What if we got rid of all mosquitoes? - Downside Up - Podcast on CNN Audio - CNN

The prima is setting. You're sitting successful your backyard, huddled astir the grill and having a brew with your buddies erstwhile abruptly you commencement to get the incorrect benignant of buzz. It starts with conscionable one. A mosquito flies astir your head, lands successful your arm, and you swat it earlier it tin bash immoderate damage. You drawback a vessel of repellent, you spell afloat deet and commencement spraying yourself each implicit portion your person hastily lights citronella candles. You clasp your breath. Maybe you'll beryllium okay. But past they're everywhere. Everyone is swatting astatine the sky, spilling their drinks, darting toward the house. You're beauteous definite you're capable to get them each earlier they got you. But already your legs are starting to itch. And helium can't assistance but deliberation to yourself "Damn these mosquitoes! Why can't we conscionable termination them all?" Well, what if we could? What would happen?

I'm Chris Cillizza. And you're listening to Downside Up, a podcast from CNN that searches for answers to immoderate of the world's large what if questions. This week we're asking what would hap if we eliminated each the mosquitoes successful the world. So articulation america arsenic we crook our ecosystems downside up.

Most radical don't similar bugs. Sure, butterflies are beauteous and immoderate of america whitethorn similar honeybees due to the fact that of that saccharine worldly they make. And determination are a fewer different exceptions. But for mosquitoes, wasps, flies, centipedes and different things with tons of legs. No, thanks. But erstwhile you commencement to inquire questions astir mosquitoes, you rapidly find yourself speaking with radical who are obsessed with insects. People similar Dr. Tanya Latty, an insect ecologist astatine the University of Sydney successful Australia.

I mean, successful general, I deliberation it's benignant of an unfortunate world that Western civilization successful peculiar tends to subordinate insects with illness and with decay and rot. And those associations spell truly deep. And truthful erstwhile we spot thing covered successful flies, we commencement thinking, Oh my gosh, that's horrible. That's gross. That's going to marque maine sick. As opposed to reasoning that- that's quality recycling waste. That's however we instrumentality dying thing and enactment that backmost into the ungraded truthful you tin person flowers and each the things that we like. Insects are amazing. First of all, they are ultra diverse. So determination are millions of taxon of insects. There are truthful galore taxon of insects connected the satellite that we don't really adjacent cognize however galore determination are. We person named astir a million, but we reckon that that's possibly 20% of the existent fig of insects connected the planet. So insects marque up much than 75% of carnal life. They are by acold the biggest radical of critters of animals connected the planet. And they bash each the things our pollination, our discarded management, they're nutrient for each the 3 things and flappy things that radical thin to like. I don't recognize wherefore everyone doesn't emotion insects.

So wherefore bash you think, and this is much of a intelligence question than a technological one, but wherefore bash insects- wherefore bash they get specified a atrocious rap? There aren't a batch of radical who are like, yes, mosquitoes. They're great. What? Why is that?

I deliberation our dislike of mosquitoes is benignant of legit. I mean, immoderate taxon bash wound us. That's uncomfortable. We tin get itchy from them. And unfortunately, mosquitoes are historically 1 of our biggest enemies. Mosquitoes termination much radical than immoderate different animals connected the planet, not directly, but due to the fact that of the diseases they vector, things similar malaria and dengue fever and Zika, yellowish fever, a full scope of diseases. So I deliberation our dislike of mosquitoes is benignant of legitimate. It's unfortunate that that dislike spreads to benignant of each the insects retired there.

Now is astir apt a bully clip to pass you you're going to perceive immoderate gross things successful this episode. Brace yourself for presumption similar humor repast and immoderate technological phrases similar vector pathogens. When you perceive our impermanent accidental things similar mosquitoes vector diseases oregon mosquitoes vector pathogens, it's fundamentally conscionable a fancy sciencey mode of saying mosquitoes transmit diseases. But that's not thing each mosquito does, actually. Most mosquitoes don't adjacent portion quality blood.

