At 12:50 PM 3/15/2006, you wrote:
>Waldemar said:
>Interesting article on DARPA's plans for implanting controls into various
>insect: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4808342.stm
>
>It should have mentioned Jerry B's bees, too.
Actually, a UPI reporter, not DARPA, did mention our bees, proclaimed them
a failure -- didn't check his facts, didn't talk to me, didn't talk to
DARPA, read the DARPAA BAA and concluded that if DARPA wants to 'drive'
insects, previous work with insects must have failed.
This reporter didn't know that DARPA had worked with lots of other insects,
and that food and mating proved to be distractions for some. For bees,
food is the driving variable, and worker bees don't mate. Also, the
previously funded WASP HOUND group recently had lots of coverage (Dec, 2005
-- USA Today, ABC news, etc.) about their success with the newest
generation of work conducted by DARPA under the earlier program. Since
their wasps are in a cage, food distractions and mating aren't a problem to
them, either.
For some reason, the reporter couldn't find recent publications by either
the bee or wasp group, but did manage to find 5 year old reports, which he
used in drawing his conclusions. So much for fact checking.
Jerry
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