News & Technology: Yucky, Cruel yet Fascinating!

The Register

People normally avoid cockroaches. Don't want to see it, don't want to touch it, deal with it, see it, EVER! Not for this group of scientists, who want to control the movements of cockroaches through electronic means. They attached electrodes to the roach's antenna and two sensors to the insect's sensory organs.

The result? (Pay attention to the "L" and "R" that appears on the screen, I'm guessing that is the moment a scientist press the left or right key on their keyboard)

Cruel experiment, but probably I'm the only one to think in this way.

The actual use of this? Spy roaches maybe. Put on of these into a politician's home and you'll guarantee some secrets.

Dr. Suresh, you have never seen this coming, have you?

The drawback though, may well be the escape once the roach has been discovered. You may have noticed, the insect isn't the fastest runner you have seen, and since this is a flightless Madagascar hissing cockroach, they have no route to escape from a human-discovery by air, a cockroach's the killer feature in my opinion.

What's more, they hiss! You don't want to spy on your babysitter when a cockroach keeps exposing its location, do you?

But who knows? Maybe next time, the scientist will work on flies, much smaller, faster, and "cleaner". Why cleaner?

They always "wash" their "hands".

Washing your hands?
Image from itskerrysworld.blogspot

Vocabulary:
yucky -- (adj) (also yukky) disgusting or unpleasant
roach -- (n)[C] (plural roaches) US informal for cockroach
flightless -- (adj) not able to fly
hissing -- (adj) [I] to make a noise which is like the first sound in the word 'sing' but which lasts a lot longer


Resources:
Boffins computerize giant cyborg cockroaches @ The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/06/computer_controlled_cockroaches/

Roach Biobot @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmbEX7zDzog

cockroach theory on heroes @ YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=296XA4lqjtA

List_of_characters_in_Heroes#Shanti_Suresh @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_characters_in_Heroes#Shanti_Suresh

Madagascar hissing cockroach @ Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_hissing_cockroach

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/yucky?q=yucky
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/roach_2
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/flightless?q=flightless+
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/hiss_1?q=hissing+#hiss_1__3