Laser shooting down Mosquitos!

[Kirin]

Oh hell yes! I want one. Does it work on flies too?
 

I guess if your program the target aquisition accordingly. They say it avoids shooting butterflies! 

[MORAY37]

See Rule #4

[ghostdancer]

Okay you guys can pile on me ... but is anybody else a little disturbed by this? I mean I don't like mosquitoes and I will kill them when they are in my house and I will take measures to eliminate them from my yard. But to laser off their wings just for entertainment? Not sure how I feel about that.

[Lusche]

But to laser off their wings just for entertainment? Not sure how I feel about that.

It's not for entertainment.

Mr. Myhrvold said the software detects the speed and size of the image before deciding whether to shoot. It would reject a butterfly or a human, for example, and more powerful laser blasts could be used for locusts. In regions afflicted by malaria, the lasers could be used to create protective fences around clinics, homes, or even agricultural fields as a substitute for pesticides.

(...)

The idea of lasers — a miniature “Star Wars” weapons system — was thrown into the mix. “Everyone was like, ‘C’mon, be serious,’” Mr. Myhrvold said in an interview after the demonstration. After doing a little bit of research, he said, his team concluded that “this is feasible. We can actually do it. So we did.”

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/using-lasers-to-zap-mosquitoes/

[Maniac]

OMG! So cool.

Where do i order one!

[SIK1]

OMG! So cool.

Where do i order one!

I'm guessing it aint gonna be cheap.

[ghostdancer]

Lusche, sorry from the initial post in the thread I mistakenly took this for entertainment since I don't understand the language on http://www.20min.ch/videotv/?channel_id=46&video_id=46783%20target=.

For the purposes you sight from that blog page I am fine with it.

[rabbidrabbit]

I'd buy one..

Article says it's a parted together demo model but could be made for under 50 bucks.  Someone smart will make a few calls and start selling these things.  Heck, I thought of the idea a long time ago but it wasn't feasible then.  It's useful and cool.  A sure winner there.

[Maniac]

I would be a reseller for these in an instant.

[Tac]

I find it amazing that the US military spent billions to make a weapon system to shoot down ICBM's in flight with a laser and took them decades...


and here's billy showing off the same thing, pocket sized, less than a few years in the making... a laser system that tracks, identifies and shoots down a very small, highly maneuverable target (that can zig zag unlike a missile in flight).