Attack the Problem, not the Symptoms
A flower that kills disease. Instead of spending millions/billions solving the symptoms, let’s just spend hundreds of thousands of dollars preventing the problem from occurring. Sounds like a bargain to me. It’s like spaying and neutering your pets instead of trying to find homes for all the puppies. Like using a condom instead of dropping out of school to get a job to pay for diapers. Like getting more sleep instead of relying on caffeine to get us through the day. Wait, not that last one…
The most common way of fighting diseases like malaria, dengue fever, and West Nile today is to try to wipe out the mosquitoes carrying them and treat those who have been infected. Now there’s an alternative on the horizon that promises to be safer and cheaper by zapping the germs while sparing the mosquitoes. The technology is hidden in an artificial flower designed to attract mosquitoes and treat them with pathogen-killing drugs that allow the insects to live and continue to perform important functions such as pollinating flowers and serving as food for animals and other insects.
Pretty interesting stuff, and exactly why I liked Biology in undergrad. Find the rest of the article here.