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Thermacell releases its first smart mosquito repellent system
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Researchers use graphene-lined clothes to deter mosquitoes
Graphene, the highly flexible supermaterial used to build solar cells (and perhaps one day foldable phones), is also a powerful mosquito repellent. A team of researchers at Brown University discovered that graphene-lined clothing not only is an effective physical barrier to mosquito bites, the carbon-based material also changes their behavior. The study, which was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that graphene blocked the chemical signals that draw mosquitoes to other living beings in the first place.
EPA approves 'good guy' mosquitoes to battle Zika
Soon, a startup called MosquitoMate will be releasing a plethora of mosquitoes across the US -- not to start a bug-pocalypse, but to prevent it. The US Environmental Protection Agency has just approved the use of the startup's mosquitoes as biopesticide against their Zika-, dengue- and other disease-carrying counterparts in 20 states and Washington DC. You see, MosquitoMate's insects carry a common bacterium called Wolbachia pipientis that infects a wide range of invertebrates. By releasing them into the wild, they can spread bacteria to the wild population of Aedes albopictus or Asian tiger mosquitoes.
Verily's answer to Fresno's mosquito woes is 20 million more
Last year, executives of Alphabet's life science arm, Verily, discussed a project aimed at controlling invasive mosquito populations, the results of which are now going into effect. To combat the mosquito species that carries viruses like Zika and dengue, the company will release a ton of bacteria-infected male mosquitoes in Fresno, California where they should drastically bring down numbers of wild mosquitoes.
ICYMI: Genetically-modified mosquitoes are coming
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Voters in the Florida Keys may have passed a measure to use bioengineered mosquitoes to combat the Zika virus and Dengue fever, but it's still a battle to get a community to accept the insects. The FDA has approved use of altered bugs that are designed to mate, which would then result in offspring that would quickly die. You can get caught up on the back-and-forth, here.
Alphabet is working to squash the Zika virus, too
There are a few ways to kill off a pest: eliminate its food supply, or, make sure it can't effectively procreate. Since the pest in question for this post is mosquitos, the former solution isn't an option. So, Verily, the life-science division of Alphabet Inc., is addressing the Zika-carrier with a spin on the latter, according to MIT Technology Review.
Trapped Florida mosquitoes found to contain Zika virus
After several mosquitoes were trapped and examined in Florida, it was determined that they had been carrying the Zika virus.
CDC warns against visiting a Zika-hit Miami neighborhood
Reports of the first active Zika transmissions in the US are leading to some far-reaching precautions in Miami. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning both pregnant women and their partners to steer clear of the city's Wynwood neighborhood (including The Shops at Midtown Miami) out of concern that they might be infected. The CDC is also asking future mothers to get Zika tests in their first or second trimesters if they've been in the area from June 15th onward, and to use condoms (or other barrier-based contraceptives) if they have sex.
Four people in Florida likely contracted Zika from US mosquitoes
Florida health officials warn there's a high likelihood that four cases of Zika in the state were transmitted by local mosquitoes carrying the disease, a first in the continental United States. The Florida Department of Health believes that active transmission of Zika, meaning direct mosquito-to-human infection, is occurring in a small area in Miami-Dade county, north of the downtown area (as shown above). Other Zika cases in the US have been the result of people traveling to regions where the disease is prevalent and then re-entering the country already infected.
CDC outlines how it'll cope with Zika outbreaks
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published how it plans to tackle the Zika virus in the event of a domestic outbreak. While there are already cases of the virus in the US, these were contracted overseas and brought back by unwitting travelers. The agency believes, however, that certain breeds of mosquitos could spread the condition across the US, should they come into contact with a carrier. The plan outlines five stages of action, starting by simply monitoring mosquito patterns and controlling their populations as well as preparing emergency response teams.
Zika virus declared an international health emergency
If it wasn't already patently clear that the Zika virus poses a serious threat, it is now. The World Health Organization has declared that Zika is a health emergency "of international concern," and that there needs to be "coordinated" response to both track and limit outbreaks. Effectively, it's a call to action -- countries and organizations are under pressure to devote research and funding toward fighting the mosquito-borne disease.
'Gene drive' mosquitoes could end malaria once and for all
The scourge of malaria could be going away for good in some regions, thanks to a groundbreaking discovery by researchers at the Universities of California, Irvine and San Diego. Their study, published Monday in the journal PNAS, has reportedly uncovered a method that all but guarantees that specific gene sets will be passed to offspring.
Gene-modded mosquitoes will fight Dengue Fever in Brazil
The Brazilian city of Piracicaba has a potent new weapon in the ongoing fight against Dengue Fever, which infects more than a million people annually: genetically modified mosquito lotharios Created by Oxitec of Abingdon, UK and bred locally within Brazil, these GM mosquitoes (all of which are male) are designed to crash the local population before they can spread the tropical disease. More than six million have been released throughout Piracicaba since April. When a GM male mates with a wild female, his sapper genetics cause the resulting larvae to die before they can reach adulthood. What's more, the larvae also carry a genetic mutation that causes them to glow red under UV light, giving researchers an easy way to identify them on sight. "It gives an instant readout of how successfully you're driving down the native population," Hadyn Parry, chief executive of Oxitec, told New Scientist.
