Tracking Bugs

While reading an article online from the Popular Mechanics magazine, Unraveling Nature's Social Networks, written by Murray Carpenter, I was amazed at the new technology that is being used in tests being conducted. Director of migration research at the Max Institute for Ornithology, Martin Wikelski, is in charge of observing the migration techniques used by several flying creatures, even the smallest of ones. In one of his tests, he glued .3 gram radio transmitters onto dragonflies’ thoraxes which were used to detect their flying patterns. Also, other scientists at the University of Washington are using tiny microprocessors and transceivers to understand how song sparrows interact with each other. Technology is becoming more advanced and as it progresses the products being made are becoming smaller and smaller. Its ridiculous that we are now able to put radios on insects and small birds, follow them around and learn about them. It reminds me of the movie, Enemy of the State, starring Will Smith where radios were implanted into his clothes and he couldn’t even tell that they were there because they were so small so he was wondering why the people who were chasing him knew exactly where he was at all times. This ability to innovate allows us to understand how animals act and communicate in a way we've never seen before. I wonder if fifty years ago, anyone were able to imagine that technology could allow for such tests to take place. Even now, as I see how fast we are increasing our knowledge and creating new innovations, I can’t even begin to imagine what instruments will be available for us to use for the improvement of our knowledge about the world. Instead of catching and handling dragonflies to put on radios, will we be able to simply look at them and place a tag on them by blinking, allowing us to follow them around and see life through their eyes? The possibilities seem endless and it blows my mind.