Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Researchers Implant Neural-Monitoring RFID Into a Moth

Posted by timothy on from the wasn't-flapping-at-the-time dept.

TechRev_AL writes "A team from the University of Washington has attached an RFID chip capable of sensing neural activity to a live moth, to pick up the spikes that occur as it beats its wings. Most neural implants are still relatively bulky, but the Washington researchers wanted to show the components in an RFID could be adapted for the same purpose. The NeuralWISP chip is a collection of low-power components such as a specialized signal amplifier, on a circuit board just over two centimeters long. The circuitry converts usable power from the reader — roughly 430 microwatts — to a voltage that can turn on a microcontroller. The sensor is also configured to 'wake up' only when a neuron fires. The ultimate goal is to create more compact, wirelessly-powered brain and nervous system implants for people."

39 comments

  1. Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by mikael_j · · Score: 3, Funny

    You know all those "the government place a transmitter in my brain" people are going to have a field day with this one. Now they get to panic about government mind-control and RFID (or in their lingo "the mark of the beast") at the same time.

    /Mikael

    --
    Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
    1. Re:Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by Yetihehe · · Score: 1

      They could use popular "cure" for rfid tags which works for passports with rfid - put their head inside microwave.

      --
      Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
    2. Re:Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by Proteus+Child · · Score: 1

      Great. My plan for world domination just went public.

      --

      Proteus' Child

      Doko ni datte; hito wa, tsunagette iru.

    3. Re:Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by maxume · · Score: 0

      Are you saying that the government is putting RFID tags in our food?

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    4. Re:Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I was thinking that this would make a good DARPA project. The Intelligence community has been looking for a method to send a listening device to a place without human intervention for some time. I was thinking that a female Praying Mantis would make a better courier. The problem with using apex predators is that they often do other things that might draw attention.

    5. Re:Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by cmiller173 · · Score: 1

      I thought you could just hit the rfid tag with a hammer really hard...

    6. Re:Talk about feeding the conspiracy theorists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess the neurons that were firing had a constant theme... "WTF is on me!"

  2. Debugging by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wonder if they've gotten all the bugs out yet?

  3. We will add your biological and technological.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... distinctiveness to our own.

    Resistance is Futile.

  4. Well, as a moth... by AA+Wulf · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome our new RFID-implanting human overlords...

    --
    http://bohemian-geek.blogspot.com
    1. Re:Well, as a moth... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      I, for one, welcome our new mothters.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    2. Re:Well, as a moth... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      As a human, you will soon follow. ^^

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    3. Re:Well, as a moth... by dontmakemethink · · Score: 1

      Could you imagine a botnet of these things? Yeesh!

      --

      War as we knew it was obsolete
      Nothing could beat complete denial
      - Emily Haines
  5. V-Chip by IndustrialComplex · · Score: 2, Funny

    Cartman is going to be Pis*Z*Z*Z**ZZZZZZZZap. OUCH DAMN*Z*Z*Z*ZZZZAP. FuZ**Z*Z*Z*Z*Z*Z. OW!

    --
    Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
    1. Re:V-Chip by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      meh. I guess that the killerapp would be something like: 'I can fap without hands'

  6. Will o' the NeuralWISP, MEMS, & Spice by Globally+Mobile · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Just imagined a great cloud of moths controlled by these implants, with an MEMS chip for distributed wireless, feeding our ever growing hunger for broadband communications.


    'The Spice Must Flow'

    1. Re:Will o' the NeuralWISP, MEMS, & Spice by Globally+Mobile · · Score: 1

      Whoops, thought these were more then just monitors, and actual controllers... My bad!

    2. Re:Will o' the NeuralWISP, MEMS, & Spice by dissy · · Score: 1

      Whoops, thought these were more then just monitors, and actual controllers... My bad!

      It's only a matter of time really.

