A San Francisco-based company called Intellectual Ventures, funded in part by Bill Gates, has used NVidia GPUs in order to create a ‘laser fence’ which supposedly identifies; targets and kills female mosquitoes using lasers. The device has been designed to protect homes and possibly larger areas in malaria areas from the disease-carrying bugs.
Intellectual Ventures (IV) have admitted that their proposed sci-fi laser weapon will not be a complete solution to the malaria problem suffered in many countries but they are working on making the project a viable option for third-world countries. Mass production of the photonic fence, to give the invention its actual name, depends on whether IV can locate a production partner for the project.
The invention company is also involved in other malaria-related projects.
“IV is currently working on projects focused on the detection and treatment of malaria using optics and magnetism, the use of artificial diets to kill mosquitoes or at least prevent them from spreading infected blood, as well as an epidemiological modeling software to help track, understand and determine the best plan to put in place to eradicate malaria in any given situation”
Brett Venter
