Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation would like to eradicate malaria. Their plan is help create a modified mosquito that when it mates with the female, the offspring will die before it bites.
Microsoft’s Bill Gates is investing $4 million in a new mosquito program that will end malaria. He plans to create a genetically modified male mosquito so it mates with females to create other mosquitoes that die before they can bite as adults.
Since only female mosquitoes bite, the lab-engineered insects won’t nip anyone once they are set loose. Instead, they’ll mate with the females, and pass on to their offspring a “self-limiting” gene that is meant to kill off future generations of female mosquitoes before they reach adulthood, when their people-biting phase of life would normally begin.
The males can then continue seeking out more female mosquitoes to impregnate with the self-limiting gene for up to another ten generations, the company said in a release.
Source Business Insider
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