Mastodawn

💁🏻‍♀️ TIL: #Google’s Debug program, with #Monash University and #mosquito control districts, applied for an #EPA permit to release 64 million male #Culex mosquitoes in #California and #Florida. 🦟

The males carry #Wolbachia #bacteria, making their offspring non-viable. Only females bite, so no biting mosquitoes are added. 🦠

👉 https://www.livescience.com/health/viruses-infections-disease/google-wants-to-release-64-million-bacteria-riddled-mosquitoes-across-california-and-florida-heres-why-scientists-are-enthusiastic

#health #westnile #entomology #science #ai #robotics

Google wants to release 64 million bacteria-riddled mosquitoes across California and Florida. Here's why scientists are enthusiastic.

Google has applied for an experimental mosquito release permit to deploy millions of non-biting southern house mosquitoes that it has infected with the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis, in an effort to reduce mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile virus.

Live Science

databrick 2d ago

#Killing #Mosquito with #LiDar and a #Laser! The Worlds First Portable Mosquito Air Defense ! #Crowfunding Go Website https://share.google/8SVj2YbOPESyuXpPz YouTube Video https://youtu.be/Ta0f0oB4I-Q?is=jdCrgyNUT6-WWy3I

Worlds First Portable Mosquito Air Defense by Jim Wong - Indiegogo

Detecting mosquitoes with LiDAR and eliminate them with lasers/Applicable to various scenarios

N-gated Hacker News 3d ago

🦟 #Debug Project: because nothing screams "cutting-edge science" like waging #war on mosquitoes with an army of #sterile #pests. 🤖 Let's just hope they don't unionize and demand tiny pensions. 😂
https://debug.com/ #Project #mosquito #cutting-edge #science #pest #control #HackerNews #ngated

Debug Project

Bad mosquitoes spread disease. Good mosquitoes stop them. We're using technology to raise and release good mosquitoes.

Drink of Jesus 5d ago

Bird tests positive for West Nile Virus in Ventura County, according to health officials

Ventura County health officials on Tuesday confirmed that a local bird tested positive for West Nile Virus earlier in May. In a news release shared by the Ventura County Environmental Health Division, officials said they received confirmation from the California Department of Public Health that a bird collected on May 12 from Ventura had tested positive for the virus. "WNV is established in Ventura County and additional WNV positives are expected," the release said. "This is the first […]

https://drinkofjesus.com/2026/05/30/bird-tests-positive-for-west-nile-virus-in-ventura-county-according-to-health-officials/

hewiak 6d ago

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article-lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.251935

Associative learning switches DEET valence from aversive to appetitive in Aedes aegypti

"If someone applies #DEET and the concentration fades over time, but a #mosquito still manages to feed, the #insect may begin associating that smell with a reward," said Vinauger, of the Dept of #Biochemistry in the College of Ag and Life Sciences. "That's a possibility we should take seriously when we think about how #repellents are used in the real world."

Cass🇨🇦May 29

As an attractor, this is kind of disappointing news. I use Watkins lotion and have found the Thermocell repellent units very effective.

https://www.sciencealert.com/your-insect-repellent-might-attract-mosquitoes-that-learn-to-associate-it-with-food

#mosquito #mozzies #health

Your Insect Repellent Might Attract Mosquitoes That Learn to Associate It With Food

Mosquito repellents are key to protect ourselves from mosquito bites and the pathogens they might carry.

ScienceAlert

Mike Peel May 29

I had a #mosquito in my bedroom last night. It was evicted, turned out it was stopped by the net curtains, so out the window it went. But still, not a problem I was expecting to have in the #uk - and particularly not in May.

Moos of AboutZoos May 29

Every summer, millions of people spray themselves with DEET to keep mosquitoes away. But new research suggests mosquitoes may be able to learn to associate the repellent with food — and even become attracted to it.
Bugger, isn't that evolution at work?
#mosquito #diseases #evolution #repellent

https://www.newswise.com/articles/think-deet-keeps-mosquitoes-away-they-may-be-learning-to-love-it/?sc=c6313