ON THE CUTTING EDGE: Super-Duper Bug Zapper
The "Star Wars" defense system was conceived to kill large nuclear warhead-carrying missiles in flight using laser beams. Now, rocket scientists are looking to use the same technology to kill small malaria-carrying mosquitoes in flight, reports The Wall Street Journal:
In a lab in this Seattle suburb, researchers in long white coats recently stood watching a small glass box of bugs. Every few seconds, a contraption 100 feet away shot a beam that hit the buzzing mosquitoes, one by one, with a spot of red light.
The insects survived this particular test, which used a non-lethal laser. But if these researchers have their way, the Cold War missile-defense strategy will be reborn as a WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction. …
The scientists envision their technology might one day be used to draw a laser barrier around a house or village that could kill or blind the bugs. Or, laser-equipped drone aircraft could track bugs by radar, sweeping the sky with death-dealing photons.
Until then, The Stiletto’s Mom will have to content herself with going after these blood-sucking home invaders by running around waving an electrified contraption that looks like a badminton racquet (she admits she likes the sizzling sound the little buggers make as they’re being fried.)
In Alaska the recommended mosquito repellent is a small calibre handgun. (Or so we swear to the tourists anyway).
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