      I just hope they don't remotely control spiders in the future... I hate those things :P

    3. Re:Will o' the NeuralWISP, MEMS, & Spice by Globally+Mobile · · Score: 1

      goodness, seriously man.... Had one crawling on my desk/aka my bed/ala Proust... It was the smallest, most nimble little thing, reminds me of the jitterbug bots they made/make @MIT



      ---- Gibble, Gobble, we ACCEPT YOU ... ----

    4. Re:Will o' the NeuralWISP, MEMS, & Spice by ArbitraryDescriptor · · Score: 1

      I just hope they don't remotely control spiders in the future... I hate those things :P

      Seriously? Because a remote controlled jumping-spider (with cameras) would be the coolest RC toy ever. Have you ever seen how fast those things are? They don't even move, they just shift through time over small distances.

  7. control by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    Coming to a human near you :)

  8. Almost there by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    Now implant a laser diode into its head.

    1. Re:Almost there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get it. How are you going to turn a moth into a shark?

    2. Re:Almost there by smitty777 · · Score: 1

      "...because I feel every creature is entitled to a warm meal"

      --
      "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
      Albert Einstein
  9. Re:We will add your biological and technological.. by somersault · · Score: 1

    Ooh, that sun is BRIGHT! Two of Googolplex-and-three, set course for the centre of that star!

    --
    which is totally what she said
  10. Re:We will add your biological and technological.. by SailorSpork · · Score: 2, Funny

    No no, this is the birth of the Insecticons! Ahh, sweet childhood...

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insecticons

  11. Re:We will add your biological and technological.. by mcgrew · · Score: 1

    Resistance? You will not resist. When it comes time to become a cyborg you won't resist; you'll beg to join us.

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  12. Two centimeters is not small by noidentity · · Score: 1

    The NeuralWISP chip is a collection of low-power components such as a specialized signal amplifier, on a circuit board just over two centimeters long.

    So it's about the size of a US dime. Seems pretty damn bulky to me. RFID devices can be much smaller, for things like gluing to ants. The record is listed at 0.05mm x 0.05mm.

    1. Re:Two centimeters is not small by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Yep, this is precisely what I was thinking. Actually, they lost me at "circuit board". Who hasn't seen simple electronics built without one that are way smaller as a result? It's a fucking moth, there's no enclosure into which you would install a PCB.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  13. I did this for my senior EE project! by carn1fex · · Score: 1

    Waaay back in 2002 we built a similar device for lab rats for my senior EE project. A little helmet stuck electrodes into the rats brain and fed the signals to a little 2cm x 1cm backpack that had a little amp, mux, a2d and fm transmitter. Used to study what areas of the rats brain were responsible for drug addiction. They actually juiced the rats on cocaine. Hence ours was WAY COOLER and we were drunk half the time. :P

    --

    ---------

    No matter how thin you slice it, its still baloney.

    1. Re:I did this for my senior EE project! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Used to study what areas of the rats brain were responsible for drug addiction. They actually juiced the rats on cocaine. Hence ours was WAY COOLER and we were high on cocaine half the time. :P

      Fixed that for you...

  14. Oh Look A Lamp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BAM...Oh Look A Lamp....BAM...Oh Look A Lamp....BAM...Oh Look A Lamp....BAM..........

  15. This key to this WHOLE thing is this one statement by gabrieltss · · Score: 1

    "The ultimate goal is to create more compact, wirelessly-powered brain and nervous system implants for people."

    Got it - they want to put these in YOU! So they can track everything you think, do and say. Oh wait wasn't that said in an old song "In The Year 2525"......

    Welcome SLAVE!

    --
    The Truth is a Virus!!!
  16. This will help retailers by formfeed · · Score: 1

    Moths with RFID chips implanted will not only make it easier for large retailers to keep track of their inventory, it will also help them to cut down on the rising number of moth pick pocketing (moth pocketing).

    Heck, they might even be able to track consumer behavior: What else are moth-buying consumers interested in?

    Usually moths are located in the rice and grain isle, but this new research might enable retailers to move them over to another part of the store, to sell other products as well. For example, moth-consumers might have to walk by the fruit flies to get to the moths.

  17. hmmm... by CremIon · · Score: 1

    ...something about this bugs me...