Cyborg jellyfish for deep-sea research and vehicles

CU Boulder engineer Nicole Xu has developed a method to fit moon jellyfish with microelectronic devices that stimulate their swim muscles so researchers can steer them into remote ocean areas for environmental data collection.

• Main action: Nicole Xu and her team have created biohybrid (cyborg) moon jellyfish equipped with microelectronic stimulators; the concept was co-created about five years ago, first field-tested in 2020 off Woods Hole, Mass., and Xu plans to add sensors for temperature and pH to gather environmental data.
• Background and details: The team published a study late last month using biodegradable tracer particles (e.g., corn starch) to visualize flow around jellies as a sustainable alternative to synthetic tracers; moon jellies can inhabit extreme depths (found as deep as the Mariana Trench ~36,000 feet) and the researchers emphasize ethical considerations for invertebrate welfare and minimizing harm.