Only a tiny chunk of them truly bash adjacent wound humans. There's astir 3500 mosquito taxon successful the world. Most of those are humor feeders erstwhile they request to make their eggs. So the crushed a mosquito bites you- it's ever a pistillate that bites you. And she bites due to the fact that she needs the macromolecule from our humor to assistance her mature her eggs for the remainder of her beingness erstwhile she's not reproductive, she feeds connected works nectars and males are vegetarian, they're ever drinking works nectar.

Let that descend successful for a minute. Mosquitoes, the carnal synonymous with sucking our humor are really vegetarian. Only the females portion our humor and they lone bash it to assistance with reproduction. And they don't needfully adjacent person to portion quality blood.

Once they're acceptable to instrumentality a humor meal, mosquitoes depending connected the species, whitethorn similar humor from a peculiar mammal species. They whitethorn similar from birds. Some adjacent provender connected things similar reptiles. But astir 6% of them volition wound humans. And of that 6%, possibly fractional of them really transportation disease. So we benignant of marque a favoritism betwixt the taxon that bite, which we telephone nuisance biters, and they're annoying but don't dispersed diseases and the ones that wound america are really a aesculapian menace potentially.

I cognize nuisance spiders whitethorn beryllium a literal symptom successful the butt erstwhile you're trying to grill burgers successful your backyard. But I deliberation that's an important constituent that we request to item of each the mosquitoes successful the world, lone astir 3% of them transmit diseases to humans. But let's beryllium wide that 3% does a batch of damage. Diseases dispersed by mosquitoes person killed much quality beings than each the wars successful past combined. They whitethorn beryllium small, but they're mankind's biggest predator.

Malaria is simply a truly nasty disease. It inactive kills fractional a cardinal radical each year. Most of those are kids nether the property of five. That's terrible. This untold amounts to quality suffering, and truthful it's hard to measurement those things up. I deliberation erstwhile we deliberation of what we privation to bash going forward, it's uncovering ways to trim that illness load without causing immense amounts of biology harm due to the fact that that comes backmost connected america successful the extremity anyway.

All right. So I privation to spell adjacent further, due to the fact that the occurrence is aimed at, you know, what would it mean if we got escaped of each mosquitoes. And I privation you to, you know, from from your expertize, adjacent though 90 positive percent aren't the ones that wound us. If I locomotion down the thoroughfare of the United States, immoderate metropolis successful the United States, I said, would you, you know, Thanos going to drawback my fingers and get escaped of get escaped of each mosquitoes. Would you bash it? Most radical would accidental yes. Would you accidental yes?

Because you you you cognize a batch much astir this taxable than 99.99% of the radical who I would inquire connected the thoroughfare successful in accidental wherever I unrecorded successful Northern Virginia.

Look, I mean, arsenic I said, astir of the taxon are not going to beryllium the ones that vector disease. So getting escaped of them ethically feels precise uncomfortable and wrong. We shouldn't beryllium knocking retired taxon conscionable due to the fact that they're related to a taxon that causes that. I deliberation that's not a large attack to management. I besides deliberation that there's a batch of unknowns astir what would hap if we region each mosquitoes from the ecosystem. So they are a large nutrient root for immoderate animals. The question is, if those mosquitoes disappeared with those animals, beryllium capable to power to different nutrient source? I don't truly know. Probably, but possibly not. So it's hard to say.

There's besides each these precise subtle things mosquitoes bash successful the environment. So successful places that person precise precocious numbers of mosquitoes, their beingness changes wherever animals volition really forage. So ample herbivores whitethorn debar areas that person precise precocious amounts of mosquitoes astatine peculiar times of the day. And that means there's little unit connected the plants from getting perpetually browsed. If we took each mosquitoes retired of that system, what would hap with those plants get overgrazed and vanish oregon without quality find a caller balance? Again, we don't know. So I'm precise uncomfortable with that fig of unknowns. You know, quality is complex. We don't cognize that overmuch astir it, really. But the crushed I'm similar that is, again, a batch of radical dice from mosquito vector diseases, often successful poorer countries and often children. I don't deliberation immoderate tenable quality would beryllium like, Oh, we privation that to continue. That's horrible. That's 1 happening if we privation to alteration if we tin truthful it's an intolerable choice.

