A QUIET technological revolution is under way in one of the poorest countries in the world.

Over the coming weeks genetic engineers from the UK, USA, Italy and several African nations are due to release modified mosquitoes in Burkina Faso as part of the ‘Target Malaria’ project.

This will be the first time any engineered animal has been released into the wild in Africa, and the release is just a test, intended in a large part just to boost confidence in the project.

The up-to-10,000 released insects will be males – only the female Anopheles mosquito transmits malaria – and they have been modified to be infertile.

In time, the team hope to release more fundamentally modified insects to potentially greatly reduce the Anopheles mosquito population, and possibly alter the wider species permanently to prevent the spread of malaria.

Since the first proto-human primate brandished a rock in its hairy fist, mankind has been using technology to transform the habitability of our environment in our favour.

New developments are often met with anxiety, which typically mixes ignorance and simple fear of the unknown with with the very valid recognition that scientists have been very certain about some things in the past which have later turned out to be very wrong.

Much early opposition to scientific and technological progress was religious in nature.

At first the truths revealed through analysis of empirical evidence undermined the claims of clerics, holy books and myths, then later the scientific method was misunderstood to be an arrogant attempt to ‘play God’ or understand that beyond our right or ability to know.

In more recent times, though this latter approach continues, humanity is also held back by simple misanthropy. A surprisingly large number of people just don’t seem to want our species to thrive, and celebrate news of falling birth rates or declines in growth and productivity.

Thomas Malthus, a nineteenth century cleric, is famously credited with introducing the notion that population growth will always come up against an insurmountable limiting factor, which will destabilise the environment.

But since Malthus’ day the world population has tripled – thus far the human race doesn’t seem to have hit any limiting factor we haven’t been able to overcome.

The world is still full of space and untapped resources, and resources we have yet to understand how to utilise.

Alongside population growth and survival, quality of life has improved hugely worldwide, thanks again mainly to advances in technology, medicine and social organisation, although of course there is still much to be done.

Malaria remains a major killer in Africa, but through the application of scientific knowledge it will be overcome.

As vaccines have eradicated epidemic diseases which brought misery to countless millions, as developments in agriculture have made starvation a thing of the past across most of the planet, as information technology has put the knowledge of the wisest among us in our pockets, so will those scourges which still plague Africa be made a thing of the past.

Caution and humility are important qualities in the prevention of error and tragedy, but neither should be our guiding instinct. Nor should we sensationalise the problems we face, a particular problem with my own industry.

It is hope, optimism and curiosity that will, as they always have, serve best to guide our species and our environment into a bright future.