Inside a factory in southern France, millions of tiger mosquitoes are being bred, not to have them spread, but to stop them from reproducing - though scaling up such efforts poses a mighty challenge.
At the Terratis facility in Montpellier, male insects grow inside large glass enclosures. In batches of 400,000, they are exposed to X-rays, making them infertile.
"After sterilisation, we release them into urban areas," explained Clelia Oliva, co‑founder of Terratis. "They look for females and mate, but when the females lay eggs, those eggs are empty."
Listen to the team at The Local discuss the mosquito tech in the Talking France podcast - download here
The aim is to flood an area with sterile male mosquitoes until the invasive population gradually collapses.
