The gum would be used to test, painlessly, for malaria in children while the chocolate would serve as a way of getting some of the disease-feeding fat out of a patient's body. There's already some promise in these methods and the Gates contribution should certainly keep research going. [Telegraph]

First, I'd like to commend the Wall Street Journal for what's probably their best headline ever: "Rocket Scientists Shoot Down Mosquitoes With Lasers." I hope whoever wrote it isn't too entertaining to keep his job there.

The project, started by Microsoft alum Nathan Myhrvold, is part of the effort to eradicate malaria in the third world, where it's a major cause of death. In testing the lasers, the researchers used an old Dell desktop to locate and zap the mosquitoes. The computer registered each successfully felled mosquito with a gunshot bang, which is how you know this is a fun experiment.

The problem now, of course, is how to kill or blind mosquitoes without killing people or harmless animals. Possible solutions include a range of lasers around a house or village that blinds the mosquitos, or even a plane that emits a sweeping motion of blinding light. The tech is so sharp that it can even tell a male from a female mosquito by the pattern of its wings; it's an important distinction, since only the females transmit malaria.

This is really a humanitarian effort we can get behind. And by get behind, I mean can I be part of the elite Anti-Mosquito Laser Task Force? [Wall Street Journal]

Blood analysis usually requires either large and expensive equipment or a trained technician to manually examine the material. Both are out of reach for many remote areas, especially in parts of Africa where HIV and malaria are rampant. UCLA researcher Dr. Aydogan Ozcan developed software that allows blood samples to be analyzed with the use of inexpensive, off-the-shelf camera sensors and a filtered light source. The key is the software's ability to analyze thousands of blood cells at once, providing an accurate result within minutes.

The photo above shows a Sony-Ericsson phone modded for this type of use. That bulge on the back is the filtered light source. It's great to see cool mods done for great social welfare rather than our gadgety amusement every once in awhile. [Wired]