Pranav Agarwal has developed a solar-powered device that aerates the surface of stagnant water in order to prevent mosquitos from laying their eggs and therefore from proliferating.
Mosquitos like to lay their eggs in stagnant or still water -- the females need the surface of the water to be still in order to deposit up to 400 eggs at a time and the larvae need to stay in contact with the surface of the water in order to breathe. The Solar Scare Mosquito aims to curb the spread of mosquito-carried diseases such as malaria and dengue by disrupting the insects' breeding grounds. It works by sitting on the surface of the water and generating air bubbles at regular intervals to produce ripples in a radius of up to two metres.
The device -- which Agarwal built for less than $10 (£6) -- features a bubble aerator, an air pump and a solar charger. It floats on the water and runs at regular intervals in order to disrupt the surface of the water and kill off mosquito larvae. In tests, the tool managed to reduce mosquito populations in a small pool to almost nothing within a week. Agarwal has outlined how to build the device in a blog post.
He says: "Considering that every year, the global medical expenditure on malaria control amounts to over $6 billion, ubiquitously installing this device in villages and cities would cost only a fraction of that amount. I hope that, one day, this cost effective and sustainable device will save the world valuable money and priceless lives."
While this device may be helpful in reducing the ability of mosquitos to breed in some pools, these insects are incredibly resourceful, and can deposit their eggs in tiny puddles of rainwater pretty much anywhere -- footprints, hoof prints, plant nooks, ditches, wheel ruts can all provide a home for thousands of mosquito larvae. In fact, it is these sorts of temporary bodies of water that are more often the source of mosquitos than established ponds, as explained by public health entomologist David Gaines.
You can learn how to make the Solar Scare Mosquito on Instructables.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
