Cockroach backpack app
#1
If you enjoyed pulling the wings off insects you'll love this one. $99 this holiday season: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24455141

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Roboroach works by controlling the movements of the cockroach through electrodes that connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth

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Critics say that the "electronic backpack" is cruel and subjects the insects to unnecessary stress

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To attach the backpack, the insect is immersed into ice water to subdue it. Electrodes are stuck to it using glue and groundwire is inserted into the thorax

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The Roboroach weighs 4.5g and is compatible with most mobile phones. It overrides the insect's antennae making it turn left and right at the flick of a switch

Excerpt: "A US company that has developed an "electronic backpack" that fits onto a cockroach allowing its movements to be controlled by a mobile phone app has defended itself against cruelty claims.

The Backyard Brains company says that the device is intended to get children to be interested in neuroscience.

A spokeswoman told the BBC that the device - being formally launched on Saturday - was not a gimmick.

But critics say that the company's stance is "disingenuous".

For the "electronic backpack" to work the cockroaches have to be placed in icy water to subdue them before sandpaper is used to remove the waxy coating on the shell of the insect's head.

An electrode connector and electrodes are then glued on to the insect's body and a needle is used to poke a hole in their thorax in order to insert a wire.

Their antennae are then cut and electrodes are inserted. A circuit is attached to their backs, and signals are received through a mobile phone app allowing users to control the cockroaches' movements to the left and to the right.

Animal behaviour scientist Jonathan Balcombe has been quoted on US scientific websites as saying that the insects are harmed in the process.

"If it was discovered that a teacher was having students use magnifying glasses to burn ants and then look at their tissue, how would people react?" he is quoted as saying.

Likewise Queen's University philosophy Professor Michael Allen warned that the device will "encourage amateurs to operate invasively on living organisms" and "encourage thinking of complex living organisms as mere machines or tools".

The Michigan-based company has even received emails saying the the backpack - known as Roboroach - "teaches kids to be psychopaths..."
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#2
Back in the day we just stuck a straw up a horseflies ass and let him go.

They can still fly but only straight upLaughingLaughing
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#3
What simple days of happiness long past.
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#4
Oh come on, like none of you ever tied a long hair around the neck of a fly and had the fly, fly in circles on the tether.
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#5
(11-09-2013, 07:57 PM)cletus1 Wrote: Oh come on, like none of you ever tied a long hair around the neck of a fly and had the fly, fly in circles on the tether.

Yeah just yesterday.It's really hard to tie the knot without taking the flies head offRazz
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#6
(11-09-2013, 06:41 PM)PonderThis Wrote: What simple days of happiness long past.

huh? this was last week.Big Grin
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#7
This is only a start, they're working on a version for your kids.
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#8
Does this explain the "crunch" sound when you step on them? Smiling
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#9
I'm pretty sure having an exoskeleton explains that part.

P.S. Did you know Cockroaches and Praying Mantids are in the same insect family? (They both lay their eggs in a protective frothy foam that hardens like styrofoam around them.)
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#10
(11-09-2013, 10:50 PM)PonderThis Wrote: I'm pretty sure having an exoskeleton explains that part.

P.S. Did you know Cockroaches and Praying Mantids are in the same insect family? (They both lay their eggs in a protective frothy foam that hardens like styrofoam around them.)

Looking for the word "cocoon'?Smiling I find those preying mantis cocoons a lot when I'm moving stuff around on my property. I always try and rescue them and try and place them somewhere dry so they can hatch next spring.
I don't do the same for cock roachesRazz
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#11
(11-10-2013, 11:40 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(11-09-2013, 10:50 PM)PonderThis Wrote: I'm pretty sure having an exoskeleton explains that part.

P.S. Did you know Cockroaches and Praying Mantids are in the same insect family? (They both lay their eggs in a protective frothy foam that hardens like styrofoam around them.)

Looking for the word "cocoon'?Smiling I find those preying mantis cocoons a lot when I'm moving stuff around on my property. I always try and rescue them and try and place them somewhere dry so they can hatch next spring.
I don't do the same for cock roachesRazz

The word is ootheca, but I figured that might be beyond most here. Smiling
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#12
(11-10-2013, 11:46 AM)PonderThis Wrote:
(11-10-2013, 11:40 AM)tvguy Wrote:
(11-09-2013, 10:50 PM)PonderThis Wrote: I'm pretty sure having an exoskeleton explains that part.

