The Pentagon has handed researchers at Agiltron Corporation a contract to implant larvae with “high sensitivity micromechanical chemical sensors” that run on electric power collected with an embedded “electromagnetic harvester.” The implanted system would include muscle actuators, so different tics or twitches would signal the detection of different chemicals.
In separate deals, the Pentagon is also backing research into an insect-mounted device powered by fuel cells, for a more reliable energy source. “This solution offers several advantages over the existing electromechanical methods; 50-100X higher power density, power-generation independent of insect species, and power generation in absence of insect motion,” according to the contract award.
And to really bring the critters into the 21st century, the military wants to hook them up with their own wireless network - using chirps instead of Tweets. They’re funding two projects that would create “a mobile ad hoc network” for vocal insects like crickets and cicadas.
noting both the yin and yang of futurity, watching cover ups as they happen, fighting back, and wooking pa nub in all de wong places. that's what i do.
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[the Other Outpost]