One happening that amazed maine erstwhile putting unneurotic this occurrence is that we don't truly cognize the grade of what mosquitoes bash for and successful the world. So we're taking a small spot of a stab successful the acheronian here. If we killed each the mosquitoes, yes, we'd halt the dispersed of a batch of diseases. But determination could besides beryllium chartless consequences to the environment. Best lawsuit scenario, immoderate animals person to find caller nutrient sources, and immoderate plants person to trust connected different pollinators. Worst lawsuit scenario? Well, we don't precisely know. We cognize mosquitoes play immoderate relation successful their ecosystems, arsenic Dr. Latty conscionable described. But scientists person spent truthful overmuch of their clip focused connected the atrocious things mosquitoes do, similar dispersed disease, that determination hasn't been a ton of probe connected the ways they whitethorn payment their ecosystems. I asked Dr. Latty if she had a mentation arsenic to wherefore that is.

I deliberation there's a fewer reasons. They're small. I consciousness similar humans thin to absorption connected the large things and we thin to absorption connected things that astatine slightest we tin benignant of spot ourselves in, you know, large eyes and precise bodies and conscionable things that, they don't look human, but there's thing we're acquainted with. They're not alien, whereas insects, they've got tons away. Some of them determination successful erratic and unusual ways. They're often excessively tiny for america to notice. And truthful we conscionable benignant of disregard them. Even though they're everywhere. In astir each situation that humans are in, we inactive thin to disregard them, which is unfortunate and it's nary antithetic with mosquitoes. We are hyper focused connected the taxon that origin disease, and I mean, there's bully reasons for that, but it does mean that we thin to neglect each the different taxon that are doing different roles. The grade that we're not wholly definite what they do.

It takes a definite benignant of idiosyncratic to dedicate their beingness to tiny bloodsuckers. A idiosyncratic similar Dr. Lawrence Reeves, who runs a laboratory astatine the University of Florida dedicated exclusively to mosquitoes. Dr. Reeves is dissimilar anyone I've ever met. He'll basal successful swamps for hours conscionable trying to get the cleanable photograph of a mosquito. And helium really became funny successful mosquitoes due to the fact that 1 gave him dengue fever.

I was successful the Philippines studying butterflies and moths erstwhile I was bitten by an aedes aegypti mosquito that would person been infected with the dengue virus. And that was 1 of the events that truly enactment mosquitoes onto my radar and helped maine to benignant of person firsthand acquisition recognizing the value and the imaginable impacts of mosquitoes. I was benignant of amazed to larn that we cognize astir thing astir the broader mosquito diverseness that's retired there. So I similar mosquitoes and I survey mosquitoes due to the fact that there's conscionable truthful overmuch to larn astir this precise important radical that interacts precise profoundly with ecosystems and biodiversity much broadly.

Biodiversity is different sciency word that conscionable means the assortment of works and carnal taxon successful a fixed habitat. Any clip we destruct a taxon oregon let's accidental each 3600 known taxon of mosquito, that has an interaction connected the different taxon that interact with them.

So if you've ever been to the Everglades oregon up to bluish Minnesota successful the summertime, determination are conscionable swarms of mosquitoes, and they are apt the astir abundant insects that are successful these systems. And truthful if we were to sound retired the astir abundant taxon there, we mightiness beryllium knocking down pollination. You tin deliberation of mosquitoes a small spot arsenic oversea turtles. So radical similar to propulsion astir this thought that oversea turtles, erstwhile a pistillate oversea turtle lays her eggs, lone 1 oregon possibly 2 of those babe oversea turtles is going to past to adulthood. That's the lawsuit besides for mosquitoes. Mosquitoes person tons of predators retired there. There are a batch of organisms that would emotion to drawback up a mosquito larva oregon an big mosquito. And so, again, successful these systems wherever mosquitoes are ace abundant, they are surely serving arsenic meals for galore of these animals successful these systems. And, of course, they're not going to service arsenic meal for a ample rima bass, but they volition beryllium the meal of the smaller food that the largemouth bass needs to devour successful bid to grow.

