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Cyborg insect created using fuel cell powered by own body fluid

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One day were going to have robot drones that are no bigger than a mosquito, but weve got a long way to go on the miniaturization front before that happens. In the meantime, weve got real insects to work with as long as we figure out a good way to control them.

Insect control isnt a new idea, but it is pretty gruesome. It usually involves inserting a needle or two into their bodies and sending electrical pulses into their brain, forcing a change in direction. Even if such a system is perfected, the useful life of the insect is limited by how long it can survive, and if it isnt carrying out normal behavior and eating, that wont be for long.

The other problem with using real insects is they dont have batteries, so any electronics attached to them, e.g. a camera, also requires a battery be attached. That adds weight and ultimately severely limits how long such a device can work for.

Combined research coming out of Osaka University and the Tokyo University of Agriculture may have solved the energy source problem, though. But its just as gruesome as the brain control mechanism.

What the research team has done is to develop a fuel cell that can be attached to an insect and is powered by the insects own body fluid. A small tank is fitted inside the insect that takes in the body fluid, which contains a type of sugar called trehalose. That is broken down by enzymes in the tank to produce glucose, which in turn is used to power the fuel cell.

Such a system is taking energy away from the insect, so it will need to be fed regularly, but it could form a sustainable way to power other components attached to an insect without requiring a battery. That in turn means the potential for a cyborg insect being created with a relatively long life span.

So if you see a cockroach or similar sized insect hanging around while you have a conversation, give it a closer look and see if theres anything unusual on its back. If so, put the poor thing out of its misery.

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Cyborg insect created using fuel cell powered by own body fluid

The Internet of Vegetables: How Cyborg Plants Can Monitor Our World

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In the not too distant future, we could see cyborg plants that tell us when they need more water, what chemicals theyve been exposed to, and what parasites are eating their roots. These part-organic, part-electronic creations may even tell us how much pollution is in the air. And yes, theyll plug into the network.

Thats right: Were on our way to the Internet of Plants.

Thats the message from Andrea Vitaletti, the head of a blue-sky research group working on this very thing at a lab in Italy. The project is called PLEASED, short for PLants Employed As SEnsing Devices. Though the project is still in the early stages, Vitaletti believes plants could serve as ideal sensors, monitoring so many aspects of our environment. Plants are cheap and resilient, he argues, and they could potentially monitor many different things simultaneously.

Plants have millions of years of evolution. They are robust. They want to survive, Vitaletti says.

Andrea Vitaletti

His interest in combining plants and electronics dates to childhood, when he and his father used schematics found in an electronics magazine to build a simple circuit for generating sound from plants. He went on to pursue computer engineering at the University of Rome, where he studied algorithms for wireless networks and sensors. But the Internet of Plants idea didnt take root until he saw TED talk on plant intelligence.

Vitaletti soon called the author of the talk, University of Florence professor Stefano Mancuso, and the possibility of using plants as sensors blossomed. This led to PLEASED, a project that spans many operations, from Vitalettis company W-LAB and hardware company Advanticsys to The University of Southampton in Britain, The University of Florence and the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Its funded by the European Commission.

The fundamental notion is plants could be used as low cost, sustainable sensors for monitoring environmental factors like soil quality and air pollution. Vitaletti and other scientists already are working to connect various species with Arduino circuit boards that can record and transmit information. Eventually, these cyborg plants could detect parasites and pollutants in crops, or they could play a role in whats called precision agriculture, telling farmers when they need more water or more nutrients or less. More broadly, they could monitor the effects of acid rain in the environment or the health of city parks.

Yes, we already have a wide variety of sensors for detecting temperature, humidity and the like. And even Vitaletti admits they are more accurate that whats possible from plants today. But he believes plants, with their robust and multi-facted nature, plants eventually could take us beyond the state of the art.

Like the human brain, plants respond to external stimuli from electrical signals. But while we already have tools for monitoring electrical activity in the brain tools even let you control video games and robotic arms with brain waves the mechanisms for plant signaling are less understood.

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The Internet of Vegetables: How Cyborg Plants Can Monitor Our World

Architecture in Helsinki Play Cyborg Scientists In Their New Video

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It's been almost ten years since the first and only time I ever talked to Architecture in Helsinki. I was writing for the college newspaper and trying too hard to look cool. But they didn't have to try at all. "Why are you guys so fun?" I asked. "We're from Australia," they replied.

It was like a time warp when I saw their latest music video, "Dream a Little Crazy." The set up for the show I saw in Cambridge, Massachusetts, back in 2005, can only be described as a sound laboratory with instruments and objects strung up all over the stage. They've now upgraded their lab to appease all senseswide-eyed and lab-coated, the musicians make masks and mix potions. They scan faces and pour paint. By the end of the video, you can't help but wonder if they're actually doing real experiments.

That's when I realized how far this little band from Melbourne has come. A decade ago, they were just a bunch of high energy hipsters from Australia banging on pots and pans. Today, they're mad scientists from the future.

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Architecture in Helsinki Play Cyborg Scientists In Their New Video


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