|
Mosquito Laser
A mosquito laser is a proposed device that would use lasers to kill mosquitoes. The primary goal would be to reduce malaria infection rates. In 2007, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation asked Intellectual Ventures to find a way to fight and eventually end malaria. There, astrophysicist Lowell Wood had the idea to use lasers. Their project received considerable media attention around 2010, but the device was still under development as of 2017. Project development Initial vision At a brainstorming session in 2007, to think of solutions for malaria, Wood, one of the architects of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as "Star Wars", suggested designing a system to kill mosquitoes with lasers. Soon after, the idea was followed up by many scientists at Intellectual Ventures and mosquitoes were being shot down within a year. The original idea incorporates laser technology that stems from the SDI, scaled down to insects. Although the malaria-carrying parasite is gone fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosquito Dosing By Laser 2
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "little fly". Mosquitoes have a slender segmented body, one pair of wings, one pair of halteres, three pairs of long hair-like legs, and elongated mouthparts. The mosquito life cycle consists of egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages. Eggs are laid on the water surface; they hatch into motile larvae that feed on aquatic algae and organic material. These larvae are important food sources for many freshwater animals, such as dragonfly nymphs, many fish, and some birds such as ducks. The adult females of most species have tube-like mouthparts (called a proboscis) that can pierce the skin of a host and feed on blood, which contains protein and iron needed to produce eggs. Thousands of mosquito species feed on the blood of various hosts — ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retroreflective
A retroreflector (sometimes called a retroflector or cataphote) is a device or surface that reflects radiation (usually light) back to its source with minimum scattering. This works at a wide range of angle of incidence, unlike a planar mirror, which does this only if the mirror is exactly perpendicular to the wave front, having a zero angle of incidence. Being directed, the retroflector's reflection is brighter than that of a diffuse reflector. Corner reflectors and cat's eye reflectors are the most used kinds. Types There are several ways to obtain retroreflection: Corner reflector A set of three mutually perpendicular reflective surfaces, placed to form the internal corner of a cube, work as a retroreflector. The three corresponding normal vectors of the corner's sides form a basis in which to represent the direction of an arbitrary incoming ray, . When the ray reflects from the first side, say x, the ray's ''x''-component, ''a'', is reversed to −''a'', while the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser Applications
Many scientific, military, medical and commercial laser applications have been developed since the invention of the laser in 1958. The coherency, high monochromaticity, and ability to reach extremely high powers are all properties which allow for these specialized applications. Scientific In science, lasers are used in many ways, including: * A wide variety of interferometric techniques'' * Raman spectroscopy * Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy * Atmospheric ''remote sensing'' * Investigating nonlinear optics phenomena * Holographic techniques employing lasers also contribute to a number of measurement techniques. * Laser based lidar (LIght raDAR) technology has application in geology, seismology, remote sensing and atmospheric physics. * Lasers have been used aboard spacecraft such as in the Cassini-Huygens mission. * In astronomy, lasers have been used to create artificial ''laser guide stars'', used as reference objects for adaptive optics telescopes. Lasers may als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insect Control
Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest; any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the damage done and will range from tolerance, through deterrence and management, to attempts to completely eradicate the pest. Pest control measures may be performed as part of an integrated pest management strategy. In agriculture, pests are kept at bay by mechanical, cultural, chemical and biological means. Ploughing and cultivation of the soil before sowing mitigate the pest burden, and crop rotation helps to reduce the build-up of a certain pest species. Concern about environment means limiting the use of pesticides in favour of other methods. This can be achieved by monitoring the crop, only applying pesticides when necessary, and by growing varieties and crops which are resistant to pests. Where possible, biological means are used, encouraging the natural enemie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin ten to fifteen days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria. Malaria is caused by single-celled microorganisms of the ''Plasmodium'' group. It is spread exclusively through bites of infected ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood. The parasites travel to the liver where they mature and reproduce. Five species of ''Plasmodium'' can infect and be spread by h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mosquito Net
