Speaker 1: Hovering above the landscape in Africa are a small fleet
Speaker 1: of drones. Their mission seek out the places where mosquitoes
Speaker 1: lay their eggs. It's all in an effort to wipe
Speaker 1: out malaria. I'm Jonathan Strickland, and this is tech stuff. Daily,
Speaker 1: drones get a lot of bad press. It's understandable because
Speaker 1: there's a lot of potential to misuse the technology, either
Speaker 1: by accident or on purpose. There are stories of people
Speaker 1: flying drones where they shouldn't, such as near airports or
Speaker 1: over crowds of people. There are news items about privacy
Speaker 1: concerns and people using drones to spy on neighbors. And
Speaker 1: of course there are the stories of weaponized drones that
Speaker 1: can be operated from hundreds of miles away to fire
Speaker 1: upon targets that may or may not actually be the enemy.
Speaker 1: But there are some great stories out there about people
Speaker 1: using drones to benefit humanity. This is one of those.
Speaker 1: Andy Hardy wrote a piece for fizz org that the details.
Speaker 1: Hardy and his colleagues have started using drones and Zanzibar
Speaker 1: to help local officials identify mosquito breeding grounds. Mosquitoes can
Speaker 1: carry malaria and transmit it to humans. The actual carrier
Speaker 1: is a parasite. The parasites enters the mosquito and then
Speaker 1: can transfer to a human host when the adult mosquito
Speaker 1: feeds on a person. Malaria is a serious disease. Initial
Speaker 1: symptoms can include fever, chills, and other flu like symptoms.
Speaker 1: The real danger is that malaria can develop serious and
Speaker 1: even deadly complications. In there were an estimated two hundred
Speaker 1: twelve million cases of malaria according to the Centers for
Speaker 1: Disease Control and Prevention. More than four hundred twenty nine
Speaker 1: thousand people died from malaria. Most of those were children.
Speaker 1: In Africa, modern techniques like mosquito nets and insecticides have
Speaker 1: helped reduce infection rates dramatically over the last few years.
Speaker 1: According to Hardy, some areas of Zanzibar have seen prevalence
Speaker 1: rates drop from down to one percent due to these initiatives,
Speaker 1: but not all areas can benefit from these approaches, and
Speaker 1: Hardy thinks drones can help reduce malaria infection rates even more.
Speaker 1: The drones wouldn't be going on some sort of mosquito
Speaker 1: zapping rampage, though that would be cool. Instead, a human
Speaker 1: operator would fly the drone over a region in an
Speaker 1: effort to identified bodies of water that could be prime
Speaker 1: mosquito breeding grounds. These are typically still bodies, such as
Speaker 1: a roadside culvert or rice paddies. Some of these may
Speaker 1: be well known to locals, but Africa is a big
Speaker 1: place and it's not exactly easy to survey on foot.
Speaker 1: The team plans on using drones to map out regions
Speaker 1: and seek out these bodies of water during mosquito breeding seasons.
Speaker 1: They can deploy drones near malaria hotspots as they pop
Speaker 1: up and locate targets. Then locals can travel to those
Speaker 1: locations and use larva sides to treat the water, killing
Speaker 1: the larvae before they have a chance to mature to
Speaker 1: full grown mosquitoes. According to Hardy, the process is quick
Speaker 1: and efficient. It takes about twenty minutes for an operator
Speaker 1: to use a drone to conduct a survey of a
Speaker 1: thirty hectare rice patty that's equivalent to about seventy four
Speaker 1: acres of land. The larva sides will be low toxicity
Speaker 1: chemicals to reduce the chance of ecological damage or human harm.
Speaker 1: That's a big change from a few decades ago, when
Speaker 1: dangerous chemicals like DDT were the ones we'd rely upon.
Speaker 1: The team is also aware of the potential problems of drones.
Speaker 1: One of those is getting locals to trust the technology.
Speaker 1: Hardy says an effective approach is to invite people to
Speaker 1: watch as an operator pilots of drone over an area.
Speaker 1: People can witness the drone launching, look at monitors showing
Speaker 1: a live camera feed from the drone as it moves
Speaker 1: over the area, and view the drone as it returns
Speaker 1: and lands. The team also plans to educate people about
Speaker 1: privacy concerns and responsible methods of drone operation to head
Speaker 1: off any potential misuse before it can happen. That includes
Speaker 1: learning how to avoid situations that could lead to collisions
Speaker 1: with other aircraft or actions that might harm local wildlife.
Speaker 1: The team also wants to develop apps that can coordinate
Speaker 1: between surveyors and teams deploying larva side to bodies of water.
Speaker 1: As each team makes progress, they can update the app
Speaker 1: and coordinate their efforts. This will make the entire approach
Speaker 1: more effective and efficient. Ultimately, that should translate into an
Speaker 1: affordable approach that can reduce malaria infection rates in areas
Speaker 1: that are otherwise in danger. Drones aren't the only technology
Speaker 1: people hope to use in the fight against mosquito born infections.
Speaker 1: There are some research firms working with genetically modified mosquitoes
Speaker 1: in an effort to reduce or wipe out diseases like
Speaker 1: the Zyca virus. In this approach, scientists create modified mosquito
Speaker 1: DNA and injected into eggs containing what will become a
Speaker 1: male mosquito. Male mosquitoes don't bite humans, but what they
Speaker 1: will do is seek out mates. When these lab altered
Speaker 1: mosquitoes mate with wild female mosquitoes, they produce eggs that
Speaker 1: have some of this altered DNA, which will prevent those
Speaker 1: eggs from ever developing into adult mosquitoes. Over time, this
Speaker 1: could lead to a big drop of mosquito populations, reducing
Speaker 1: the prevalence of illnesses as a byproduct. In the future,
Speaker 1: will likely use a suite of strategies to fight off
Speaker 1: mosquitoes and prevent or cure the illnesses they transmit. That's
Speaker 1: some news that you might find soothing, particularly if mosquitoes
Speaker 1: find you to be delicious. That's all for today. To
Speaker 1: learn more about how technology can help us prevent disease,
Speaker 1: boost our abilities, or just let us play a video game,
Speaker 1: subscribe to the Tech Stuff Podcast. It's a long form
Speaker 1: show that takes a long, hard look at technology, and
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