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Scientists Create Zombie Cockroaches
Reservoir Hill writes "Zombie insects might sound like a B-movie plot device (quicktime video) but to the emerald cockroach wasp (Ampulex compressa), they're a tried and tested way to provide food for their hungry larvae. The wasp relies on cockroaches for its grisly life cycle but unlike many venomous predators, which paralyze their victims before eating them, the wasp's sting leaves the cockroach able to walk, but unable to initiate its own movement. Researchers have discovered that the wasps sting the cockroaches once to subdue them, then administer another, more precise sting right into their victim's brain. The venom works to block a neurotransmitter called octopamine with a similar action to dopamine, which is involved in preparations to execute complex behaviors such as walking. Then the wasp grabs the cockroach's antenna and leads it back to the nest 'like a dog on a leash', says one researcher. The team found that they could restore spontaneous walking behavior in stung cockroaches by giving them a compound that reactivates octopamine receptors in the insects' central nervous system. Researchers were also able to create their own zombies by injecting unstung cockroaches with a compound that blocks the receptors producing a similar effect to that of the venom."
The title should read: Emerald Cockroach Wasps Create Zombie Cockroaches, Scientists Notice
What would this mean for humans? Is it possible to do this to us? If so, this could be the new date rape drug. Oh yeah, and I suppose it needs to be done: I, for one, welcome our new zombie cockroach overlords.
the executive branch of our government for some reason...
Yup, mod me down for that one, I deserve it.
There is simply too much glass..
"Scientists create Zombie Cockroaches"
Yes, and then we elect them. Wake me up when the system changes.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
I can't believe I remembered this.
Linking a 40MB quicktime movie from Slashdot somehow doesn't seem like a very smart idea...
For the wasp this looks like a very useful move. Why haul your food when it can walk for you?
This sig is intentionally left blank
Why rob people (which is a risky business when robbing men and women) when they can raise people as zombies, so they bravely volunteer themselves into servitude via taxation and voting for fixed choices. Top that off with voluntarily putting their young through zombification processes known as "free public schooling" (which isn't free but the zombies don't know that, so don't tell'em.)
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
In other news, large hordes of nerds are being arrested all over the planet while injecting nubile females with what appears to be insect venom. Natalie Portman in intensive care after a severe allergic reaction.
MP3 Search Engine
Then one of those zombies discovers the huge plot and posts a breathtakingly trollish version of it on a public forum and ruins it for everybody. Somebody get me a glass of water.
ok. Let me see? Which are the Zombie Cockroaches, and which are the scientists? Is there are demonstrateable diffrence? Are they both vying for press? Didn't Mabel, the cow, see little diffrence betweem the Pigs and the Humans in the end of "Animal Farm"
Must favor "unreasonably huge subsidies to the Zombie Cockroaches planet."
With Hunger, Global Warming and catostrophic ozone loss affecting the lives of billions, dont you think the scientests/Zombie Cockroaches have something better to do? Hmmm?
When jocks inject large amounts of toxic liqued into women to get them to loose control over their bodies, that is just guys being guys, but when nerds do it "CALL THE COPS". For the humor impaired, alcohol is far easier to obtain in large doses then insect venom
I say enough is enough, we have to strike back. Revenge of the nerds!
Mmm, sounds like a good title for a movie, what is the number for hollywood?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Time to hand them to Mythbusters http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/19/2023202?
This one freaks the shit out of me for some reason. http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=53
Since when did generic MPEG video become Quicktime video?
It's just an MPEG-2. (Scientists seem to be really fond of outdated encodings.) OK, I guess Apple Quicktime will play it. As any other video player will.
Well, I for one am scared shitless of our new overlords.
I get a girl drunk, grab her hair, lead her back to MY nest, plant my seed, and...well...I think you know the "rest of the story".
What?
Nicely crafted, but couldn't you have worked "sheeple" in there somewhere?
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/04/1649211
I wish they'd just google for the old title... that would catch most of these dupes.
Brings a new horror to the unpopular mantra 'help i'm covered in bees!'.
This reminds me of a bit of research done by the psychofarmacology department of the University of Rotterdam in the late eighties. They set out to discover if there was any substance to the reports from aid-workers and missionaries in Africa that 'zombies' were for real. Several well-documented cases existed, involving 'dead' individuals returning to their old villages, months or years after their burial, with only hazy memories of what happenend during their time away. With some help from anthropologists it was discovered that the 'zombies' were in fact poisoned with a complex witch-doctor mix of herbs and toxins, the only really important ingredient of which was a powerful neurotoxin of animal origin, which inhibited active thought and the forming of memories. The individual who was doused in this contact-poison would fall into a death-like coma soon afterwards. Then it was simply a matter of digging the body up fast and whacking it over the head a few times to get the person to wake up. If that failed (hitting the proper dosage is a bitch), the grave could be closed, no one the wiser. The 'lucky' ones woke up as addled 'zombies', with no will of their own and able to hear and obey simple instructions and could be sold as slaves. The toxin was recreated by science (without the unnecessary extra ingredients) and proved quite powerful when tested on lab-rats. The neurotoxin blocked key neural pathways, but turned out to be easily 'washed away' by a sufficiently large dose of Na+ ions, such as when the victim ingested common table-salt. Having proved that it there was a scientific truth to the zombie-myth, but finding no easy synthesis of the neurotoxin nor any medical use, the research group moved on. I was given their report while in high-school by one member of the team, who thought it was funny that I was VERY interested in this voodoo-zombie story that she had mentioned to me. I should go look up that report or contact her again for further details, but perhaps someone who is more skilled in research and farmacology can just pull this out of a database for all of us?
