DARPA has filed a patent application this week for a human cannon system, which can quickly launch special forces, and other emergency personnel onto roofs of tall buildings. Compressed air would launch a chair up a ramp, in the vein of a pilot’s ejection seat, and a computer would devise the correct angle and speed of ascent. The patent claims that a 4-metre-tall launcher could put a man on the top of a 5 story building in less than 2 seconds.

[thanks, Barry Fox]

The Agency is also seeking proposals to fund the development of innovative technology to create insect-cyborgs, possibly enabled by intimately integrating microsystems within insects. Various microsystem payloads could potentially be mounted on the platforms with the goal of controlling insect locomotion, sense local environment, and scavenge power.

DARPA and Boston University are also developing a program to implant sharks with a neural device to control them remotely by electronically stimulating their brains to simulate their sense of scent, causing them to turn and move at the reasearchers’ will.

[thanks, Engadget]