Robo-Pigeon

This purports to be a picture of a pigeon which has had electrodes implanted into its head by scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Center the Shandong University of Science and Technology in Qingdao. The idea is they can send signals and direct its flight. This is called vivisection, a 19th century sort of word but something that of course is still widely practiced in labs around the world for medical and unfortunately also cosmetic and other purely commercial research. Assuming it's not a photo-shopped hoax, my gut reaction is that this is pretty disgusting and should only be undertaken with a specific goal, preferably medical. I'll hold off on judgment until I can get more info about the purpose of the experiment but on first glance it certainly looks like something done because it could be or out of curiosity ("Hey, let's slice off the pigeon's skull and stick electrodes in its brain and see what happens.....") China has more than its share of world class research scientists but this sort of thing is a reminder that, like other parts of the world, there are also some major supervision issues, not to mention differing views on the ethical treatment of animals, as the phrase goes....