For thousands of years, humans have trained pigeons to race, deliver messages and “spy behind enemy lines,” said Bloomberg. But what would happen if pigeon handlers could “bypass the training and steer their bird brains instead?”
Neiry, a Russian neurotechnology company linked to President Vladimir Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova, is claiming to be doing just that, according to The Times of London. There has been “no independent scientific verification” of Neiry’s claims, but the Moscow firm is reportedly implanting neural chips into pigeons’ brains, enabling remote operators to steer the birds by “stimulating their brains with electrodes to make them turn left or right.”
Pigeons outperform traditional drones because animals “do not require battery swaps or frequent landings,” said Neiry. They can fly up to 250 miles per day without a break and reach areas where drones would be restricted, according to the company.
These alleged bird-brained “biodrones” have another advantage, too, said Bloomberg. Mechanical drones are “easier to control” and “can carry bigger loads,” but when it comes to covert surveillance, they are far more likely to attract attention than “one more pigeon flapping around.”
Neiry claims the “cyborg” birds are intended for peaceful purposes, such as helping with search and rescue operations and monitoring infrastructure. But experts have warned that the technology could “easily be adapted for military use,” said The Telegraph. An investigation by T-Invariant, an independent antiwar outlet, found that Neiry had received about 1 billion roubles (almost $14 million) in financing, “much of it from Kremlin-linked sources.” That kind of funding is “on a scale Russian neuroscience has never seen,” said one neurologist. | 
