Google Plans To Eliminate Mosquitoes Worldwide With Verily
The devastation created by the “menacing mosquitoes” has been inevitable until now. But Google is here again to save the day. Its research drive focused on mosquito eradication may have a ray of hope for us all. Google’s parent company Alphabet’s life science research arm – Verily Life Sciences has already started preliminary experiments in Fresno, California to get rid of the diseases laden mosquitoes.
Alphabet’s life science research team are breeding & releasing sterilized male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that would have the potential to wipe out the entire population of mosquitoes eventually. The mosquitoes were breed in labs and made sterile by the use of a bacterium that would restrict the hatching of mosquito offsprings.
As per Bloomberg reports, the researchers involved said that if their experiment turns out
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
to successful in Fresno, they will roll out this research intensively over wider areas around the world that are more prone to mosquitoes born diseases such as Dengue and others. Its been reported that Verily’s program has helped cut the A. aegypti species population by at least 95 percent this
year, in the Fresno area of California.Similar experiments were tested in Innisfail, Australia wherein by the end of the programme in June almost 80 percent of the mosquito population was reduced.
Minimal research studies have been conducted to date regarding the role of mosquitoes in our ecosystem. What will be the global impact on our ecosystem if the experiment turns out to be successful eradicating entire species of mosquitoes? Some scientists say that they do not play any significant role in our ecosystem while some are still skeptical to answer. But the idea itself of getting rid of those itchy mosquito bites, irritating buzzing sound in our ears and not to forget getting rid of all those deadly mosquito-borne diseases does make us all feel good.
Courtesy: Bloomberg Reports
Read Latest Biotech Industry Updates Here