Ugh, yet another entry in the emerging genre of "We combined well-established techniques in order to generate a vaguely sci-fi-sounding scenario." Other notewor

Ugh, yet another entry in the emerging genre of "We combined well-established techniques in order to generate a vaguely sci-fi-sounding scenario." Other noteworthy examples: 1) Brain-to-brain control: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0111332 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjourna... 2) Rats controlling each other across large distances: http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130228/srep01319/full/srep01319.html http://www.nature.com/srep/2013/130228/srep01319/full/srep01... It's junk science, and there's a reason why it's published in Nature Communications, Scientific Reports, or PLoS One. Every individual advancement (brain interfaces, genetic expression control, optogenetics) must be acknowledged as groundbreaking; this stuff, however, shouldn't excite. University PR departments do love it, though. Makes for great press releases.