Smart Robots (04.24.03) Bio Detector (01.29.03) Information about Insect Pupae What Is a Cyborg? Here's one way insects could actually make themselves useful-- detecting hazards in the environment or on the battlefield thanks to the same technology being used to put a lab on a silicon chip. In this video blog, Cornell University's David Erickson , describes how his lab, which combines mechanical and aerospace engineering with nanobiotechnology, is working to integrate tiny micro- and nanofluidic devices into flying insects like moths that could detect and transmit information about the presence of dangerous gases, explosives or pathogens like viruses. And by implanting nano devices early in the insects' development, the scientists hope to actually gain some control over the insects' flight and behavior. "This is the idea where we can take living systems and try to fuse them with nano systems. Erickson says. "Can we build a controllable micro air vehicle that combines the best of both worlds? What we are trying to do is fuse micronanofluidic systems with them and control in some way the chemical system of the insect." The researchers take advantage of the insect's metamorphosis by implanting a device at the pupa stage. "We do that because its biology is rearranging at that point from caterpillar to a moth, so it's irrecognizable," he says. "So if we implant it at that stage, it then develops ... not knowing anything but having been a portion made of Silicon." The insect cyborg research is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Erickson didn't want to say much more about it than this. The researchers take advantage of the insect's metamorphosis by implanting a device at the pupa stage. "We do that because its biology is rearranging at that point from caterpillar to a moth, so it's irrecognizable," he says. "So if we implant it at that stage, it then develops ... not knowing anything but having been a portion made of Silicon." The insect cyborg research is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Erickson didn't want to say much more about it than this.

joyce gramza, david erickson, cornell university,