MC2 Animals3a

Neurological Enhanced Animals
All rights remain with original owners

Compiled by: R.J.M. Sluiter Ing.
http://eumc.wik.is
March 2009
About: Neurological Enhanced Animals

file: MC2-Animals3a
status: finished, irr. maintained
source: web
date: March, 2009
Compiled by: RJM Sluiter BSc.
Version: 3.a
1 Mind Control in Politics

2 Neurological Enhanced Animals or Mind Controlled Animals
A. A Short History of Animal Brain Telemetry
B. Neurally Enhanced Insects as a Sensor Platform
C. Neurally Enhanced Animals as a Tool in Espionage
D. Animal Intelligence and Communications
E. Animal with Enhanced Capabilities
F. Machines Enhanced with Neural Computing
G. Smart Animals and Animals with Atypical Behaviour
H. Some Conclusions
3 Neurally Enhanced Humans
4 Mind Control in Databases
2 Neurological Enhanced Animals or Mind Controlled Animals
2A A short History of Animal Brain Telemetry: (Brain remote control)

from: A multi-channel telemetry system for brain microstimulation in freely roaming animals,
by Shaohua Xu, Sanjiv K. Talwar, Emerson S. Hawley, Lei Li and John K. Chapin, Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 29 may
2003.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1188390&blobtype=pdf
A brief history of brain stimulation. In: Principles of brain stimulation.,
by JS Yeomans, Oxford University Press: New York; 1990. pp. 3–19.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1137218
Two-way transdermal communication with the brain.,
Delgado JMR, Lipponen V, Weiss G, del Pozo F, Monteagudo JL, McMahon R., Am Psychol 1975;30:
pp. 265–73.
http://stinet.dtic.mil/stinet/jsp/advanced-tr.jsp (search: electronarcosis)

Title: Shark Dart Electronic Circuit.
AD Number: AD0164212 Corporate Author: DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY WASHINGTON D C Personal
Author: Blanc,Clarence G.
Report Date: December 14, 1971 Distribution Code: 01 - APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Source
Code: 110050 From the collection: Technical Reports.
http://www.pesquisapsi.com/books/teopsi/Bibliography.html (no.:112)
Biologicheskaya Radiosvyas (Biological Radio),
by Bernard Bernardovich Kazhinsky, Ukranian Academy of Sciences, Kivz, 1962 [in Russian]
http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0415676
BIOLOGICAL RADIO COMMUNICATIONS,
Corporate Author : FOREIGN TECHNOLOGY DIV WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OHIO, Personal Author(s)
: Kazhinskiy,B.B.,
Report Date : 31 FEB 1963, Accession Number : AD0415676, Pagination or Media Count : 171
Abstract: Contents: A CLEAR CASE OF BIOLOGICAL RADIO COMMUNICATION: Searching for
Analogies; The Nervous System and Radio Engineering; The First Sallies Into the Open; Laboratory
Experiment. ONG THE QUADRUPED AND FEATHERED FRIENDS OF V. L. DUROV: The Dog Mars Puts
the Skeptics to Shame; I Play the Part of a Test Subject; The Faraday Cage; The Two-Number Riddle;
Decisive Experiments of Soviet Scientists; Radio Communication Among insects. RAYS OF VISION:
Electricity Everywhere; The Yogis Have Known It for a Long Time; A Word About Emotions. THE EAR:
AN ANALYZER OF BIO-ELECTRO MAGNETIC WAVES OF ACOUSTICAL FREQUENCY: Two-Way
Communication circuits in the Nerves; Pain at a Distance. HOW MATTER (BRAIN) THINKS: Memory, A
Kind of Hysteresis; Neurons and a Telegraph Cable; Reflex Arches; Memory Storage. K. E.
TSIOLKOVSKIY ON TELEPATHY: Professor Ivantsov's Doubts; My Rebuttal; But I Am Not Alone; A. V.
Leontovich's Work Supports the Theory of Biological Radio Communication; Our Ranks Are Steadily
Growing. THE FRIENDS AND ENEMIES ABROAD: Interesting Observations in Canada; Thousands of
Kilometers Away; Some Results and Prospects. (Author)
Descriptors : *BIONICS, COMMUNICATION AND RADIO SYSTEMS, PARAPSYCHOLOGY,
INFORMATION THEORY, BRAIN, NERVOUS SYSTEM, BIBLIOGRAPHIES.
Remote brain stimulation and relationships between parameters of stimulation and

learning.,
by JA. Gengerelli, In: Sheer DE, editor. Electrical stimulation of the brain. University of Texas Press:
Austin; 1961. pp. 155–64.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13404942
Apparatus for chronic stimulation of the brain of the rat by radiofrequency transmission.,
by Greer MA, Riggle GC., Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1957;9: pp. 151–5.
PMID: 13404942 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/ecs/articles/s00466/frame.html
Positive reinfrocement produced by electrical stimulation of septal area and other regions
of rat brain.,
by Olds J, Milner PM., J Comp Physiol Psychol 1954;47: pp. 419–27.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=17816859
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/110/2849/140
A technique for chronic remote nerve stimulation.,
by Lafferty JM, Farrell JJ., Science 5 aug. 1949;110: pp. 140–141
DOI: 10.1126/science.110.2849.140.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/79/2048/299
Electrical excitation of the nervous system—introducing a new principle: remote control.,
by Light RU, Chaffee EL., Science 30 mar. 1934;79: pp. 299–300.
DOI: 10.1126/science.79.2048.299
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l230867105183973/fulltext.pdf
Lapicque’s 1907 paper: from frogs to integrate-and-fire,
by N Brunel M.C.W. van Rossum, Biological Cybernetics 4 Oct. 2007, DOI 10.1007/
s00422-007-0190-0
Abstract: Exactly 100 years ago, Louis Lapicque published a paper on the excitability of nerves that is
often cited in the context of integrate-and-fire neurons.
We discuss Lapicque’s contributions along with a translation of the original publication.
2B Neural Enhanced Insects as a Sensor Platform:
www.intercorr.com/roach.htm
Insects can do many things that people can't,
by Eric Talmadoe AP, date google cached: 4 Jan 2008.
"Insects can do many things that people can't", said Assistant Professor
Isao Shimoyama, head of the bio-robot research team at Tokyo
University. "The potential applications of this work for mankind could be
immense." Within a few years, Shimoyama says, electronically controlled
insects carrying mini-cameras or other sensory devices could be used for
a variety of sensitive missions - like crawling through earthquake rubble to
search for victims, or slipping under doors on espionage surveillance.
http://www.darpa.mil/body/news/2002/darpa_fact.html
DARPA FACT FILE, A Compendium of DARPA Programs, April 2002, Brain Machine Interface
pp.43,
The Controlled Biological and Biomimetic Systems program leverages the extraordinary capabilities of
biological systems for military and dual-use applications. One program thrust is to actively collect
information from insect populations to map areas for biohazards, such as industrial chemicals and
biowarfare threats. Field trials are planned to lure and trap insects for identification of environmental
pathogens. Tests have shown that insects will collect airborne bacterial spores on their bodies during
flight. Honeybee demonstrations are planned to map for explosives at Defense installations scheduled
for transfer to non-Federal entities.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050409/fob4ref.asp Remote Control Minds: Light flashes

direct fruit fly behavior,
by Christen Brownlee, Science News, Vol. 167, No. 15, April 9, 2005, p. 228.
Researchers have exerted a little mind control over fruit flies by designing and installing genetic
'remote controls' within the insects' brains. Remote control of behavior through genetically targeted
photostimulation of neurons.
http://www.darpa.mil/mto/solicitations/baa06-22/pdf/lal_proposerday.pdf
Hybrid Insect MEMS Proposer’s Day,
Amit Lal, Program Manager, DARPAMTO, CSAC, MX, HERMIT, NGIMG, March 24, 2006, HIMEMS
Proposers Day, March 24, 2006, Amit Lal, DARPAMTO.
VISION: Create technology to reliably integrate microsystems payloads on insects to enable insect
cyborgs
OBJECTIVES: Develop technology to enable highly coupled electro mechanical interfaces to insect
anatomy and Demonstrate MEMS platforms for electronic locomotion control, power harvesting from
insect, and eliminate extraneous biological functions. Harvard Entomologist: Carroll Williams "DARPA
Program : Use object insertion ability into pupas to reliably insert microsystems (instead of glass tube)
for insect control"
• Long distance missions: Monarchs can travel for 3000 miles without feeding for 75 days
• Fast missions: Dragonflies can travel at 45 mph for 23 hours
• Huge payloads: Thysania Agrippina Wingspan 25cm Larval hostplants = Fabaceae, Legumes
Brazil
• Airborne missions: Cocytius duponchel Wingspan 11 - 15cm, Has been collected at 11,000
feet in La Paz, Bolivia
• Communications: Lowpower RF and sonic microsystems
• Sensing: Low power CMOS gas sensors, imagers, acoustic signatures, radiation sensors
• Navigation: Low power inertial sensors, low power GPS
• Power generation: Vibration power scavenging, (Micro) batteries, Thermoelectrics
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174912/nick_turse_the_pentagon_s_battle_bugs
posted March 30, 2008 4:40 pm
Tomgram: Nick Turse, The Pentagon's Battle Bugs
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article1831494.ece
Can cyborg moths bring down terrorists?
From Times Online; by Jonathan Richards; May 24, 2007
A moth which has a computer chip implanted in it while in the cocoon will enable soldiers
to spy on insurgents, the US military hopes. (Scientists are growing flesh around
computer parts to create cyborg moths, which can be controlled remotely) At some point
in the not too distant future, a moth will take flight in the hills of northern Pakistan, and
flap towards a suspected terrorist training camp. But this will be no ordinary moth.
Inside it will be a computer chip that was implanted when the creature was still a pupa,
in the cocoon, meaning that the moth’s entire nervous system can be controlled
remotely. The moth will thus be capable of landing in the camp without arousing
suspicion, all the while beaming video and other information back to its masters via what
its developers refer to as a “reliable tissue-machine interface.”
http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/
freeabs_all.jsp?isnumber=4443570&arnumber=4443618&count=276&index=47
A cyborg beetle: Insect flight control through an implantable, tetherless
microsystem
Sato, H. Berry, C.W. Casey, B.E. Lavella, G. Ying Yao VandenBrooks, J.M. Maharbiz, M.M.
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor;
This paper appears in: Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2008. MEMS 2008. IEEE 21st
International Conference on
Publication Date: 13-17 Jan. 2008
On page(s): 164-167
Location: Tucson, AZ,
ISSN: 1084-6999
ISBN: 978-1-4244-1793-3
INSPEC Accession Number: 9829463
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/MEMSYS.2008.4443618
Date Published in Issue: 2008-01-28 09:48:54.0
Abstract: We present an implantable flight control microsystem for a cyborg beetle. The
system consists of multiple inserted neural and muscular stimulators, a visual stimulator,
a polyimide assembly and a microcontroller. The system is powered by two size 5
cochlear microbatteries. The insect platform is Cotinis texana, a 2 cm long, 1-2 gram
Green June Beetle. We also provide data on the implantation of silicon neural probes,
silicon chips, microfluidic tubes, and LED's introduced during the pupal stage of the
beetle.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~icjfh/research_cyborg.html
Cyborg insects
Insects routinely outperform any man-made flying vehicle in terms of flight time,
maneuverability, payload capacity and fuel efficiency. We are collaborating with Dr.
Michel Maharbiz (Univ. Michigan) and other engineering scientists to attempt to create
cyborg insects that carry a wireless transmitter and a range of sensors during flight. In
this research, we are rearing beetle species at various oxygen levels to attempt to
produce beetles with greater-than- normal size and payload capacity. We are also
testing the effect of the different oxygen atmospheres on flight performance, tracheal
dimensions, and the oxygen- sensitivity of flight. These studies have been partially
supported by a grant from the Office of Naval Research and DARPA.
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/mg19726461.
800-the-cyborg-animal-spies-hatching-in-the-lab.html
The cyborg animal spies hatching in the lab.
06 March 2008, New Scientist Print Edition, by Jessica Marshall
THE next time a moth alights on your window sill, watch what you say. Sure,
it may look like an innocent visitor, irresistibly drawn to the light in your room,
but it could actually be a spy - one of a new generation of cyborg insects with
implants wired into their nerves to allow remote control of their movement.
Be warned, flesh-and-blood bugs may soon live up to their name.
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/02/the_cyborg_flyi.html
Military Cyborg Menagerie
By Noah Shachtman February 28, 2007
The cyborg flying rats are nasty, sure. But China isn't the only country looking to bend
animals to their will. And pigeons aren't the only critters being controlled. A 1994 Air
Force proposal called for the use of "sex attractant chemicals for bugs" as weapons. A
"'sting/attack me' chemical that causes bees to attack" could be "especially effective for
infiltration routes," the document noted. It also pondered the use of "strong
aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/air-force-wants.html#previouspost
Air Force: Bug-Like Robo-Bombs for Indoor Ops
By Noah Shachtman January 03, 2008
Air Force scientists are looking for robotic bombs that look -- and
act -- like swarms of bugs and birds. In a recent presentation,
Colonel Kirk Kloeppel, head of the Air Force Research Laboratory's
munitions directorate, announced the Lab's interest in "bio-inspired
munitions."
These, "small, autonomous" machines would "provide close-in
[surveillance] information, in addition to killing intended targets,"
the Colonel noted. And they'd not only take out foes in urban
canyons -- the self-guided munitions would "operat[e] within
buildings," too.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6017
Fly, Robot Fly
By Robert Wood, First Published March 2008
Whether as rescue robot or flying spy, this micro-aerial vehicle could change how we
look at the common housefly. There is no more rewarding moment for roboticists than
when they first see their creations begin to twitch with a glimmer of life. For me, that
moment of paternal pride came a year ago this month, when my artificial fly first flexed
its wings and flew.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6027/3
Behold the Flying Robots Continued By Sandra Upson
First Published March 2008[1]
http://www.ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/
freeabs_all.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4443617&isnumber=4443570
MEMS based bioelectronic neuromuscular interfaces for insect cyborg flight
control
Bozkurt, A. Gilmour, R. Stern, D. Lal, A.
Cornell Univ., Ithaca;
This paper appears in: Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2008. MEMS 2008. IEEE 21st
International Conference on
Publication Date: 13-17 Jan. 2008
On page(s): 160-163
Location: Tucson, AZ,
ISSN: 1084-6999
ISBN: 978-1-4244-1793-3
INSPEC Accession Number: 9829462
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/MEMSYS.2008.4443617
Date Published in Issue: 2008-01-28 09:48:54.0
Abstract: This paper reports the first direct control of insect flight by manipulating the
wing motion via microprobes and electronics introduced through the Early
Metamorphosis Insertion Technology (EMIT). EMIT is a novel hybrid biology pathway for
autonomous centimeter-scale robots that forms intimate electronic-tissue interfaces by
placing electronics in the pupal stage of insect metamorphosis. Our new technology may
enable insect cyborgs by realizing a reliable control interface between inserted
microsystems and insect physiology. The design rules on the flexibility of the inserted
microsystem and the investigation towards tissue- microprobe biological and electrical
compatibility are also presented.[2]
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/weapons/mg19726461.800-the-
cyborg-animal-spies-hatching-in-the-lab.html
The cyborg animal spies hatching in the lab
Scientists are creating a new generation of cyborg insects with implants that control
their every move. Jessica Marshall investigates
Features - 06 March 2008
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/weapons/mg19726405.500-dna-nose-
sniffs-out-explosives.html
DNA 'nose' sniffs out explosives
An artificial nose based on a short strand of DNA can detect a range of vapours –
including a constituent of TNT
Technology - 26 January 2008
2C Neural Enhanced Animals as a Tool in Espionage:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/11/04/wcia04.xml
CIA recruited cat to bug Russians,
by Charlotte Edwardes, Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008,
THE CIA tried to uncover the Kremlin's deepest secrets during the 1960s by turning cats into walking
bugging devices, recently declassified documents show. In one experiment during the Cold War a cat,
dubbed Acoustic Kitty, was wired up for use as an eavesdropping platform. It was hoped that the
animal - which was surgically altered to accommodate transmitting and control devices - could listen
to secret conversations from window sills, park benches or dustbins. By coincidence, in 1966, a British
film called Spy With a Cold Nose featured a dog wired up to eavesdrop on the Russians.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/133/3457/1010
Auditory Information from Subcortical Electrical Stimulation in Cats,
by Philip C. Nieder and William D. Neff, Science 31 March 1961 Vol. 133. no. 3457, pp. 1010 - 1011
DOI: 10.1126/science.133.3457.1010. Laboratory of Physiological Psychology, University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois. Animals trained to respond to sound stimuli were found to perform the learned
response when they were electrically stimulated through electrodes chronically implanted in
subcortical structures of the auditory pathway. Other animals trained to respond to electrical
stimulation of subcortical auditory structures showed differential transfer effects depending on the
positions of the stimulating electrodes.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1415469.stm
MI5 records reveal gerbil spycatcher plan;
BBC News UK, Saturday, 30 June, 2001
Security Service MI5 once planned to recruit a team of specially-trained gerbils as a secret weapon to
sniff out spies, it has been revealed. The animals were to help interrogate suspects because they
could use their acute sense of smell to detect a rise in adrenalin - the chemical released in sweat
when people feel under stress.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1961798.stm
Here come the ratbots,
by Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online science editor,

