K. L. Lawson

Read Me First

Here is my new site with a much simpler and modern style. The purpose of the site is to link together various activities such as research, teaching and technology education.

 

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Cyber Insects, really?

IEEE, a favorite source for techno info junko, reports that DARPA has completed work on a live beetle that can be steered via remote control. Apparently scientists at Berkeley (oh, yeah, of course), implanted eletronics for stimulation in the brain of the beetle. Wow, how small is that wire?

The thought of cybernetic insects is both interesting and maybe a bit Hitchcockian, (is that a word??) Its probably paranoid to consider that DARPA might be interested in leavaging such beasts for the purpose of creating great plagues of locusts, or flying swarms of them into the engines of enemy fighters. That sounds a bit crazy but given locust plagues are fairly common on all continents so garnering some steering control on these babies could be a more force. However, as I am overly practical, I can't imagine how many robots, or assemblers it will take to implant circuitry in a plague of locusts. Its a big and dirty job I can only imagine, and I just don't want to.

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