Fighting mosquitoes with frickin' laser beams

Whether at a barbecue, bonfire, or backcountry camp, you can count on pesky mosquitoes to make their presence known through bothersome buzzes and itchy bites. But they're worse than annoying: Nearly half a million people a year worldwide die from malaria carried by the critters.
Scientists at Intellectual Ventures Laboratory in Bellevue, WA, are battling these deadly carriers with the coolest technology possible: lasers.
Using an invisible barrier called the Photonic Fence, researchers have developed a way to identify, track, and zap the bugs in a split second.
The invention can also be used to protect crops without pesticides. Best of all pollinators, people, and even flying toddlers stay out of the lasers' crosshairs - provided you don't flap your wings at the speed of a mosquito's.
ReInventors is hosted by Katie Herzog. Each episode features scientists, inventors and tinkerers who are reimagining the basic elements of our everyday lives.
Made possible with funding from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting

[@TheKlink]

been seeing prototypes of this for a decade WHEN WILL YOU HAS SOMETHING FOR ME TO BUY!!!

[@jafinch78]

Probably will be implemented by mafias for targeting the most innocent victims they can poach and masked armed rob. Guessing used by whomever is obstructing justice for whatever is malicious sneak attacking. Also, thinking they'll do the exact opposite and enhance torture using bugs to bite their victims to death flea circus high tech style for more mayhem and mutilation. Some sick liberals unfortunately overpopulating the planet since the death penalty and public executions stopped deterring their sick and highly unlawful activities and events. Granted, can be awesome for killing invasive nuisances though... don't we wish! There is a neat ultrasonic larva method Hackaday just noted: hackaday.com/2020/12/05/killing-mosquitoes-with-cardi-b/

[@Dr.Cosmar]

You said "take my money!" Wrong.

[@shize9ine]

@@Dr.Cosmar He got tired of saying it for the past 16 years where this same wing burning footage was pulled from.

[@stinkypete2964]

They have absolutely no interest in commercialisation of this tech, they are more interested with tinkering with their toys, spending their grant money and protecting their parents than doing something useful for humanity. This is an easily commercialised product, they just don't want to put in the effort.

[@crowdly.online]

Malaria drug companies will pay them not to

[@teweldemat]

Not enough footage of mosquitoes getting incarnated mid air.

[@skyserf]

Teweldemedhin Aberra *Incinerated. I agree.

[@Sennken]

@@skyserf what if that wasn't a typo though...

[@skyserf]

@@Sennken Why would anyone want to invest mosquitoes with human nature and form?

[@stdev.]

​@@skyserf Because that's the basic idea with reincarnation. Zap a mosquito, become a mosquito for your next life.

[@skyserf]

@@stdev. Nah

[@ZAIDAAS99]

"Fire at Will" hahaha

[@xqsk4506]

Anyone from Allen's vid?

[@jmeszone1628]

YES

[@justinmiller7398]

Well this is absolutely amazing.

[@NikhilSharma-wx7kb]

Love the host, love the cinematography, love the whole style of the video. Please keep them coming

[@workphone8425]

Videos of killing mosquitoes with lazers have been around for 11 years or more. Why hasn't anyone done anything to put it on the market yet???

[@buildingutopia7617]

Best guess: Security threat. If it's modified (slightly) it can permanently blind 50 people per-hour, automatically. Isis would love it.

[@divoulos5758]

Its kind off dangerous probably and expensive

[@3nertia]

A laser powerful enough to zap a mosquito mid-flight would be more than powerful enough to blind people or pets, sadly :

[@iAmTheSquidThing]

This year, my weapon-of-choice against mosquitos has mostly been a Dyson handheld.

[@MrTipsoTV]

R u the interviewer?

[@luchthoornmetspikkels8717]

Lol

[@Koolgit]

You're in the video

[@arveyilleszender5809]

Good interviewing skills bro ess

[@bp968]

Interestingly, vacuums seem to be a major weapon against many flying insects (check out hornetman!)

[@chopinbloc]

If you bring a consumer laser mosquito killer to market, it will sell like crazy and easily fund whatever humanitarian mission you want to complete. Not only would almost every homeowner be willing to buy, probably at around the $200 mark, outdoor venues like Disney's various properties would pay truckloads of quatloos to be able to boast a mosquito free space.

[@thlrock]

this is the most fun looking pest control ive ever seen

[@swine13]

This is one of the best technological advances I've ever seen.

[@refugeg271]

Absolutely stunning, thank you.

[@Moshpitti]

So far I've really enjoyed the content, or rather reinventions on the channel but I still feel like the videos are just a little bit too... short. I can't quite put my finger on it, but I'd love a little bit more content on the videos, a good start could be any sort of way to support the ongoing researches that hit home for the viewers, or a way to follow the progression of it ourselves in the future.

