September 21, 2011 The design model is based around the laser printer, said Myhrvoid: “People often ask me, “how do you actually steer a laser fast enough to catch a mosquito?” And the answer is in your laser printer – a laser gets beamed very precisely onto potentially millions of different positions on a page in order to print the document. “That same little mirror steering mechanism can be repurposed and used to shoot mosquitoes out of the sky.” Speaking to CNN World, he remarks that the technology uses digital imaging processing to locate the mosquito, and a laser measures the wing beat frequency, size and other variables. “It’s possible to use lasers and digital image processing techniques to not only find mosquitoes – determine what’s a mosquito and what’s a fly or a butterfly or something else – but also to determine the gender of the mosquito.” Only females are targeted as they require proteins in the blood to lay eggs. Myhrvoid states that research shows mosquitoes sustain themselves on nectar flowers. “The reason to let the males live is just energy. You know it takes energy to kill them and if the mosquitoes aren’t going to bite anyone, you don’t have to shoot them.” Categories :
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Intellectual Ventures uses laser printer tech to zap female mosquitoes
Nathan Myhrvoid, ex-Microsoft Chief of Technology and current owner of Intellectual Ventures, is proposing employing laser printer technology to track not only the gender of airborne mosquitoes but also shoot them down.
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