P.S. Did you know Cockroaches and Praying Mantids are in the same insect family? (They both lay their eggs in a protective frothy foam that hardens like styrofoam around them.)

Looking for the word "cocoon'?Smiling I find those preying mantis cocoons a lot when I'm moving stuff around on my property. I always try and rescue them and try and place them somewhere dry so they can hatch next spring.
I don't do the same for cock roachesRazz

The word is ootheca, but I figured that might be beyond most here. Smiling

It's beyond spell check. What's wrong with cocoon? That's not beyond anyoneSmiling

Anyway I have a green house now so that will be a great place to toss whatever oothecas I find.
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#13
A cocoon is made of silk, while an ootheca is made of something else. Smiling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ootheca
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#14
(11-10-2013, 11:57 AM)tvguy Wrote: Anyway I have a green house now so that will be a great place to toss whatever oothecas I find.

If you like tossing praying mantises to their death, sure. Smiling

Praying mantises are exceptionally cannibalistic, and no matter how many oothecas you put out, it probably makes absolutely no difference as to how many surviving mantids you end up with in a tiny area like a greenhouse, which will quickly eat themselves down to 2 or 3 and then if you're lucky, at the end of the season, one. Smiling

In raising praying mantises, supplying them with enough food to keep them from cannibalizing each other is the big problem. That's why the praying mantis ootheca's that garden stores sell are all gathered from the wild in the southern states of the U.S. There, they're escapees originally from China.
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#15
(11-10-2013, 12:05 PM)PonderThis Wrote: A cocoon is made of silk, while an ootheca is made of something else. Smiling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ootheca

Yes I figured cocoon was not technically correct but at least we laymen who were never exterminators would understand.
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#16
I sold beneficial insects for a living, and let them do the dirty work for me. I was never an exterminator. Smiling
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#17
(11-10-2013, 12:12 PM)PonderThis Wrote:
(11-10-2013, 11:57 AM)tvguy Wrote: Anyway I have a green house now so that will be a great place to toss whatever oothecas I find.

If you like tossing praying mantises to their death, sure. Smiling

Praying mantises are exceptionally cannibalistic, and no matter how many oothecas you put out, it probably makes absolutely no difference as to how many surviving mantids you end up with in a tiny area like a greenhouse, which will quickly eat themselves down to 2 or 3 and then if you're lucky, at the end of the season, one. Smiling

I remove the praying mantis EGG SACKS from the underside of boards I'm going to burn or things I'm hauling off or things I'm using.
So they were ALL going to die anyway.

My greenhouse isn't freaking air tight, When it's sunny I open the door and windows I'm pretty sure the little bastards aren't going to spend their life there eating each other. I think they are going to go do whatever they would have done anyway.
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#18
Which is mostly die. Smiling That's why nature puts something like 400 actual eggs in each one of those. Only one needs to survive for the species to continue.
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#19
(11-10-2013, 12:25 PM)PonderThis Wrote: Which is mostly die. Smiling That's why nature puts something like 400 actual eggs in each one of those. Only one needs to survive for the species to continue.

No offense but even we laypeople know that.



And as you are aware of before they die they eat harmful insects. So in my green house or whatever I throw in the garden it's a win win.

And I now how many of the little buggers hatch out because I put a cocoon in my house onceLaughing
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#20
They not only eat harmful insects, they eat helpful insects, benign insects, and each other (in no particular order). Praying Mantises are basically a joke so far as real pest control goes.

Another reason praying mantises don't really make good pest controls for any given pest is, they only have one generation a year (they're born in the spring, mature over the summer, and then die in the fall shortly after they lay eggs). Whereas, most pest insects have many, many generations per year, so they can quickly multiply to large populations whenever the right conditions come along. Praying mantises have no ability whatsoever to adapt to such fluctuations, unlike most truly beneficial insects.

The only reason I sold praying mantises is that the public clamors for them, not that they are effective pest controls. Smiling
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