Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

BUGGED OUT Deadly ‘super mosquitoes that are even tougher’ accidentally created by scientists
The Sun UK ^ | 17 Sep 2019, 17:49Updated: 18 Sep 2019, 15:21 | Charlotte Edwards, Digital Technology and Science Reporter

Posted on 09/18/2019 7:34:47 AM PDT by Red Badger

FULL TITLE:

BUGGED OUT Deadly ‘super mosquitoes that are even tougher’ accidentally created by scientists after bungled experiment

============================================================

GENETICALLY modified mosquitoes that were designed by scientists to help populations decrease are actually thriving.

This is according to new research that claims the plan to create gene-hacked mosquitoes that have offspring which die immediately has spectacularly backfired and now scientists don't know what will happen next.

he modified mosquitoes were released in Jacobina in Brazil and were supposed to mix with the local population and decrease numbers with their weak offspring genetics.

Although the wild population did plummet for a short while, 18 months later it was right back up again.

This is mostly concerning because scientists think the new 'super mosquitoes' have properties that might make them harder to kill.

Research about the pests has been published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Mosquitoes like the Aedes aegypti variety that was edited can carry dangerous diseases like yellow fever, Zika virus and Malaria.

This is why efforts are being made to reduce their numbers.

However, now traces of the genetically modified genes have been found in the natural population.

This means they are successfully interbreeding.

The researchers concluded: "It is unclear how this may affect disease transmission or affect other efforts to control these dangerous vectors."

The offspring of the gene-hacked mosquitoes and the natural ones are thought to be more robust but whether they pose a threat is unknown.

Researcher Jeffrey Powell told News Atlas: "It is the unanticipated outcome that is concerning."

Oxitec, the British biotech company running the project, assured members of the public that this negative result would not happen.

It then released 450,000 genetically mutated mosquitoes into the wild where interbreeding caused the spread of the mutated genes because the offspring failed to die.

Oxitec disagrees with some of the information published in the research paper about its experiment and is said to be working with Nature Research publishers to make changes.



TOPICS: Agriculture; Gardening; Health/Medicine; Outdoors; Pets/Animals; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ddt; disease; genetics; malaria; mosquito; mosquitoes; oops; pests; plague; supermosquito
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last
To: Red Badger

Sounds like a typical Dem plan to fix a problem but actually makes it worse.


21 posted on 09/18/2019 8:16:03 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage? (Drain the Swamp. Build the Wall.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

For more commentary:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3778914/posts

Now, where is my skeeter zapper?


22 posted on 09/18/2019 8:27:51 AM PDT by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Stupid f’ers! If they had any sense to begin with, they’d have started with the simplest, cheapest and most effective anti-mosquito treatment ever invented: DDT.

Now they had better use DDT before these particular mosquitoes really become a big problem. This is just like fire ants - and didn’t they originally get released/escape into the wild in the Western Hemisphere starting in Brazil?

Hell, just nuke Brazil. God only knows what’s next - maybe they’re going to create smart sharks with lasers? Dumb bastards!


23 posted on 09/18/2019 8:49:11 AM PDT by Ancesthntr ("The right to buy weapons is the right to be free." A. E. van Vogt, The Weapons Shops of Isher)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

The fruits of science have killed millions. And now they are messing with animal/human projects. What could possibly go wrong?


24 posted on 09/18/2019 8:50:06 AM PDT by txrefugee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

This is how the Zombie Apocalypse starts.


25 posted on 09/18/2019 8:50:54 AM PDT by Lazamataz (We can be called a racist and we'll just smile. Because we don't care.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
"The offspring of the gene-hacked mosquitoes and the natural ones are thought to be more robust..."

Well, duh. Nobody teaches these scientists basic genetics before they turn them loose on the gene-editing equipment?

Heterosis (Hybrid Vigor)

26 posted on 09/18/2019 9:04:06 AM PDT by Boogieman
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: z3n

It could be more complicated. My first thought was “hybrid vigor”. Genes can be multifunctional. There are cases where a gene will activate function X in the body, but under a different condition, that same gene will turn off function X. Now, that is not a case of hybrid vigor. But the suggestion of a “stronger” population says the “weak” genes may have done something similar. My question is whether or not they really injected the same species of mosquito into that area in Brazil. Gotta read the paper.


27 posted on 09/18/2019 9:04:41 AM PDT by bioqubit (bioqubit: Educated Men Make Terrible Slaves - Aristotle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: txrefugee
The fruits of science have killed millions.

The fruits of science have fed, clothed, and housed billions.

If you don't like science, or the fruits thereof, feel free to rid yourself of them.

You can start with your computer ...

28 posted on 09/18/2019 9:06:56 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Nobody and I mean NO BODY saw that one coming. /s


29 posted on 09/18/2019 10:02:10 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: sport

And what conspiracy site provided you with that story?


30 posted on 09/18/2019 10:04:55 AM PDT by Pelham (Secure Voter ID. Mexico has it, because unlike us they take voting seriously)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

We have advanced in our technology far beyond our ability to use it safely and wisely.


31 posted on 09/18/2019 10:41:41 AM PDT by metmom ( ...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

SCIENCE!


32 posted on 09/18/2019 3:22:16 PM PDT by Libloather (CHANGE CLIMATE CHANGE!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bitman

Yes. Man is fallen, and his chief failing is always trying to improve upon what God has created.

The exalted Scientific Method is but a tool (like a gun, although procedural, and more versatile): It is neutral and limited. It does not guarantee objectivity, no matter how much its worshippers - I call them Scientismists - pretend it does.

Scientists are fallen human beings, and make foolish mistakes. As someone who garnered awards in the physical sciences, I am not awed by them.

The predilection I most hate is that scientists climb some potentially catastrophic mountain simply because it is there, and the summit provides a vista that the military can then weaponize.

The same scientists who made it possible then sanctimoniously pontificate against the evils of the war-mongering military, who could never have climbed that particular mountain themselves.


33 posted on 09/18/2019 4:49:51 PM PDT by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; ...
Although the wild population did plummet for a short while, 18 months later it was right back up again.
Gosh, it's almost as if they need to make a mosquito with non-viable offspring that can out-bang all the wild mosquitoes. Regardless though, their approach is inherently flawed, for reasons which should be obvious.

34 posted on 09/20/2019 9:45:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SunkenCiv

DDT is the only answer......................that works............


35 posted on 09/20/2019 9:47:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain......................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-35 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson