CTV: Manitoba researcher has a plan to make mosquitoes drop like flies

Biological sciences professor Steven Whyard was recently featured in a CTV news report for his research into controlling mosquito numbers that involves releasing sterile males into the population.

As CTV reports:

The University of Manitoba researcher is hatching a plan to control the population of the needle-nosed disease distributors by chemically sterilizing a batch of males and releasing them into the wild.

If all goes according to plan, the pesky vectors’ population will plummet to manageable levels after a few unsuccessful mating seasons, leaving Canadians free to enjoy summers without the stink of bug spray.

“What we’re doing is we’re treating the mosquitos as larvae,” Whyard says. “So we’re putting something in the water while they’re grazing, and they’re feeding on this compound that will actually knock out their fertility.”