New Drone Target: Mosquitoes

The ever-expanding list of drone targets now includes mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. The drones won't be zapping or spraying the bugs, but rather looking for their breeding areas, reports the Miami Herald. The idea is to have the camera-equipped drones buzz into remote thickets and pinpoint the breeding areas of the prolific black salt marsh mosquito. At that point, human crews would follow up and destroy the developing larva.

“Our people on the ground have to walk an hour to a marsh and find out what’s there,” says an official with the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District. “If something like this could allow them to map where the water is, we could move a lot more quickly.” Testing began yesterday. Parks officials in Ottawa, meanwhile, find that drones can help keep geese off the local beaches. (More drones stories.)