Controlling Flight, A New Twist

When I spent time with my grandfather when I was younger we would do a lot of bird watching. He would point out the different calls they would make and the variations in the way they flew. But nothing got us more excited than the hummingbird. The way those little birds can speed around and hover is incredible. What if we could mimic this flying pattern in robots, or better yet what if we could learn both the neurology and physiology behind how these birds accomplish this unique flight? Or what if we just hijack the birds nervous system and control it? Although this has not been done with hummingbird neuroscientific research has made advancements in the ability to control other flying organisms with simpler nervous systems.

In her book, Frankenstein’s Cat, Emily Anthes highlights the advancements in neuronal control research. She specifically emphasizes the research of Michel Maharbiz, an electrical engineer that discovered how to control the flight of the flower beetle’s through electrical stimulation of the brain. Even though Maharbiz’s ability to control the flight of the flower beetle is crude, his advancements help make science fiction real. Maharbiz’s goal was to create a cyborg bug for the Defense Advancement Research Projects Agency that could be fitted with sensors and cameras in order to help in national defense. Anthes stresses an issue that Maharbiz and similar researchers struggle with, that due to the extra weight of attaching cameras, control mechanisms, and sensors can disrupt the ability of insects to fly. To possibly address this issue in a different way we should take a look at insect research similar to Michael Dickinson, PhD.

An article published just a few days ago in the New York Times, James Gorman shares the fascinating research Michael Dickinson has been doing on the common research specimen Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly). Gorman emphasizes Dickinson’s research on the physiology of fruit fly flight. But, what was more interesting was Dickinson’s comments on special sensory abilities of the fruit fly, including what he called a “sky compass” (using the polarization of light to figure out direction) and taste-bud containing wings (Gorman 2013). By harnessing the sensory abilities of other organisms we could be able to collected all sorts of data from the environment.

If we become able to control the flight of different organisms and collect data using their sensory systems, then I can see different organisms like birds and insects becoming an important instrument in national defense, search and rescue missions, ecological research, and the effort to slow the effects of global warming.

Anthes, Emily. (2013) Frankenstein's Cat. New York, NY:  Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Gorman, J. (2013, Oct. 7). Focusing on Fruit Flies, Curiosity Takes Flight. The New York Times, p. D1. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/science/focusing-on-fruit-flies-curiosity-takes-flight. htl?ref=science&_r=0>