Andy Tatem, a reader in the Geology and Environmental Science department at the University of Southampton is the developer of vbd-air.com, a web tool developed for the Transportation Research Board to help track the spread of mosquito-transmitted illnesses via air travel.

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Although assembled in ultra-sterile conditions at Nasa, this tool will still have acquired an oily film deposit in Earth air that would contaminate the rover's lab analysis results if left in place.

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