Mosquito Film: September 2011

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"Brewing Up Double-Edged Delicacies for Mosquitoes"

Today's Science Times reports a simple idea that just might turn out to be pretty profound...

"On what food do mosquitoes live? Orgiastic gouts of human blood that distend their abdomens and render them almost unable to move — right?"...

NEW YORK TIMES

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Author Sonia Shah speaking in Pittsburgh

Chatham University to welcome journalist Sonia Shah, author of “The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years,” to give free public lecture on Oct. 4th

http://www.chatham.edu/newsevents/story.cfm?ID=571

Friday, September 9, 2011

"Spermless mosquitoes could help halt malaria spread"

Source: reuters // Reuters
By Kate Kelland
LONDON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Releasing genetically modified, spermless male mosquitoes into the wild could in future help to prevent malaria transmission and reduce the chances of large outbreaks of the killer disease, British scientists said on Monday.

More at: SPERMLESS MOSQUITOES

Better You Than Me: Scientists Sicken Mosquitoes To Stop Dengue

Listen to the story!

"Scientists in Australia are using a bacterium to try to stop a deadly virus in its tracks.
The dengue virus causes a potentially fatal flu-like illness. The World Health Organization says the number of cases of dengue around the world is skyrocketing, and the disease is endemic in more than 100 countries. It has even shown up in Florida recently. There's no vaccine against the virus yet, so control efforts have focused on the mosquito that transmits the disease...."

More at NPR

ABOUT THE FILM:

"No animal on earth has touched so directly and profoundly the lives of so many human beings. Mosquitoes have felled great leaders, decimated armies, and decided the fates of nations. All this and she is roughly the size and weight of a grape seed."
- Author Michael D'Antonio

One of the deadliest threats to human health is a tiny, blood-sucking vampire less than a quarter inch long. Her bite is small but its impact is tremendous. Although in the last half-century dangerous diseases such as malaria, west nile virus and dengue fever have been mostly restricted to the developing world, globalization, foreclosed homes and climate change guarantee that such confinement is now a thing of the past.

MOSQUITO follows some of the most imaginative warriors in the war against disease as they fight to end a global (and local) crisis that now touches all of our lives. Szabolcs Marka, Luke Alphey and Andrew Githoko are soldiers on the frontlines of this battle. Authors Paul Epstein and Michael D'Antonio try to get the word out to a larger public. The film will show the personal, professional, and ethical challenges they experience in their attempt to control mosquitoes with new technologies, and offer an engaging, funny, character-driven narrative that will broaden and deepen a critical global conversation about how to save lives.