Mosquitoes Shot Down by Targeted Laser

The human race has finally reached an answer to the age old question in Verna Aarderna‘s book for children: mosquitoes buzz in the ears of people who do not have lasers.

Professional eccentric millionaire (billionaire?), Nathan Myhrvold‘s Intellectual Ventures Laboratory has delivered a live demo of a “laser gun” designed to track mosquitoes in flight and then burn them with the searing blue-white heat of a thousand thousand photons.

Although the prototype at TED was restricted to showing its skeeter-tracking abilities only, using a harmless green laser for safety reasons, IVL made a video of their gun in action, and we’ve got a segment after the jump:

Ideally, Myhrvold would like the gun to be used to control mosquito populations in malaria stricken areas of the world.  We consider this to be a worthy endeavor, but we can’t help adding this single phrase to your enjoyment of the video.  “Curse you, Red Baron!“

Alternate title: What Life Would be Like If Your Cat Had Laser Vision.