Animal cyborgs: 6 nature-inspired robots that could revolutionize science, medicine and farming

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1. Light-controlled dragonflies

In January, R&D company Draper and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced a partnership aimed at turning dragon flies into miniature drones. They are relying on an approach called optogenetics, whereby the animal is genetically modified so that certain neurons feature light-sensitive ion channels.

2. Joy-riding moths

Compact chemical detectors able to detect trace elements of a substance continue to elude engineers, which is why we still rely on dogs to sniff out things like drugs, bombs and disaster victims. But man’s best friend may soon face some stiff competition from moth-controlled robotic cars.

5. Interfaced sheep

This stentrode[stent-electrode], on the other hand, is guided from the neck to a vein deep in the sheep’s brain, where it’s implanted to take “high-fidelity measurements” of brain cells. While sheep have found themselves the unwitting victims of DARPA’s tinkering, humans are the ultimate target, with the aim of doing things like controlling prosthetics directly from the brain. Human trials are scheduled for this year.

[Full list: Light-controlled dragonflies, joy-riding moths, remote-control bugs, magnetic mind-control of mice, interfaced sheep, and cyborg plants]

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: The Weird World of Cyborg Animals Is Here

For more background on the Genetic Literacy Project, read GLP on Wikipedia.

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