Backyard Brains, the people who showed you how to stimulate neurons in a cockroach leg using your iPhone, now bring you the remote controlled roach. [more inside]
posted by drdanger on Mar 7, 2011 - 28 comments

Kent Jenkins rocked a homemade PVC instrument at a recent LMU talent show. The end.
posted by circular on Nov 23, 2010 - 31 comments

Young American woman eats praying mantis. Asian woman eats large black scorpion. Young Asian woman eating insect while exploitative Westerner goads her. Drunk American woman eats cicada, with much trepidation. Middle aged western man eats giant chinese cockroach. Katie eats a potato bug.
posted by Meatbomb on Feb 10, 2009 - 54 comments

Remember that X-files episode? The one with the robot cockroaches from outer space? Well, scientists in Belgium have created robots that act like cockroaches, and are accepted by the real cockroaches because they smell sexy to them. Better yet, the scientists were able to use the robots to change how the cockroaches behaved. [more inside]
posted by gingerbeer on Nov 17, 2007 - 16 comments

Termites are Cockroaches.
posted by Citizen Premier on Jun 5, 2007 - 31 comments

Cockroach Dream - Knock out 100 cockroaches before the sleeping man goes mad! When you get tired of that, try the other Flash Friday games on this delightful site. Dice Wars and Ladies' Tournament Tennis are particularly good. And take a moment to ponder your good fortune, for we are truly in the midst of a Flash gaming renaissance.
posted by ikkyu2 on Oct 27, 2006 - 18 comments

Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroach Brooch. These insects come in varied patterns and are decorated with the finest Austrian Swarovski crystal... All roaches are male to ensure sterility, and come complete with a leash set. People step on these things or feed them to other animals. We're giving them this really fabulous, beautiful life. Allegedly inspired by a joke. Product specimen shown in action here.
posted by brain_drain on Oct 11, 2006 - 28 comments

Cathrine Chalmers creates photographs that explore our uneasy relationship with nature. Caterpillars devour a tomato. A praying mantis snacks upon one of those juicy worms, and then becomes a meal for a self-contented frog. Of course, praying mantises have their own curious cycle of life. Cockroaches masquerade as their more aesthetically pleasing cousins, or are sent to their deaths in grim mockeries of criminal executions. Short interview here. Not for the squeamish.
posted by hydrophonic on Aug 30, 2006 - 8 comments

Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robots — Overview: an experimental mechanism that uses a living Madagascan hissing cockroach atop a modified trackball to control a three-wheeled robot. If the cockroach moves left, the robot moves left. Infrared sensors also provide navigation feedback to the cockroach, striving to create a pseudo-intelligent system with the cockroach as the CPU. Garnet Hertz, creator of Fly with Implanted Webserver and Cockroach with Wireless Video, has used Gromphadorhina portentosa on three generations of autonomous roachbots (YouTube video and Ars Electronica 2005 gallery).
posted by cenoxo on May 22, 2006 - 29 comments

Wasp performs roach-brain-surgery to make zombie slave-roaches "Ampulex compressa is a wasp that has evolved to tackle roaches, insert a stinger into their brains and disable their escape reflexes. This lets the wasp use the roach's antennae to steer the roach to its lair, where it can lay its egg in it. ... Seeing a full-grown wasp crawl out of a roach suddenly makes those Alien movies look pretty derivative. " Via Boing Boing
posted by badlydubbedboy on Feb 3, 2006 - 49 comments

Wanna Cure Back Pain?? Australian Freestyle Skier Jaqui Cooper drank a potion of Diet Coke and crushed cockroaches to help cure her fractured vertebra. Finally, something roaches are useful for!
posted by Lanternjmk on Feb 11, 2002 - 11 comments

Who else thinks we could use some of these now.
Seems a shame they're not quite ready to help with this disaster.
"...like crawling through earthquake rubble to search for victims..."
posted by TiggleTaggleTiger on Sep 17, 2001 - 11 comments