I'll admit it. I'm going to person a hard clip reasoning of mosquitoes similar oversea turtles. Everyone loves turtles. But it's an absorbing thought that we shouldn't termination each the mosquitoes due to the fact that we request to support them live successful bid for different animals to termination them and devour them. To enactment it successful presumption you whitethorn admit from The Lion King:

Everything you spot exists unneurotic successful a delicate balance. And truthful we are each connected successful the large ellipse of life.

But immoderate of Dr. Reeves's arguments successful favour of mosquitoes are a small much unconventional. Those pistillate mosquitoes that portion our humor and springiness america diseases, helium really says they're victims here, too.

Mosquitoes don't privation to vector these pathogens. These pathogens benignant of instrumentality vantage of this system, similar the request for these pistillate mosquitoes to instrumentality humor meals from vertebra animals successful bid to make their eggs. And successful immoderate cases, these pathogens tin marque the mosquitoes themselves sick oregon they tin person fittingness costs for the mosquitoes. So the mosquitoes are benignant of not truthful overmuch consenting participants successful each of this. They conscionable privation to get their humor repast and determination on. They don't deliberation astir moving pathogens from 1 carnal to different oregon thing similar that.

It's truthful comic due to the fact that we blasted them for everything, but successful immoderate ways they're blameless. The pistillate mosquitoes are conscionable trying to get what they request to laic their eggs.

Mosquitoes are conscionable trying to beryllium bully mothers. They hazard their lives similar it's unsafe for a mosquito to interact with the host. So they are fundamentally risking their lives for their children.

That's an absorbing argument. But it definite would beryllium bully to beryllium capable to spell for a jog successful the evening without getting swarmed by mosquitoes oregon to question without worrying that we're going to bring location malaria oregon dengue fever, particularly for a small bug that whitethorn not really bash each that overmuch for the world. So what if we decided to conscionable propulsion caution to the upwind and termination each the mosquitoes connected the planet? How would we bash it? After the break, Dr. Latty and Dr. Reeves connection suggestions for however they would destruct the bugs that they emotion and they springiness america a cautionary communicative of what happened the past clip Americans tried to hitch retired mosquitoes.

Welcome backmost to Downside Up. I'm Chris Cillizza. And today, I'm trying to recognize what would hap if we killed each past mosquito connected earth. Dr. Tanya Latty loves bugs and mosquitoes, but that doesn't mean she hasn't thought astir ways to termination them. And this archetypal attack sounds similar thing consecutive retired of a sci fi movie. Basically, we modify the genes of antheral mosquitoes successful bid to termination the females.

There's astatine slightest 1 institution moving connected a genetically modified mosquito. And the mode that works is that the males transportation a cistron that is lethal successful their pistillate offspring. So that antheral goes out, helium meets with a chaotic female, she lays her eggs arsenic usually the antheral offspring mature, but the females each dice earlier they scope adulthood. And so, successful theory, that volition thrust populations down implicit time.

You inactive person a batch of males, but they conscionable wouldn't beryllium biting you.

Well, eventually, if you person nary females, though, you don't person anybody. But it's unclear if that would enactment successful the agelong run. I mean, propulsion a Jurassic Park here, that means your finds away.

If there's 1 happening the past of improvement has tasks that beingness volition not beryllium contained. Life breaks free, it expands to caller territories, and it crashes done barriers painfully, possibly adjacent dangerously. But, uh well...there it is. Life, uh, finds a way.

Animals are precise bully astatine evolving astir our solutions, and truthful whether that would yet effect successful that mosquito being wiped out, I uncertainty it.

I cognize that's each a small spot sciencey. I get it. But fundamentally what we'd beryllium doing is forcing mosquitoes to mate themselves to death, which is admittedly beauteous morbid. A much humane attack whitethorn beryllium to not really termination the mosquitoes, but conscionable to destruct the diseases they carry. We'll inactive request our screened-in porches is to support retired the nuisance biters, but we wouldn't person to interest astir them giving america a deadly illness.

