Adding up to over 1.3 billion cubic meters, and home to many aquatic creatures, is the vast waters of the Earth. Despite the countless explorations of the ocean by various scientists, many of them very expensive, many parts of the ocean still remains a mystery.
...expensive tools such as depth-defying submarines and swimming drones would have to hit the waves in huge numbers to cover even a fraction of that water.
Fortunately, there are creatures who can be found in the oceans and are readily available. One of them is the moon jellyfish, and researchers at the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University aim to modify them into controllable cyborgs.
The scientists built a microelectronic “prosthesis” or “swim controller” from off-the-shelf parts. They fastened it to the underside of a saucer-size moon jellyfish with a short wooden pin, then ran two electrodes from the device to the sides of the creature’s bell. When active, the prosthesis stimulated the jellyfish’s muscles with a regular electronic pulse. To minimize the impact on the animal, the researchers fit the electronics inside a two-centimeter-wide cylindrical case, adding cork floats and stainless-steel weights to keep the system neutrally buoyant. The scientists tested the device on six moon jellyfish in a tank and found it could make the animals swim at nearly three times their natural pace. They maintained their typical speed when wearing an inactive swim controller. The results were published in Science Advances on Wednesday.
These would surely raise ethical concerns, however, but John Dabiri, co-author of the study, defends their case.
See more details about this study, and about Dabiri’s defense over at Scientific American.
(Image Credit: Rebecca Konte/ Caltech)