Wednesday, 1 May, 2002,
Guided rats controlled through implants in their brains could one day be
used to search for landmines or buried victims of earthquakes, scientists say.
An extraordinary experiment has seen researchers steering five rodents - so-
called ratbots - through an obstacle course by remote control. Writing in the
journal Nature, the scientists say the ratbots could reach places inaccessible
to humans or machines. The research team is led by Dr Sanjiv Talwar, of the
State University of New York, US.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6429
Rats' brain waves could find trapped people
22 September 2004, New Scientist, by Emily Singer
Rats equipped with radios that transmit their brainwaves could soon be helping to locate earthquake
survivors buried in the wreckage of collapsed buildings.
http://www.parallax.com/dl/docs/article/Roborat.pdf
A multi-channel telemetry system for brain microstimulation in freely roaming animals.,
by Shaohua Xua Sanjiv K. Talwar Emerson S. Hawley Lei
Li John K. Chapin, Journal of Neuroscience Methods 12
Sept. 2003
Pioneering work on telestimulation devices began in the
1930s (Light and Chaffee, 1934; Loucks, 1934), and
continued for many years thereafter (Delgado et al.,
1975; Gengerelli, 1961; Greer and Riggle, 1957; Lafferty
and Farrell, 1949; Warner et al., 1968). These devices
have limitations, however, that tend to prevent them
from fulfilling the requirements of modern
neurophysiological investigations: (1) Most provided only
a single channel of stimulation allowing only one brain
site to be excited at a time. (2) The fidelity of the
transmission was usually poor. For
example, the stimulus intensity tended to be dependent on the amplitude of the received analog
signal, which varies with transmission fidelity. (3) Even though investigators put much effort into
reducing the size and weight of the receiver that was implanted or mounted on the animal, the
excessive size and weight of the stimulus generators and transmitters, plus the high power required
to maintain transmission fidelity, confined the use only to specific laboratory locations. (4) Most of the
systems generated mono-phasic pulses, which can cause electrolytic tissue injury and electrode
damage (Lilly, 1961). This is less desirable than modern devices that use charge-balanced biphasic
pulses. Little progress has been made over the last two decades in developing miniaturized multi-
channel brain tele-stimulation devices for small animal research. Here, we describe the development
of a novel miniaturized digital telestimulation system that has enabled us to remotely deliver
stimulation to multiple brain sites of freely moving animals (rats).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/468857.stm
Sci/Tech: Computer uses cat's brain to see, Scientists have literally seen the world
through cat's eyes,
by BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse, Friday, October 8, 1999 Published at 20:57
GMT 21:57 UK
According to a paper published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Garrett Stanley, Yang Dang and Fei Li,
from the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, have been able
to "reconstruct natural scenes with recognizable moving objects". The researchers attached
electrodes to 177 cells in the so-called thalamus region of the cat's brain and monitored their activity.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/19/18/8036
Reconstruction of Natural Scenes from Ensemble Responses in the Lateral Geniculate
Nucleus
Garrett B. Stanley, Fei F. Li, and Yang Dan , Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of
Neurobiology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, The Journal of Neuroscience,
September 15, 1999, 19 ( 18 ) :pp. 8036-8042
A major challenge in studying sensory processing is to understand the meaning of the neural
messages encoded in the spiking activity of neurons. From the recorded responses in a sensory
circuit, what information can we extract about the outside world? Here we used a linear decoding
technique to reconstruct spatiotemporal visual inputs from ensemble responses in the lateral
geniculate nucleus (LGN) of the cat. From the activity of 177 cells, we have reconstructed natural
scenes with recognizable moving objects. The quality of reconstruction depends on the number of
cells. For each point in space, the quality of reconstruction begins to saturate at six to eight pairs of
on and off cells, approaching the estimated coverage factor in the LGN of the cat. Thus, complex
visual inputs can be reconstructed with a simple decoding algorithm, and these analyses provide a
basis for understanding ensemble coding in the early visual pathway.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKPEK20484520070227
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/27/remote_controlled_pigeons/
Chinese develop remote-controlled pigeons, A flying world first,
by Lester Haines, The Register, Published Tuesday 27th February 2007 11:18 GMT
Xinhua news agency explained today that boffins at the Robot Engineering Technology Research
Center at Shandong University of Science and Technology were able to "command [the pigeons] to
fly right or left or up or down. It elaborated: "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."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/City_Supplements/Bangalore_Times/Squirrel_spies_seized_/
rssarticleshow/2205209.cms Squirrel 'spies' seized,
The Times of India, 16 Jul 2007, 0000 hrs IST,AGENCIES
Police in Iran are reported to have taken 14 squirrels into custody - because they are suspected of
spying. The rodents were found near the Iranian border allegedly equipped with eavesdropping
devices, according to Sky News . Reports said that the squirrels were kitted out by foreign intelligence
services - were weeks ago by police officers. But if true, this would not be the first time animals have
been used to spy.
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/weapons/mg19826535.900-mongooserobot-duo-
sniffs-out-landmines.html
Mongoose-robot duo sniffs out landmines
Movie Camera A partnership between an affordable robot and a carnivore with an exquisite sense of
smell could aid the hunt for buried landmines. Technology - 26 April 2008
http://stinet.dtic.mil/stinet/jsp/advanced-tr.jsp (search: electronarcosis)

