20 Oct 2009

Ssh... your conversation may be bugged by a cyborg beetle

Spies may soon be bugging conversations using actual insects, thanks to research funded by the US military.

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has spent years developing a whole host of cyborg critters, in the hopes of creating the ultimate 'fly on the wall'.

cyborg-beetle

Now a team of researchers led by Hirotaka Sato have created cyborg beetles which are guided wirelessly via a laptop.Researchers at UC Berkeley have implanted surveillance equipment into beetles that allows them to control where they fly

Using implants, they worked out how to control a beetle's take-off, flight and landing by stimulating the brain to work the wings.

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