PokerPacker Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 PARIS (AFP) - The Pentagon is reportedly funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of turning sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean. ADVERTISEMENT Life Takes Visa According to the British weekly New Scientist, the research builds on experimental work to control animals by implanting tiny electrodes in their brain, which are then stimulated to induce a behavioral 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, carried in next Saturday's New Scientist. "By remotely guiding the sharks' movements they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted." The unusual project is being funded by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), 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 Honolulu, Hawaii, according to the report. A team at Boston University have implanted electrodes into the brain of a spiny dogfish in a shallow tank. The implants, controlled by a small radio transmitter, 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 the coast of Florida. As radio signals will not penetrate the sea, communications with the fish will be made through US Navy acoustic towers capable of sending sonar signals to a shark up to 300 kilometers (187 miles) 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 says the DARPA work is controversial, but also points out that work with animal implants also has a potential benefit for medicine. Understanding more about the brain's electrical signals could one day result in implants to control a prosthetic limb to overcome paralysis. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060301/od_afp/sciencemilitaryoffbeat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drockvb Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 This is the stupidest thing I have seen in a long while. All that research time and money being spent for this crap. Whats next an army of chimps, or paratrooping alligators? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfitzo53 Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 All I wanted were frickin' sharks, with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted March 4, 2006 Author Share Posted March 4, 2006 This is the stupidest thing I have seen in a long while. All that research time and money being spent for this crap. Whats next an army of chimps, or paratrooping alligators? you know, we already have rats that we can control. we hook electrode thingies up to their brain, and activate a little electical charge. it stimulates their brain making them think that something is touching their whiskers, causing them to turn the other direction. these animals a very instinctual making it easier to control them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted March 4, 2006 Author Share Posted March 4, 2006 All I wanted were frickin' sharks, with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. now you can have frickin' remote controlled sharks with frickiin' laser beams on attached to their heads Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpillian Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 you know, we already have rats that we can control. Yeah, but up til now, they have been confined to the halls of Congress! :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamingwolf Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Yeah, but up til now, they have been confined to the halls of Congress! :laugh: ::snicker:: that was a good one the best animal weapon was from wwii. the bat bomb, that was a crazy weapon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashburnskinsfan Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 All I wanted were frickin' sharks, with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads. It's quite a bit of progress from mutated sea bass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Sharks are already the world's most perfect natural killing machine. Leave 'em alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
england Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Yeah, but up til now, they have been confined to the halls of Congress! :laugh: and the houses of parliament Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Egads. Super sleuth Sharks. :paranoid: Chum pleas. Shaken not stirred. Sorry. :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teller Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 :notworthy @ PCS. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted March 4, 2006 Author Share Posted March 4, 2006 Yeah, but up til now, they have been confined to the halls of Congress! :laugh: that has to be one of the few comments on this board that had me truly laughing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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