Google's 'mosquito cannon' releases millions of insects with a virus that wipes out the population

Google is making headway on a landmark project that hopes to one day rid the world of disease-carrying mosquitoes that can be a nuisance to some regions and dangerously fatal to others. The'Debug Fresno' project, launched by Google parent company Alphabet's Verily life sciences unit, has been releasing millions of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes in northern California's Fresno county. Approximately 80,000 of the tiny, engineered mosquitoes, which have a wingspan of just a few millimeters, are set free from a roving van using a'mosquito cannon' after being infected with a bacteria in the hopes of killing off the entire mosquito population in that area. The'Debug Fresno' project, launched by Alphabet's Verily unit, has been releasing tens of thousands of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes (pictured) in northern California's Fresno county The Aedes aegypti has white markings on its legs and a marking in the form of a lyre on the upper surface of its thorax. The mosquito originated in Africa but is now found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.