Scientists Hacked a Locust's Brain To Sniff Out Human Cancer (technologyreview.com) 18
Cyborg locust brains can help spot the telltale signs of human cancer in the lab, a new study has shown. The team behind the work hopes it could one day lead to an insect-based breath test that could be used in cancer screening, or inspire an artificial version that works in much the same way. From a report: Other animals have been taught to spot signs that humans are sick. For example, dogs can be trained to detect when their owners' blood sugar levels start to drop, or if they develop cancer, tuberculosis, or even covid. In all cases, the animals are thought to be sensing chemicals that people emit through body odor or breath. The mix of chemicals can vary depending on a person's metabolism, which is thought to change when we get sick. But dogs are expensive to train and look after. And making a device that mimics a dog's nose has proved extremely difficult to do, says Debajit Saha, one of the scientists behind the latest work, which has not yet been peer-reviewed. "These changes are almost in parts per trillion," says Saha, a neural engineer at Michigan State University. This makes them hard to pick up even with state-of-the-art technologies, he adds. But animals have evolved to interpret such subtle changes in scents. So he and his colleagues decided to "hijack" an animal brain instead.
Jurassic World taught me something about locusts.. (Score:4, Funny)
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"that we shouldn't mess with their genetics"
You mean it needs a whatcouldpossiblygowrong flag?
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I know you are just joking. But I want to say that we must tamper with genetics. It's the only way we are going to overcome the wide variety of genetic diseases which make life miserable for humans across the globe. Genetic tampering will also be instrumental in fighting future pandemics, especially the ones we are creating through overuse of antibiotics. There are other far-reaching potentials to other kinds of medical treatment as well, including longevity treatment and other changes that would greatl
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You're a biologist, right? (Score:2)
Connected to a big pharma company? So you see $$$, right?
Because only such a person would think meddling with something that is not completely understood is a good thing.
How do you know it's not completely understood? Where's the computational model that says 'x' tampering will produce 'y' result? There isn't one. It's trial and error with the absolute expectation that there will definitely be error and only hope that there will a beneficial result. Need more proof of the typical biologist approach? A
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Meddling is how we gain the understanding.
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You know that was a fantasy created for entertainment value meant to appeal to society's lowest common denominators, right? It's not a documentary or a scientific treatise.
Fantastic! (Score:2)
I remember when they did something similar with a rat brain to detect the sound of gunshots. Eventually, they mapped out the neurons and turned it into an algorithm. The fact that rodent brains unroll like a Fruit Rollup of neurons was very helpful but the increasing sophistication of our investigatory methods continues to impress me. I have no doubt that mapping the part of the locus brain used won't be an impediment. The part that seems most likely to pose a challenge is reproducing the actual sensory
Insect test... (Score:2)
Have you _smelled_ my son's breath? It'll definitely kill roaches.
Deliver it to Congress (Score:2)
They'll find human cancer. Mostly stage 4.
CBP would finance this in a heartbeat? (Score:2)
Sniff for cash heading south and drugs heading north
NOPE! (Score:2)
But I'll take that over a locust crawling over my nose or mouth to detect cancer.
Maybe this is just poorly marketed. What it should be is a preventative therapy for cancer. "Stop smoking, or the doctors will have to cover you in locusts to see if you're healthy! Science says so!" That might be a good motivator.
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Yeah, no. Cancer detection is mostly via biopsies, which are invasive and only useful when you know there's a growth so sometimes it's too late.
But I'll take that over a locust crawling over my nose or mouth to detect cancer.
I hope you are being sarcastic because there is no talk about using locusts in such a manner.
Eww (Score:2)
Ladybugs? (Score:1)
Slightly Torturous, Nasty (Score:2)
I'm not saying a locust feels pain the same way a mammal does, but this Frankenstein stuff looks and sounds very nasty. I pulled wings off flies as a kid, but I wouldn't feel right sticking electrodes on an insect brain and allow it to suffer for hours on end. Can they at least squash them dead after a few minutes of testing or something... put 'em out of their misery. Sheesh.