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bob.appleyard
Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 7747
Location: Manchestar, innit
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| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:06 am Post subject: Pentagon trying to develop cyborg insect spies |
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Military technology takes another journey into the bizarre.
Quote: Last week the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) called for bids on the project. "Darpa seeks innovative proposals to develop technology to create insect-cyborgs, possibly enabled by intimately integrating microsystems within insects, during their early stages of metamorphoses," its advertisement says.
"Through each metamorphic stage, the insect body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects," a Darpa information sheet for inventors points out.
Such techniques will provide a much better link between the microsystem and the insect than simply sticking a microchip to the abdomen of a bee, wasp or cockroach, Darpa believes.
In earlier experiments bees and wasps were trained to identify the smell of explosives by having the smell associated with sugar water. But the trained insects had other agendas, or as Darpa put it: "The instinctive behaviours for feeding and mating (and also for responding to temperature changes) prevented them from performing reliably."
Implanting microsystems within the insect would theoretically allow it to be controlled remotely. A successful bidder would have to deliver "an insect within five metres of a specific target located at a hundred metres away" and then "the insect must remain stationary either indefinitely or until otherwise instructed".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1731037,00.html
So, potentially useful tool in locating (for instance) hidden explosives? Or madcap scheme that'll get nowhere?
I'm rooting for the former, but I suspect the latter. Primarily because totally frivolous departures from this will end up in the shops, and I can have a bee that finds my keys for me. |
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mathurin
Joined: 30 Jun 2004
Posts: 7456
Location: kansas, with every muscle strained to leave
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| Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 3:37 pm Post subject: |
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rofl, i totally thought this was gonna be some kind of
THE GOV HAS SPY ROBOT BUGS THAT ARE SPYING ON YOU NOW!!!!!
type of thread
dang, i was hoping for a good lightening conspiracy theory |
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bob.appleyard
Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 7747
Location: Manchestar, innit
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| Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:27 pm Post subject: |
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mathurin wrote: rofl, i totally thought this was gonna be some kind of
THE GOV HAS SPY ROBOT BUGS THAT ARE SPYING ON YOU NOW!!!!!
type of thread
dang, i was hoping for a good lightening conspiracy theory
When I saw the headline in the paper, I thought the same thing. It's pretty out there. |
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mgwisni
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 73
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| Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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| Wow. They could take the Patriot Act to a whole new level with this. |
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lucidnightmare
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 1435
Location: North Myrtle beach SC
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| Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
This is even better than the shark terrorist fighters. |
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George W Bush
Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 3770
Location: Divided States Of America
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| Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:32 pm Post subject: |
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who hasnt had this ingrained in their conspiratorial concious?
this was BOUND to happen.
but heres the deal: WHAT A STUPID, f***ing WASTE OF MONEY!
first of all: people SQUASH bugs with little in the way of caring beyond cleaning up the mess.
second of all: the instant this gets out, there will be layman inventions at detecting such intrusions. there will probably also be a spike in pest control contracts.
at any rate, WASTE OF MONEY.
but still, thanks for bringing this to our attention. i guess we now have a literal term for bug. |
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George W Bush
Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 3770
Location: Divided States Of America
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| Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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lucidnightmare wrote: :lol: :lol: :lol:
This is even better than the shark terrorist fighters.
so true.
and I guess you should say that program is no longer. or is it? |
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Sid
Joined: 26 Oct 2004
Posts: 4613
Location: Kansas
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| Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 10:48 pm Post subject: |
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| The government has done some strange things. A few of them have worked, but most of them have been duds. |
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lucidnightmare
Joined: 02 Dec 2004
Posts: 1435
Location: North Myrtle beach SC
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| Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:55 pm Post subject: |
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George W Bush wrote: lucidnightmare wrote: :lol: :lol: :lol:
This is even better than the shark terrorist fighters.
so true.
and I guess you should say that program is no longer. or is it?
Did they kill that program?That s*cks,killer sharks would do our country proud.
I am just waiting for them to clone some raptors and mount machine guns on their heads. |
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Pebble
Joined: 12 Nov 2005
Posts: 1143
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| Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 7:32 am Post subject: |
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Sid wrote: The government has done some strange things. A few of them have worked, but most of them have been duds. :lol:
I just read the article. |
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poweRob
Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 22713
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| Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:53 am Post subject: |
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Pebble wrote: Sid wrote: The government has done some strange things. A few of them have worked, but most of them have been duds. :lol:
I just read the article.
Here's another weird one that worked that never got used.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon]Project Pigeon
The Skinner Pigeon Project[/url] |
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