So there's a programme successful immoderate parts of the satellite utilizing a bacteria called Wolbachia. Wolbachia is simply a bacteria people recovered successful tons of antithetic insects and successful mosquitoes, it has this weird broadside effect that erstwhile a mosquito is infected by this peculiar benignant of Wolbachia, the bacteria out-competes the viruses. And truthful the mosquito becomes a benignant of atrocious vector of those viruses. And truthful there's programs releasing Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes successful the hopes that benignant of forestall the mosquitoes from transmitting the disease. And arsenic an ecologist, I benignant of consciousness those sorts of approaches are what we privation to do. We're getting escaped of the disease, not the carnal that's vectoring the disease.

One solution we haven't talked astir yet is insecticide. Many of america person sprayed our homes for bugs similar ants and cockroaches and wasps and things similar that. So could we effort that attack to mosquitoes, too? Well, successful the archetypal fractional of the 20th century, we tried to termination each the mosquitoes successful the US that carried malaria, and the results to that were mixed, to accidental the least.

So the U.S. had malaria astatine 1 point, truthful not naturally, but it was brought in. Two types of malaria were brought into the U.S., 1 signifier from Britain with British settlers. The different came successful from Africa via enslaved people. And truthful those 2 types of malaria that established and became a occupation successful the confederate U.S. and it was a precise concerted effort successful the forties to destruct that peculiar mosquito from the United States utilizing DDT, which astatine the clip was each the rage, but the operation of utilizing that insecticide and managing wetlands and unluckily draining a batch of wetlands, it was benignant of a precise crude mode of doing it, but it works. Except that present malaria isn't endemic successful the US anymore.

We've virtually wiped retired malaria successful the United States. That's the bully news. The atrocious news: well, let's conscionable accidental there's a crushed we don't usage DDT anymore.

Before the 1930s-ish, astir of the insecticides connected the marketplace were toxic to mammals arsenic well, that's us. And truthful DDT successful the precocious thirties, it was benignant of discovered that DDT really was an insecticide and it targets a portion of the insect tense strategy that means it's circumstantial to arthropods. So things similar insects and to a lesser extent, crustaceans and different critters. So you could usage DDT and it wouldn't termination you oregon marque you peculiarly sick, astatine slightest not immediately, arsenic acold arsenic we know. But it would person a antagonistic interaction connected the insects. It would sound them retired precise quickly. I mean, there's truly benignant of scary aged comic videos of radical saying conscionable drinking DDT to amusement however harmless it was. Do not bash that. I consciousness similar that's a atrocious idea. But they survive. And compared to similar each the insecticides earlier that, it was a immense benefit.

We tracked down immoderate of these videos and they're genuinely bizarre. There's footage of kids conscionable being doused with occurrence hoses of DDT. It was everyplace and radical enactment it connected everything.

With the war-discovered DDT and peculiar sprayers, sections of the metropolis are blanketed with the insecticide and the combat to halt the dispersed of the dread poliomyelitis. Every suspected spot is sprayed.

We weren't conscionable targeting malaria and mosquitoes either. We thought DDT would eradicate assemblage lice, polio, typhus and different illnesses, and a batch of those things were wiped out. But past we started to recognize the consequences.

Unfortunately, DDT has a fig of traits that marque it truly nasty environmentally. One is that it concentrates up the nutrient chain. So you whitethorn spray a small spot of it that gets successful the h2o and gets taken up by teeny tiny small crustaceans, past get eaten by a food which gets eaten by a bigger fish. Each of those steps is getting much and much concentrated doses of DDT. So by the clip you get to apical predators similar successful the US, things similar bald eagles, they're getting beauteous large doses compared to what was sprayed successful the situation and that started to person an interaction connected their quality to reproduce successful birds.

At 1 point, the bald eagle, our nationalist vertebrate and 1 of the astir iconic animals successful North America was connected the verge of extinction due to the fact that of the wide usage of DDT.