A mosquito net is a type of meshed curtain that is circumferentially draped over a bed or a sleeping area, to offer the sleeper barrier protection against bites and stings from mosquitos, flies, and other pest insects, and thus against the diseases they may carry. Examples of such preventable insect-borne diseases include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, zika virus, Chagas disease and various forms of encephalitis, including the West Nile virus. To be effective the mesh of a mosquito net must be fine enough to exclude such insects without obscuring visibility or ventilation to unacceptable levels. It is possible to increase the effectiveness of a mosquito net greatly by pretreating it with an appropriate insecticide or insect repellent. Research has shown mosquito nets to be an extremely effective method of malaria prevention, averting approximately 663 million cases of malaria over the period 2000–2015. History Mosquito netting is mainly used for the protectio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laser Fence
A laser fence or laser wall is a mechanism to detect objects passing the line of sight between the laser source and the detector.http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3825916.html accessed 26 Jan 2011 Stronger lasers can be used to injure entities passing the laser beam. In fiction, laser fences may have the ability to stop intruders by blocking or injuring them. Description A laser fence mechanism detects objects passing the line of sight between a source and |
Infra-red
Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around 1 millimeter (300 GHz) to the nominal red edge of the visible spectrum, around 700 nanometers (430 THz). Longer IR wavelengths (30 μm-100 μm) are sometimes included as part of the terahertz radiation range. Almost all black-body radiation from objects near room temperature is at infrared wavelengths. As a form of electromagnetic radiation, IR propagates energy and momentum, exerts radiation pressure, and has properties corresponding to both those of a wave and of a particle, the photon. It was long known that fires emit invisible heat; in 1681 the pioneering experimenter Edme Mariotte showed that glass, though transparent to sunlight, obstructed radiant heat. In 1800 the astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathan Myhrvold
Nathan Paul Myhrvold (born August 3, 1959), formerly Chief Technology Officer at Microsoft, is co-founder of Intellectual Ventures and the principal author of ''Modernist Cuisine'' and its successor books. Myhrvold was listed as co-inventor on 17 U.S. patents at Microsoft and is co-inventor on over 900 other U.S. patents issued to his corporation and its affiliates. Early life and education Myhrvold was born on August 3, 1959 in Seattle, Washington to Norwegian American parents. He was raised in Santa Monica, California, where he attended Mirman School and Santa Monica High School, graduating in 1974, and began college at age 14. Transferring from Santa Monica College, he studied mathematics (B.Sc.), and geophysics and space physics (Master's) at UCLA. He was awarded a Hertz Foundation Fellowship for graduate study and studied at Princeton University, where he earned a master's degree in mathematical economics and completed a Ph.D. in applied mathematics after completing a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do It Yourself
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi-raw materials and parts to produce, transform, or reconstruct material possessions, including those drawn from the natural environment (e.g., landscaping)". DIY behavior can be triggered by various motivations previously categorized as marketplace motivations (economic benefits, lack of product availability, lack of product quality, need for customization), and identity enhancement (craftsmanship, empowerment, community seeking, uniqueness). The term "do-it-yourself" has been associated with consumers since at least 1912 primarily in the domain of home improvement and maintenance activities. The phrase "do it yourself" had come into common usage (in standard English) by the 1950s, in reference to the emergence of a trend of people undert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anopheles
''Anopheles'' () is a genus of mosquito first described and named by J. W. Meigen in 1818. About 460 species are recognised; while over 100 can transmit human malaria, only 30–40 commonly transmit parasites of the genus ''Plasmodium'', which cause malaria in humans in endemic areas. '' Anopheles gambiae'' is one of the best known, because of its predominant role in the transmission of the most dangerous malaria parasite species (to humans) – '' Plasmodium falciparum''. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word 'useless', derived from , 'not', 'un-' and 'profit'. Mosquitoes in other genera (''Aedes'', ''Culex'', '' Culiseta'', '' Haemagogus'', and ''Ochlerotatus'') can also serve as vectors of disease agents, but not human malaria. Evolution The ancestors of ''Drosophila'' and the mosquitoes diverged . The culicine and ''Anopheles'' clades of mosquitoes diverged between and . The Old and New World ''Anopheles'' species subsequently diverged between and . '' Anophel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charge-coupled Devices
A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a major technology used in digital imaging. In a CCD image sensor, pixels are represented by p-doped metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) capacitors. These MOS capacitors, the basic building blocks of a CCD, are biased above the threshold for inversion when image acquisition begins, allowing the conversion of incoming photons into electron charges at the semiconductor-oxide interface; the CCD is then used to read out these charges. Although CCDs are not the only technology to allow for light detection, CCD image sensors are widely used in professional, medical, and scientific applications where high-quality image data are required. In applications with less exacting quality demands, such as consumer and professional digital cameras, act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
