Zapping moths with laser beams seen as answer to crop infestations

SUITA, Osaka Prefecture--Researchers here succeeded in zapping crop-damaging moths with laser beams, a development that has wide implications for parts of the world that suffer insect infestations. Hiroshi Fuji, a specially appointed professor of photonics at Osaka University’s Institute of Laser Engineering, and his colleagues generated high heat by focusing laser light on a circle with a diameter of 1 centimeter. It emerged that applying laser light to the moth’s back, which is protected by wings, is not enough to bring it down. But the insect lost its balance and fell when laser light hits its head or the inner upper side of its body, giving off flashes and smoke. When used in agricultural fields, laser light is expected to be applied upward to prevent any harm to people and crops.