[@endoflevelboss]

"content"... there's the most unflattering description of creative work imaginable and a nasty contemporary trend that only serves to devalue.

[@MikeHunt420]

if only a quarter of the us military budget was spent on this technology, malaria would've been eradicated by now

[@lilyhewapathirana409]

When can l get my hands on that thing 😀😀

[@spaideman7850]

totally need 1 right now. the mosquitoes had been taunting me for while now.

[@ericdebord]

"fire at Will " that's awesome. Very clever

[@o8livion]

next video: a research on where to buy that...

[@becca867]

Interviewer: "*Chuckles.* Nice little graveyard ya have here." I would never say that about any other animal except mosquitoes. I hate them to much.

[@purifierphoenix2043]

This isn't commercialized because the lasers would literally blind within a fraction of a second. It's a cool concept if everyone wore laser goggles.

[@p.boscardin]

NEED THIS DEVICE RIGHT NOW

[@KaraokePubmain]

yes the next step to agriculture is laser tech to protect crops of various bugs and to limit the use of chemicals. I like this

[@MonkoGames]

"all five continents"

[@madgameralexthegreat]

*Laughs in Antartican*

[@randomlymadeanimations52]

1950: in the future we will have flying cars! 2018: anti- mosquito laser system >:3

[@Romifsud]

I ship l i f e L o v e. Hey I mean that’s even better than flying cars

[@techieadam5031]

Every year I have to take multiple courses of antibiotics because I keep getting bit by these things and infected. There is such a huge use case for these things

[@aaron4820]

I look forward to when we can buy a miniature shoulder mounted version for hiking

[@josephtarko3610]

Everything's groovy until the mosquitoes start building up laser resistance. . .

[@bobjohnson2570]

We are ALL ready to buy one.... :-))

[@judyf37]

When is this going to be released and sold for public use? I need this in my country since it is summer now and breeding season for mosquitos is starting .. im afraid of dengue

[@havidraak2734]

1:52 this man spoke the truth

[@RandyTenzin]

charming interview

[@KisaVorobyaninovDesu]

Oh, I've heard of them indeed

[@Yelliwj]

Why aren't these for sale yet? I'm sure they will sell very well.

[@4_real_bruh]

Who's here after Pablos Holmans Ted Talk?😂

[@jb-ik8sj]

When will this be available and affordable to the public?

[@alixilviashah7166]

Oh I've heard of them!!

[@KydEv]

Wouldn't that create a HUGE evolutionary pressure that would result in mosquitoes just modifying their frequency of flapping over time ? Like what if mosquitoes just evolve to have the same flapping frequency as bees for example ? We would end up having bee looking mosquitoes in the end, yuck

[@tylerpeterson4726]

I would be interested to learn if that’s even possible. Bees and mosquitos are such different sizes that it might be physically impossible. But that’s a guess.

[@DATDieAnderTier]

I don’t think natural selection can really compete with the sheer scale of what we’re capable of already. I honestly didn’t consider that’d be an issue but I think the result would be devastating to mosquitoes and you can always patch a wing speed variable lol.

[@luchthoornmetspikkels8717]

Hi

[@ClumzorZ]

So when can a civy like me get my little AA laser to protect my BBQ?

[@zulfuF]

3:41 - I argue that! Mosquitos have a role in the food chain. They are necessary for some animals like bats. They also do help to pollinate some plants. So you are confident to say nothing will happen if we get rid of them?

[@thlrock]

well yeas, but its doesnt seem to have a major effect on environments where many people live like towns and cities. for example keep these fences on at the entrance and balconies of apartment buildings and hotels.

[@Silverizael]

"Mosquitos have a role in the food chain." They don't, actually. Not the species in question. Aedes aegypti is an invasive species that has no major environmental niche. There are dozens of other non-human-biting mosquito species that still live in all the places Aedes does.

[@zulfuF]

Silverizael it isn't mentioned in the video which species they are talking about. If it's invasive yeah it could be wiped out. But, they should be survive in the places where its native.

[@Silverizael]

The description very clearly is discussing malaria, which is Aedes aegypti.

[@bigdickpornsuperstar]

Mosquitoes are the the most deadly animal on the planet, directly responsible for killing more humans that all other animals combined. There is not a single ecological niche anywhere that is filled solely by mosquitoes. The mosquito could gradually disappear and it would not alter the environment in any way. Certainly, to eradicate them all "overnight" would be a dangerous loss of biomass in the food chain, but decimation over the course of a few years, the other creatures already inhabiting those niches would quickly take up the slack. Like the killer Small Pox was before it was eradicated from the planet, mosquitoes are an unnecessarily redundant part of the ecology that contributes nothing positive but has negative attributes in abundance... mostly as a vector for disease.

