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“The mosquitoes that carry malaria and transmit it to humans often become resistant to pesticides. Mosquitoes reproduce quickly, which means every generation has a lot of chances to produce mutants who can defeat humanity’s best weapons. Here’s one way we could win the arms race: Female mosquitoes often only mate once. What if we could trick them into mating with a sterile male? This should mean fewer cute little baby mosquitoes,* which means less malaria transmission. An early strategy to make sterile male mosquitoes was to expose them to radiation. This did indeed sterilize the males, but well . . . it turns out that when you expose a guy to a huge dose of radiation, it may increase his chances of sleeping alone.” — Kelly Weinersmith
The mosquitoes that carry malaria and transmit it to humans often become resistant to pesticides. Mosquitoes reproduce quickly, which means every generation has a lot of chances to produce mutants who can defeat humanity’s best weapons. Here’s one way we could win the arms race:
Female mosquitoes often only mate once. What if we could trick them into mating with a sterile male? This should mean fewer cute little baby mosquitoes,* which means less malaria transmission. An early strategy to make sterile male mosquitoes was to expose them to radiation. This did indeed sterilize the males, but well . . . it turns out that when you expose a guy to a huge dose of radiation, it may increase his chances of sleeping alone.