Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Cyborg Pigeons Invade China??!!

From the Wired Blog

The People's Daily Online reports that scientists in China have successfully used brain implants in pigeons to control the birds' movement. Scientists with the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center of east China's Shandong University of Science and Technology say they implanted micro electrodes in the brain of a pigeon so they can command it to fly right or left or up or down. The implants stimulated different areas of the pigeon's brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and forced the bird to comply with their commands. But don't hold your breath waiting for animal spies to roam the world anytime soon. One of the most infamous would-be animal espionage projects, dubbed Acoustic Kitty, dates back to the 1960s, when the CIA wired a furry feline to eavesdrop. On its trial run, the cat was run over by a car.

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