this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024
500 points (98.3% liked)

Memes

8304 readers
626 users here now

Post memes here.

A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.

An Internet meme or meme, is a cultural item that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. The name is by the concept of memes proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1972. Internet memes can take various forms, such as images, videos, GIFs, and various other viral sensations.


Laittakaa meemejä tänne.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 4 months ago (2 children)

There are only a few species of mosquitoes that pose a threat to humans (and several thousand that don't). If we had a way to effectively eradicate those few species, then it probably wouldn't have major consequences. They don't fill an important, unique niche in their ecosystems like, say, bees.

But we don't have a way to do that. Not without huge collateral damage from poisons and the like. There's been some promising work with genetic engineering, releasing mosquitoes that will mate and produce non-viable offspring. This can greatly reduce a local population in the short-term, but they bounce back.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago

This can greatly reduce a local population in the short-term, but they bounce back.

Not necessarily, all attempts/experiments done so far have been intentionally limited. If we simply throw the dial to 11 and just absolutely flooded the areas it might have a much more long term impact and possibly eradication

[–] Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com 9 points 4 months ago

The US entirely eliminated screwworms within its border in a very similar fashion 60 years ago and then wiped them off the whole continent just for good measure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olj8arvfYj4

If we actually directed effort at exterminating harmful mosquitos, they would be gone in a couple years.