This Little Sticker Works Like an Anti-Mosquito Force Field | Wired Design

Health technology

This is where science and crowd-sourcing get together effectively to solve a global problem. Somehow I wasn’t surprised that field testing is going to be done in Uganda at the end of the year. Pricing this effectively is going to be a challenge. But if it works, we may be on the way to solving the mosquito-borne diseases problem.

Essentially, the Kite Patch is a little square sticker that emits a cloak of chemical compounds that blocks a mosquito’s ability to sense humans. According to its developers, users simply have to place the patch onto their clothes, and they become invisible to mosquitoes for up to 48 hours. This is big news for developing countries like Uganda, where residents have little beyond mosquito nets and toxic sprays to combat the illness-spreading insects.

That’s exactly where Kite’s creators, a collaborative team made up of innovation venture capital group ieCrowd and Olfactor Laboratories, intend to ship these off to as soon as they’re done blowing past their second goal on global crowdsourcing site Indiegogo. Launched just last month, the campaign surpassed its original goal of $75,000 in just four days and is now gunning for a new goal of $385,000 (currently at $336,000).

via This Little Sticker Works Like an Anti-Mosquito Force Field | Wired Design | Wired.com.

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  • Jared Purdy
    August 6, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    Not sure if this is the same or similar as a product that I recently saw advertised in Canada – but for camping and everyday use in the summer. In fact, I think it was made by the same company that makes Raid or Off.

    • chief_doodle
      August 6, 2013 at 1:06 pm

      They did mention that they had some trials of it in Canada. So it might be. They didn’t say how it was marketed here. Curious to see the results of the tests in Uganda next year.

  • Jared Purdy
    August 6, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    Interesting. I saw the commercial on TV and was intrigued as I like to fish (going this morning actually) and I don’t like using “bug juice” for it’s toxicity and smell.

  • This Little Sticker Works Like an Anti-Mosquito...
    August 6, 2013 at 11:09 pm

    […] This is where science and crowd-sourcing get together effectively to solve a global problem. Somehow I wasn’t surprised that field testing is going to be done in Uganda at the end of the year. Pricing this effectively is going to be a challenge.  […]