Debugging Nature

A large drone descended from the sky. Slowly, a hatch opened and thousands of mosquitoes streamed out of it. For a few moments, the sun was blackened out by them. Then they spread out and the day was as sunny as before.

Leonie had watched the process with mild curiosity. It wasn’t unusual, the drones appeared every few days to release some insects, just to disappear again. Her mother had told her once that it hadn’t always been this way, but that the drones were there to protect everyone.

How releasing a huge number of mosquitoes could help anyone, that she had never understood. Maybe it was time to ask her mom again?

She got out of her hammock and left the garden through the kitchen door. Her mother was at the table, looking over some files.

”Mom, the drone visited again.” Leonie said. Her mother looked up.

”Again? Are they never finished with this? I thought it would take only a few months when they started this project.”

”What is the project?” Leonie inquired.

”I already told you, sweetie. It’s to keep us safe.”

”No, I mean how does it keep us safe?”

Her mom put down the papers she had been looking at and gestured Leonie to sit down.

”You know, mosquitoes can be very dangerous. When they bite human to suck blood, they tend to spread diseases. Several years ago, there was this mosquito species called Aedes aegypti which transmitted horrible diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and the Zika virus.”

Leonie had never heard of these diseases, but the names made her shudder.

Her mother continued. ”Scientists did a lot of research on how to cure those diseases, but then they decided it was smarter to stop the mosquitoes from transmitting them in the first place. They tried to do it by sterilizing them with radiation, but those mosquitoes weren’t as good at reproducing. They tried to genetically modify them, but people didn’t like the idea.
Finally, they found a bacteria, called Wolbachia, that can sterilize the male mosquitoes without influencing them otherwise.”

”Why male mosquitoes?” Asked Leonie. ”Why not both?”

”Male mosquitoes don’t suck blood, so they’re harmless to humans. Millions of them were infected and raised by a robot to then be released into the wild. After a while, the number of dangerous mosquitoes decreased, but some were always able to escape.”

”So they just keep dumping infected mosquitoes until they are all gone?”

”Exactly. Do you have any more questions or can I go back to my work?”

”I think that’s it. Thanks, mom!”

Leonie went outside again, back into the hammock. Some mosquitoes were still buzzing around. Did they know that they were helping to bring an end to their own species? Probably not.

The girl closed her eyes and fell asleep.

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Sources:

Debug Fresno, our first U.S. field study
Introducing the Debug Project
Alphabet's Life Science Division Verily Is Releasing 20 Million Mosquitoes in California

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