Title: Shark Dart Electronic Circuit.
AD Number: AD0164212 Corporate Author: DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY WASHINGTON D C Personal
Author: Blanc,Clarence G. Report Date: December 14, 1971 Media: 4 Pages(s) Distribution Code: 01 -
APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE 21 - JOURNAL ARTICLES ANNOUNCEMENT ONLY Report
Classification: (Not Available). Source Code: 110050 From the collection: Technical Reports.
Abstract: The present invention is directed to providing a circuit for inducing electronarcosis in a
marine predator and includes a source of DC power connected to a switching inverter. An astable
multivibrator, having a predetermined switching rate, sequentially completes the switching inverter
circuit, via a switching transistor, serially-connected in the inverter's feedback loops, to provide a
partial duty-cycle conserving battery power and prolonging the effective life of the shark dart.
http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/
the Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP).
Everyone is familiar with security patrol dogs. You may even know that because of their exceptionally
keen sense of smell, dogs like beagles are also used to detect drugs and bombs, or land mines. But
just as the dog's keen sense of smell makes it ideal for detecting land mines, the U.S. Navy has found
that the biological sonar of dolphins, called echolocation, makes them uniquely effective at locating
sea mines so they can be avoided or removed. Other marine mammals like the California sea lion also
have demonstrated the ability to mark and retrieve objects for the Navy in the ocean. In fact, marine
mammals are so important to the Navy that there is an entire program dedicated to studying,
training, and deploying them. It is appropriately called the Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP).
Object Recovery System: Initially called Quick Find, this system first demonstrated its capabilities
when it recovered an ASROC (Anti Submarine Rocket) MK 17 from 180 feet of water in November of
1970. The MK 5 MMS became operational in 1975 and uses California sea lions to locate and attach
recovery hardware to underwater objects such as practice mines. Some of these mines are equipped
with a device called a pinger that sends out a beeping sound to help the sea lion locate them. For
this, the sea lion may have to dive to depths of 500 feet or more. At the recovery site, the sea lion is
sent over the side and given a bite plate to which an attachment device is mounted. The sea lion
locates the object by using its exceptional hearing to locate the pinger attached to the shape. A
strong line tied to the bite plate is payed out from the boat as the sea lion swims down to the object
and attaches the device. To be sure the connection is good, the sea lion tests it by pulling back on it
a few times. The sea lion then releases the bite plate and returns to the boat for a well-deserved
reward of fish while a crane is used to pull the object off the bottom.
Force Protection: Dolphins and sea lions cannot be outmatched as sentries in the water. In the MK 6
MMS, dolphins and sea lions effectively protect piers, ships, harbors, and anchorages against
unauthorized swimmers, SCUBA divers, closed-circuit divers, and swimmer delivery vehicles. MK 6
MMS was first operationally deployed with dolphins during the Vietnam War from 1971 to 1972 and
Bahrain from 1986 to 1987. MK 6 has now been expanded to include specially trained sea lions to
locate water-borne intruders and suspicious objects near piers and ships that pose a possible threat
to military forces in the area. They have been shown to be effective under and around ships, piers,
and in open water. The sea lions were deployed to Bahrain as part of the effort to support missions
under Operation Enduring Freedom.
Bioacoustics: Dolphins have highly sophisticated, natural sonar (biosonar) that allows them to detect
objects in the most complex of acoustic environments. By emitting broadband high frequency clicks
and listening to the echoes of the clicks as they bounce off objects, dolphins can acoustically "see"
their aquatic environment in amazing detail. The dolphin's biosonar system has yet to be matched by
any manufactured device. After decades of conducting research into the dolphin's biosonar
capabilities (research that has literally defined what we do know about dolphin biosonar), the NMMP's
Biosonar Program has constructed the world's first biomimetic (think bio mimic) sonar to try to
emulate dolphin sonar and incorporate search strategies that are specifically effective in the noisy
near shore environment.
Hearing: The potential effects of anthropogenic (human-generated) sound on marine mammals have
gained the attention of lawmakers, the military, and conservation groups. How much noise is too
much? The NMMP's scientists and animals are helping to answer that question by defining acoustic
safety criteria: first, to ensure the safety of Navy animals and second, to provide scientific data that
can be applied to marine mammals in the wild.
http://spawar.navy.mil/sti/publications/pubs/td/627/revd/ch2neural.html
SSC San Diego TD 627 Revision D, Annotated Bibliography of Publications from the U.S.
Navy's Marine Mammal Program,
May 1998, 2. NEURAL NETWORKS
Example: A biomimetic neural network was used to model a bottlenose dolphin's ability to recognize
aspect-dependent targets. Researchers used echo trains recorded during the dolphin trials to train an
Integrator Gateway Network (IGN) to discriminate among the targets using echo spectra. The dolphin
and the IGN learned to recognize geometric targets, even though orientation could vary. Results
support the notion that ensonified underwater objects with complex shapes and echoes may be
reliably classified using neural network architectures that are motivated through understanding of
dolphin echolocation signals and performance.
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/iel2/924/7708/00323032.pdf
Using a biomimetric neural net to model dolphin echolocation,
by Helweg, D.A.; Roitblat, H.L.; Nachtigall, P.E., 1993. Proceedings., First New Zealand International
Two-Stream Conference on Artificial Neural Networks and Expert Systems, Volume , Issue , 24-26
Nov 1993 Page(s):247 - 251, Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ANNES.1993.323032
Summary: A biomimetic neural network was used to model the ability of a bottle nosed dolphin to
recognize aspect-dependent geometric objects. Each echo train was recorded and an Integrator
Gateway Network (IGN) was trained to discriminate among the objects using spectra of the object
echoes. The IGN classifies objects using an average-like sum of the spectra from successive echoes.
However, combining echoes may reduce classification accuracy if the spectra vary from echo to echo.
The dolphin and the IGN learned to recognize the geometric objects, even though orientation was
free to vary. The process of recognition using cumulated echoes was robust with respect to
nonstationary raw input. The results were interpreted as evidence for the formation of aspect-
independent representations of the objects
http://english.aljazeera.net/English/archive/archive?ArchiveId=21475
US 'funding stealth shark project',
ARCHIVE SCIENCETECHNO, UPDATED ON: TUESDAY, MARCH 14, 2006 5:00 MECCA TIME, 2:00 GMT
The US Defence Department is funding research into neural implants with the ultimate hope of
turning sharks into "stealth spies" capable of gliding undetected through the ocean, the British weekly
New Scientist says. "The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the
water, sense delicate electrical gradients and follow chemical trails," says the report, carried in next
Saturday's New Scientist.
http://technology.newscientist.com/article/mg18925416.300.html
Stealth sharks to patrol the high seas
by Susan Brown, From New Scientist Print Edition, 01 March 2006,
The Pentagon hopes to exploit sharks' natural ability to glide quietly through the water, sense delicate
electrical gradients and follow chemical trails. By remotely guiding the sharks' movements, they hope
to transform the animals into stealth spies, perhaps capable of following vessels without being
spotted. The project, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), based in
Arlington, Virginia, was presented at the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii, last week.
http://www.livescience.com/technology/060307_shark_implant.html
Military Plans Cyborg Sharks,
by Bill Christensen, posted: 07 March 2006 06:34 am ET
Given that sharks have senses that humans don't have (like the ability to sense electromagnetic
fields), it could open up some interesting uses. The implant consists of multi-channel neural ensemble
readers and stimulators, diverse controllers and sensors. In addition, the DARPA researchers want to
use their setup to detect and decipher the neural patterns that correspond to shark activities like
sensing an ocean current, a particular scent in the water or an electrical field. If they can succeed in
these experiments, it might be possible to control a free-swimming shark; it could be trained to track
enemy ships or submarines, or to detect underwater mines or cables.
http://www.agu.org/cgi-bin/SFgate/SFgate?language=English&verbose=0&
listenv=table&application=os06&convert=&converthl=&refinequery=& formintern=&
formextern=&transquery=shark&_lines=&multiple=0& descriptor=/data/epubs/wais/indexes/os06/
os06|501|2940|Autonomous SharkTag with Neural Reading and Stimulation Capability for Open-
ocean Experiments|HTML|localhost:0|/data/epubs/wais/indexes/os06/os06|10288619 10291559/
data2/epubs/wais/data/os06/os06.txt
1630h, AN: OS45Q-05
Autonomous Shark Tag with Neural Reading and Stimulation Capability for Open-ocean
Experiments.,
by W.J. Gomes IIIth. D. Perez Jr. & J.A. Catipovic, Naval Undersea Warfare Center, 1176 Howell
Street, Newport, RI 02841 United States
NUWC is developing a fish tag whose goal is attaining behavior control of host animals via neural
implants. The tag is intended for long-term open ocean field efforts investigating viability of animal
behavior control and its utility for networked sensing and data acquisition. The tag is centered on a
multi-channel neural ensemble reader, a processor to interpret the readings in real-time, and a multi-
channel stimulator, intended for both micro and macro stimulation. Additional capabilities include an
undersea navigation/tracking system, acoustic and RF communication capabilities, a sensitive multi-
channel Electric field measurement sensor, and a range of environmental sensors, including ph,
heading and motion sensors, temperature, pressure and chemical injection micro-pumps. The design
is field-reconfigurable, modular, and allows multiple sensor and controller variants to be easily
configured. Ongoing work on energy harvesting methods to power the tag will be discussed.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/e6j26850210972x3/fulltext.pdf
Through a barn owl’s eyes: interactions between scene content and visual attention.,
by Shay Ohayon Wolf Harmening Hermann Wagner Ehud Rivlin
Received: 31 August 2007 / Accepted: 22 October 2007 / Published online: 8 December 2007©
Springer-Verlag 2007
Abstract: In this study we investigated visual attention properties of freely behaving barn owls, using
a miniature wireless camera attached to their heads. The tubular eye structure of barn owls makes
them ideal subjects for this research since it limits their eyemovements. Recording in various types of
environments revealed significant statistical differences of low level image properties at the image
fixation area compared to values extracted at random image patches. These differences are in
agreement with results obtained in primates in similar studies. To investigate the role of saliency and
its contribution to drawing the owl’s attention, we used a popular bottom-up computational model.
Saliency values at the image fixation area were typically greater than at random patches, yet were
only 20% out of the maximal saliency value, suggesting a top-down modulation of gaze control.
2D Animal Intelligence and Communications

The spying animal must report its findings and because animals have emotions and a behaving animal is also a communicating
animal, they can report.
Emotion in animals; From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;

The standard reference work, The Oxford Companion to Animal Behavior, advises animal behaviorists
that 'One is well advised to study the behaviour, rather than attempting to get at any underlying
emotion'." Research suggests that animals can experience negative emotions in a similar manner to
people, including the equivalent of certain chronic and acute psychological conditions. The classic
experiment for this was Martin Seligman's foundational experiments and theory of learned
helplessness at the University of Pennsylvania in 1965, as an extension of his interest in depression: A
further series of experiments showed that (similar to humans) under conditions of long term intense
psychological stress, around 1/3 of dogs do not develop learned helplessness or long term
depression. Instead these animals somehow managed to find a way to handle the unpleasant
situation in spite of their past experience. The corresponding characteristic in humans has been found
to correlate highly with an explanatory style and optimistic attitude and lower levels of emotional
rigidity regarding expectations, that views the situation as other than personal, pervasive, or
permanent. Such studies highlighted similar distinctions between people who adapt and those who
break down, under long term psychological pressure, which were conducted in the 1950s in the realm
of brainwashing. Since this time, symptoms analogous to clinical depression, neurosis and other
psychological conditions have been in general accepted as being within the scope of animal emotion
as well. A 2007 study in Canada found that animals have their own separate personalities.
Animal cognition; (Relative intelligence of different animal species) From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Some animals, including great apes, crows, dolphins, dogs, elephants, cats, and parrots are typically
thought by humans as intelligent in ways that other animals are not. Part of the difficulty is the lack
of agreement about what we mean by intelligence even in humans (it obviously makes a big
difference whether language is considered as essential for intelligence, for example). A more fruitful
approach has been to recognise that different animals may have different kinds of cognitive
processes, which are better understood in terms of the ways in which they are cognitively adapted to
their different ecological niches, than by positing any kind of hierarchy. This is the approach taken by
the most comprehensive reference text of animal cognition, Shettleworth (1998). One question that
can be asked coherently is how far different species are intelligent in the same ways as humans are,
i.e. are their cognitive processes similar to ours. Not surprisingly, our closest biological relatives, the
great apes, tend to do best on such an assessment. It is less clear that other species traditionally held
to be intelligent do unusually well against this standard, though among the birds, corvids and parrots
have typically been found to perform well. Domesticated animals often perform well in tests of
human-like abilities, but this may simply reflect their better adaptation to the human world and the
proximity of humans. Despite ambitious claims, evidence of unusually high human-like intelligence
among cetaceans is patchy, partly because the cost and difficulty of carrying out research with
marine mammals mean that experiments frequently suffer from small sample sizes and inadequate
controls and replication. Octopuses have also been claimed to exhibit a number of higher-level
problem-solving skills, but the amount of research on cephalopod intelligence is too limited for it to be
conclusive.
Bird intelligence; (Studies of bird intelligence) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bird intelligence has been studied through several attributes and abilities. Many of these studies have
been on birds such as quail, domestic fowl and pigeons kept under captive conditions. Birds such as
the corvids and psittacines have been shown to live social lives, have long developmental periods and
large forebrains, and these may be expected to have greater cognitive abilities.
Counting: Crows were found to be able to keep count and a figure of 7 was found to be the limit of
their counting ability. Cormorants used by Chinese fishermen that were given every eighth fish as a
reward were found to be able to keep count up to eight.
Associative & Observational learning: Visual or auditory signals and their association with food and
other rewards have been well studied and birds have been trained to recognize and distinguish
complex shapes. Learning using rewards to reinforce responses is often used in laboratories to test
intelligence. However, the ability of animals to learn by observation and imitation is considered more
significant. Crows have been noted for their ability to learn from each other.
Spatial and temporal abilities: A common test of intelligence is the detour test. Most mammals
discover that the objective is reached by first going away from the target. Domestic fowl fail on this
test. Many species have been shown to be able to decide upon foraging areas according to the time
of the year. Birds that show food caching behaviour have also shown the ability to recollect the
locations of food caches. Studies also suggests that birds may be able to plan for the future. They
cache food according to future needs and risk of not being able to find the food on subsequent days.
Many birds follow strict time schedules in their activities. These are often dependent upon
environmental cues. Birds also are sensitive to daylight length, and this awareness is especially
important as a cue for migratory species. The ability to orient themselves during migrations is
attributed to birds' superior sensory abilities, rather than to intelligence.
Tool use: Many birds have been shown capable of using tools. The definition of a tool has been
debated. Tool use has been defined as the use of physical objects other than the animal's own body
or appendages as a means to extend the physical influence realized by the animal. By this definition,
an Egyptian vulture dropping a bone on a rock would not be using a tool since the rock cannot be
seen as an extension of the body. However the use of a rock manipulated using the beak to crack an
ostrich egg would qualify the Egyptian vulture as a tool user. Many other species, including parrots,
corvids and a range of passerines, have been noted as tool users. New Caledonian Crows have been
observed in the wild to use stick tools with their beaks to extract insects from logs. While young birds
in the wild normally learn this technique from elders, a laboratory crow named "Betty" improvised a
hooked tool from a wire with no prior experience. Crows in urban Japan have innovated a technique
to crack hard-shelled nuts by dropping them onto crosswalks and letting them be run over and
cracked by cars. They then retrieve the cracked nuts when the cars are stopped at the red light.
Striated Herons (Butorides striatus) use bait to catch fish.
Language: (Main article: Talking birds)
While birds have no form of spoken language, they do communicate with their flockmates through
song, calls, and body language. Studies have shown that the intricate territorial songs of some birds
must be learned at an early age, and that the memory of the song will serve the bird for the rest of
its life. Some bird species are able to communicate in a variety of dialects. For example, the New
Zealand saddleback will learn the different song "dialects" of clans of its own species, much as human
beings might learn diverse regional dialects. Recent studies indicate that some birds may have an
ability to understand grammatical structures.
Conceptual abilities: Evidence that birds can form abstract concepts such as same–different has been
proven by Alex, the African grey parrot. Alex was trained to vocally label more than 100 objects of
different colours and shapes and which are made from different materials. Alex can also request or
refuse these objects ('I want X') and quantify numbers of them.
Other abilities: A study on the Little Green Bee-eater suggested that these birds may be able to see
from the point of view of a predator. Such an ability to see from the point of view of another
individual has been attributed only to the great apes. Such abilities form the basis for empathy.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/975685?
The difference between zero and one.,
by W Sweet, Clin Neurosurg. 1976; 23: pp. 32-51. No abstract available.
Generalization of 'same-different' classification abilities in bottlenosed dolphins.

