What’s the buzz about lasers?
Watch any science fiction movie and you’ll quickly get the impression that weapon of choice in the future will be little more than a flash of light. Whether it’s a tiny pistol or a cannon capable of bringing down entire spaceships, lasers seem to define war in centuries yet to come.
We mightn’t have spacecraft shooting bolts of light at each other quite yet, but going on a recent demonstration in California we might be blasting slightly smaller enemies from the sky. The mosquito is set to be the first real-life victim of the laser gun.
Microsoft’s billionaire founder, Bill Gates, and his wife Melinda, set scientists a challenge to find cost-efficient ways of reducing the number of deaths from the parasitic disease malaria. The research company ‘Intellectual Ventures Laboratory’ took up the challenge and began work on a device that used a tiny laser to quickly zap any mosquito unlucky enough to get too close.
This small sharp shooter is reportedly capable of shooting down between fifty and one hundred insects in a second. Since the malaria parasites are spread by the female of the Anopheles mosquito, keeping mozzies away should also prevent people from being infected. The researchers have designed a system that would identify only the female mosquito, leaving other insects alone.
Vaccines against malaria are still some time off. Using mosquito nets during the evening is effective, but only when they are used properly. A cheap device that selectively kills mosquitoes without relying on a supply of chemicals would be a useful tool in the fight against this deadly disease.
The word ‘laser’ began as an acronym for the words ‘Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation’. Lasers are an efficient way of amplifying light energy, making them useful for burning or cutting through materials. A number of industries use laser beams to cut through materials as delicate as human skin or as tough as thick metal plates. In the past, lasers have even been proposed as a way to blow up incoming missiles.
We might not have any intergalactic space pilots armed with laser pistols yet, but should Earth ever be invaded by giant alien mosquitoes, we’ll be ready.
