Disease-bearing insects have long been hazards to human and environmental health. Mosquitoes, dubbed the “the world’s deadliest animal,” can transmit malaria—a parasite that kills more than 600,000 people every year. Bed nets, insecticides, and antimalarial drugs have helped keep the disease in check in many parts of the world, but more tools are needed to limit contact between humans and mosquitoes. To answer this challenge, Intellectual Ventures invented a tool that uses an unusual weapon to combat vector-borne diseases: light. Called a photonic fence, the invention works by combining low-cost sensor and laser technology with software to identify, track, and kill mosquitoes, thus eliminating malaria’s primary transmission vector. Now our photonic fence technology has its lasers set on being a tool for not only global health organizations, but also for the agriculture industry.