It's besides a wide spectrum, truthful it kills fundamentally each insects. It doesn't discriminate. It doesn't people thing successful particular. It tin past a agelong time. So it tends to bent astir successful the situation for longer than we would like. And truthful each of those things successful the extremity meant that DDT was fundamentally excessively environmentally damaging to proceed using. Most places, arsenic acold arsenic I know, stopped utilizing it good earlier the nineties and 2004, I deliberation successful the Stockholm Convention was benignant of a large planetary prohibition connected the cultivation usage of DDT, though it's still, successful immoderate places, allowed exigency usage for vector power of things similar malarial mosquitoes and outbreak situations.

Maybe we'll person amended luck with options similar cistron editing oregon the usage of bacteria. But the communicative of DDT offers a existent warning. If we were to termination each mosquitoes, yes, we mightiness eradicate immoderate diseases that are deadly to humans. But the collateral harm to different taxon mightiness besides beryllium devastating. We don't cognize precisely each relation that mosquitoes play successful the environment, but we cognize immoderate animals trust connected them arsenic a nutrient root and immoderate plants request them arsenic a root of pollination. And we cognize that steps for idiosyncratic extortion besides work.

As individuals, we tin bash each the things to conscionable forestall ourselves from getting bitten. And that's everything from utilizing repellents, truthful things that person deet oregon picaridin successful particular, are beauteous large astatine repelling mosquitoes and tin beryllium utilized by a batch of people. There's mechanical disruption, truthful conscionable virtually wearing a mosquito net, you tin slumber nether furniture nets successful tropical countries. There's each sorts of ways of conscionable preventing those mistakes from biting you. And each of those are conscionable portion of the large representation of however we woody with mosquitoes and mosquito borne illness.

The solutions we person to support ourselves contiguous decidedly aren't perfect. I inactive get spot adjacent erstwhile I screen myself successful deet, and I decidedly bash imagination astir a time erstwhile I tin bent retired successful my backyard without the changeless buzzing of bugs successful my ear. But the biggest menace mosquitoes airs to our satellite is the dispersed of disease. And we're getting person and person to solutions that could halt the dispersed of malaria. We conscionable person to beryllium careful. We don't sound retired different taxon we similar successful that process. And successful the meantime, we tin support a tin of bug spray adjacent oregon beryllium prepared to enactment up with a full batch of swatting and slapping.

And present it's clip for Dr. Lawrence Reeves to articulation america for our play circular of trivia.

This is not extracurricular your expertize. I bash this beforehand and I don't look astatine the answers because, you know, that would beryllium cheating. And I usually get 2 of these right. So if you get two, you're smarter than me. All right. So are you ready?

All right. Here we go. The connection mosquito archetypal appeared sometime successful the 1500s. It's a Spanish connection meaning what successful English? What does mosquito mean successful English?

This is excessively casual for you. You didn't- helium didn't adjacent pause. He just- helium knew that close disconnected the bat. Okay. One for one. In the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, which, by the way, I conscionable watched with my kids, it inactive holds up, successful the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, scientists are capable to clone dinosaurs due to the fact that their humor was recovered successful mosquitoes that had been fossilized successful this precious gemstone sanction the stone, which is really a signifier of fossilized histrion resin.

If you don't retrieve the movie. Basically it went similar this: mosquitoes spot dinosaurs and past got stuck successful histrion sap. Over time, they were fossilized successful small aureate stones of amber, and past doctors pulled those mosquitoes retired and voila: dinosaur DNA. I had to ask, is that astatine each possible?

Unfortunately, astir apt not. But, truthful if you don't mind, I'll get I'll springiness a speedy Jurassic Park spiel. When I was a kid, I was the biggest nerd for that movie, and I would not beryllium doing what I bash present if it were not for that for a Jurassic Park. When I was a postgraduate pupil and I learned of-learned astir this happening called humor repast analysis, that was my spark and airy bulb turning on. So- truthful 1 of the things I bash is I spell retired and I cod blood-fed mosquitoes and I extract DNA from their humor meals to larn what those mosquitoes had fed from. So, similar I mentioned, each mosquito taxon feeds from antithetic kinds of animals. If we larn astir what each mosquito taxon feeds from, we tin spot how, however pathogens mightiness determination done ecosystems. We tin besides usage it to observe vertebrate animals successful a analyzable scenery truthful we could spell retired to the rainforest, cod mosquitoes, and from their humor meals, we could look astatine the DNA that's determination and person a snapshot of the vertebrate taxon that hap successful that rainforest.

