Carnivorous Plant Inspires Sustainable Mosquito-Control Device

Cornell researchers are biting back at deadly mosquito-borne illnesses, using nature’s own tricks.

A team in the College of Human Ecology is a winner in a global competition that asked innovators to create radically sustainable environmental solutions inspired by the natural world. The Cornell team created a mosquito-control device that functions like a carnivorous plant.   The device, dubbed the UPod, was inspired by the carnivorous Utricularia vulgarisor common bladderwort plant, which creates a water vacuum through its trap bladders by pumping water out and sucking in small insect prey in the blink of an eye.   Read the full story in the Cornell Chronicle.