Medea's selfish behavior gives it a selective advantage over normal genes. If introduced into a population at sufficiently high levels, the Medea gene will spread, replacing entire populations of normal beetles with beetles carrying Medea.[1] Because of this, Medea has been proposed as a way of genetically modifying insect populations. By linking the Medea construct to a gene of interest - for instance, a gene conferring resistance to malaria - Medea's unique dynamics could be exploited to drive both genes into a population. These findings have dramatic implications for the control of insect-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.