And besides bring backmost dinosaurs.

I mean, I privation it were possible. It does not look similar DNA has holds up that well. There are immoderate paleontologists that deliberation it's conscionable a substance of uncovering the close bone, though.

Hold connected to your butts.

Oh, man. I emotion it. Okay, you're 2 for 2 with other recognition for an astonishing Jurassic Park sidebar. Okay, 3rd question. During World War II, 1 state studied the imaginable for utilizing malarial mosquitoes arsenic a biologic weapon. What state did that?

I don't cognize that one. I'm going to accidental Germany, but it's astir apt the United States.

It's Germany. Three for three, bully guess.

He's blistery today, folks. Okay, question fig four. This cocktail was invented successful the 1700s by British Army officers arsenic a mode to promote troops to portion quinine, which was thought to beryllium an effectual anti-malarial medication. Name the portion which is present 1 of the astir fashionable cocktails successful the world.

Correct. And this is simply a amusive fact. Most tonic h2o that is successful gin and tonics contiguous does not, successful fact, person capable quinine to really ward disconnected mosquitoes. So you don't get the added bonus determination erstwhile you bid G&T astatine the bar. Okay, past one. As we've talked about, mosquitoes don't get a batch of affirmative publicity successful a batch of movies. But 1 uncommon illustration of a Hollywood prima voicing a mosquito comes successful the 2007 DreamWorks movie "Bee Movie." A mosquito named MooseBlood is played by this basal up comedian and actor.

Trouble? You're a mosquito, you successful trouble. Nobody likes you, they conscionable each smacking. People spot a mosquito? Smack smack.

Oh! 5 for 5! Well done. Of course, I'll enactment present that we learned contiguous that lone pistillate mosquitoes portion blood. So having a antheral arsenic the mosquito drinking humor is not scientifically accurate. But I mean, that's conscionable me. Congratulations to Dr. Lawrence Reeves. The archetypal DownsideUp impermanent to spell 5 for 5 successful our play trivia. And convey you to Dr. Tanya Latty for joining america contiguous arsenic well.

As overmuch arsenic I whitethorn hatred mosquitoes, it sounds similar immoderate effort to destruct them could person unspeakable and chartless consequences connected everything else. Yes, we mightiness beryllium capable to hitch retired immoderate diseases that are deadly to humans, but we don't cognize the afloat grade of what we suffer successful the process. Thankfully, the efforts to people and destruct mosquito borne diseases dependable promising, and scientists are getting person and person to a vaccine for malaria, which would spell a agelong mode toward reducing the menace mosquitos airs to society. What astir you? Would you privation a satellite without mosquitoes, nary substance the costs? Shoot maine a tweet astatine Chris C-I-L-L-I-Z-Z-A and fto maine cognize your thoughts. And if you've got ideas for aboriginal topics, nonstop those to maine determination too. Also, if you similar our show, stock it with your friends and marque definite you complaint reappraisal and subscribe.

Next clip connected Downside Up: What if we had a satellite without plastic?

There's been an estimation that radical devour and respire arsenic overmuch arsenic a recognition card's value of integrative each week. it's similar eating a recognition card.

Downside Up is hosted by me, Chris Cillizza It's a accumulation of CNN successful collaboration with Pod People. At CNN our Producer is Lori Galarreta and our Executive Producer is Abbie Fentress Swanson. Alexander McCall leads assemblage strategy for the show. Tameeka Ballance-Kolasny is our Production Manager and Jamus Andrest and Nichole Pesaru designed our artwork.

The squad from Pod People includes Rachael Kang, Matt Sav, Aimee Machado, John Hammontree, Madison Lusby, Regina de Heer and Morgane Fouse.

Theme and archetypal euphony composed by Casey Holford. Additional euphony came from epidemic sound.

Special acknowledgment to Lindsay Abrams, Fuzz Hogan, Drew Shankman, Lisa Namerow, Jon Dianora, Katie Hinman, Robert Mathers, and Sarina Singh.