That's the question hanging over a recent decision by state regulators in Florida, which would allow the biotech company Oxitec to unleash hundreds of millions of genetically modified male mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. The lab-altered, patented insects are members of Aedes aegypti, the species of mosquito that spreads diseases such as yellow fever, malaria and chikungunya. However, they've been genetically altered to artificially reduce future mosquito populations.

It sounds like a bit of mad science but it's all about love, actually.

The plan is to unleash millions of genetically modified males so they can hook up with all the lady mosquitoes and produce artificially weak offspring that never grow up, thereby reducing the overall population. Male mosquitoes don't drink human blood, so the influx of flying fellas theoretically wouldn't add to the problem.