by Mercado E, Killebrew DA, Pack AA, Mácha IV IV, Herman LM. Behav Processes. 2000 Aug
17;50(2-3):79-94. Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, Honolulu, USA.
Two bottlenosed dolphins taught to classify pairs of three-dimensional objects as either same or
different were tested with novel stimulus sets to determine how well their classification abilities would
generalize. Both dolphins were immediately able to classify novel pairs of planar objects, differing
only in shape, as same or different. When tested on sets of three objects consisting of either all
different objects or of two identical objects and one different object, both dolphins proved to be able
to classify 'all different' sets as different and 'not all different' sets as same, at levels significantly
above chance. These data suggest that dolphins can use knowledge about similarity-based
classification strategies gained from previous training to perform successfully in a variety of novel
same-different classification tasks. Visual classificatory abilities of dolphins appear to be comparable
to those that have been demonstrated in primates.
PMID: 10969185 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Cetaceans have complex brains for complex cognition.

by Marino L, Connor RC, Fordyce RE, Herman LM, Hof PR, Lefebvre L, Lusseau D, McCowan B,
Nimchinsky EA, Pack AA, Rendell L, Reidenberg JS, Reiss D, Uhen MD, Van der Gucht E, Whitehead
H.
PLoS Biol. 2007 May;5(5):e139. Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program, Emory University,
Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
Information encoding and decision time as variables in human choice behavior.

by Herman LM, Bahrick HP. J Exp Psychol. 1966 May;71(5):718-24.
Predicting effectiveness of Bayesian classification systems.

by Herman LM, Dollinger MB. Psychometrika. 1966 Sep;31(3):341-9.
Sensory integration in the bottlenosed dolphin: immediate recognition of complex shapes
across the senses of echolocation and vision.
by Pack AA, Herman LM. J Acoust Soc Am. 1995 Aug;98(2 Pt 1):722-33. Kewalo Basin Marine
Mammal Laboratory, University of Hawaii, Honolulu 96814, USA.
In matching-to-sample tests, a bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was found capable of
immediately recognizing a variety of complexly shaped objects both within the senses of vision or
echolocation and, also, across these two senses. The immediacy of recognition indicated that shape
information registers directly in the dolphin's perception of objects through either vision or
echolocation, and that these percepts are readily shared or integrated across the senses. Accuracy of
intersensory recognition was nearly errorless regardless of whether the sample objects were
presented to the echolocation sense and the alternatives to the visual sense (E-V matching) or the
reverse, with samples presented to the visual sense and alternatives to the echolocation sense (V-E
matching). Furthermore, during V-E matching, the dolphin was equally facile at recognition whether
the sample objects exposed to vision were "live," presented in air in the real world, or were images
displayed on a television screen placed behind an underwater window. Overall, the results suggested
that what a dolphin "sees" through echolocation is functionally similar to what it sees through vision.
Seeing through sound: dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) perceive the spatial structure of
objects through echolocation.
by Herman LM, Pack AA, Hoffmann-Kuhnt M. J Comp Psychol. 1998 Sep;112(3):292-305. Psychology
Department, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA.
Experiment 1 tested a dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) for cross-modal recognition of 25 unique pairings
of 8 familiar, complexly shaped objects, using the senses of echolocation and vision. Cross-modal
recognition was errorless or nearly so for 24 of the 25 pairings under both visual to echoic matching
(V-E) and echoic to visual matching (E-V). First-trial recognition occurred for 20 pairings under V-E
and for 24 under E-V. Echoic decision time under V-E averaged only 1.88 s. Experiment 2 tested 4
new pairs of objects for 24 trials of V-E and 24 trials of E-V without any prior exposure of these
objects. Two pairs yielded performance significantly above chance in both V-E and E-V. Also, the
dolphin matched correctly on 7 of 8 1st trials with these pairs. The results support a capacity for
direct echoic perception of object shape by this species and demonstrate that prior object exposure is
not required for spontaneous cross-modal recognition.
The object behind the echo: dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) perceive object shape globally
through echolocation.
by Pack AA, Herman LM, Hoffmann-Kuhnt M, Branstetter BK. Behav Processes. 2002 May
28;58(1-2):1-26. Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, Honolulu, USA.
Two experiments tested a bottlenosed dolphin's ability to match objects across echolocation and
vision. Matching was tested from echolocation sample to visual alternatives (E-V) and from visual
sample to echolocation alternatives (V-E). In Experiment 1, the dolphin chose a match from among
three-alternative objects that differed in overall (global) shape, but shared several 'local' features with
the sample. The dolphin conducted a right-to-left serial nonexhaustive search among the alternatives,
stopping when a match was encountered. It matched correctly on 93% of V-E trials and on 99% of E-
V trials with completely novel combinations of objects despite the presence of many overlapping
features. In Experiment 2, a fourth alternative was added in the form of a paddle that the dolphin
could press if it decided that none of the three-alternatives matched the sample. When a match was
present, the dolphin selected it on 94% of V-E trials and 95% of E-V trials. When a match was
absent, the dolphin pressed the paddle on 74% and 76%, respectively, of V-E and E-V trials. The
approximate 25% error rate, which consisted of a choice of one of the three non-matching
alternatives in lieu of the paddle press, increased from right to center to left alternative object,
reflecting successively later times in the dolphin's search path. A weakening in memory for the
sample seemed the most likely cause of this error pattern. Overall, the results gave strong support to
the hypothesis that the echolocating dolphin represents an object by its global appearance rather
than by local features.
Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) echoic angular discrimination: effects of object separation
and complexity.
by Branstetter BK, Mevissen SJ, Pack AA, Herman LM, Roberts SR, Carsrud LK. J Acoust Soc Am.
2007 Jan;121(1):626-35. Psychology Department, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii
USA.
A bottlenose dolphin was tested on its ability to echoically discriminate horizontal angular differences
between arrays of vertically oriented air-filled PVC rods. The blindfolded dolphin was required to
station in a submerged hoop 2 radial m from the stimuli and indicate if an array with two rods (S+)
was to the right or the left of a single rod (S-). The angular separation between the two rods
(thetaw) was held constant within each experiment while the angle between the S+ and the S-stimuli
(thetab) varied to produce angular differences (deltatheta= thetab-thetaw) ranging from 0.25 to 4
degrees. In experiment I, thetaw was maintained at 2 degrees and in experiment II, thetaw was
maintained at 4 degrees. Resulting 75% correct thresholds (method of constant stimuli) were 1.5 and
0.7 degrees, respectively. The two main findings of this study are: (1) decreasing the number of
targets does not aid in localization, and (2) increasing the space between the rods enhances
localization. Taken as a whole, the experiments suggest dolphins have a well-developed ability to
resolve spatial information through sonar.
http://www.physorg.com/news124168985.html
Language of a fly proves surprising
by Ilya Nemenman, Geoffrey Lewen, William Bialek and Rob de Ruyter van Steveninck, Public Library
of Science Computational Biology Journal, Pub.:March 08, 2008
A group of researchers has developed a novel way to view the world through the eyes of a common
fly and partially decode the insect’s reactions to changes in the world around it. The research
fundamentally alters earlier beliefs about how neural networks function and could provide the basis
for intelligent computers that mimic biological processes. The team used tiny electrodes to tap into
motion-sensitive neurons in the visual system of a common blowfly. Neurons are nerve cells that emit
tiny electric spikes when stimulated. The electrodes detected pulses from the motion-sensitive
neurons in the fly. The fly uses the neurons to estimate, and subsequently control, how it moves
through the world. Under complex flight scenarios, the fly’s neurons fired very quickly. The
researchers looked at the firing patterns and mapped them with a binary code of ones and zeroes,
much like computer instructions, or binary messages in digital phone communications. The team
found that the impulses were like a primitive, but very regular “language”—with the neuron firing at
precise times depending on what the fly’s visual sensors were trying to tell the rest of the fly about
the visual stimulus. When they examined this language, it spoke volumes about how the harnessed
fly reacted to its world. “In this system, the motion-sensitive neurons emit spikes very often and very
precisely,” said Nemenman. “Historically, people have observed a lot more random spike intervals.
This research is a departure from the traditional understanding in that we see that the precision of
spike timing that carries information about the fly’s rotation is a factor of ten higher than even the
most daring previous estimates.” Similar-though-much-simpler experiments on different subjects,
including flies, and going back to the seminal work of E. D. Adrian and Yngve Zotterman in
1926, seemed to show that sensory neurons would fire a certain number of impulses during a given
period, but that the precise timing of the impulses was largely irrelevant. Nemenman and his team
believe the timing of the spikes was not as crucial during those early experiments largely because the
artificial stimulation was in some sense unnatural, bordering on the monotonous and predictable.
“Biological organisms have an interest in conserving energy,” Nemenman said. “Fly eyes account for
about one-tenth of the fly’s energy consumption. The fly wants to be very efficient, but it costs
energy and molecular resources to emit many precise spikes in the neurons. “If you are presenting
simple stimuli where little changes with time, then the most efficient way to encode them may be to
generate few randomly positioned spikes, which would be sufficient to convey whatever small
changes, if any, happened. Similarly, if the stimulus is unnaturally fast, the neurons may not be able
to encode it well. “However, if you put an organism in an environment with fast and naturally
changing velocity profiles, the fly starts using all the bandwidth available to it,” Nemenman said. “The
motion-sensitive neuron adjusts its coding strategy and it uses the precise positioning of the spikes to
tell the rest of the fly exactly what is happening.” In addition to the complex motions possible with
the team’s apparatus, they conducted their experiment in a wooded setting similar to the fly’s natural
environment, adding to the complexity and realism of the experiment. Nemenman and his colleagues’
research is significant because it re-examines fundamental assumptions that became the basis of
neuromimetic approaches to artificial intelligence, such as artificial neural networks. These
assumptions have developed networks based on reacting to a number of impulses within a given time
period rather than the precise timing of those impulses. “This may be one of the main reasons why
artificial neural networks do not perform anywhere comparable to a mammalian visual brain,” said
Nemenman, who is a member of Los Alamos’ Computer, Computational and Statistical Sciences
Division. “In fact, the National Science Foundation has recognized the importance of this distinction
and has recently funded a project, led by Garrett Kenyon of the Laboratory’s Physics Division, to
enable creation of large, next-generation neural networks.” New understanding of neural function in
the design of computers could assist in analyses of satellite images and facial-pattern recognition in
high-security environments, and could help solve other national and global security problems. Source:
Los Alamos National Laboratory.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/silly/story/0,10821,771701,00.html
Brainy crow upsets pecking order,
by Tim Radford, science editor, Friday August 9, 2002, The Guardian
Betty the New Caledonian crow made a tool from a piece of garden wire and used it to hook a tasty
morsel of meat out of a tube too deep for her beak. The Oxford experiment was an deliberate
attempt to address a puzzle. Would the crows recognise a potential tool in something they had never
seen before? "The question is: what kind of physics is it they understand? If you see a problem, pick
up a straight wire and without instruction bend it into the right shape, and then extract the food, that
means the animal is behaving as if it understands the required physical properties of an instrument,"
Prof Kacelnik said. And yet, Alexander Weir, Jackie Chappell and Alex Kacelnik report in Science
today, when they supplied Betty with an appetising challenge and a 90mm length of pliant garden
wire 0.8mm thick, she knew what to do.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28112599/
Not just your kids: Dogs can think ‘no fair’ too (Canines, like people and monkeys, seem to
have a sense of fairness); By Randolph E. Schmid, AP, updated 11:23 a.m. ET Dec. 8, 2008 ,
WASHINGTON
The dog on the left has not received food for giving the paw in the last trials and observing that the
partner (right) did receive food, the subject is refusing to give the paw and avoids looking at the
experimenter. What parent hasn't heard that from a child who thinks another youngster got more of
something. Well, it turns out dogs can react the same way. Ask them to do a trick and they'll give it a
try. For a reward, sausage say, they'll happily keep at it. But if one dog gets no reward, and then
sees another get sausage for doing the same trick, just try to get the first one to do it again. Indeed,
he may even turn away and refuse to look at you. Dogs, like people and monkeys, seem to have a
sense of fairness. "Animals react to inequity," said Friederike Range of the University of Vienna,
Austria, who lead a team of researchers testing animals at the school's Clever Dog Lab. "To avoid
stress, we should try to avoid treating them differently." Similar responses have been seen in
monkeys.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_Hans
Clever Hans; From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clever Hans (in German, der Kluge Hans)
was a horse that was claimed to have been
: able to perform arithmetic and other
intellectual tasks. After formal investigation in
1907, psychologist Oskar Pfungst
demonstrated that the horse was not actually
performing these mental tasks, but was
watching the reaction of his human
observers. Pfungst discovered this artifact in
the research methodology, wherein the horse
was responding directly to involuntary cues in
the body language of the human trainer, who
had the faculties to solve each problem. The
trainer was entirely unaware that he was
providing such cues. In honour of Pfungst's
study, the anomalous artifact has since been
referred to as the Clever Hans effect and has
der Kluge Hans continued to be important knowledge in the
observer-expectancy effect and later studies
in animal cognition.
The social communication systems of horses probably depend on the detection of small postural
changes, and this may be why Hans so easily picked up on the cues given by von Osten (who seems
to have been entirely unaware that he was providing such cues). However, the capacity to detect
such cues is not confined to horses. Pfungst proceeded to test the hypothesis that such cues would
be discernible, by carrying out laboratory tests in which he played the part of the horse, and human
participants sent him questions to which he gave numerical answers by tapping. He found that 90%
of participants gave sufficient cues for him to get a correct answer.
The 'Clever Hans' effect: Pfungst made an extremely significant observation. After he had
become adept at giving Hans performances himself, and fully aware of the subtle cues
which made them possible, he discovered that he would produce these cues involuntarily
regardless of whether he wished to exhibit or suppress them. This gives the phenomenon an
importance which could hardly be exaggerated. Its recognition has had a large effect on experimental
design and methodology for all experiments whatsoever involving sentient subjects (including
humans). The risk of Clever Hans effects is one strong reason why comparative psychologists
normally test animals in isolated apparatus, without interaction with them. However this creates
problems of its own, because many of the most interesting phenomena in animal cognition are only
likely to be demonstrated in a social context, and in order to train and demonstrate them, it is
necessary to build up a social relationship between trainer and animal.
Communication thru smell / Pheromones

