Microsoft founder¹ Bill Gates is pouring $4 million into a project to create killer² mosquitoes that destroy each other through sex.

 

微软创始人比尔·盖茨将投资400万美元（约合2654万元人民币），用以培育能够在交配中杀死对方的“杀手蚊”。

 

It's a bold bid to curb³ malaria⁴, a deadly disease typically transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

 

Tech mogul Gates will use funds from his own charity organization - the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation - to eradicate⁵ malaria "within a generation."

 

The plan is to create genetically⁷ modified male mosquitoes that mate with their female counterparts in the wild.

 

Only female mosquitoes bite, so Gates' army of gene⁶-engineered male mosquitoes would be safe to humans.

 

What's important is that these male mosquitoes contain a self-limiting gene that gets passed onto female mates.

 

When the females give birth, their offspring will die before adulthood⁸ thanks to the gene.

 

Mosquitoes only start biting people once they're adults, so given enough time, the danger of blood-sucking female mosquitoes could be eradicated⁹.

 

This means it would be possible to stem the spread of malaria through mosquito bites.

点击收听单词发音