Matthew D Keller, David J Leahy, Bryan J Norton, Threeric Johanson, Emma R Mullen, Maclen Marvit, Arty Makagon
Small, flying insects continue to pose great risks to both human health and agricultural production throughout the world, so there remains a compelling need to develop new vector and pest control approaches. Here, we examined the use of short (<25 ms) laser pulses to kill or disable anesthetized female Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes, which were chosen as a representative species. The mortality of mosquitoes exposed to laser pulses of various wavelength, power, pulse duration, and spot size combinations was assessed 24 hours after exposure...
February 18, 2016: Scientific Reports