We're not to the point yet where you can go out and do cartwheels in the front yard, but the day may be coming when mosquitoes - that pesky little blood-sucking, itch-causing critters that insist on terrorizing us during the warm summer months - no longer exist.

While researching how to eliminate malaria, a disease that has plagued mankind for centuries, scientists from London's Imperial College have figured out how to wipe out the pests by altering their genes.

Researchers were able to eliminate an entire population of mosquitoes using a technology called "gene drive." Basically, it involves modifying the female mosquitoes so they can no longer reproduce.

Scientists report that after about eight generations, there were no more offspring and the population collapsed. They say it'll be another five to ten years before they can test their findings in the wild, but they're calling their results "a major breakthrough."


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