[@juliasmith5267]

I really liked this. 😄

[@thefuckgoesbuu]

I'd like this Fence also work for Wasps

[@alixilviashah7166]

PBS please tell the interviewer that I love her too much

[@rumplin]

We need this modified for Locusts swarms.

[@wraithship]

That'd need a lot (A LOT) more power to disable a locust. And at that power it could definitely damage human eyes. Interesting idea though

[@shykizuna9722]

I love the subtle jokes lol

[@unboxingorreviewph7879]

And where we can buy this? and how much?

[@NameCallingIsWeak]

Nice sound effect from Activision's "Laser Blast"

[@tgr670]

*so where the f.... is this device?*

[@LeOrbital]

they invented ut

[@strawberry-parfait3922]

Why do both of these guys look like the french thief form oceans twelve

[@springbok4015]

The one is a female, they other is a guy.

[@LENZ5369]

This would be nice to have around my windows and doors to keep mosquitoes and other undesirable insects from entering but for tackling the malaria that plagues billions of the poorest people in the world....

[@joeyisabull]

14 years in the wait... and still not at local hardware boxes... dafuk!

[@helennethers9777]

Reminds me of zuckerburg's mountain fortress bunker w/ fully autonomous killer a.i. robots

[@Ghostbull26]

This idea is at least 9 years old. 9 years and no further along? How are we not at production yet? Do i need just one or are they cheaper by the dozen? I'm going to die of old age before they get this built.

[@ElNadaInLada]

On a small scale, in such a little chamber, this is easy. But in a big room not so much. I am afraid to say that the technique they use to differentiate between different types of insects is exactly what gets in the way of this. If they wouldn't use sound but light, maybe some high sensitivity infrared-system, or even radar in 4GHz, and just zap everything what comes along, be it a fly, a mosquito or a bee, it would be way easier... but in the end you have the safety-aspect with lasers and maybe thats also a reason why this won't ever be released as a finished product in retail store. You would have to tinker it yourself together...

[@mariopantalone949]

When will it be available for purchase for home use?

[@Guiltfreedelight]

Nice concept. This may change the world

[@KlMJONG-UN]

I was thinking what if they did this for bullets or missiles or bombs etc

[@Guiltfreedelight]

@@KlMJONG-UN bullets missiles or bombs? 1st I understand and there is concept for missile and bombs( aren't both work on same principle?) My question is what it would do to bullet. There is technology by Israel, shooting down missile by lazer but bullets?? What do you expect lazer to do?

[@KlMJONG-UN]

@@Guiltfreedelight melt the bullets before it hits like anti craft

[@Guiltfreedelight]

@@KlMJONG-UN even if it's possible to do that, small projectile as compares to missile, low mass high speed, but distance is also less bcoz of less mass as compares to missile which means less reaction time. Just one doubt. If you are trying to save a person then also its a heavy mass high velocity molten metal projectile. And it's a metal so heat dissipation is high at high velocity melting it would require enormous amount of energy which is not possible at all. Why lazer work on missile bcoz they have their own explosives and it doesn't melt by lazer it just burst away from target. So the energy required to destroy a bullet by melting it and the energy has to be given by lazer is

[@KlMJONG-UN]

@@Guiltfreedelight ok, what if we color code the bullets like friendly forces have green bullets and the enemy doesn't know, so the targeting system specific doesn't target green color and the friendly forces wears laser protection gear but it looks like standard military gear . They will have this cameras setup like a defense system around Combat areas , don't melt the bullets but yea push the bullet out of the way or What if we used laser 3-4x bigger than diameter of the bullet to melt the bullet

[@UpcycleElectronics]

Who will Will power if you fire at Will with full will power?

[@tonyhidayat8925]

is it already sell in the market?

[@billrexwu1987]

Where can buy? We all need it!

[@JJ_Curtis]

So... when???

[@ramones53rd3rd]

Take my money, you have no idea how much I hate them.

[@hotdrippyglass]

Poor Will !

[@f.r7191]

Where is the product??

[@jatigre1]

Where is the commercial solution of this? Where can I buy it or hack it with a PI or some other hack?

[@SapperUSMC]

it's been 4 years.... where is the product??

[@codefeenix]

There are seven continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America.

[@icpfann]

I would love this in my yard! Looking for volunteer space?

[@potato2941]

Intellectual Ventures are just patent trolls. They patented this, and they want someone else to do all the work of making the factory and selling the product.

[@MrTipsoTV]

Have this applied to the world?

[@deocks4872]

Where and how soon can i get it

[@Quizer9O8]

Is this tech available for the public yet?

[@fartballs77]

Well, no. And it will probably never come out. Many sources believe this video is fake. Plus, tech like this takes too much time, is too expensive, and is too dangerous for the public. If you’d like to see a real laser fly swatter, Allen Pan made a video on one.

