Cockroaches – Part II

Some time ago, we put up a short post on news about cockroaches, their gregarious nature, and the uneasy truce that exists between the creatures and the Agricoli. In a story found in The Observer (UK) comes a new development that may tilt the war in favor of we crafty humans.

In a breakthrough for the battle against mankind’s most diehard enemy – the cockroach – European scientists have hoodwinked a group of them into congregating in a place where they can be stamped on easily.

The kick in the mandibles comes from a Belgian-led team who spent three years developing a mini robot that can convince cockroaches to creep out of dark holes and gather in light places. The InsBot looks more like a pencil sharpener than a household pest, but it smells like a cockroach. Most importantly, the InsBot can pass for a Periplaneta Americana (American cockroach).

This is welcome news indeed, and a significant development in a war that has been bitterly fought by both sides for thousands of years; not quite a quagmire, but certainly a long, hard slog through the mud.  In fact, this is one conflict that does not recognize any political affiliation, serving as a uniter of all men in a common cause.  Would that our other conflicts were so.