(Communication is everywhere)
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/plantsbugs.html
Plants to Bugs: Buzz Off!, Plants Use Volatile Signaling Compounds to Fend Off Attack
and Possibly Warn Nearby Plants
by Sophie Wilkinson,Chemical & Engineering News, June 30, 2001.
Plants may seem passive in the face of an attack by insects, but they aren't. In fact, plants can
marshal elegant defenses in order to do battle with their enemies. And they just might be able to
inform their neighbors that they're in danger.
http://discovermagazine.com/2002/apr/featplants
Talking Plants: Plants have more than thorns and thistles to protect themselves—they
can cry for help
by Sharman Apt Russell, Discover Magazine, 04.01.2002
Baldwin, a biologist and the director of the Molecular Ecology Department at the Max Planck Institute
for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, has stationed his equipment here to launch a new study of
how plants defend themselves—a question he has pursued for 20 years. He and his colleagues are
using chemical sensors to investigate plant communications: cries for help, invitations, even
warnings, each in the form of odor molecules that float past human noses unnoticed. The harder
biologists look for these signals, the more they find. They have already discovered that plants can
send chemical cues to repel insect enemies, as well as signals that attract allies—other insects that
are pleased to eat the insects eating the plant. But that is only the start of a more complex scenario,
for Baldwin and others have also found that nearby plants can listen in to this conversation and gear
up their own defenses.
Communication thru behaviour, bodylanguage / Gestural Languages

(Including Examples of interspecies communication Animal-Human)
Bee Brains
Honeybees are clever little creatures. They can form abstract concepts, such as
symmetry versus asymmetry, and they use symbolic language—the celebrated waggle
dance—to direct their hivemates to flower patches. New reports suggest that they can
also communicate across species, and can count—up to a point. With colleagues,
Songkun Su of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and Shaowu Zhang of the
Australian National University in Canberra managed to overcome the apian impulse to
kill intruders and cultivated the first mixed-species colonies, made up of European
honeybees, Apis mellifera, and Asiatic honeybees, A. cerana. The researchers confirmed
that the two species have their own dialects: foraging in identical environments, the
bees signaled the distance to a food source with dances of different durations.
Remarkably, despite the communication barrier, A. cerana decoded A. mellifera’s dance
and found the food.
In a mixed-species hive, a European honeybee (blue)

gives directions to its Asiatic (green) and fellow
European (red) hivemates.
Photo by Songkun Su and
Shenglu Chen, Zhejiang
University
Also at the Australian National University, Marie Dacke and Mandyam V. Srinivasan
trained European honeybees to pass a particular number of colored stripes in a tunnel
to get a food reward, which was placed by a stripe. When they removed the food, the
bees still returned to the same stripe. Next, they mixed things up on the bees: they
varied the spacing of the stripes, and even replaced stripes with unfamiliar markers.
The insects consistently passed the same number of markers to approach the former
reward site, demonstrating that they could count, up to four.
The studies burnish the impressive list of honeybees’ known cognitive abilities, all
achieved with a brain the size of a sand grain. (PLoS One, Animal Cognition)
http://www.sciencedirect.com
Lateralization of Olfaction in the Honeybee Apis mellifera
Pinar Letzkus, Willi A. Ribi, Jeff T. Wood, Hong Zhu, Shao-Wu Zhang and Mandyam V. Srinivasan;
Current Biology, Vol.16 (14) 25 July 2006, pp.1471-1476
Summary: Lateralization of function is a well-known phenomenon in humans. The two hemispheres of
the human brain are functionally specialized such that certain cognitive skills, such as language or
musical ability, conspecific recognition, and even emotional responses, are mediated by one
hemisphere more than the other. Studies over the past 30 years suggest that lateralization occurs in
other vertebrate species as well. In general, lateralization is observed in different sensory modalities
in humans as well as vertebrates, and there are interesting parallels. However, little is known about
functional asymmetry in invertebrates and there is only one investigation in insects. Here we show,
for the first time, that the honeybee Apis mellifera displays a clear laterality in responding to learned
odors. By training honeybees on two different versions of the well-known proboscis extension reflex,
we demonstrate that bees respond to odors better when they are trained through their right antenna.
To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of asymmetrical learning performance in an insect.
Do honeybees have two discrete dances to advertise food sources?
by Kathryn E. Gardner, Thomas D. Seeley and Nicholas W. Calderone; Animal Behaviour, 17 Sept
2007
The honeybee, Apis mellifera, dance language, used to communicate the location of profitable food
resources, is one of the most versatile forms of nonprimate communication. Karl von Frisch described
this communication system in terms of two distinct dances: (1) the round dance, which indicates the
presence of a desirable food source close to the hive but does not provide information about its
direction and (2) the waggle dance, which indicates the presence of a desirable food source more
than 100 m from the hive and its provides information about both its distance and its direction. The
view that honeybees have two discrete recruitment dances has been widely accepted since its
inception in the 1920s. However, there are few detailed examinations of the behavioural parameters
of dances over the range of food-source distances represented by round dances and waggle dances.
Here, we show that both the round dance and the waggle dance convey information about distance
and direction and that there is no clear switch between the two. We conclude that it is most
meaningful to view the round and waggle dances as the ends of a continuum and that honeybees
have just one adjustable recruitment signal: the waggle dance.
Social Learning in Insects — From Miniature Brains to Consensus Building
Ellouise Leadbeater and Lars Chittka; urrent Biology, Vol. 17 (16), 21 Aug 2007, pp.
R703-R713
Communication and learning from each other are part of the success of insect societies. Here, we
review a spectrum of social information usage in insects — from inadvertently provided cues to
signals shaped by selection specifically for information transfer. We pinpoint the sensory modalities
involved and, in some cases, quantify the adaptive benefits. Well substantiated cases of social
learning among the insects include learning about predation threat and floral rewards, the transfer of
route information using a symbolic ‘language’ (the honeybee dance) and the rapid spread of
chemosensory preferences through honeybee colonies via classical conditioning procedures. More
controversial examples include the acquisition of motor memories by observation, teaching in ants
and behavioural traditions in honeybees. In many cases, simple mechanistic explanations can de
identified for such complex behaviour patterns.
Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprehend the referential character of the human

pointing gesture.
by Herman LM, Abichandani SL, Elhajj AN, Herman EY, Sanchez JL, Pack AA. J Comp Psychol. 1999
Dec;113(4):347-64. Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA.
The authors tested a dolphin's (Tursiops truncatus) understanding of human manual pointing
gestures to 3 distal objects located to the left of, to the right of, or behind the dolphin. The human
referred to an object through a direct point (Pd), a cross-body point (Px), or a familiar symbolic
gesture (S). In Experiment 1, the dolphin responded correctly to 80% of Pds toward laterally placed
objects but to only 40% of Pds to the object behind. Responding to objects behind improved to 88%
in Experiment 2 after exaggerated pointing was briefly instituted. Spontaneous comprehension of Pxs
also was demonstrated. In Experiment 3, the human produced a sequence of 2 Pds, 2 Pxs, 2 Ss, or
all 2-way combinations of these 3 to direct the dolphin to take the object referenced second to the
object referenced first. Accuracy ranged from 68% to 77% correct (chance = 17%). These results
established that the dolphin understood the referential character of the human manual pointing
gesture.
The dolphin's (Tursiops truncatus) understanding of human gazing and pointing:

knowing what and where.
by Pack AA, Herman LM. J Comp Psychol. 2007 Feb;121(1):34-45. Dolphin Institute, Honolulu, USA.
The authors tested whether the understanding by dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) of human pointing
and head-gazing cues extends to knowing the identity of an indicated object as well as its location. In
Experiment 1, the dolphins Phoenix and Akeakamai processed the identity of a cued object (of 2 that
were present), as shown by their success in selecting a matching object from among 2 alternatives
remotely located. Phoenix was errorless on first trials in this task. In Experiment 2, Phoenix reliably
responded to a cued object in alternate ways, either by matching it or by acting directly on it, with
each type of response signaled by a distinct gestural command given after the indicative cue. She
never confused matching and acting. In Experiment 3, Akeakamai was able to process the geometry
of pointing cues (but not head-gazing cues), as revealed by her errorless responses to either a
proximal or distal object simultaneously present, when each object was indicated only by the angle at
which the informant pointed. The overall results establish that these dolphins could identify, through
indicative cues alone, what a human is attending to as well as where.
Bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprehend the referent of both static and
dynamic human gazing and pointing in an object-choice task.
by Pack AA, Herman LM. J Comp Psychol. 2004 Jun;118(2):160-71. Kewalo Basin Marine Mammal
Laboratory, Honolulu, USA.
The authors tested 2 bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) for their understanding of human-
directed gazing or pointing in a 2-alternative object-choice task. A dolphin watched a human
informant either gazing at or pointing toward 1 of 2 laterally placed objects and was required to
perform a previously indicated action to that object. Both static and dynamic gaze, as well as static
and dynamic direct points and cross-body points, yielded errorless or nearly errorless performance.
Gaze with the informant's torso obscured (only the head was shown) produced no performance
decrement, but gaze with eyes only resulted in chance performance. The results revealed
spontaneous understanding of human gaze accomplished through head orientation, with or without
the human informant's eyes obscured, and demonstrated that gaze-directed cues were as effective as
point-directed cues in the object-choice task.
Responses to anomalous gestural sequences by a language-trained dolphin: evidence for

processing of semantic relations and syntactic information.
by Herman LM, Kuczaj SA 2nd, Holder MD. J Exp Psychol Gen. 1993 Jun;122(2):184-94. Department
of Psychology, University of Hawaii, Manoa, Honolulu USA>
This study examined the responses of a bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) to "normal"
(semantically and syntactically correct) sequences of gestures and to anomalous sequences given
within an artificial gestural language highly familiar to the animal. Anomalous sequences violated the
semantic rules or syntactic constraints of the language. The dolphin discriminated anomalous from
normal sequences in that rejections (refusals to respond) occurred to some anomalous sequences but
never to normal sequences. Rejections rarely occurred, however, if the anomalous sequence
contained a subset of gestures that would comprise a normal unit if joined together. Such units were
typically perceived by the dolphin and responded to even if they consisted of gestures that were not
sequentially adjacent. All semantic elements of a sequence were processed by the dolphin in relation
to other elements before the dolphin organized its final response. The results show the importance of
both semantic properties and semantic relations of the referents of the gestures and of syntactic
(ordering) constraints in the dolphin's interpretations of the anomalies.
Reporting presence or absence of named objects by a language-trained dolphin.

