Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Implanted Biothermal RFID Chips May Warn Of Avian Flu
Digital Angel, which manufactures microchips for implantation in animals, has proposed using biothermal RFID chips in chickens as an early warning system for the avian flu. Yesterday, Digital Angel introduced their Bio-Thermo temperature-sensing implantable RFID microchip and identity system.
(RFID chip for implantation in animals)
"Our decision to target the poultry markets is an extension of the success we've had in implantable microchips in Asia and elsewhere..." Kevin McGrath, President and CEO of Digital Angel said. "As the only provider of temperature sensing RFID microchips in the world for livestock, the detection of elevated temperatures in avian populations represents a new yet natural application of our technology. Since early detection of temperature increases could be important to identifying and controlling bird flu outbreaks, our Bio-Thermo identity system may prove instrumental in dealing with the disease in a cost effective manner within the confines of a poultry farm."
Although the company admits that avian flu is not the only reason for an elevated temperature in a monitored chicken, if a representative sampling of tagged birds spiked a fever, it could indicate trouble. McGrath proposes tagging every 250th bird in a flock. Entire flocks could be checked quickly using an RFID reader that activates the chip in each bird, triggering it to send the temperature reading as well as the identification number of each chicken. Health ministries in Asia have expressed an interest in the chips.
Early adopters of the implantable sensing microchip idea in the science fiction field include William Gibson, who wrote about them in his 1984 novel Neuromancer. In the novel, it is not merely temperature that can be read at a distance; the entire physical sensorium can be monitored, which Case does remotely from his computer deck:
...Check Molly. He hit the simstim and flipped into her sensorium...He could feel the micropore tape across her ribcage, feel the flat little units under it; the radio, the simstim unit, and the scrambler... It took him a few seconds to realize that the peculiar sensation at the tips of her fingers was caused by the blades as they were partially extruded, then retracted.
(Read more about simstim)
Digital Angel biothermal chips can be implanted in a single inoculation, just like their RFID chips for animal identification, and their VeriChips for human identification (see VeriChip Patient Implant Badges Now FDA Approved.
Of course, if we could just get to the point where sf writer Frank Herbert's pseudoflesh or H. Beam Piper's carniculture vats are available, we wouldn't need live chickens to get meat. If that seems farfetched, read Cultured Meat Straight From The Vat, a real-world application of this idea.
Read the Digital Angel press release or Could Chips in Chickens track Avian Flu?
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/6/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 1 )
Index of related articles:
What is RFID?
How RFID Works
How is RFID used inside a living body?
What can RFID be used for?
Is RFID Technology Secure and Private?
Are There Concerns About How RFID Will Be Used? (Update)
Next-Generation Uses of RFID?
What Are Zombie RFID Tags?
Problems With RFID
RFID Information Technology Articles
Advantages of RFID Versus Barcodes
RFID Glossary
Contactless Credit Card Advantages
Contactless Credit Card Disadvantages
Related News Stories - (" Biology ")
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.' - Michael Crichton, 1990.
Black Fungus Blocks Radiation
'You were surrounded by Astrophage most of the time' - Andy Weir, 2021.
Lunar Biorepository Proposed For Cryo-Preservation Of Earth Species
'...there was no one alive who had ever seen them. But they existed in the Life Bank.' - John Varley, 1977.
Let's Make Slaver Sunflowers! Engineering Plants To Reflect Light
'The mirror-blossom was a terrible weapon.' - Larry Niven, 1965.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
