Following up on my “Music Monday” and “Twitter Tuesday” blog posts, I have also decided to begin a new series of blog posts on Wednesdays under the general heading “What could go wrong?” Generally speaking, whenever we try to improve the world in some way, it is always worth asking, What are the most likely “unintended consequences” of our proposed change? What follows is a possible example of this general principle. According to this report by Taylor White (via Undark), the first genetically modified mosquitos will be released in the Florida Keys this spring. The goal of this scientific scheme is to reduce the overall population of mosquitos: “When released [genetically-modified] males breed with wild female mosquitoes, the resulting generation does not survive into adulthood ….” Hey, what could go wrong? Hat tip: @kottke.
