Cyborg insects survive to adulthood, ensure our doom

Remember those cyborg insects that seemed so much like a pipe dream just two short years ago? Yeah, those frackin' things have somehow survived into adulthood, and are closing in on being ready to infiltrate enemy camps and extract vital information. According to a recent update on the DARPA project, the insects -- which have "modified body structures and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) embedded" within -- have lasted into adulthood, and now those behind the endeavor are hoping to enable remote control of the bugs via "mechano-sensor activation" or something similar. Additionally, scientists are hoping to harness the energy emitted during locomotion to actually power the internal MEMS. Sure, as long as these critters can be swatted down with a newspaper, we're solid, but we aren't too sure we dig where this could be headed.

[Via Wired]

[granny down east @ Mar 20th 2008 10:00AM]

I envision a legion of angry African honeybees descending on enemy combatants.
Did I see this in a movie?

"I'm in ur humvee, stingin' yo asses."

[Me @ May 9th 2008 8:33PM]

"Chinese scientists have succeeded in implanting electrodes in the brain of a pigeon to control the bird’s flight remotely, state media have reported."
"A University professor, thought to be the world's first human cyborg, has shared his thoughts and experiences with a group of Scots schoolchildren."
"WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Monkeys implanted with special electrodes moved a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about it, and learned how to do it better with practice, scientists reported on Thursday."

Wake up, it's on people.
http://whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com/rl_cmp/new_phil_warwick.html

Always glad to start a wig-out session in even a few.

[Nate @ Mar 20th 2008 10:04AM]

Do my despotic bidding!

[aardvark sandwich @ Mar 20th 2008 10:15AM]

What we need now are cyborg insect-eating cyborg carnivorous plants, i.e. Venu$ fly tr@p.

Or a big skynet ^_^

[Brandon P. @ Mar 20th 2008 10:16AM]

Hmm, that one looks like its out of Silence of the Lambs haha.

[linumax @ Mar 20th 2008 10:25AM]

Did you mean Red Dragon?

[linumax @ Mar 20th 2008 10:23AM]

As these become smaller and more functional, it gets more and more
scary. As an example, they can be incredibly effective in
assassinations, a poisonous sting or just drop a tiny capsule in
someone's food or drink and it's done! Who needs Leon anymore?

[bsm0f0 @ Mar 20th 2008 11:00AM]

Don't forget the cockroaches ... with freaking laser beams attached to their heads.

[Peter R. @ Mar 20th 2008 10:28AM]

Oh great, just what we needed, small scale brain control. I actually had to check my calender, just to make sure it wasn't surprisingly April 1st. Once they've mastered their brain control tech on insects, it won't be too long before they start using it further along the food chain.

[fanman @ Mar 20th 2008 12:09PM]

Does it have a brain or a mind?

[Peter R. @ Mar 21st 2008 12:06AM]

Yes, a insect does have a brain.
http://www.animalbehavioronline.com/insectbrains.html
Since the cyborg insect is alive, I suspect its brain is still in working order, although its been taken over by the "machine."

[fanman @ Mar 20th 2008 10:28AM]

We need the three laws from iRobot, plus a forth one that says anything that is self aware cant be cyborgificated.

[emailtabs @ Mar 20th 2008 10:41AM]

"We need the three laws from iRobot, plus a forth one that says anything that is self aware cant be cyborgificated." -- Wrong

"We need the four laws from Asimov's foundataion trilogy (in seven parts), plus a fith one that says anything that is self aware cant be cyborgificated." -- Right

Sorry but i can't stand idly by and let you make such a statement without doffing a hat to the master.

[Jason @ Mar 20th 2008 10:57AM]

Are you kidding me? We've already thrown those laws out the window by deployed automated AI-controlled turrets in Iraq.

[UKNigel @ Mar 20th 2008 11:12AM]

Not to mention the fact that iRobot is a vacuum manufacturing company, and not the title of Isaac Asimov's book/movie "I, Robot".

[Zach @ Mar 20th 2008 2:25PM]

and hey, wheres the engadget article about the upcoming apple product iRobot? *waits for useless speculations*

[Jason @ Mar 20th 2008 10:57AM]

The sad thing is, I actually think dystopian sci-fi writers UNDERESTIMATED our capacity to fuck stuff up my misusing technology.

[RijilV @ Mar 20th 2008 11:02AM]

and in this case misusing other life forms. Sure they're only bugs, and generally obnoxious... but making them into evil spybots is really blasphemy against nature.

[fanman @ Mar 20th 2008 12:06PM]

That really depends on whether said animal has the capacity to think. If what your doing doesn't cause the creature pain, then it's no different ethnically to arranging plants and pruning in your garden. If, the other hand, this leads to the creation of evil killer cyborg elephants that are electrocuted when they don't comply...

