# Rocket Scientists Shoot Down Mosquitoes With Lasers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 16, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649 "2009-03-16T19:02:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/1 "2009-03-16T19:02:10Z")
[Article](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123680870885500701.html) > [@](#): > > A quarter-century ago, American rocket scientists proposed the “Star Wars” defense system to knock Soviet missiles from the skies with laser beams. Some of the same scientists are now aiming their lasers at another airborne threat: the mosquito. > > In a lab in this Seattle suburb, researchers in long white coats recently stood watching a small glass box of bugs. Every few seconds, a contraption 100 feet away shot a beam that hit the buzzing mosquitoes, one by one, with a spot of red light. > > The insects survived this particular test, which used a non-lethal laser. But if these researchers have their way, the Cold War missile-defense strategy will be reborn as a WMD: Weapon of Mosquito Destruction. My husband is shown in photo #6 - he figures out mosquito dosing parameters (he’s not named in the article). He also took photos 1, 7, and 8. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/2 "2009-03-16T19:09:05Z")
Neat. They need to make them in palm size, for home use. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/3 "2009-03-16T19:09:40Z")
Pretty cool. I’d buy one so I could sit on my back porch at night. It might provide a pretty light show too. ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/4 "2009-03-16T19:18:37Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Neat. They need to make them in palm size, for home use. I would buy this. ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Montgomery0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery0)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/5 "2009-03-16T19:35:52Z")
Oh man, I so had this idea 15 years ago! And SDI haircutters! Too bad I know next to nothing about lasers. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/6 "2009-03-16T19:59:13Z")
There’s nothing more dangerous than a wounded mosquito. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/7 "2009-03-16T20:32:17Z")
Given the number of things out there that eat mosquitoes, it might cause problems for them if combined with an attractant. An ideal installation might have an outer zone of mosquito repellent and then inside that zone, Total Laser-Based Mosquito Destruction. > [@dogbutler](#): > > I would buy this. Me too. It needs a knob on the side though for target selection (at appropriate power): gnat, mosquito, housefly, deerfly… …cockroach, mouse, squirrel, chihuahua… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/8 "2009-03-16T20:38:23Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > It needs a knob on the side though for target selection (at appropriate power): gnat, mosquito, housefly, deerfly… > > …cockroach, mouse, squirrel, chihuahua… Big trouble for mouse and squirrel. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/9 "2009-03-16T22:33:41Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Big trouble for mouse and squirrel. Da, Fearless Leader!😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/10 "2009-03-16T22:42:41Z")
Hey, watch it with that thing! Somebody will put an eye out. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/11 "2009-03-17T04:12:23Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Given the number of things out there that eat mosquitoes, it might cause problems for them if combined with an attractant. An ideal installation might have an outer zone of mosquito repellent and then inside that zone, Total Laser-Based Mosquito [Destruction.Me](http://Destruction.Me) too. It needs a knob on the side though for target selection (at appropriate power): gnat, mosquito, housefly, deerfly… > > …cockroach, mouse, squirrel, chihuahua… noisy kids, repo men,… ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/12 "2009-03-17T05:48:59Z")
I wants me one. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/13 "2009-03-17T05:51:01Z")
Cool…when does the ant and the pigeon versions come out? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/14 "2009-03-17T05:52:28Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Cool…when does the ant and the pigeon versions come out? Ants okay, but not OUR pigeons you don’t! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/15 "2009-03-17T14:21:10Z")
Getting paid to shoot mosquitoes with a laser? I totally picked the wrong profession. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/16 "2009-03-17T15:09:19Z")
I’ll wait for the version that’s chair-mounted on a gyro and has laser cannons like on the Millenium Falcon and a tracking grid heads-up display. :: pantpantpant:: ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rocket-scientists-shoot-down-mosquitoes-with-lasers/489649/17 "2009-03-17T15:26:56Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’ll wait for the version that’s chair-mounted on a gyro and has laser cannons like on the Millenium Falcon and a tracking grid heads-up display. :: pantpantpant:: …coyotes, bison, door-to-door salesmen, door-to-door proselytizers…