Dubbed a "weapon of mosquito destruction," the laser fires at an individual mosquito once it detects the audio frequency created by the beating of its wings.

Lead scientist on the project, Dr. Jordin Kare, claims the laser will be able to toast millions of mosquitoes in a few minutes.

The developers hope that the technology might one day be used to create a laser “barrier” around a house or village by killing or blinding the insects.

Flying drones, equipped with anti-mosquito lasers, could also track the insects with radar and then sweep the sky with the insecticide laser.

By fine-tuning the laser’s strength, it could provide just enough killing power to smoke the mosquitoes without harming other insects or humans, the developers say.

In the fight against malaria, the laser could be adjusted to kill only female mosquitoes, since they are the only ones that can spread the parasite.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons