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Scientists Develop Killer Robots That Inject Poison Into Coral Munching Starfish

posted by janrinok on Wednesday September 09 2015, @03:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the needle-match dept.

Sir Finkus writes:

Scientists hoping to preserve coral reefs have developed an autonomous submarine to help control populations of crown-of-thorns sea stars. The sea stars devour coral at alarming rates, and are surprisingly hardy. Missing limbs simply regrow after being removed, so scuba divers have had to resort to injecting the starfish with poison up to 10 times each.

The autonomous robot can stay underwater for up to six hours, and uses a new poison that requires only one injection. The robot identifies the sea stars using a sophisticated image processing algorithm. The new poison is allegedly harmless to other sea creatures.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday September 09 2015, @03:50AM

    by c0lo (156) on Wednesday September 09 2015, @03:50AM (#234069) Journal

    Why do you think those starfish breed like crazy? Too much organic matter from farm run-offs (boosted by more intense flooding) and/or port dredging. Plus warmer waters

    Typical "privatize benefits and socialize cost" - who do you think is going to pay for those robots? And for how long?

    And what about addressing the actual cause of the problem? Even assuming you destroy the entire starfish species, do you really think that extra organic matter will stay unused? What's next, develop robots to inject poison into microscopic organisms?

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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday September 09 2015, @04:35AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 09 2015, @04:35AM (#234082) Homepage Journal

    There are other nutrients plants need than nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Fertilize with compost not synthetic fertilizer. The fibers in the compost will absorb more water.

    To contribute to the solution, eat organic food. Brits call it "whole foods".

    I eat organic to the extent I possibly can. It's not about boosting my immune system, cleansing my liver of impurities or fellating my lower chackras. Organic food is good for the farmer, good for the soil, good for the birds and good for coral.

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