Mosquito control, a simple optical method.

Mosquitoes are extremely harmful to humans, spreading diseases to millions of people each year, many of whom die as a result of these infections. Mosquitoes have evolved to live in low light, to identify active, moving predators to avoid, and to recognize passive objects around which to navigate. The experiments in this paper introduce a method that involves the use of LED light to flood areas with the simulated presence of actively persisting objects. In a related paper, a highly regarded mosquito laboratory at a U.S. university used a dual-color pulsing light bulb to encourage mosquitoes to prefer one place to another. Although this was shown to be a potentially life-saving technology, further study under more carefully controlled conditions is required to ascertain whether the mosquitoes’ behavior was not influenced by extraneous factors. The experiments herein capture the movement of mosquitoes away from a faintly lit, treated area towards a more well-lit one.