[bsm0f0 @ Mar 20th 2008 11:00AM]

They're already using it on mice ... that started some years ago. The insect thing is a by-product of those experiments ...

[bsm0f0 @ Mar 20th 2008 11:01AM]

sigh, that was meant for Peter R ...

[Peter R. @ Mar 21st 2008 12:12AM]

Wow, ...didn't know that,.....and I never thought a sentence about mice experiments could be so unnerving.

[Wes @ Mar 20th 2008 11:24AM]

this is obviously the work of the nefarious Monarch!!

[Wes @ Mar 20th 2008 11:28AM]

No, he means Silence of the Lambs. Look at a movie poster at the Death's Head moth with a skull on the back, but the skull is actually neekid womens.

[Garhend @ Mar 20th 2008 11:43AM]

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new Insectbot overlords.

[crho85 @ Mar 20th 2008 3:37PM]

I second that!

[Charlie Taylor @ Mar 20th 2008 11:52AM]

Anyone else remember the scene in Fifth Element when the baddies used a cyborg-cockroach with a directional microphone on it to listen in on the President's conversation? Yeah, the President ended up smashing the cockroach with his fist, blowing out the microphone and the ears of the henchman!

There's issue number 1, our first reaction to seeing a bug is to kill it!

[Charlie Taylor @ Mar 20th 2008 11:53AM]

An addendum to that:

Maybe we should only use Ladybugs? No one ever kills them on purpose!

[chainofcommand02 @ Mar 20th 2008 11:55AM]

MEMS- They're hot cuz they're fly.

[Abuzar @ Mar 20th 2008 2:53PM]

No, just no.

[Jherez @ Mar 20th 2008 5:56PM]

Lol.....no

[chainofcommand02 @ Mar 20th 2008 6:09PM]

Oh come on, guys!

[Abuzar @ Mar 20th 2008 8:39PM]

I just don't like rap. lol

I liked the Rock version of that song though.

[chainofcommand02 @ Mar 21st 2008 12:09AM]

I honestly don't like rap either, but ever since I read the "...graphical dissertation on the number one song in America," that song amuses me. http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0711,harvilla,76021,22.html

[Allen @ Mar 20th 2008 1:00PM]

Hmmm.... its disturbing that this is actually possible, I hadn't heard of it till now. If even rudimentary control of a living organism is possible by technological means, its not exactly a good sign as to where military technology is headed.

Advertising and slogans usually can convince the majority of the population to believe/follow a idea, but its those of us on the outside of that that try and keep things sane. For instance, Monster Cable tries to convince people that overpriced cabling is somehow better. We people of Engadget and others will eventually convince them its not, just like we did with those "high quality" USB cables of printer yore.

But what if it was possible to manipulate those of us who do consumer investigations, who do try and maintain the truth? Some are already (money talks), but then what about the desperately honest ones?

There is no way this would see mass-production as a technology of control, but it just needs (no pun intended) surgical use.

Thankfully, we are only talking about bugs right now. But, well, who was it who said "baby steps, my apprentice?"

[frankXchange @ Mar 20th 2008 2:00PM]

Great, another billion or two down the drain when the enemy deploys bug zappers.

[Ohmaar @ Mar 20th 2008 2:44PM]

If even rudimentary control of a living organism is possible by technological means, its not exactly a good sign as to where military technology is headed.

Ummm, ever heard of "reigns"?

[For2itous @ Mar 20th 2008 4:47PM]

DIRE WARNING: Cyborg insects, it follows, must first undergo metamorphosis in an 'iPod'... Quick! Stomp on your Shuffles, Nanos and Touches now before the pupae emerge by the thousands, burrowing deeper than an iTunes DRM, into your innermost ears! (D'Oh! Right...THAT'S why there's no 'user-replaceable' battery and the stock buds a little 'buzzy'!)

[phanbouy @ Mar 20th 2008 5:06PM]

Anyone see Mothman Prophecies? Don't. Awful movie.

[jakals @ Mar 20th 2008 5:25PM]

people kill bugs when they SEE them. how many bugs you got in your wall- behind your curtain - under your mat?

"There is no way this would see mass-production as a technology of control,"

why not? technology breeds mass production. control includes data gathering.
present eavesdropping needs physical planting of "bugs" or tele-mikes or laser devices - this would be easier and cheaper when mass produced.

[synchro303 @ Mar 20th 2008 7:44PM]

So, someone has to carefully implant the electronics into the larvae of these insects one by one? Or, will one of the functions of the adult implanted insects possibly be in installation of the electronic parts into their young. That might be too complex. What do you think?

[gopadge @ Mar 20th 2008 8:09PM]

Did no one get the message of Jurassic Park? F@cking with Mother Nature is a BAD IDEA!

[Valgas @ Mar 21st 2008 3:42AM]

This is awesome. So when do the remote controlled roaches with micro satellite dishes on their backs come out?