No - it's not a joke! I came across this article in the SMH (2Feb06) - the original article is in the current edition of New Scientist (but you have to subscribe to read the full text).
So - they've enlisted some pigeons, fitted them with GPS receivers, air pollution sensors, and a mobile phone (hope it's a light weight one!) that send back sms messages to a smog blog!!! How cool is t
hat - pigeons that can sms and blog....(I wonder if it's in pigeon english?)
"The pigeon bloggers are due to be released at the Inter-Society for Electronic Arts' annual symposium in San Jose on 5 August. The data they send back will be displayed on the blog in the form of an interactive map. As well as providing local residents with real-time data on air quality, da Costa hopes the pigeon blog will inspire people to come up with new ways to monitor the environment. The pigeons will also carry cameras around their necks and post aerial photos to the blog."
I wonder if a pigeon blog will soon be abbreviated to a "plog"??
Hope these guys are really STRONG pigeons - it appears to be quite a load!