by Herman LM, Forestell PH. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 1985 Winter;9(4):667-81.
Referential "reporting" was defined as the transmission of information about the presence or absence
of symbolically-referenced real-world objects. In Experiment 1 two bottlenosed dolphins (Tursiops
truncatus), trained in earlier studies to carry out instructions conveyed by imperative sentences
expressed in artificial gestural or acoustic languages, each gave spontaneous indications that an
object referenced in an imperative was absent from their tank. In Experiment 2 the dolphin tutored in
the gestural language was taught to make explicit reports of object absence by pressing a "No"
paddle in response to imperatives referencing an absent object. Absence was reported correctly on
84% of 97 missing-object probes inserted at random intervals among 598 sentences referring to
objects that were present. Reports were typically made after active search of the tank for an average
of 15.0 sec. False reports, that objects present were absent, were few (7.5%). In Experiment 3, the
dolphin was taught an interrogative sentence form that enabled us to ask direct questions about the
presence or absence of specific objects. Responses by the dolphin on the No paddle indicated
absence, while responses on a "Yes" paddle indicated presence. From one to three objects were
shown the dolphin and then placed in the tank in a discrete-trial procedure. In response to the
interrogative, reports or object presence or absence were better than 91% correct with a single
object in the tank and either that object or some other object referenced; accuracy declined to
72-78% correct with three objects present, but was still well above chance. Several lines of evidence
suggested that the dolphin was attempting to remember which objects it had been shown, rather
than conducting an active environmental search as in Experiment 2. The memory strategy became
less efficient as the number of objects to be remembered increased. Overall, the results evidenced
the language-trained dolphin's understanding of references to present or absent objects, its ability to
inventory its environment to seek information about those objects, and its ability to report its
obtained knowledge to others.
Bottlenosed dolphin and human recognition of veridical and degraded video displays of
an artificial gestural language.
by Herman LM, Morrel-Samuels P, Pack AA. J Exp Psychol Gen. 1990 Jun;119(2):215-30. Kewalo
Basin Marine Mammal Laboratory, University of Hawaii, Honolulu USA.
2 bottlenosed dolphins proficient in interpreting gesture language signs viewed veridical and
degraded gestures via TV without explicit training. In Exp. 1, dolphins immediately understood most
gestures: Performance was high throughout degradations successively obscuring the head, torso,
arms, and fingers, though deficits occurred for gestures degraded to a point-light display (PLD) of the
signer's hands. In Exp. 2, humans of varying gestural fluency saw the PLD and veridical gestures from
Exp. 1. Again, performance declined in the PLD condition. Though the dolphin recognized gestures as
accurately as fluent humans, effects of the gesture's formational properties were not identical for
humans and dolphin. Results suggest that the dolphin uses a network of semantic and gestural
representations, that bottom-up processing predominates when the dolphin's short-term memory is
taxed, and that recognition is affected by variables germane to grammatical category, short-term
memory, and visual perception.
Bottle-nosed dolphin: double-slit pupil yields equivalent aerial and underwater diurnal
acuity.
by Herman LM, Peacock MF, Yunker MP, Madsen CJ. Science. 1975 Aug 22;189(4203):650-2.
In bright daylight, and at best viewing distances, the bottlenosed dolphin resolves visual gratings
approximately equally well in air and in water. Aerial resolution improves with increased viewing
distance, while underwater resolution improves with decreased viewing distance. The double-slit pipil
overcomes the gross myopia in air measured by ophthalmoscope and produces the indicated effects
of viewing distance.
http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/lxv587332871j3g7/
Rapid facial mimicry in orangutan play.;
by Marina Davila Ross, Susanne Menzler, Elke Zimmermann, Biology Letters, Vol 4, No 1 / Feb. 23,
2008, pp. 27-30, DOI 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0535,
Abstract: Emotional contagion enables individuals to experience emotions of others. This important
empathic phenomenon is closely linked to facial mimicry, where facial displays evoke the same facial
expressions in social partners. In humans, facial mimicry can be voluntary or involuntary, whereby its
latter mode can be processed as rapid as within or at 1s. Thus far, studies have not provided
evidence of rapid involuntary facial mimicry in animals. This study assessed whether rapid involuntary
facial mimicry is present in orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus; N=25) for their open-mouth faces (OMFs)
during everyday dyadic play. Results clearly indicated that orangutans rapidly mimicked OMFs of their
playmates within or at 1s. Our study revealed the first evidence on rapid involuntary facial mimicry in
non-human mammals. This finding suggests that fundamental building blocks of positive emotional
contagion and empathy that link to rapid involuntary facial mimicry in humans have homologues in
non-human primates. Keywords: orangutan, rapid facial mimicry, involuntary responses, emotional
contagion, empathy
Vocal Communications
(Including Examples of interspecies communication Animal-Human)
• King's Psychology Network: Animal Learning, Language, and Cognition, Current Research
Projects; http://www.psyking.net/id31.htm
• Jane Goodall Institute; http://www.janegoodall.org/
• Sue Savage-Rumbaugh at the Language Research Center - GA State University;
http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwlrc
• Lynn Miles and the Chantek Foundation; http://www.chantek.org/
• Rob Shumaker and the Orang-utan Language Project at the National Zoo;
http://natzoo.si.edu/News/shumaker.htm
• Francine "Penny" Patterson, The Gorilla Foundation and Project Koko;
http://www.koko.org/
• Roger and Deborah Fouts and the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute (CHCI)
at Central Washington University; http://www.cwu.edu/~cwuchci/welcome.html
• Matsuzawa Tetsuro and the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Japan;
http://www.pri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/index.html, http://www.pri.kyoto-u-ac.jp/ai/index-E.htm
• Irene Pepperberg and the Alex Foundation; http://www.alexfoundation.org/
• The N'Kisi Project; http://www.sheldrake.org/nkisi
• The Language and Culture of Crows; http://www.crows.net/
• Dr. Ken Marten and Project Delphis - Dolphin Cognition Research;
http://www.earthtrust.org/delphis.html John C. Lilly and Interspecies Communication
Between Man and Dolphin; http://deoxy.org/lilly.htm
• Rupert Sheldrake; http://www.sheldrake.org/
rat emotional vocalisations research on
Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins.

by Herman LM, Richards DG, Wolz JP. Cognition. 1984 Mar;16(2):129-219.
Vocal mimicry of computer-generated sounds and vocal labeling of objects by a

bottlenosed dolphin, Tursiops truncatus.
by Richards DG, Wolz JP, Herman LM. J Comp Psychol. 1984 Mar;98(1):10-28.
A bottlenosed dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) was trained to mimic computer-generated "model"
sounds, using a whistle mode of vocalization. Prior to training, the whistle sounds of this dolphin were
limited to a few stereotyped forms, none of which resembled the model sounds. After training, high-
fidelity imitations were obtained of model sounds having (a) moderately or widely swept, slow-rate
frequency modulation (1-2 Hz), (b) narrowly or moderately swept frequency modulation at moderate
to rapid rates (3-11 Hz), (c) square-wave frequency transitions, and (d) unmodulated (pure-tone)
waveforms. New models, not heard previously, could be mimicked immediately, often with good
fidelity, including mimicry of amplitude variation that had not been explicitly reinforced during
training. Subsets of familiar models were mimicked with high reliability in repeated tests. In additional
training, control of the mimic response was transferred from the acoustic model to objects shown the
dolphin (e.g., a ball or a hoop) so that, in effect, the dolphin gave unique vocal labels to those
objects. In a test of accuracy and reliability of labeling, correct vocal labels were given on 91% of 167
trials comprised of five different objects presented in random order. The dolphin's ability for vocal
mimicry compared favorably with that of the more versatile mimic birds, and it contrasted sharply
with the apparent lack of vocal mimicry ability in terrestrial mammals other than humans. The ability
to label objects vocally was similar to abilities shown for some birds and similar, in principle, to
abilities of great apes trained in visual languages to label objects through gestures or other visual
symbols. PMID: 6705501 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Stimulus control and auditory discrimination learning sets in the bottlenose dolphin.
by Herman LM, Arbeit WR. J Exp Anal Behav. 1973 May;19(3):379-394.
The learning efficiency of an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin was evaluated using auditory discrimination
learning-set tasks. Efficiency, as measured by the probability of a correct response on Trial 2 of a new
discrete-trial, two-choice auditory discrimination problem, reached levels comparable to those
attained by advanced species of nonhuman primates. Runs of errorless problems in some cases
rivaled those reported for individual rhesus monkeys in visual discrimination learning-set tasks. This
level of stimulus control of responses to new auditory discriminanda was attained through (a) the
development of a sequential within-trial method for presentation of a pair of auditory discriminanda;
(b) the extensive use of fading methods to train initial discriminations, followed by the fadeout of the
use of fading; (c) the development of listening behavior through control of the animal's responses
during projection of the auditory discriminanda; and (d) the use of highly discriminable auditory
stimuli, by applying results of a parametric evaluation of discriminability of selected acoustic variables.
Learning efficiency was tested using a cueing method on Trial 1 of each new discrimination, to allow
the animal to identify the positive stimulus before its response. Efficiency was also tested with the
more common blind baiting method, in which the Trial 1 response was reinforced on only a random
half of the problems. Efficiency was high for both methods. The overall results were generally in
keeping with exceptations of learning capacity based on the large size and high degree of cortical
complexity of the brain of the bottlenose dolphin.
Auditory delayed matching in the bottlenose dolphin.

by Herman LM, Gordon JA. J Exp Anal Behav. 1974 Jan;21(1):19-26.
A bottlenose dolphin, already highly proficient in two-choice auditory discriminations, was trained
over a nine-day period on auditory delayed matching-to-sample and then tested on 346 unique
matching problems, as a function of the delay between the sample and test sounds. Each problem
used new sounds and was from five to 10 trials long, with the same sound used as the sample for all
trials of a problem. At each trial, the sample was projected underwater for 2.5 sec, followed by a
delay and then by a sequence of two 2.5-sec duration test sounds. One of the test sounds matched
the sample and was randomly first or second in the sequence, and randomly appeared at either a left
or right speaker. Responses to the locus of the matching test sound were reinforced. Over nine,
varying-sized blocks of problems, the longest delay of a set of delays in a block was progressively
increased from 15 sec initially to a final value of 120 sec. There was a progressive increase across the
early blocks in the percentage of correct Trial 1 responses. A ceiling-level of 100% correct responses
was then attained over the final six blocks, during which there were 169 successive Trial 1 responses
bracketed by two Trial 1 errors (at 24- and 120-sec delays). Performance on trials beyond the first
followed a similar trend. Finally, when the sample duration was decreased to 0.2 sec or less,
matching performance on Trial 1 of new problems dropped to chance levels.
Discrimination of auditory temporal differences by the bottlenose dolphin and by the

human.
by Yunker MP, Herman LM. J Acoust Soc Am. 1974 Dec;56(6):1870-5.
Underwater frequency discrimination in the bottlenosed dolphin (1-140 kHz) and the
human (1-8 kHz).
by Thompson RK, Herman LM. J Acoust Soc Am. 1975 Apr;57(4):943-8
Memory for lists of sounds by the bottle-nosed dolphin: convergence of memory

processes with humans?
by Thompson RK, Herman LM. Science. 1977 Feb 4;195(4277):501-3.
After listening to a list of as many as six discriminably different 2-second sounds, a bottle-nosed
dolphin classified a subsequent probe sound as either "old" (from the list) or "new." The probability of
recognizing an old probe was close to 1.0 if it matched the most recent sound in the list and
decreased sigmoidally for successively earlier list sounds. Memory span was estimated to be at least
four sounds. Overall probabilities of correctly classifying old and new probes corresponded closely, as
if recognition decisions were made according to an optimum maximum likelihood criterion. The data
bore many similarities to data obtained from humans tested on probe recognition tasks.
Song copying by humpback whales: themes and variations.

by Mercado E 3rd, Herman LM, Pack AA. Anim Cogn. 2005 Apr;8(2):93-102. Epub 2004 Oct 15.
Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Park Hall, Buffalo, New York , USA.
Male humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) produce long, structured sequences of sound
underwater, commonly called "songs." Humpbacks progressively modify their songs over time in ways
that suggest that individuals are copying song elements that they hear being used by other singers.
Little is known about the factors that determine how whales learn from their auditory experiences.
Song learning in birds is better understood and appears to be constrained by stable core attributes
such as species-specific sound repertoires and song syntax. To clarify whether similar constraints
exist for song learning by humpbacks, we analyzed changes over 14 years in the sounds used by
humpback whales singing in Hawaiian waters. We found that although the properties of individual
sounds within songs are quite variable over time, the overall distribution of certain acoustic features
within the repertoire appears to be stable. In particular, our findings suggest that species-specific
constraints on temporal features of song sounds determine song form, whereas spectral variability
allows whales to flexibly adapt song elements.
Acoustic properties of humpback whale songs.

