Support for LAist comes from
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Stay Connected
Audience-funded nonprofit news
Listen
Podcasts Take Two
Scientists find gene that turns female mosquitoes into male
solid orange rectangular banner
()
May 26, 2015
Listen 5:20
Scientists find gene that turns female mosquitoes into male
Mosquitoes only suck blood when they need to lay eggs and only female mosquitoes lay eggs. Turning females into males could help curb disease transmission.
(
Photo by James Jordan via Flickr Creative Commons
)

Mosquitoes only suck blood when they need to lay eggs and only female mosquitoes lay eggs. Turning females into males could help curb disease transmission.

Aside from being annoying, mosquitoes are also dangerous. The pesky insects can transmit a number of diseases, some of them fatal. But scientists at Virginia Tech have come up with an innovative idea to keep them at bay: turn female mosquitoes into males. 

The new research was published last week. Zach Adelman is one of the study's author and he joined us for more.