The Pigeon's Are Coming!!

Sebastian Stent

Cyborgs. Everyone is terrified of cyborgs. Wherever they crop up in popular fiction, people end up dead. So we have been cautious about even expressing interest in such technology. However, recent Chinese experiments show that we seem to be getting over our squeamishness … the time of the bionic pigeon is upon us.

The Chinese newspaper People's Daily Online reports that scientists in China have successfully implanted micro-electrodes into the brains of pigeons to control the birds' movement.

"Scientists with the Robot Engineering Technology Research Centre of east China's Shandong University of Science and Technology, led by Professor Su Xuecheng, 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, mirroring natural signals generated by the brain, and forcing the bird to comply with their commands."




While the uses of this technology are still a little ambiguous, the researchers believe that this is the first time that such technology has been used successfully with a pigeon.

In the United States, similar work on animals has been going on for many years.

In the '60s the CIA was working on a project known as Acoustic Kitty. This research fitted a cat with an implant to eavesdrop on conversations. However, as with so many things, outside influences grounded the project on its first outing - the kitty got run over.

The Americans have also been working on similar technology embedded in sharks so that they could be used for ultra-stealthy undersea surveillance. However, the results of these experiments are unknown because of the classified nature of the research.

Su conducted a similar successful experiment on mice in 2005.

But his experiments on pigeons are truly remarkable, making the bird fly in ways which they are unable to do naturally, such as straight up or down.

Maybe the wars of the future will be heralded not with a gunshot, but with the terrified cry: "The pigeons are coming!" - cbass.cpt@gmail.com