Mosquitoes are among the biggest spreaders of blood-borne
diseases such as malaria. Many Third World countries with poor
medical care are in warm, relatively moist regions yielding lots
of mosquitoes and little treatment for the illnesses they
transmit -- a deadly combination. Malaria alone kills one
million people annually. The solution is to kill the mosquitoes,
but insecticides and repellants are typically toxic, expensive,
and have the possibility of not working on "super strands" which
become resistant to the chemicals. Vaccines for mosquito-borne
illnesses like malaria are safer, but still expensive and can
only prevent certain diseases. So researchers in Seattle have
turned to the decades old Star Wars program for answers for
today's mosquito problem. The Star Wars program aimed to shoot
down nuclear missiles with lasers. The new program aims at a
much smaller target; it seeks to kill mosquitoes en masse with
deadly laser pulses. The researchers, led by Jordin Kare, an
astrophysicist formerly with Lawr