Saw this headline and KNEW it had to be DARPA

[Beetlegeuse]

DARPA, if you didn't know, invented the Internet, the cell phone, NASA, Multics (the predecessor to UNIX), Onion Routing (basis for the TOR browser), the laser-guided self-steering bullet, and are known currently to be heavily invested in exoskeletons to turn soldiers into supermen, soft body armor in the form of a 'normal' garment that hardens to become bullet-proof when struck by a high-velocity projectile, a pill that eliminates the need for sleep (with no 'rebound,' unlike amphetamines) and a stick-on patch that provides complete nutrition. Plus a thousand other things nobody ever heard tell of.

In a lot of respects, they're positioned much like NASA was in the 1960s. They've got a [CENSORED] budget, the government leaves them alone to get on with what they do best, and brightest creative minds in the world are eager to work for them. They're basically the smartest guys in the room, regardless what room they're in. So when I saw this headline, I knew it couldn't be anybody else:

US military wants to use sea creatures as underwater spies to monitor enemy activity

'If we can tap into the innate sensing capabilities of living organisms that are ubiquitous in the oceans, we can extend our ability to track adversary activity'

The US military is turning to fish and other sea life to help them monitor the activity of their enemies in the oceans.

Marine creatures are well adapted to their environment, and scientists want to employ their sensory abilities to pick up signals that might be missed by conventional technology....



The story continues that the funding is divided among five different DARPA teams, each of which is studying a different potential solution. Like the reaction of microbes to the changes caused to the planet's natural magnetic field when a submarine passes, or using the grunts of "goliath groupers" or the very loud (200 dB) clicks made by "snapping shrimp" as a source of natural sonar, then using passive (undetectable) sensors to test for changes to those sounds that might be caused by a sub.

And the same newspaper already had reported on DAPRA's efforts to create genetically-modified plants that could act as a watchdog, which might also be adaptable to this program.

[fiddlesticks]

Physiologically sounds impossible for a lot of these things especially the patch w 100% nutrition.

This is ignorant of me to say though. Far greater and more ridiculous concepts have turned into amazing things (space exploration...)

I welcome the spy shrimp.