Radio-Controlled Cyborg Beetles Become Reality

holy_calamity writes "DARPA's plans to create brain chips for insects so they can be steered like an RC plane are bearing fruit. Videos show that a team at Berkeley can use radio signals to tell palm-sized African beetles to take off and land, and to lose altitude and steer left or right when in flight. They had to use the less-than-inconspicuous giant beetles because other species are too weak to take off with the weight of the necessary antenna and brain and muscle electrodes."

Comments

Best. Band Name. Ever.

[caywen]

Yes, where can I buy their mad songs on iTunes.

Karma

[lymond01]

Knowing he was the last of his species that had not been subjugated by the warring giants, Jonathan scratched his legs together harder than he'd ever done so before, creating a resonance in the air of such penetrating frequency that its fluctuations were felt not merely in the upper reaches of the planet's atmosphere, but further, deeper into space. And after many years of travel that sound, vibrating off trace molecules of hydrogen and helium floating in the ether, finally reached the highly developed and ultra-sensitive antanae of his forefathers. Upon hearing that screech of anguish, of hopeless tragedy, a world, nay, a galaxy of worlds was moved to arms.

And so, the younger beetles were lifted from their bondage, and the race of humanity was invaded and broken apart like the guy from the last scene in Creepshow. The celebration lasted for years until discovery of the artists behind the White Album caused a moral civil war to break out. Beetlemaniacs ran rampant through the streets and in the walls and between the countertops and woodwork. And such is a species without an enemy -- the enemy comes then from within.

Paul

[frozentier]

I can already tell you the Paul McCartney version will be the most popular.

Re:I for one

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

>> Radio-Controlled Cyborg Beetles Become Reality
>
> welcome our new remote control beetle overlords!

New? Humans have long since mastered controlling other humans with memes -- ideas specialized in creating an internal mental model of reality that drives real-world activity that boosts the spread of the meme.

You didn't think that God actually exists, or that single-payer, socialized medicine, was actually good, right?

I humbly await a downmod driven by the meme defense mechanism inside your brain. By downmodding me, you think you are properly slapping me according to your internal worldview, but you're actually simultaneously attempting to hide criticism of your meme as well as buttress, via defense, your emotional involvement in said meme, which is to say, the internal worldview.

So I humbly await the actual, physical activity to be generated by your body to defend your meme.