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In this week’s episode of ‘no, seriously, WHY,’ boffins at Japan’s prestigious RIKEN research institute have invented a solar-powered cyborg cockroach. The scientists accomplished the feat by taking a live cockroach (yes, it’s alive) and jamming two electrodes into its sensory organs to issue commands by way of electrical impulse, and fitting it with a tiny 3D printed backpack that is simultaneously adorable and terrifying. A thin solar panel on the abdomen completes the nightmarish ensemble. In all seriousness, it has a very good reason for existing. Cockroaches are nigh-on indestructible, can maneuver through the smallest cracks, and can climb walls, which make them perfect for venturing into disaster areas. Fit them with a microphone and they can triangulate the location of survivors in the rubble calling for help, making them the ideal search-and-rescue insect. Using the information they’ve gleaned from their cockroach cyborg, the team at RIKEN are hoping to branch out into other cyborg insects, such as beetles and cicadas.
