Yesterday, fellow-science blogger Sarah Dowdey issued a challenge: If she tried to blog about trees all week and I tried to blog about bugs, which of us would get sick of it first? This scientific game of chicken continues today as she blogs about an African bagpipe forest and I discuss the U.S. government’s plans for the nation’s insects.

Yes, we all saw the above video of President Obama killing a fly on national television, but might he have also just squished a high-level government agent? According to Katie Drummond over at Wired’s Danger Room blog, the Pentagon is giving serious consideration to fitting insect larvae with chemical weapon-sniffing gadgetry.

Coming on the heels of a 2005 attempt to train landmine-hunting honeybees, these federal insects would not only detect the presence of dangerous chemicals, but relay the information to other cyborg insects in the vicinity.

Is forcing insects to carry out government surveillance evil or just weird and creepy? Either way, I suppose it beats using pigeons, squirrels and cats.

Beware suspicious buzzes at HowStuffWorks.com:
How Barack Obama Works
How Houseflies Work
How Spy Flies Will Work
Are Animals Spying for the CIA?