# Shooting down mosquitos, with freaking lasers! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 13, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821 "2010-02-13T04:45:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/61 "2010-02-17T01:02:32Z")
Shoot, set one up with a Mr. Fusion (because it will truly be the future) and power it on a banana peel and some beer. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/62 "2010-02-17T01:28:07Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > Shoot, set one up with a Mr. Fusion (because it will truly be the future) and power it on a banana peel and some beer. What kind of hellish future is THAT where beer is used to power anything other than humans? 🙂 I’ll let you slide on the bananna peel thing though. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/63 "2010-02-17T01:50:17Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > Even if we don’t know for sure, shouldn’t we still err on the side of humaneness? > [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > Completely missing the point. I’m not saying don’t kill them, just don’t burn them. Just so I’m clear, you are actually serious about this? There are people actually advocating mercy for mosquitoes? Only on The Dope would a thread about zapping mosquitoes turn into one debating whether the zapping is ethical or not. As to the OP what I like about it is that they apparently use already existing parts and technology so presumably the R&D costs were/are minimal. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/64 "2010-02-17T02:58:27Z")
Mosquito laser + Roomba robot floor cleaner = hours of fun. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/65 "2010-02-17T05:13:46Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > [http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/lega-e/witn-e/shelly-e.htm](http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/2/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/lega-e/witn-e/shelly-e.htm) The part you quoted and bolded was one of the parts that I was posting about in the first place. It specifically indicates that insects are able to suffer but not from being crushed/eaten/etc. > [@Rack-a-Bones](#): > > Just so I’m clear, you are actually serious about this? Completely. We could take this to GD or the Pit but I don’t have the energy or the attention span so never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/66 "2010-02-17T14:27:23Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > The part you quoted and bolded was one of the parts that I was posting about in the first place. It specifically indicates that insects are able to suffer but not from being crushed/eaten/etc. That would not be a correct interpretation. Given the context and conclusion it’s obvious that the article is saying _Insects may writhe about in certain circumstances but don’t be fooled: most evidence strongly suggests that they do not feel pain._ And you’re saying: “See? They writhe about in pain!”. Saying that they suffer under chemical or thermal assault but not physical, seems pretty arbitrary. “Writhing” proves nothing, and their distributed nervous systems, simple knee-jerk behaviour and very short lifespans all suggest that they do not feel pain and/or that pain would be of no use to them. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/67 "2010-02-17T18:21:54Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > … > Completely. > > We could take this to GD or the Pit but I don’t have the energy or the attention span so never mind. Nah, I don’t want to argue. I’m just surprised at the viewpoint. But not my first time being surprised here. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/68 "2010-02-17T20:37:24Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > The part you quoted and bolded was one of the parts that I was posting about in the first place. It specifically indicates that insects are able to suffer but not from being crushed/eaten/etc. I didn’t see you’d already posted the article before me. Sorry. But the impression I got is that insects don’t have the neural hardware to suffer like mammals do (with a subjective consciousness that processes pain signals and uses them as a learning tool and a sign to change behavior). It seemed like the consensus was that insect response to danger is an automatic reaction to stimuli. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2010, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/69 "2010-03-18T14:16:34Z")
My colleague’s expert take on this: [Will laser technology rid Africa of Malaria?](http://www.malariaworld.org/blog/will-laser-technology-rid-africa-malaria) Long story short - its ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2010, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/70 "2010-03-23T22:21:09Z")
New post on the IV blog about mosquito zapping (and you can all see my handsome husband): [IV Lab is designed to support all phases of invention | Intellectual Ventures](http://intellectualventureslab.com/?p=931) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821/71 "2010-03-24T06:09:36Z")
> [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > For an animal capable of flapping their wings a couple hundred times per second, it doesn’t seem logical that they would experience time the same way we do. That doesn’t necessarily say anything about how they experience time, even assuming they have the brains to experience anything. I’ve read before that bee wings actually flap faster than their nervous system can tell muscles to contract; what actually happens is that the wing muscles go into some kind of rapid oscillation mode that the nerves don’t directly control, but just turn off and on. I wouldn’t be surprised if mosquitoes are the same. > [@umop\_ap\_sdn](#): > > Also look at how their wings continue to flap after the laser pulse ends - at least some part of them is still alive when they start to fall (in fact it looks to me like all the laser is doing is destroying their wings). Insects aren’t as centralized in neurological terms as vertebrates. A cockroach without a head will live until it dehydrates. And male mantises famously can mate even as they are eaten from the head down. So, I’d pretty much expect that parts of them will still be as alive as they ever are when you kill them, unless you do something that destroys the entire body simultaneously. Insects are simple creatures; the article about that compares them to robots is accurate I think. I wouldn’t worry about their “pain and suffering” any more than i would worry about that of a junked PC. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shooting-down-mosquitos-with-freaking-lasers/528821.md?page=3)