Google hints at a brand new transportation system, but it’s not for people

Transportation for insects might be as important as for humans.

While tech companies constantly work to create new devices that make our lives easier and more entertaining, some inventions take everyone by surprise.

This is one of those. Google, best known for its search, software, and smartphones, recently published a patent on a system for safely transporting and releasing live insects.

The patent focuses on mosquitoes, as a part of Sterile Insect Technique program, which is a method of controlling wildlife by releasing sterile male insects into certain areas to decrease its population.

The company’s patent reveals how the system would transport live insects from the rearing facility to the site where they would be released.

The system is expected to help do it safely, ensuring that the insects survive and preventing their accidental release.

The system works by cooling insects with refrigerated air or gas, which causes them to be inactive. Then, they’re loaded into transportation containers that are placed in a cooled chamber to keep them in a dormant state.

The insect transportation container is designed to provide insects with breathable conditions, absorb shocks during transportation, and keep them intact. To this end, the container includes an oxygen generator, humidity and temperature controls, and a pressure vessel to maintain internal conditions during air or ground transportation, reports Patently Apple.

Once insects are transported to the release site, containers are first unloaded in a sealed chamber to prevent accidental release.

The containers are then opened, their contents gently shaken to mobilize the insects, and closed again. The insects are then transferred to the release device and released to the appointed site.

Such an invention is needed because scientists use genetically modified mosquitoes to control the population of mosquitoes that carry diseases. Such insects are then released with “regular” mosquitoes. When modified males mate with wild female mosquitoes, their female offspring don’t reach adulthood, leading to a decline in the wild mosquito population.

As with many patents, it remains unclear whether Google will continue further with this invention.