The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has been funding several labs interested in basic sensory biology. Their goal is to define a system that will allow remote control of a free swimming shark. The project has been under way for two years now with the major focus on the olfactory and the electrosensory systems. A recent meeting of the research group held in Hawaii has been reported in the New Scientist. Jelle Atema, better known for working on lobsters, has successfully implanted an electrode in each olfactory tract that causes a shark to veer one way or another. Tim Tricas is attempting similar things with the electrosensory system but is not yet able to build the interface with the shark. There are apparently trials scheduled for the Atema system to be held in open ocean off Florida.
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