Back of the net

摘要

Engineers at Warwick University are using imaging technology to observe thousands of mosquitoes in a bid to develop better netting against the malaria-spreading insect. When observing mosquitoes and their interaction with insecticide-treated barriers such as netting, researchers have previously relied on recording the insect's final landing location, which does not accurately reflect their approach and handling of protective barriers. Engineers at Warwick believe they've overcome this limitation. Using a modified back-lighting technique, the insects have been imaged throughout a 2×2.4×1m volume using illumination in the near infrared, a wavelength not perceived by mosquitoes. Two cameras capture 50 images per second. Around 360,000 images are captured each hour, each taken at four million pixels, or 1.4 TerraBytes (TB) in total size.