Editors' Pick|1,248 views|Aug 25, 2020,01:21pm EDT
The Pentagon’s Latest Cyborg Insect: Locust Bomb Sniffers
Kelsey D. Atherton
With a chittering of wings and a flickering of antennae, the locusts buzzed into position. Released from their cage, the swarm buzzed across the road, senses tuned and trained to the scent of TNT. First one lands, and then another, and near the corner of the street, hidden under loose cardboard and a fake, papier-maché rock, is the improvised explosive device. The swarm monitor plots the location on a tablet like a game of minesweeper, and waits for the swarm to identify more hidden hazards.
This is not, yet, the reality of war, but a possible future based on present research undertaken by the Office of Naval Research. Using electrodes, transmitters, and a little bit of glue and insect surgery, research successfully demonstrated the ability of cyborg locusts to detect explosive compounds. The project began in 2016, and this month researchers at Washington University in St. Louis published their results in the journal Biosensors and Biolectronics: X.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kelseyatherton/2020/08/25/locust-bomb-sniffers-just-the-latest-military-insect-cyborg/#cc110bd3efaf
