:Future Charity Commerical (Score:4, Funny)
I already sent several checks to a Nigerian prince. What the hell else do they want now?
Re:Safety of the device? (Score:1, Funny)
Sunglasses
YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!
Oh, sorry. I thought that was my cue.
Re:Evolution (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Can I Give One to my Programmers? (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, even at best it can only do 50 to 100 bugs per second. You'd need a lot of them.
Re:Nice (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Add a techno soundtrack... (Score:4, Funny)
Careful. You're one voice synthesizer away from a Dalek.
why just the females again? (Score:3, Funny)
So why in the hell are we not nuking them all? why leave the males? So they can go find females that havent yet penetrated the perimeter and reproduce?
I say nuke them all from orbit. And biting black flies too.. The island where I vacation every year in Candada is rife with the buggers. you can see dozens of swarms of skeeters the size of a small house (the swarm not the skeeters) hovering near the tops of the treelined fields at dusk, and the flies along the beach in some areas make it impossible to inhabit without a beekeepers suit (they bite through tshirts). One year I had to run a 1/4 mile off the beach because I was being swarmed by the flies. I could feel them bouncing off the back of my head as I ran... not fun times.
Re:Future Charity Commerical (Score:3, Funny)
In fact, they could probably just charge for the vids.
Re:Nice (Score:4, Funny)
Almost there (Score:1, Funny)
It's a step in the right direction, but it just doesn't quite beat the competition yet [youtube.com].
Re:Nice (Score:4, Funny)
Right. Put rows of these things on K-Street. Take care of those human dressing roaches and leeches too.
Re:Pardon my skepticism (Score:3, Funny)
Ha, you young Whippersnapper! Back when I was a boy, we used to track 'em in 11 dimensions. 11! And 8 of those dimensions were *dang* small. And if we missed a dimension, our pappy would throw us through a hole in it so we'd have to squeeze back into the outhouse in the 5th dimension. You kids have it sooo EASY!
Now, get off my lawn!
Re:So much for the food chain (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, how self-centered are we?
God damnit this is /. how dare you come in here and try and spread your silly idea's about mosquitoes being important blah blah blah. What the hell man? THIS IS A GOD DAMN LASER WEAPON FOR KILLING BUGS! You don't get this? pewpewpew? no? FUCK! {throws chair}
Re:Add a techno soundtrack... (Score:3, Funny)
Well, a voice synthesizer and an AI unsympathetic to human life. :D
It would certainly be an excellent dalek mimic, though. I would totally love to hear my roomba chanting "Exterminate! Exterminate!" while it wheels around my porch zapping mosquitos. (Or, I would if I had a porch, roomba, mosquitos, and a mosquito-killin' laser.)
Re:PETA ... (Score:5, Funny)
It works by targetting the buzzing noise they make when they chant their slogans; it also selectively targets females, which will make males think "wtf, why are there no chicks here? I'm leaving".
Re:"Burning Mosquito Footage?" YES. (Score:3, Funny)
I would rank it second to the smell of burnt mosquito, especially when it's the ONE bugger that's keeping me awake at 3am...
I love the smell of burning mosquito in the morning. Smells like... victory.
Re:I want ONE! (Score:5, Funny)
Hire yourself out for parties. For $5/hour you could sit 10m away from the crowd and draw the mosquito's to you. You'd have your $50 in no time! You'd also have malaria, which is a bit of a downside.
Re:Pardon my skepticism (Score:5, Funny)
Man, if you're the kind of person who says "wow, a laser that shoots down mosquitoes, how cool. Lets dangle my balls in front of it", then you don't deserve to reproduce :)
Re:You only have to track two dimensions (Score:1, Funny)
I'd be shocked if this laser is more powerful than 100 milliwatts
You mean burned or blind.
Re:Darwin says... (Score:5, Funny)
So then we update the targeting software with the new effective frequencies.
Booyah! Take that, Science!
Intelligent design triumphs over evolution once again!
Re:Darwin says... (Score:3, Funny)
Who needs to "evolve" an ecosystem full of bugs if you can just write it in Perl.
Re:Darwin says... (Score:1, Funny)
Cycle the shield frequencies Mr Tuvok!
pshaw! You think _you_ have big mosquitoes? (Score:5, Funny)
Here in the interior of Alaska we have to plant trees close together in our campgrounds. That keeps the mosquitos with the larger wingspans from getting through. Heck, some of them have their own landing strip at the airport. Our mosquitoes are big -- scary big.
Re:Nice (Score:3, Funny)
Hallelujah!
It's a shame it only seems to burn their wings off, I was hoping for complete flaming annihilation.
Awsome (Score:2, Funny)