Using Mosquitoes to Wipe Out Mosquitoes
Aedes Aegypti, a major form of transmission of many deadly diseases. Source When was the last time you were bitten by a mosquitoe? If you are in a tropical area it was probably pretty recent. Not only on the bites extremely annoying, but they can also transmit diseases like malaria and West Nile. I'm sure that almost nobody has fond memories of mosquitoes. Lucky, a company called Oxitec is trying to eliminate mosquitoes, and it is entirely possible that they can. So trying to stop mosquitoes is nothing new. There are repellants of all kind, and different tricks you use to prevent being bit. None of them really work. However, this company is doing something different by trying to reduce the population of mosquitoes, specifically Aedes aegypti , all together. And they are doing it using mosquitoes. Now, time for some fun science. The first thing the company does is insert a gene (there are multiple ways to do this so the exact method Oxitec does it is not clear) into male m...