Bugs With Mike

Are mosquitoes any good? Can we just get rid of all of them?


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Mosquitoes are at best annoying, and at worst deadly.If you look up a list of the world's most hated animals, you're probably going to find mosquitoes on that list, and with good reason.Here in the United States, mosquitoes are mostly just an annoying nuisance with the occasional warning about West Nile or some other mosquito-borne disease. But each year, 1 in 12 people worldwide are infected with a mosquito-borne illness, and about every 45 seconds, someone dies from malaria, a parasite transmitted by mosquitoes.So do mosquitoes have any redeeming qualities? What stops us from completely eradicating them from off the face of the earth? What good are mosquitoes?

00:00 - Introduction 00:38 - Role of mosquitoes in the environment 01:21 - Mosquitoes inspiring medicine and engineering 01:41 - Mosquitoes as vaccinators 04:50 - Should we eradicate all mosquitoes? 06:07 - Should we eradicate only the disease carrying mosquitoes? 07:37 - Which mosquitoes can we get rid of? 07:55 - My verdict

You can find the written version, along with a list of references, here: https://bugswithmike.com/blog/deep-dive/are-mosquitoes-any-good

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Bugs With MikeBy Mike Porter

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