Nov. 26, 2012 at 12:32 PM ET
Even in the cold darkness of winter, a hot muggy mosquito infested day sounds miserable. Thankfully, there’s now an air conditioner that doubles as a mosquito repellent. The repellent comes in the form of ultrasonic waves, which make a sound that drives away the pesky insects.
The high-tech gizmo from LG Electronics sounds like a must-get for the wealthy Florida retiree on your holiday shopping list, but it’s intended as a potential game-changer for parts of Africa where malaria, a mosquito-transmitted disease, is a major public health threat.
In tests, the unit deterred 64 percent of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes within 24 hours and 82 percent overall.
The company even took Africa’s notoriously unreliable power supplies into consideration as it designed the Anti-Mosquito air conditioner. It is outfitted with technology meant to withstand the electric current fluctuations associated with repeated blackouts and extreme operating conditions.
Yes, air conditioners are a relative luxury, but with research on anti-malaria vaccines stumbling and low-cost mosquito nets becoming less effective, an air conditioning unit that shoos away a good portion of the deadly mosquitoes today is that much cooler.
–via Gizmodo
John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.
Video: An Israeli inventor set out to build a bicycle using cardboard. With the help of a little origami, he now has a cheap, paper bike that can ride around town. Yara Borgal reports.
