I was passively listening to a story on NPR about Nootkatone and its amazing use as mosquito repellent. I quickly jumped on Namecheap to try and register the domain name. To my surprise, a bunch of other people, apparently also listening to NPR, had just registered the domain name with in seconds of me having the thought.
Damn you guys!
Anyways, according to the report on NPR, Nootkatone is a chemical in grapefruit which is found in Alaska yellow cedar trees and citrus fruit that can be used as a new mosquito repellent that is better smelling and less greasy than deet. I wonder if just rubbing a grapefruit on my face will have the same effect?
Another issue that was mentioned in this story that really bothers me is the fact that even though the CDC owns the patent to this technology, they are licensing it out to private companies to make the consumer product.
Apparently this kind of stuff happens all the time. The government would use tax payer money to discover great advances in technology and medicine through public institutions such NASA, NSF, CDC, etc… But when they finally get something cool, they don’t use it to make money to pay back the public. Instead they give it to corporations which then charge Americans an arm and a leg to buy the products from them.
So when the Republicans go on TV and complain that regulations and taxes stifle corporations, they are full of shit. The public pays for a lot of innovation and research through our universities and public programs. It’s only fair that we reap the benefit of the innovations, and not the shareholders.