[@mattyfuture]

11 years later......WHERES THE BEEF

[@starkistuna]

im annoyed this has been developed 10 years ago an there is still not a consumer edition anywhere

[@umangprajapati8482]

Great technology. Plz provide to all people.

[@Asterra2]

Of course they have to sell it on a grandiose premise such as stopping malaria, even though genetic engineering is a much cheaper and more effective (and proven) solution to big jobs like that. But what they really designed this for is the small case uses such as individual backyards in first world territories.

[@3nertia]

How is genetic engineering cheaper or more effective (or proven)?

[@TlBubba]

I need this these jerks will fly into my house from downstairs then go under my closed door just to bite my feet in my sleep

[@nicholasblay8343]

now do flies

[@HoldYourSeahorses]

With Sherlock now on the case these mosquitos don't stand a chance.

[@andreasee8947]

hold on, I came here because Jaemin mentioned this during their vlive and I was very intrigued....

[@educosta21]

Please don't leave us hoping. 5++ years of this and still nothing. Waiting for the "buy" link.

[@brianshea2515]

All 5 continents?

[@RuslanLagashkin]

Tss don't tell him

[@santhoshdhadi5520]

I need this product can u say the cost???

[@MegazoneMusic23]

The guy with the beard looks a LOT like Clancy Brown ..aka "the Kurgen" from HIGHLANDER

[@WarBerJr02]

So what has become of this invention?

[@1.4142]

Star wars style

[@jeremylink3489]

Wat too short tho and not enough information on when this thing wil be coning to market if and how etc..

[@theshuman100]

0:53 the short pause makes it

[@Luggruff]

So what happens when the mosquitoes becomes laser restistant? :o

[@aayushchandra275]

So, the police should be thinking, What happens if people become bullet resistent ?

[@3nertia]

@@aayushchandra275 Well, we developed body [armor], so ... not really a fair comparison is it? :)

[@marcelm.2848]

now just stick it on a drone

[@oneoveralpha]

I had the idea, maybe twenty years ago, of having a laser that could only fire in the area of four inches below the ceiling that would shoot house flies. Could this do that, or would it need a more powerful laser?

[@rowland5951]

Yes

[@springbok4015]

Lasers don’t diffuse well, so you’d need lots of them, and they’ll start burning your ceiling.

[@3nertia]

Flies would just learn to stay lower than 4 inches lol

[@Allbbrz]

Not enough hard work was put into getting a product on the shelves... I haven't seen any so far...

[@JesusHChrist2000]

Life will NOT find a way if it gets in humans way.

[@guestname9534]

Weapons Hot, Deflectors to Full :))))

[@imanuelanthoniusmabilehi3075]

No mosquitoes means no food for house lizards and they will die of some disease that we don't know in the future. but I believe it will pretty much affect human's health because it will increase the number of cockroaches as well.

[@3nertia]

There are other things lizards can readily eat and cockroaches self regulate their populations the same way every species (except humans) does ... Not sure how killing mosquitoes leads to more cockroaches though?

[@theaudioman4446]

Even cooler would be a 3D version that aims and fires!

[@mirane.630]

What do u mean it aims? Why would be a 3d version better

[@divoulos5758]

@@mirane.630 it would cover a greater space and even if the 2d grid missed the 3d would still have a chance and its better because you need fewer of them

[@alicomando1195]

I thought the blue guy was a 15 year old male person

[@user-jd8id5mg4b]

nice

[@SerenityFeueropal]

0:58 All FIVE continents? Not sure what world map he's looking at.

[@efrenchen293]

Serenity Feueropal Poor Australia and Antarctica

[@illiteratedino]

There are no mosquitoes in Australia!?!?

[@thlrock]

well some people consider europe and asia a single continent since really they are a single landmass but yeah he should have at least omitted the word "all" mosquitos are not endemic to antarctica.

[@thelonelygamer361]

+Serenity Feueropal America, Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Antarctica

[@AquilaLupus9]

Many countries, if not the majority of the world has 5 to 6 continents. 1. America 2. Europe 3. Asia 4. Africa 5. Oceania / Australiasia Antarctica is not considered a continent in many places because nobody lives there, and America is lumped to one large continent. Seldom do I hear Eurasia being taught as an official continent around the world. It's used more akin to a region like saying, Near East, Middle East, or Far East. The US is one of the few countries that defines 7 continents, just like its use of Fahrenheit and the English imperial system.

[@simbop6661]

The video's lenght is 4:20 :)

[@stampy4928]

lol i use my hands

[@JaapVanderHorst]

Make one that kills hornets on the entrance of a bee-hive.

[@JaapVanderHorst]

But not the Bees....

[@3nertia]

The bees themselves do a pretty good job of that ...

[@pantshead4293]

Shut up and take my money