scientists have developed a handheld
laser that can kill mosquitoes in high
volume and they’re hoping that this will
help combat one of the world’s most
deadly diseases a high-speed video
camera that captures up to 6,000 frames
per second was used by a company called
intellectual Ventures to show the
invention in action but first to study
the flight dynamics of mosquitoes the
scientists recorded their flight
movements in this video
tiny suspended water droplets
illuminated by a green laser show the
movement of air around the mosquitos
wing in this video a mosquitoes flight
was recorded and were seen at an extreme
slow motion to get this footage the
mosquito is placed in a custom-designed
chamber that sensed when the mosquito
flew through the focal plane of the
camera later after studying the data and
setting up the system the mosquitoes are
struck and killed by lasers here you can
see the laser strike parts of the
mosquito breaking off and the body
falling to the ground
if played in real time these segments
would be about 1/10 of a second the goal
of this research is combating malaria a
disease spread through tropical regions
of the world by mosquitoes nearly a
million people die of the disease each
year intellectual Ventures says their
involvement began with a challenge from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to
set up their system the scientists
created what they call a photonic fence
which in the field would have a beam of
infrared light between fence posts the
system detects mosquitoes and shoots
them down the inventors claim all the
laser parts came from inexpensive
consumer electronics they also claimed
the system can distinguish between
different insects it would only target
mosquitoes and let others such as
butterflies and bumblebees to pass
through unharmed
the system can even distinguish between
male and female mosquitoes based on
their wing beats
this is important because only female
mosquitoes bite humans
laser that can kill mosquitoes in high
volume and they’re hoping that this will
help combat one of the world’s most
deadly diseases a high-speed video
camera that captures up to 6,000 frames
per second was used by a company called
intellectual Ventures to show the
invention in action but first to study
the flight dynamics of mosquitoes the
scientists recorded their flight
movements in this video
tiny suspended water droplets
illuminated by a green laser show the
movement of air around the mosquitos
wing in this video a mosquitoes flight
was recorded and were seen at an extreme
slow motion to get this footage the
mosquito is placed in a custom-designed
chamber that sensed when the mosquito
flew through the focal plane of the
camera later after studying the data and
setting up the system the mosquitoes are
struck and killed by lasers here you can
see the laser strike parts of the
mosquito breaking off and the body
falling to the ground
if played in real time these segments
would be about 1/10 of a second the goal
of this research is combating malaria a
disease spread through tropical regions
of the world by mosquitoes nearly a
million people die of the disease each
year intellectual Ventures says their
involvement began with a challenge from
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to
set up their system the scientists
created what they call a photonic fence
which in the field would have a beam of
infrared light between fence posts the
system detects mosquitoes and shoots
them down the inventors claim all the
laser parts came from inexpensive
consumer electronics they also claimed
the system can distinguish between
different insects it would only target
mosquitoes and let others such as
butterflies and bumblebees to pass
through unharmed
the system can even distinguish between
male and female mosquitoes based on
their wing beats
this is important because only female
mosquitoes bite humans
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