Mosquitoes bred with suicide genes to combat disease
With the World Cup just six weeks away, Brazilian authorities have approved the widespread, commercial release of a strain of mosquito that has been genetically reprogrammed to wipe out its own species. These Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are a major carrier of dengue fever, and bed nets are useless against them because they bite during the day. While some have experimented with using lasers and other techniques to mass-kill the disease-carrying bugs, Brazil's preferred solution begins in the lab: Male mosquitoes are given a deliberately flawed gene and then released into the wild so that they can reproduce, at which point the implanted gene rears its head and causes any offspring to die before they reach sexual maturity.
E3 2012: Crashing and burning in PlanetSide 2
I used to think of myself as an OK pilot. Then I slid into the cockpit of a Terran Republic Mosquito at E3 yesterday and learned just how inapplicable real-world skill is in PlanetSide 2. In my defense, Sony Online Entertainment's demo stations suffered from a severe lack of joysticks, and the controls were also mapped to that goofy up-is-up and down-is-down standard that's, well, standard on every shooter ever made. This is completely unnatural to my way of thinking, and so I'm going to blame it for the fact that my Mosquito lumbered around the skies of Auraxis like a drunken elephant, listing hard to starboard and eventually porpoising down for the ugliest landing in the history of ugly landings. But hey, any one you walk away from's a good one, right?
SOE reveals PlanetSide 2 Terran Republic character turnaround video
One thing you can't say about PlanetSide 2 info this month is that it's scarce. As the Terran Republic info has been the focus of this week, we get another shiny tidbit in the form of a video showcasing 360-degree views of the Terran Republic military characters. The video shows some up-close and personal details of the characters' armor and tools, from Standard, Light Assault, and Heavy Assault variations to the ominous Mosquito. Check it out for yourself, embedded after the cut.
SOE releases new PlanetSide 2 Terran Republic info
Well, it's not exactly a deep gameplay reveal, but it's better than another lore snippet! What the heck are we talking about? Why, the latest PlanetSide 2 press release of course. Sony Online Entertainment has dropped a new screenshot on the masses, and the exciting image is accompanied by a wall o' text from creative director Matthew Higby. Higby spends a bit of time telling us about the Terran Republic, which is one of three warring factions in SOE's sci-fi shooter universe. The Republic is a professional military organization, and as such its members are equipped with weapons that "have the fastest firing rates, largest ammo capacities, and are generally designed to allow for maximum sustainable damage." The Terrans also have two unique vehicles at their disposal. The Mosquito is "an extremely agile attack aircraft" and boasts the highest top speed of any PlanetSide 2 air vehicle. The Prowler tank is the fastest empire-specific piece of heavy armor, and Higby describes it as "one of the deadliest vehicles in the game." Check out the full article at the official PlanetSide 2 website.
Planetside Next is abuzz about the Mosquito
How close is this game to release? Planetside Next is dropping images, images, and more images. Now, Sony Online Entertainment released yet another exclusive image to the Planetside Universe fan site. However, we are just teased again. Fans scarcely have any information on what seems to be the next release from SOE, but there is some hope. Planetside Universe promises to have another exclusive on the Auraxis Global Network tomorrow, February 12th, at 8 p.m. EST. One thing can be said about this teaser: this is definitely the Mosquito. Some fans questioned if last Friday's reveal of the Reaver may have been the Planetside Next answer to the the original Planetside hover-copter. Now players will be sure to know what vehicle just blasted through their armor. It is always a comfort to know exactly what shot you before you die. Buzz on over to the official forums or make a note in the comments below to speak your mind about the next evolution of this game. [Thank you Kyle for the tip!]
Japanese 'age prediction machine' is really just a mosquito tone test
And this, folks, is yet another reason why the Land of the Rising Sun is truly one of the world's greatest places. Japan, which is famous for having ridiculously polite citizens and some of the zaniest toys known to man, has just delivered its latest gem: the Age Prediction Machine. As you might expect, the device simply emits the now-famed "mosquito tone," which is an exceptionally high pitched frequency that can't typically be heard by older humans. Depending on the intensity of the sound, you're able to determine where the cutoff is between hearing it and not, thus discovering the age of whoever would be gullible enough to stand around and actually engage in this sort of lunacy. But seriously, don't use this the day before your mother's birthday -- just ask pops which number she's about to celebrate / not celebrate, cool?
TED Talks mischief: lasers killing mosquitoes by the hundreds
Malaria is a huge problem worldwide, so it's no surprise to anyone that plenty of people spend lots of time trying to think of ways to rid the world of mosquitoes, prime movers of the disease. Nathan Myhrvold's company Intellectual Ventures Labs (and former chief technology officer at Microsoft) is focusing on just that. Using widely available and common electronics parts, Intellectual Ventures has made lasers which can kill mosquitoes mid-flight -- at a rate of about 50 to 100 per second. Myhrvold first publicly demonstrated this laser (which is made of parts of printers, digital cameras, and projectors) at the TED conference the other day, using hundreds of mosquitoes in a clear glass case to make his point. The laser's software determines the size and shape of the target before deciding whether or not to shoot, so, for instance -- it wouldn't take aim at a person or a bumblebee. The lasers could be used to protect hospitals and clinics in areas with high mosquito populations and in areas with a high rate of malaria infestation. Now, this is surprisingly not the first time we've seen such a trick -- though it is the first time we've seen video evidence of it working. There are some insanely informative (and murderous) videos at the source link. Be sure to check them out. Update: Video is after the break.
