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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