Saving crops, people with inexpensive bug sensors
Tuesday, April 29, 2014 - 18:01
in Biology & Nature
A method that can classify different species of insects with up to 99 percent accuracy has been created by researchers, a development that could help farmers protect their crops from insect damage and limit the spread of insect-borne diseases, such as malaria and Dengue fever. For hundreds of years humans have attempted to kill unwanted insects. While some blanket methods have been successful, they can be costly and create environmental problems. The sensor developed by these researchers aims to change that by counting and classifying the insects so that the substance used to eradicate the harmful insects can be applied on a precision targeted level.