[DoctorOetker]

The archive.org mirror only goes back to 2017.

So let's say 2008 is the new infimum date, why do you think or suspect it is that DARPA is only interested in the idea 17 years later?

Especially since you consider it a household idea

[daveguy]

Maybe you should check sources that have been around longer than 2017 or even 2008. Optogenetics has been established as a field since at least 2005 (you can also search pubmed for optogenetics 2005). The field had been established and well known among microbiologists for 12 years when you discovered it.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=optogenetics