Utter insanity - the article pretty much describes how the snakes glide from a tree, but our tax dollars are needed.
The DARPA is funding this research. Apparently, they see potential practical applications. IMHO, they’re right.
Most of research we have been doing for the last 2400 or so years was not limited to describing phenomena but aimed at understanding them.
Has it occurred to you that the Internet you are now using had been created by the same organization?