by Au WW, Pack AA, Lammers MO, Herman LM, Deakos MH, Andrews K. J Acoust Soc Am. 2006
Aug;120(2):1103-10. Marine Mammal Research Program, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology,
University of Hawaii, USA.
A vertical array of five hydrophones was used to measure the acoustic field in the vertical plane of
singing humpback whales. Once a singer was located, two swimmers with snorkel gear were
deployed to determine the orientation of the whale and position the boat so that the array could be
deployed in front of the whale at a minimum standoff distance of at least 10 m. The spacing of the
hydrophones was 7 m with the deepest hydrophone deployed at a depth of 35 m. An eight-channel
TASCAM recorder with a bandwidth of 24 kHz was used to record the hydrophone signals. The
location (distance and depth) of the singer was determined by computing the time of arrival
differences between the hydrophone signals. The maximum source level varied between individual
units in a song, with values between 151 and 173 dB re 1 microPa. One of the purposes of this study
was to estimate potential sound exposure of nearby conspecifics. The acoustic field determined by
considering the relative intensity of higher frequency harmonics in the signals indicated that the
sounds are projected in the horizontal direction despite the singer being canted head downward
anywhere from about 25 degrees to 90 degrees. High-frequency harmonics extended beyond 24 kHz,
suggesting that humpback whales may have an upper frequency limit of hearing as high as 24 kHz.
2E Animal Cyborgs
http://www.downstate.edu/pharmacology/chapin.htm
Robot Arm Controlled Using Command Signals Recorded Directly from Brain Neurons,
by J. K. Chapin,
Our laboratory employs multi-electrode based brain interface technologies to investigate the control
of movement by the sensory and motor systems in the brain. We have recently demonstrated that
experimental animals can learn to control a robot arm using brain-derived signals alone, as recorded
from neuronal populations in the motor cortex. This approach could be used to restore motor function
in paralysis patients.
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2000/monkeys-1206.html
Monkey controls robotic arm using brain signals sent over Internet,
by Elizabeth A. Thomson, News Office, December 6, 2000
Monkeys in North Carolina have remotely operated a robotic arm 600 miles away in MIT's Touch Lab
-- using their brain signals. The feat is based on a neural-recording system reported in the November
16 issue of Nature. In that system, tiny electrodes implanted in the animals' brains detected their
brain signals as they controlled a robot arm to reach for a piece of food. According to the scientists
from Duke University Medical Center, MIT and the State University of New York (SUNY) Health
Science Center, the new system could form the basis for a brain-machine interface that would allow
paralyzed patients to control the movement of prosthetic limbs. The Internet experiment "was a
historic moment, the start of something totally new," Mandayam Srinivasan, director of MIT's Touch
Lab, said in a November 15 story in the Wall Street Journal. They even tested whether the signals
could be transmitted over a standard Internet connection, controlling a similar arm in MIT's
Laboratory for Human and Machine Haptics, informally known as the Touch Lab. "When we initially
conceived the idea of using monkey brain signals to control a distant robot across the Internet, we
were not sure how variable delays in signal transmission would affect the outcome," said Dr.
Srinivasan. "Even with a standard TCP/IP connection, it worked out beautifully. It was an amazing
sight to see the robot in our lab move, knowing that it was being driven by signals from a monkey
brain at Duke. It was as if the monkey had a 600-mile-long virtual arm."
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/19/4681
Cortical Ensemble Adaptation to Represent Velocity of an Artificial Actuator Controlled by
a Brain-Machine Interface.
by Mikhail A. Lebedev, Jose M. Carmena, Joseph E. O'Doherty, Miriam Zacksenhouse, Craig S.
Henriquez, Jose C. Principe, and Miguel A. L. Nicolelis
The Journal of Neuroscience, May 11, 2005, 25(19):4681-4693; doi:10.1523/
JNEUROSCI.4088-04.2005
Monkeys can learn to directly control the movements of an artificial actuator by using a brain-machine
interface (BMI) driven by the activity of a sample of cortical neurons. Eventually, they can do so
without moving their limbs. Neuronal adaptations underlying the transition from control of the limb to
control of the actuator are poorly understood. Here, we show that rapid modifications in neuronal
representation of velocity of the hand and actuator occur in multiple cortical areas during the
operation of a BMI. Initially, monkeys controlled the actuator by moving a hand-held pole. During this
period, the BMI was trained to predict the actuator velocity. As the monkeys started using their
cortical activity to control the actuator, the activity of individual neurons and neuronal populations
became less representative of the animal's hand movements while representing the movements of
the actuator. As a result of this adaptation, the animals could eventually stop moving their hands yet
continue to control the actuator. These results show that, during BMI control, cortical ensembles
represent behaviorally significant motor parameters, even if these are not associated with movements
of the animal's own limb.
2F Machines Enhanced with Neural Computing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurally_controlled_animat
A Neurally Controlled Animat is the conjunction of (1) a cultured neuronal network and (2) a
virtual body, the Animat, "living" in a computer generated environment, connected to this array.
Patterns of neural activity are used to control the virtual body, and the computer is used as a sensory
device to provide electrical feedback to the neural network about the Animat's movement in the
virtual environment.
The current aim of the Animat research is to study the neuronal activity and plasticity when learning
and processing information in order to find a mathematical model for the neural network.
It leads towards interesting questions about consciousness theories as well.
http://www.gatech.edu/newsroom/release.html?id=125
Georgia Tech Researchers Use Lab Cultures to Control Robotic Device, Atlanta (April 24,
2003)
The Hybrot, a small robot that moves about using the brain signals of a rat, is the first robotic device
whose movements are controlled by a network of cultured neuron cells. Steve Potter and his research
team in the Laboratory for Neuroengineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology are studying the
basics of learning, memory, and information processing using neural networks in vitro. Their goal is to
create computing systems that perform more like the human brain. Potter, a professor in the Wallace
H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, presented
his most recent findings last month during the Third International Conference on Substrate-
Integrated Microelectrodes in Texas. As the lead researcher on a $1.2 million grant from the National
Institutes of Health, Potter is connecting laboratory cultures containing living neurons to computers in
order to create a simulated animal, which he describes as a neurally-controlled animat.
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/02/19/brain_chip040219
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nerve+OR+brain+snail+chip+OR+microchip
“Calgary scientist grows brain cells on microchip,” CBC News, 1 March 2004
Canadian and German researchers have grown snail nerve cells on a microchip and showed the cells
have memory and can communicate. The researchers say this melding of machine and biology has a
wide-range of potential applications..
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8718
“Robot moved by slime mould’s fears,” by Will Knight, NewScientist, 13 Feb 2006.
A bright yellow slime mould that can grow to several metres in diameter has been put in charge of a
scrabbling, six-legged robot. The Physarum polycephalum slime, which naturally shies away from
light, controls the robot's movement so that it too keeps out of light and seeks out dark places in
which to hide itself. They grew slime in a six-pointed star shape on top of a circuit and connected it
remotely, via a computer, to the hexapod bot. Any light shone on sensors mounted on top of the
robot were used to control light shone onto one of the six points of the circuit-mounted mould – each
corresponding to a leg of the bot. As the slime tried to get away from the light its movement was
sensed by the circuit and used to control one of the robot's six legs. The robot then scrabbled away
from bright lights as a mechanical embodiment of the mould.
http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/weapons/mg19726405.500-dna-nose-sniffs-out-
explosives.html
DNA 'nose' sniffs out explosives
New Scientist, 26 January 2008, Magazine issue 2640
An artificial nose based on a short strand of DNA can detect a range of vapours – including a
constituent of TNT.
Joel White and colleagues at Tufts University in Boston and CogniScent, a company in nearby North
Grafton, attached a fluorescent dye to a short strand of DNA. They wafted a number of vapours over
it, including toluene, an ingredient for making TNT. The vapours interacted with the unpaired DNA
bases, influencing the dye's fluorescence. The degree of change depended on the vapour, allowing
the "nose" to distinguish at least eight different chemicals ( PloS Biology, DOI: 10.1371/
journal.pbio.0060009).
Spreading Biological-Warfare Agents by remote-controlled Animals.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/29/stories/0229000y.htm
'Bioterrorism not a new phenomenon'
By P. Sunderarajan
NEW DELHI, OCT. 28. Bioterrorism is by no means a new phenomenon. There is historical evidence
to show that the use of biological weapons in warfare is as old as human civilisation.
According to experts, while two of the earliest recorded cases were in the 6th century B.C., when the
Assyrians poisoned their enemy with `rye ergot' and Solon used `heliebore', a purgative herb, during
the siege of Krissa, the most notable incident took place in the 14th century.
In 1346, plague broke out in the Tartar army during its siege of Kaffa, the present day Foedosia of
Crimea. The attackers hurled the corpses of the plague victims over the city walls and the epidemic
that followed forced the defenders to surrender. The Black Death pandemic which swept Europe
during that period was suspected to have been caused after some of the infected persons fled Kaffa.
A similar tactic was reportedly used by Russia against Sweden in 1710.
Smallpox was another biological agent reported to have been used as a weapon. While Pizarro was
said to have presented South American natives with clothes infected with the disease in the 15th
century, the English are reported to have resorted to a similar tactic against the French and Indians.
In the last century, there is evidence that during World War I, German agents injected horses and
cattle with deadly germs before they were shipped to France. In 1937, Japan reportedly started a
biological warfare programme near Manchuria. A post-World War II investigation revealed that the
Japanese had used prisoners of war as research subjects, the experts added. The U.S. had conducted
research on the use of biological agents for offensive purposes from 1943. The programme went on
till 1969, when the then President, Mr. Richard Nixon, issued an order to stop it.
In 1972, a historic agreement was signed by the U.S., the U.K. and the erstwhile U.S.S.R. to prohibit
the development, production and stockpiling of bacteriological and toxin weapons. Over 140 countries
have since ratified the agreement, commonly called the Biological Weapons Convention.
Despite the agreement, research on bio-warfare flourished in several countries. Testimonies from the
late seventies have indicated that Laos and Kampuchea were attacked by planes and helicopters
delivering aerosols of several colours. After being exposed, people and animal became disoriented
and ill, the experts said.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2003/05/14/stories/2003051401731400.htm
Bio-terror drill begins in U.S.
SEATTLE (United States) date May 13. national bio-terrorism drill for hundreds of fire-fighters, police
and other emergency workers began on Monday with a mock explosion of a radioactive ``dirty
bomb'' in a car in a Seattle industrial lot.
...
The five-day drill, combining the Seattle disaster with a mock bio-terrorist attack in Chicago, is aimed
at testing the readiness of local, state and federal authorities.
...
The exercises, which are being spearheaded by the Homeland Security Department, will cost an
estimated $16 millions and involve more than 8,500 people from 100 federal, state and local
agencies, the American Red Cross and the Canadian government.
...
In Washington, D.C., officials were running the entire drill from a hotel ballroom. About 80 federal
workers from 26 agencies sat at long rows of tables, working phones and laptops and directing their
agencies' work. Computers projected maps of Seattle and Chicago onto large screens.
Over the next few days, a number of `patients' are to show up at hospitals in the Chicago area,
suffering from flu-like symptoms. In the script, a terrorist group releases a deadly plague in aerosol
form.
A detailed, 200-page scenario has been written for the drill, which officials said would be as realistic-
looking as possible. Stand-ins will portray the President, George W. Bush, the Vice-President, Dick
Cheney, and even the Press Secretary, Ari Fleischer.
Some details have been kept from the participants to make the exercise more realistic.
The Office of Domestic Preparedness has been planning the event — dubbed ``Topoff 2'' for ``top
officials'' — since the first such drill, ``Topoff 1,'' was conducted three years ago in Denver and New
Hampshire.
Seattle's Mayor said he was not worried that the security exercise may cause panic, noting that the
event had received extensive publicity locally. Hundreds of evaluators will watch the exercise and
report their findings for later study. — AP
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/10/23/stories/13230291.htm
Bioweapons: a potential threat of mass destruction
ECONOMIC CONFIDENCE matters, but not as much as confidence that the government can protect its
citizens from plots that had once been the stuff of novels, science fiction and Hollywood movies!
American intelligence agencies ongoing investigations have revealed that bioweapons have emerged
as a global threat like the barbaric attack on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. There
is need to try and prevent bioweapons proliferation.
The biotechnology holds the promise of a great future but like any other technological breakthrough,
it is a double-edged sword. Biotechnology could be panacea for eliminating hunger and disease from
the globe but the same biotechnology tools can be used in a deadly manner against the mankind.
Modern technologies that add efficiency, power and wonder to our lives inevitably deliver the same
benefits to evildoers. According to Bill Joy, the chief scientist of Sun Microsystems, "the tragedy of
September 11 was nothing like what might be possible with biological weaponry.'' In his forthcoming
book titled Why the Future Doesn't Need Us, Joy has predicted that the coming age of biotech will
undoubtedly make programmable bacteria and viruses more accessible — to doctors, business and
bio-terrorists. "The things which we are worrisome about haven't happened yet." And having in mind
all these, Harvard biologists, Matthew Meselson and Leading, have suggested a convention making
any individual involved in the production of biological weapons liable as an international criminal,
prosecutable anywhere, as is already the case for pirates and airplane hijackers. This proposal would
permit countries to research and plan defensive work against biological warfare agents.
Urgency to stop possible terrorist attacks in future with bioweapons has added importance to the
proposed fifth Biological Weapons Convention Conference in November at Geneva. At the conference
140 countries, which have ratified the convention, will discuss a 210-page draft protocol document
and declaration affirming the treaty that would account for threats that have emerged with the
revelation of terrorist intent to explore the possibility to use biological weapons.
Easy availability
America is worried more about biological arms than about nuclear or chemical ones. Unlike either of
the other two, biological weapons combine maximum destruction and easy availability. Nuclear arms
have great killing capacity but are hard to get; chemical weapons are easy to get but lack such killing
capacity; biological agents have both qualities. A 1993 study by the Office of Technology Assessment
of the U.S. concluded that a single airplane delivering 100 kilograms of anthrax spores — a dormant
phase of a bacillus that multiplies rapidly in the body, producing toxins and rapid haemorrhaging —
by aerosol on a clear, calm night over the Washington D.C. area could kill between one million and
three million people, 300 times as many fatalities as if the plane had delivered sarin gas in inanities
ten times larger.
According to the journal Science, the following are the major potential weapons of mass destruction
in bioweapon category.
Old standbys:
Anthrax — A staple of bioweapons arsenals for decades, the bacterium bacillus anthracis might be
engineered to resist antibiotics.
Plague — In an infamous episode in World War II, the Japanese Army unleashed fleas infected with
the Yersinia pestic bacterium on Chinese forces in Manchuria. The attack backfired, inflicting heavy
tolls on both sides.
Q fever — This disease is transmitted by the highly infectious and heat-resistant Coxiella burnetii
rickettsiae. Not usually fatal, Q fever could be used primarily as an incapacitant.
Tularemia — One of the most infectious bacteria, Francisella tularensis would kill one out of five
people in a hypothetical scenario in which 50 kilograms of the weaponised agent were released 2 km
upwind from a city.
Small pox — Eradicated from the wild in 1980, variola major is known to exist in only two restricted
laboratories in Russia and the United States. Experts don't dismiss the unlikely scenario of theft or
diversion of these stocks.
New possibilities:
Aflatoxin — U.S. intelligence reports in 1998 suggested that Iraq was attempting to weaponise
aflatoxin, a protein produced by a mould that grows on peanuts and other crops. Afllatoxin is highly
toxic for human beings.
Ebola-influenza hybrid — a flu strain equipped with the haemorrhagic proteins of Ebola, presumably
stills a fantasy, would be a fearsome weapon.
Tools of assassination
Old standbys:
Botulinum toxin — the most poisonous substance known, a single gram of this crystalline toxin from
the bacterium clostridium botulinum, evenly dispersed and inhaled, would kill more than one million
people.
Ricin — In 1978, Soviet agents used ricin, a lethal toxin extracted from the castor bean, to murder
Bulgarian defector Georgi Markov in London.
New possibilities:
RNAi — Double-standard "interference" RNA might be tailored to latch onto specific messenger RNA
sequences, thus virtually silencing any gene.
Saxitoxin — Eating shellfish contaminated by this alkaloid neurotoxin, produced by dinoflagellates,
can lead to paralysis and death.
Substance P — An aerosolised version of this neurotransmitter could be far more toxic than the
potent chemical weapons sarin and VX.
Great innovators
Biological weapons are relatively easy to make. Innovations in biotechnology have obviated many of
the old problems in handling and preserving biological agents, and many have been freely available
for scientific research. Nuclear weapons are not likely to be the choice for non-state terrorist groups.
But now unthinkable is possible. Terrorists are really proving to be great innovators. They require
huge investments and targetable infrastructure, and are subject to credible threats by the United
States. An aggrieved group that decides to kill huge numbers of innocent people will find the mission
easier to accomplish with anthrax than with a nuclear explosion.
Even though biological weapons have received less attention than the other weapon systems they
probably pose the greatest danger to humanity. Chemical weapons were noticed more in the past
decade, especially since they were used by Iraq against Iranian troops in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq
war and against Kurdish civilians in 1988. Chemicals are far more widely available than nuclear
weapons because the technology required to produce them is far simpler, and large numbers of
countries have undertaken chemical weapons programmes. But chemical weapons are not really in
the same class as other weapons of mass destruction, in the sense of ability to inflict a huge number
of civilian casualties in a single strike.
The ballistic missile defence system (also known as NMD) will roughly cost about $60 billions. The
American Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the required amount for limited option,
which will not counter other modes like biological weapons attack. Until recently, only half a billion
dollars less than two-tenths of one per cent of the defence budget and less than $2 a head for every
American went to chemical and biological defence, while nearly $4 billions was spent annually on
ballistic missile defence.
Thousands of scientists and technicians are busy to design and produce weapons loaded with deadly
microbes, such as anthrax. In 1992 the then Russian President Boris Yeltsin admitted that the Soviet
had run this vast enterprise, called Biopreparat. It establishes the point that Soviets had clearly
ignored the ban on offensive weapons in the Biological and Toxin Biological Weapons Convention
(BWC), which the Soviets had ratified two decades earlier.
Bioweapon experts say the entire Biological Weapon Convention could also become a lost
opportunity. A quarter century after coming into force, the treaty remains the weakest of the
international arms-control agreements. The problem: it has no mechanism for checking whether
states/parties are obeying the ban on developing biological weapons. Other agreements on nuclear
and chemical weapons have established technical systems for monitoring compliance. But the
Biological Weapons Convention remains little more than an agreement based on trust.
Monitoring compliance
The difficulties of monitoring Biological Weapons Convention compliance came into focus after the
Gulf War, when the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) went to work in Iraq to ensure the
elimination of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. With Iraqi officials grudgingly
cooperating from 1991 to 1995, the UNSCOM team found loads of circumstantial evidence — facilities
with a high capacity for fermentation inconsistent with peaceful purposes as well as irreconcilable
records — all pointing to a broad, clandestine programme aimed at "weaponising" bacteria, viruses,
and toxins. Despite UNSCOM's sweeping mandate to investigate suspicious activity anywhere and
anytime, it wasn't until a son-in-law of Hussein defected in 1995 with damning inside information that
the commission was able to further pressure Iraq into acknowledging the extent of its offensive
biological weapons programme.
We need to have a radar screen to identify spots and follow them up. Formally known as the Protocol
to the Biological Weapons Convention, the measure would include mandatory investigation of facilities
suspected of contravening the treaty as well as visits to declared facilities that are not under
suspicion, plus export controls on organisms and technologies that might be used to develop
biological weapons.
The draft protocol of 210-page document would, among other things, allow a future protocol body to
mount random transparency visits at declared facilities in precisely defined categories, including
maximum containment (bio safety level 4) labs, vaccine, facilities, biodefence shops, and plant
pathogen containment laboratories. If a facility were suspected of contravening the treaty, the
protocol would permit challenge investigations, in which teams of up to 30 investigators would be
allowed to remain on site for 84 hours for a lab visit, or 30 days to investigate an alleged field release
of a bioweapon.
It is ironical that partially U.S. has been responsible to this state of affairs. It has been consistently
and strongly objecting to the inclusion of verification procedure in the Biological Weapons Convention
Treaty of 1972, which would have given teeth to Biological Weapons Convention. The U.S. is also
sparring with its allies over the procedures for facility visits and mandatory declarations of potential
dual-use organisms and technologies. Driven by the concerns of the biotech and pharmaceutical
industries, the Bush administration is worried about the inadvertent leakage of trade secrets —
vaccines in development, for example. The administration also fears that visits to government labs
could compromise national security.
In all, 140 countries have ratified the convention since it was hammered out almost 30 years ago. But
the treaty contains no provision for verification, a loophole that allowed the Soviet Union to operate
dozens of germ-warfare facilities in the 1970s and 80s. Attempts to develop a verification plan began
in 1995. It was hoped that the latest draft, released in March 2001, would address the concerns of
many participants, including the United States.
The United States is developing a range of measures to counter bioweapons and seems intent on
relying on these defences rather than backing the convention. But Matthew Meselson, a molecular
geneticist at Harvard University and an adviser to the U.S. Government on chemical and biological
weapons issues, warns that such an approach could augment suspicions that the United States has
something to hide. "There is a huge cost if we just walk away and say we'll look out for ourselves,''
he says, particularly after the trauma of September 11 attack. Since in the coming months, years and
perhaps decades, America and the world must prepare for a long fight. But it requires radical
thinking, and even sacrificing some commercial advantage. Enemy's goal is clear — to instil fear and
confusion. To sustain this fight, Biological Weapons Convention ratification of draft protocol, which
incorporates some verification and export control mechanism of potential biological weapon, will go a
long way to pre-empt disaster of possible bioweapons attack by any terrorist group.
DEVENDRA MISHRA
Retrieved from "http://eumc.wik.is/2_MC_in_Animals/2_Scenarios"
2G Smart Animals (by training or otherwise) and Animals with Atypical Behaviour:
Google Youtube for: Flipper, Skippy, Black Beauty, Lassy, Elsa the liones, Daktary.
Google Youtube for: Tool using Animals, by David Attenborough.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tippi_Degre
Google Youtube for: Tippy Degre, A young girl plays with animals,
Tippi of Africa (Paperback), by Sylvia Robert (Author), Alain Degre (Author), Joelle Ody (Author)
http://images.google.nl/
images?gbv=2&svnum=10&hl=nl&q=tippi+degre&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
http://www.livescience.com/technology/060210_technovelgy.html
Mind Control by Parasites.,
by Bill Christensen, technovelgy 10 February 2006
If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans? Dr. E. Fuller Torrey
(Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links
between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are
infected with T. gondii.
Consider these other cases:
• The lancet fluke Dicrocoelium dendriticum forces its ant host to attach to the tips of grass
blades, the easier to be eaten. The fluke needs to get into the gut of a grazing animal to
complete its life cycle.
• The fluke Euhaplorchis californiensis causes fish to shimmy and jump so wading birds will
grab them and eat them, for the same reason.
• Hairworms, which live inside grasshoppers, sabotage the grasshopper's central nervous
system, forcing them to jump into pools of water, drowning themselves. Hairworms then
swim away from their hapless hosts to continue their life cycle.
Are parasites like Toxoplasma subtly altering human behavior? As it turns out, science fiction writers
have been thinking about whether or not parasites could alter a human being's behavior, or even
take control of a person. In his 1951 novel The Puppet Masters, Robert Heinlein wrote about alien
parasites the size of dinner plates that took control of the minds of their hosts, flooding their brains
with neurochemicals.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/070402_cat_urine.html
Bizarre Human Brain Parasite Precisely Alters Fear.,
by Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience 02 April 2007.
Rats usually have an innate fear of cat urine. The fear extends to rodents that have never seen a
feline and those generations removed from ever meeting a cat. After they get infected with the brain
parasite Toxoplasma gondii, however, rats become attracted to cat pee, increasing the chance they'll
become cat food. This much researchers knew. But a new study shows the parasite, which also
infects more than half of the world's human population, seems to target a rat's fear of cat urine with
almost surgical precision, leaving other kinds of fear alone. Hijacking the mind: T. gondii is a parasitic
germ whose primary hosts are cats. However, it can be found in most warm-blooded animals,
including an estimated 50 million people in the United States. One study suggests the parasite has
altered human behavior enough to shape entire cultures. In cats, the protozoan reproduces sexually,
while it reproduces asexually in other animals. The germ seems to especially like infesting the
brain—"parasites hijacking the mind," Vyas said. Although the disease it causes in humans is rarely
dangerous, it is the reason that pregnant women are sometimes told to avoid cat litter boxes
(toxoplasmosis is risky for infants and others with compromised immune systems). Some scientists
have suspected it might be linked to mental disorders such as schizophrenia and even neuroticism.
Toxoplasma affects fear to cat odors with almost surgical precision." In addition, "we show that
parasites are a little more likely to be found in amygdala [a region of the brain] than in other brain
areas," Vyas said. "This is important because the amygdala is involved in a variety of fear-related
behaviors." Future investigations can explore how exactly the parasite modifies the brain in such a
precise manner. Potential targets in the brain for research include the stress hormone corticosterone
and the brain chemical dopamine. Scientists might also want to see whether infected rats become
less afraid of pictures of cats or scents of different predators of rats. This discovery could shed light
"on how fear is generated in the first place" and how people can potentially better manage phobias,
researcher Ajai Vyas, a Stanford University neuroscientist, told LiveScience.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6066606.stm
Oslo gay animal show draws crowds
Last Updated: Thursday, 19 October 2006,
It says homosexuality has been observed among 1,500 species, and that in 500 of those it is well
documented. The exhibition - entitled Against Nature? - includes photographs of one male giraffe
mounting another, of apes stimulating others of the same sex, and two aroused male right whales
rubbing against each other.
http://www.livescience.com/bestimg/index.php?url=&cat=gayanimals
LiveScience.com - Gay Animals: Alternate Lifestyles in the Wild
Bonobo Chimpanzees: Considered the closest living relative to humans, bonobos are not shy about
seeking sexual pleasure. Nearly all of these peace-loving apes are bisexual and often resolve conflict
by the "make love, not war" principle. They copulate frequently, scream out in delight while doing so,
and often engage in homosexual activities. About two thirds of the homosexual activities are amongst
females.
2H Some Conclusions:
Animals are used as a military platform for:

