As if cockroaches weren't creepy enough already, researchers have found a way to make them even more so. A team at the University of Osaka is using UV light helmets to direct cyborg cockroaches.
The creepy-crawlies are equipped with a teeny-tiny backpack connected to an even teenier and tinier headset. The pack has wireless sensors that can detect when the bug stops moving. The headset then shines an ultraviolet light into the cockroach's eye to get it moving again. It works because insects move away from UV light, a behavior known as negative phototaxis. By shining a light in the insect's left or right eye, they could get it to turn a certain direction. In more than 150 trials, 94 percent of the cockroaches equipped with the new system successfully navigated a maze, compared to only 24 percent of those without it.
This technique of controlling insects' movements is both less harmful and more effective than more traditional methods. Zapping their nerves and muscles requires surgery to implant the tech, is often painful, and in the latter case, they tend to adapt and become less responsive over time. "Instead of overriding the insect's brain, we're guiding it through its own senses," said Keisuke Morishima, the study's lead. "That makes the system safer, more stable, and more sustainable."