Page 30 - BBC Focus - August 2017

INNOVATIONS

E N V I R O NME N T

NEVER MIND THE PESTICIDES,

HERE’S A BUG-ZAPPING FENCE!

Farmers under pressure to reduce chemical By deploying several such devices, farmers could
pesticides can take heart from the news that the US effectively create a virtual fence around their crops
Department of Agriculture is about to start trialling that kills harmful pests but leaves bees and other
a device that can kill insects with a laser. beneficial or harmless insects unharmed.
Developed by Seattle company Intellectual As well as protecting crops, it’s hoped the Photonic
Ventures Lab (IVL), the ‘Photonic Fence’ isn’t really a Fence could also prove useful in the fight against
fence at all, but a small box containing lasers, malaria, by eliminating only the Anopheles
cameras and an AI computer system. The cameras mosquitoes that spread the disease without
scan the air around the device for 100 metres, and the upsetting the balance of the local ecosystem in the
AI system measures the shape, speed, acceleration way that blanket use of chemical pesticides would.
and wingbeat frequency of any bugs detected, to The US trials will begin in August. If the device is
establish which are potentially harmful. Any insects proven to work, then IVL hopes to bring a
identified as a threat can then be zapped by the lasers, commercial product to market, though that will still
with a ‘kill rate’ of up to 20 insects per second. be some years away.

“Destroy all
mosquitoes!”

PHOTOS: IVL, HYPERLOOP

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