RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE

"A statement of fact cannot be insolent." The miscellaneous ramblings of a surgeon/scientist on medicine, quackery, science, and pseudoscience (and anything else that interests him).

Medicine

Waiter, There’s a Spy in my Soup

Post author By Orac
Post date July 27, 2007

Harvard professor Robert Wood unveiled his newest creation recently, a robotic fly that can be used as a spy, according to this posting on engadget.com. They fly weighs only .002 ounces and has a wingspan of 1.18 inches. Due to light weight carbon joints, the fly’s wings beat 110 times per minute and the creature mimics the exact movements of a real fly. Funded, obvi, by the generous folks at the U.S. Defense Department, the little robo-pest has myriad possible uses including surveillance and even monitoring the air for chemical agents. Wood plans to install a battery and a remote controlling device to the next version.

Wood’s announcement may have come as a blow to the researchers at the University of California at Berkeley who had been trying to do the exact same thing for years. Oh well, they can always rely on their fall back, robotic

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By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]