• Detection purposes: plastic explosives, as chemical and bacteriological attack sensors, de-
mining, search and rescue operations.
• Surveillance and bugging purposes: sound, sonar, vision, IR, UV, smell and by monitoring
their emotional state.
• Animals can possibly be questioned / interrogated neurologically when the questions are
formatted in some simplistic way,
answerring questions like; the presence of "things" and the (emotional) state of these
"things" and locations and some rough counting.
* Animal guidance is known to work from direct electrical stimulation of the antennae and whiskers
upto electromagnetic stimulating of the vestibular system.
* Neurologically enhanced animals with sensory inputs and devices alien to their species are to be
expected

MC2 Animals3a

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Neurological Enhanced Animals

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About: Neurological Enhanced Animals

1 Mind Control in Politics

2 Neurological Enhanced Animals or Mind Controlled Animals

2A A short History of Animal Brain Telemetry: (Brain remote control)

http://stinet.dtic.mil/stinet/jsp/advanced-tr.jsp (search: electronarcosis)

Remote brain stimulation and relationships between parameters of stimulation and

2B Neural Enhanced Insects as a Sensor Platform:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050409/fob4ref.asp Remote Control Minds: Light flashes

2C Neural Enhanced Animals as a Tool in Espionage:

by Dr David Whitehouse, BBC News Online science editor,

http://stinet.dtic.mil/stinet/jsp/advanced-tr.jsp (search: electronarcosis)

2D Animal Intelligence and Communications

Emotion in animals; From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;

Generalization of 'same-different' classification abilities in bottlenosed dolphins.

Cetaceans have complex brains for complex cognition.

Information encoding and decision time as variables in human choice behavior.

Predicting effectiveness of Bayesian classification systems.

Communication thru smell / Pheromones

Communication thru behaviour, bodylanguage / Gestural Languages

In a mixed-species hive, a European honeybee (blue)

Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) comprehend the referential character of the human

The dolphin's (Tursiops truncatus) understanding of human gazing and pointing:

Responses to anomalous gestural sequences by a language-trained dolphin: evidence for

Reporting presence or absence of named objects by a language-trained dolphin.

rat emotional vocalisations research on

Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins.

Vocal mimicry of computer-generated sounds and vocal labeling of objects by a

Auditory delayed matching in the bottlenose dolphin.

Discrimination of auditory temporal differences by the bottlenose dolphin and by the

Memory for lists of sounds by the bottle-nosed dolphin: convergence of memory

Song copying by humpback whales: themes and variations.

Acoustic properties of humpback whale songs.

2F Machines Enhanced with Neural Computing:

Spreading Biological-Warfare Agents by remote-controlled Animals.

Animals are used as a military platform for:

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