News thumbnail
Health / Wed, 27 May 2026 NPR

Should we reengineer the world's deadliest animal? : Short Wave

Should we reengineer the world's deadliest animal? They are hungry for blood, spreading diseases like malaria, yellow fever and dengue – and picking up new ones all the time. Here to discuss that is Ben Bradford, the host of a new podcast distributed by the NPR Network: Are We Doomed? Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave. Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Should we reengineer the world's deadliest animal?

toggle caption Ridatiningsih/Getty Images

The most ferocious predator for us humans is actually quite small: the mosquito.

They are hungry for blood, spreading diseases like malaria, yellow fever and dengue – and picking up new ones all the time.

But what if we could wipe out the mosquito?

Gene-editing technology could do it, potentially saving millions of lives. But it comes with serious potential for risk. Which begs the question: Should we get to decide when humanity rewrites nature?

Here to discuss that is Ben Bradford, the host of a new podcast distributed by the NPR Network: Are We Doomed?

Sponsor Message

Interested in more science? Email us your question at [email protected].

Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.

Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

This episode was produced by Rachel Carlson. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts. The audio engineer was Kwesi Lee.

© All Rights Reserved.