Actually, who am I kidding... even the zombie cockroaches could probably do a number on us these days.
Ut Tensio, Sic Vis
But do they eat brains? I don't think so. So, technically they're not zombies.
If you find this amazing, check out the wikipedia article on these amazing parasites!
This should serve once and for all to dispel the myth of a benevolent creator.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
I knew a gal once who had a similar schtick. Well, except it wasn't exactly the antennae she used ...
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
I remembered this, believe it or not. Almost 6 years to the day ;P Well, who's counting ;P
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
Nice one! Okay, two points for demonstrating that IS possible for human brains to become infected, to do the bidding of others, and reprogrammed to mindlessly spread that infection as far and wide as possible. It would have been fifty points but, y'know, spelling.
And what is this constant harping on cockroach "brains?" Their so-called "brain" is a cluster of nerve cells that runs along the ventral midline of their thoracic segment. There's three clusters of it in the "head" segment, but that doesn't control locomotion. A cockroach doesn't even need its head, except for that starving to death thing. It would have been nice if the article had been a bit more clear on where this precise injection occurs. In the head? That might blind them, but probably wouldn't rob them of "free will" (as much as a cockroach can be said to have free will). Even more impressive might be that the wasp knows in which segment of the neural ganglia to inject them in order to control their actions.
Can the wasp sting also change a human into a zombie? If so, perhaps Bush has been stung.
So the cockroach is stung once for paralyzation and then again for making it walk again against it's will (Well, if a cockroach has a will...)
At what point does the cockroach turn into a zombie? Seems to me it's just involuntarily walking towards it's doom.
How do you kill zombies? You go for the head. These things can live for like 10 hours without a head, or something, right? Heaven help us if that happens!
I often get frightened by the Pandoras' Box that our revered biotechs are opening time and time again.
Pavlov. Does this name ring a bell?
This sounds like it has remarkable parallels to Parkinson's, actually. Both conditions are characterized by an difficulty initiating voluntary activity, and seem to be caused in large part by a lack of/inability to process dopamine or equivalent neurotransmitter. I wonder if the section of the roach's brain which is stung serves a function analogous to the basal ganglia in a human?
Some quick poking around shows that P. D. Evans, in OCTOPAMINE DISTRIBUTION IN THE INSECT NERVOUS SYSTEM (1978), demonstrated that octopamine distribution was highly localized in cockroaches, particularly in the ganglia of the ventral nerve cord. From what I can read, there would have to be some pathway for distribution, most likely to the area which is stung by the wasp. If this area really does act in a similar manner to the basal ganglia in humans, providing inhibition via a feedback loop from the higher control centers of the brain, then it should be broadly connected to the mushroom bodies (if not a part of them itself).
Does anyone here know more about cockroach neuroanatomy?
I read the title as "Scientologists create zombie cockroaches" and actually caught myself thinking, "Yeah, they've been working up to this for a while now."
Surely this opens up a whole new area of cockroach racing with wasp jockeys?
Well, since it's probably the same for every 'roach of the same model, all the wasp needs to "know" (or, be programmed to) is to sting at a certain point. That's not so far fetched, current robots that we built instead of nature can do that already. We build cars in a quite similar way.
The wasp needn't "know" anything about the cockroaches neural network. All it needs to "know" is "sting here, food follows".
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
So a bit like the average dopey IT manager then. BANG sting you into buying XP PCs, to hook you in, then BANG sting you again when they want 150 quid for an upgrade on each desktop, you have so much invested into it you have no choice but to follow "like a dog on a leash"!
Windows guys please stop pissing on everyone and the Linux guys stop pissing in the wind, hoping to hit Windows guys!
Evolution. Who would have thought that wasps could get so clever?
1) The wasps learned how to paralyze and control the roach without a science degree!
I assume the first wasp must have discovered this by mistake and written a book on it -- which must have been a bestseller, considering that all of these wasps now do it.
2) The wasp larva eats the roach in an order which keeps the roach alive until the larva reaches the pupal stage.
