November 28, 2004
Free Market Miracle #0009
Backed by the Pentagon, scientists are recruiting insects, shellfish, bacteria and even weeds to act as "bio-sentinels", which give early warning of biological and chemical attacks, detect explosives or monitor the spread of contamination.
At Virginia Commonwealth University, biologist Karen Kester uses bugs as "flying, crawling Q-Tips" that can check their habitats for noxious materials from anthrax to chemicals more thoroughly, cheaply, and reliably than human-made sensors.
"You look at what these animals have picked up or ingested while going about their day-to-day activities," said Kester, whose work is funded by a million-dollar grant from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The exact details of the funding were not disclosed.
Sure sure. And soon enough, the Pentagon will throw millions more at the "private" sector to build the infrastructure. Not that it will work -- but when you're playing with the taxpayers' money, you don't actually need to make progress.
Posted by Eddie Tews at November 28, 2004 03:26 PM
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