March 20, 2006

Silent service … with teeth
Researchers enlist sharks for underwater operations

Forget Beluga whales, dolphins or other marine mammals enlisted by the Navy. Uncle Sam now wants to use sharks for stealthy, subsurface missions.

The Pentagon is funding research into devices to be implanted into sharks’ brains with the hope of manipulating the frightful fish for potential military uses, according to an article in the British publication New Scientist.

Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, officials presented their findings at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu in February.

According to the DARPA report, “the Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks’ natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails.”

The military could potentially use sharks to follow ships without detection. Because they power themselves and thus run silent, sharks hold a distinct advantage over other types of underwater surveillance.

Researchers are now planning to test the devices outside the laboratory, with implanted blue sharks to be released off the coast of Florida. Since radio signals don’t penetrate the sea, communications with the sharks will be made through Navy sonar signals, able to reach a shark up to 187 miles away.

Beyond their military applications, researchers hope that such implants could lead to better understanding of how sharks and animals like rats and monkeys interact with their environment. The devices could also assist research into paralysis in humans.

And they are cheap to feed too......wonder though how would you classify and NSN them.

Do they have lazers on their heads?

Quoted: March 20, 2006

Once again, the future is here, today.

So can I please get those winning lottery #'s in my IM box? Thanks




Some seriously cool shit though. I really like the idea of neural interface technologies (think sci-fi).