Be careful about swatting that mosquito — it may be trying to save your life. Japanese scientists believe that they have created a “prototype mosquito” that will give “flying vaccinations” for things like malaria.
The scientists have been salivary gland of the Anopheles mosquito. They have succeeded in getting the mosquito to produce a natural vaccine protein in its saliva which is injected into the bloodstream when it bites. Currently they have been experimenting with a vaccine against Leishmania, another potentially fatal parasite disease spread by sand flies.
For the full story, click here.
I’m going to file this under “What could possibly go wrong?”
Like they used to say in the commercials, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.”
Why?
One word.
Mutation.
This is gonna F*** Up what already is and can be. Unless Rove was the test pig, nah, he probably was just born that way.
I’m with you, AY. This could be used in so many evil ways. I guess this is one way to vaccinate those who would refuse.
Did you happen to see this video about Bill Gates?
I like this, maybe also engineer the mosquitos to seek and destroy any malaria-carrying colleagues.
Buddha, the world will be fine, I think nature will be too. All of us were already catastrophunked anyway. I’d prefer mutant mosquitos over many of the zombies we read about in the less positive articles of this blog.
Jericho,
I have no doubt the Earth will be fine. Humans on the other hand? Let’s just say I don’t think goods odds on our tenure here reaching the 165 million year record set by the dinosaurs.
To me, it’s all the more reason to fund NASA. We need more baskets for our eggs.
I don’t think they’ll find another basket, let alone moving us there. But we might engineer some things that help our odds here. I’m glad to see some are still working on actual cures.
this bugs me.
Buddha, there’s yet a new case … engineered tomatoes … I do stick to my point that this may be a cure instead of a curse.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/tomato-plant-yield-raised-by-60-per-cent-1929983.html