REMOTE Control PIGEONS??

Question

Why??

Bird-brained Chinese scientists learn to fly pigeons Tue Feb 27, 7:52 AM ET



BEIJING (Reuters) - Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains, state media reported on Tuesday.

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Scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Centre at Shandong University of Science and Technology said ther electrodes could command them to fly right or left or up or down, Xinhua news agency said.

"The implants stimulate different areas of the pigeon's brain according to signals sent by the scientists via computer, and force the bird to comply with their commands," Xinhua said.

"It's the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world," Xinhua quoted the centre's chief scientist, Su Xuecheng, as saying.

Su and his colleagues, who Xinhua said had had similar success with mice in 2005, were improving the devices used in the experiment and hoped that the technology could be put into practical use in future.

The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons.

Answer 1

I used to teach Remote Sensing at a university. Why sense things remotely when you could just walk up and look at them? It might be because you want the "big picture", but the history of the discipline has been driven by the military - the need to see what the other guy doesn't want you to see. One of the earliest attempts at covert remote sensing involved using homing pigeons and timed cameras in World War I. It didn't work as well as the U-2, or later spy satellites, or the remote control drones used today by the US military. Cameras today can be very tiny, and who's to suspect a bird? So, there's a practical application.

That said, I suspect that it represents "pure" science and that the real object was to better understand how the brain works. Often overlooked these days, science for the sake of exploring the unknown, with no clear practical outcome has led to some amazing discoveries. Example: Two pure scientists at Xerox Labs wanted to see if they could get two computers to pass information. They thought it might be of some utility. They didn't think it would lead to the Internet.

Answer 2

Well, the applications are endless -- of course, pigeons are just the starting point! Think of what will happen when they do this with dogs, horses . . . and, of course, humans. That WOULD most likely be the end result, don't you think?

Actually, probably it is just research into the relationship between stimulus and motor response in an effort to make more efficient robots and artificial intelligence, but it doesn't hurt to be totally paranoid once in a while! LOL!

Answer 3

i have 3 remote control pigeons.

Answer 4

Pretty neat, huh?