Daniel_

What a fantastic story!

Whatever will those wacky scientists come up with next?

Full story HERE

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ASU2003

Wouldn't that kill the insect? How would you power it and how would you transmit a signal far enough?

It sounds like a tabloid story. Just like the one I saw today, "Computer virus becomes human virus."

Astrocloud

It's completely feasible. They already have remote controlled roaches that they use to search for victims of earthquakes.

nefarious

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY START DOING THAT TO HUMANS?!

sorry, had to add that. i'm not sure how the larva would actually be able to be controlled by a chip since, for example if something was inserted into your body, your body would surround it with tissue and there really isnt a way to tap into your brain simply by plugging into a nerve anywhere in your body.

still kind of interesting when suddenly you'd have to be on the lookout for bugs that may be abnormal looking because they could be.. "bugs". (sorry, unintended pun there)

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dlish

im with nefarious... bugged bugs... im a skeptic..but have you guys read the book 'the men who stare at goats'?

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leftyderek

Well didn't they try to do something with the dolphins or sharks a while ago?
That was creepy enough. I mean, who the hell gives them the right to bug the bugs/animals?

Imagine the destruction to the nature it would bring. Armies will just start slaughtering the 'suspected' animals soon...

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NoSoup

I believe they successfully did it with Seals... I vaguely remember seeing something on television that they had trained seals to point microphones, find underwater mines, film things, etc...

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Just in case you were wondering...

tecoyah

heres a bit on the use of marine mammals by the US navy....interesting stuff:

"The U.S. Navy made military history Wednesday when it sent trained dolphins swimming into the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr to help minesweepers clear the Persian Gulf of explosives and open the way for allied cargo ships and humanitarian aid.

Two bottlenose dolphins deployed from the transport ship Ponce are among an unspecified number of the marine mammals sent from San Diego by the Navy to the region this week to safeguard allied vessels from mines and other dangers, the Navy said.

They may soon be joined by California sea lions trained to locate and snare enemy divers who are then reeled in by U.S. forces. A "platoon" of sea lions has been in Bahrain for two months and could see action soon, a Navy spokesman said. "

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...7/MN291465.DTL

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ScottKuma

Wow, I know that animals have long been used in warfare and search and rescue...

But I REALLY would love to know what the PETA folks or other like-minded protection groups (esp ones a bit less....wacky?) are saying about this.

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tecoyah

Can you say....Lawsuits....heh

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Martian

This is true of mammallian nervous systems. Insectoid nervous systems are decidedly less complex. To use the example, butterflies use a relatively nervous system. While they do have a central brain (thus making them more complex than earthworms, for example), the whole thing only consists of a handful of neurons. It's relatively easy to figure out what goes where and with a sufficiently advanced piece of electroinics one could tap into that and override the butterfly's original nervous system, essentially taking control of it. It's been done with cockroaches already.

Although the insect remains as conscious as they ever are, it's important to remember that an insect is essentially a complex machine. There's no capacity for sentience and therefore there aren't really any ethical ramifications for any but the most left wing folks. Think PETA on this; I can't imagine there's many others out there who would champion the butterflies.

The ecological consequences are what I'd be more concerned about. When it comes to mammals it gets a lot more complicated, but then a mammal can't be controlled in the same way. The best you can do is what's been mentioned, training the marine mammals to follow specific behaviours and instructions. The animal will do it willingly because they usually get food as repayment. And really, how else do you repay something that has no sense of ownership?

I'd imagine any animals serving the marines or other armed forces would be well taken care of, if for no better reason than economy. I'd reckon it'd be pretty expensive to train these animals, and the electronics necessary to turn an insect into a remote controlled object aren't likely to be cheap.

I'm not sure about powering the device from the heat generated by the insect. Insects generate a pretty miniscule amount of heat energy to begin with and even if they didn't the methods of conversion just aren't efficient enough, unless this thing requires very little power. While it's conceivable, since there are no moving parts, I'm not really sure how feasible it actually is.

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Charlatan

Reminds me of Jones, the dolphin in Johnny Mnemonic:

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ASU2003

Maybe this is why my nose bleeds all of the time.

shadowfiend

Or it could be the amount of porn u're watching every day.

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