...she can control insects and spread them to destroy her enemies!

Hybrid Insect MEMS (HI-MEMS)
Program Manager: Dr. Jack Judy

Animal world has provided mankind with locomotion over millennia. For example we have used horses and elephants for locomotion in wars and conducting commerce. Birds have been used for sending covert messages, and to detect gases in coal mines, a life-saving technique for coal miners. More recently, olfactory training of bees has been used to locate mines and weapons of mass destruction. The HI-MEMS program is aimed to develop technology that provides more control over insect locomotion, just as saddles and horseshoes are needed for horse locomotion control.

Developing tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis.The HI-MEMS program is aimed at developing tightly coupled machine-insect interfaces by placing micro-mechanical systems inside the insects during the early stages of metamorphosis. These early stages include the caterpillar and the pupae stages. Since a majority of the tissue development in insects occurs in the later stages of metamorphosis, the renewed tissue growth around the MEMS will tend to heal, and form a reliable and stable tissue-machine interface. The goal of the MEMS, inside the insects, will be to control the locomotion by obtaining motion trajectories either from GPS coordinates, or using RF, optical, ultrasonic signals based remote control. The control of locomotion will be investigated using several approaches. These include direct electrical muscle excitation, electrical stimulation of neurons, projection of ultrasonic pulses simulating bats, projection of pheromones, electromechanical stimulation of insect sensory cells, and presentation of optical cues with micro-optical visual presentation. The intimate control of insects with embedded microsystems will enable insect cyborgs, which could carry one or more sensors, such as a microphone or a gas sensor, to relay back information gathered from the target destination (...)

Source:
http://www.darpa.mil/MTO/Programs/himems/index.html

"Un ejército de escarabajos ciborgs" (noticia publicada en publico.es):
http://www.publico.es/ciencias/281174/ejercito/escarabajos/ciborgs

...when she can create new alphabets for imaginary languages!

http://www.omniglot.com/

Omniglot is a guide to the writing systems and languages of the world.

It also contains tips on learning languages, language-related articles, quite a large collection of useful phrases in many languages, multilingual texts, a multilingual book store and an ever-growing collection of links to language-related resources.

You can find a guide to the contents of Omniglot on the sitemap, and a list of all the writing systems and languages featured on the site in the A-Z index.

Omniglot was set up way back in 1998 by me, Simon Ager, and I've maintained and developed the site in my sparetime since then. Many other people have made contributions of new material, corrections and suggestions, for which I'm profoundly grateful.

When I started Omniglot I had just returned from Taiwan after spending five years there mainly working for the British Council. At that time I was doing a bit of freelance translation and web development work while looking for a new job. I eventually found a job as a web developer of multilingual websites in Brighton, on the south coast of England, where I worked for nine years. In 2008 I moved to Bangor in north Wales to do an MA in Linguistics at Bangor University.

Omniglot was incorporated as a company, Omniglot Ltd, in 2008, and is my main source of income. I also write about languages, culture and travel for other websites.

What people are saying about Omniglot

You can support Omniglot by making a donation via PayPal:

Or you can contribute to the site in other ways.
Omniglot Ltd. is registered in England & Wales, Reg. No. 6624958

(Simon Ager)