Attack of the Cy-bugs
Scientists at Cornell University have successfully created hybrid insects whose muscles can be controlled by implanted electronics. The goal is to control the flight of these microsystem-controlled insects, making human control over nature ever more plausible. Such life forms have a variety of applications, ranging from crime investigation to military and homeland security.
These insect cyborgs are the latest achievement of the Defence Advanced Research Program Agency and have recently been showcased at the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems international conference in Tucson, Arizona. The researchers, led by Dr. Amit Lal, implanted electronic circuit probes into tobacco hornworms during their early pupal stage. These were then allowed to develop and mature into long-lived moths, whose muscular movement could be manipulated with the implanted electronic network.
Thomas Easton, a professor of science and author of Sparrowhawk – an engaging novel about such insect cyborgs – suggests an amusing way in which the technology could identify individuals from a crime scene. He describes how moths are particularly sensitive to sex attractants. If traces of these chemicals could be transferred onto money, stolen cash along with the bank robbers would be traceable using the moth-based-hybrid to follow the scent. If that isn’t a scene for the next Bond movie, I don’t know what is!
Even more impressively, the sex attractant receptor on the moth antennae could potentially be replaced with receptors for explosives or drugs via genetic engineering. Readers beware: science fiction is becoming a reality.
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Tags: Cornell University, Cyborg, DARPA, Hybrid Insects
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