Pentagon recruiting sharks
Discussion
news.com.au said:
www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18321693-13762,00.html
Pentagon recruiting sharks
From: Daily Telegraph
March 02, 2006
IT is a fascinating and chilling example of deep sea life imitating art.
That is, if a dire B-movie about mutant sharks trained by military scientists to become killing machines can be termed "art".
That scenario was described in 2003 American film Dark Waters.
Now it emerges the Pentagon is funding research with the ultimate hope of turning real sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean. It involves placing neural implants in the fish, to transmit their controllers' bidding.
The research, to be reported in the UK's New Scientist this week, builds on experimental work to control animals by implanting tiny electrodes in their brain, which are stimulated to induce a behavioural response.
"The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails," says the report. "By remotely guiding the sharks' movements they hope to transform them into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted."
The project is being funded by the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, which pioneered the internet as a platform for robust communications.
Scientists involved in the scheme presented their work last week at a meeting on ocean sciences in Hawaii.
A team at Boston University have implanted electrodes into the brain of a spiny dogfish in a shallow tank.
The implants stimulate either the right or left side of a brain area dedicated to smell, causing the fish to flick around in that direction in response to the signal.
The next step will be to take this device outside the laboratory. Blue sharks implanted with the gadget are to be released off Florida.
Communications with the fish will be made through US Navy acoustic towers capable of sending sonar signals to a shark up to 300km away.
Other DARPA-funded researchers are working on using implants to record brain activity in sharks in order to understand which neurons are fired by scents, electrical or magnetic fields.
These signals help the fish to navigate and offer the reward of food, and could thus in theory be manipulated for surveillance work.
New Scientist accepts the DARPA work is controversial but says that work with animal implants could also have a benefit for medicine.
In the meantime, it can provide inspiration for producers of B-movie sequels.
You just know this is gonna turn out bad don't you
The lefties should be delighted - a sustainable, natural resource that doesn't produce greenhouse gases (well only when they fart)
Plus, all the tax money saved by not having to build a submarine can be spent on bus lanes and speed cameras!
>> Edited by simpo two on Thursday 2nd March 11:46
Plus, all the tax money saved by not having to build a submarine can be spent on bus lanes and speed cameras!
>> Edited by simpo two on Thursday 2nd March 11:46
mattiselvis said:
My only question would be "why"? Its not like we need to keep tabs on the Soviet Northern Fleet anymore, is it? I think DARPA should concentrate on things we could actually make use of. Monkey butlers, for instance...
Well they already have those Dolphins that supposedly detect mines, guess they would be good for trailing greenpeace boat
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