Re:Laser Fence Zaps Mosquitoes In Flight
by v3rt on Thursday May 13, 2010 @11:36AM
(#1344554)
This is a cool engineering project, but hardly seems like an efficient approach, at thousands (hundreds at best) of dollars a pop. Traditional chemical elimination methods (C02 traps, pesticides) seem much more effective, and biological approaches are probably the most promising (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterile_insect_technique).
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If it can be set up and torn down with relative ease, there would probably be a market in rentals for people having outdoor parties or weddings, or camping trips.
And in case you want a local, mechanical option - don't those electric fly killers with the blue light work for mosquitoes as well?
Blue light does not attract mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes are actually attracted to infrared light - the exact opposite of blue light. And CO2.
I think the problem is they attract various types of insects indiscriminately, which can be disastrous for the ecosystem. IIRC, the laser's tracking mechanism only detects the mosquitoes' wing frequency range.