The method to sterilising male insects with radiation could be adopted in preventing the spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The Sterile Insect Technique has been used in the eradication of the tsetse fly in Zanzibar and to control the fruit fly in Croatia. Steve Thachet spoke to the Deputy Director General and the Head of the Department of Nuclear Science and Application, Aldo Malavasi on how the technique works.