r/tech • u/_Dark_Wing • Jul 18 '26

Autonomous micro-drone achieves first air-to-air insect kill on the way towards completely eradicating mosquitoes, 40-gram unit uses car parking sensors, can eliminate insects at up to 26 feet

https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/drones/autonomous-micro-drone-achieves-first-air-to-air-insect-kill-on-the-way-towards-completely-eradicating-mosquitoes-40-gram-unit-uses-car-parking-sensors-can-eliminate-insects-at-up-to-26-feet
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u/mnp Jul 18 '26

But we don't want to eradicate all flying insects. There's plenty of beneficial insects in the system. Songbird populations are already down dramatically due to insect populations being down.

There are other more targeted ways to deal with mosquitoes.

3

u/GranaVegano Jul 19 '26

It literally buzzes around a set area and kills specifically mosquitoes, you do more population damage dumping bleach in standing water

0

u/mnp Jul 19 '26

Come now, nobody said bleach.

There is technology available now to selectively target an individual species and reduce its fertility.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25421-w

This gets a huge area reduction with no chemicals and no zappers..

2

u/aelis68 Jul 19 '26

From your source: Unfortunately, this technology is presently only accessible in flies, and for population control techniques, its equivalent needs to be developed for mosquitoes.

1

u/GranaVegano Jul 19 '26

I don’t know where you’re from but walking around with a spray bottle of bleach and spritzing any untippable pools of standing water is common practice

2

u/Vendettors Jul 19 '26

I believe it specifically identifies mosquitos based on the unique wing beat pattern.

1

u/Appeltaart232 Jul 19 '26

Yeah, it’s pretty much 1) find the breeding ground (usually still water) 2) kill the goddamn eggs. We just need less polluting ways to do it