Now, how does the larva know how to do this, or is it coincidence that all larva eat the roach internals in the same order? Rather clever stuff.
Linux/Open Source/Anti Microsoft News
this discovery is making its way directly to Guantanamo Bay . . .
if we follow the theory of evolution, in a million more years a third sting would develop in the wasp so that when administered, the roach will feel no pain while being consumed by larvae...
But by then, the wasps's brain would have the thought pattern equivalent to saying, Naaaaah; don't think so.
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Ya. "You are required to attend a community innoculation event at the St. Vincent hospital nearest your address. Attendees will be greeted by Laura and Janna Bush. RSVP 2 hours ago. Late responders will be escorted to the festivities by DHS personnel." Err, ahh, that is all.
This is yet one more way the roach is the most respected member of the insect community. Hate the little boogers, try to kill them, but no body can deny that they fascinate us to no end. Wasp evolution has amazed the entomological community for decades. In Florida we have a wasp that lays eggs in roach egg cases, the larva hatches, and eats the roach egg from the inside.
"Don't Panic"
In Soviet Wasp, you eat Zombie's brains!
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
Hey, /. is rife with this, the same transmitters are blocked in most /. readers as soon as Microsoft or George Bush are mentioned. The typical /.er then loses all control, and either reverts to proxy control from MoveOn.org or RMS.
So, what is the discovery?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=497490&in_page_id=1766&ito=1490
Anyone still think Islam is the religion of peace? Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch Mohammed cartoon riots, the Armenius family of NJ, Salman Rushdie, 9/11, the USS Cole, the Iran hostage crisis, Khobar Towers, the Munich massacre, giving aid and comfort to the Nazis during WWII, instigating the Crusades by harassing Christian pilgrims from Europe on their way to visit the Holy Lands, the summer 2006 Paris riots, female circumcision, punishing women for being raped... Sounds more like the religion of perpetual rage and ignorance. It's time for them to grow up and join the rest of civilization which has moved on without them over the last 1000 years or so.
"... over the last 1000 years or so." Kinda nicely constructed troll, but you need to do some more reading. Check for example when the whole thing started. Thanx for playnig anyway.
I should have, yes, but this sounded better and rolled off the keyboard so smoothly, I couldn't resist :)
" What luck for rulers that men do not think" - Adolf Hitler
"The parasite basically rewires the crab for its own ends, and the crab becomes a helpless vehicle, expending its energy caring for the young organisms that will move on to inflict themselves upon other crabs."
Until, somewhere around age 50, after a loud, indignant and drunken therapy session with the other crabs at the pub, the crab calls a divorce attorney. Or buys a motorcycle.
This unbiased moderation brought to you by the Porcine Aviation Group!
....uh.....what??? Can we mod parent down due to, I don't know, maybe schizophrenia, please?
This unbiased moderation brought to you by the Porcine Aviation Group!
...I'm not dead!!!
This unbiased moderation brought to you by the Porcine Aviation Group!
All wasps are hard-wired to feed their young; so what made this one wasp decide to first of all commandeer a cockroach and then decide to leave its larva alone without feeding it?
Surely the wasp's natural 'hard-wired' instinct to feed its young would have overtaken?
Perhaps this was just a smart and lazy mutant wasp that overcame its instincts.
People may mock creationism, but the creation of life via evolution is just as hard to believe: such as organic molecules becoming the first life form by chance. Even the most simplest life form is such a complex structure that it's like suggesting that, given time, a tornado could take a pile of bricks and some cement and a house could be produced. Perhaps this will happen in a few billion years from now. One never knows...
Linux/Open Source/Anti Microsoft News
Just in time for upcoming elections.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
A zombie is something that can move but not think.
This bug is put into a state where it can think, but cannot voluntarily control its limbs.
It sounds almost like the logical opposite of a zombie, except that something else can still make the legs move.
This is my worst nightmare.
Thousands of zombie cockroaches coming after me, trying to eat me.
Good thing I can just shoot them in the head...er... Do cockroaches even have brains? Just how am I supposed to kill them after they become zombies?
Now there are 2 kinds of zombie overlords?
It's time to prepare for the invasion:
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/4/18/153047/155
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/zombiesurvivalguide/
I for one welcome our new zombified vermin overlords.
If a pion (n-) collides with a proton in the woods & noone is there to hear it, does lamdba decay into the source pa
Realize that the whole idea of predestination is a crock that is not founded on Biblical teachings and that sinful inclinations are a result of imperfections passed through the human family after the first willful sin. To be repaired in the near future.
brainnnnzzzzz....
Big Deal. Human females have been doing this to the males of their species for millenia. And they don't even have to inject any chemicals into our brains to lead us around by our torsal appendages before they and their young turn us into working slaves and eat us alive slowly, over the course of 50 or so years.
Zimmer's book Parasite Rex is a nasty and amazing little book about parasites. I never thought I'd find myself reading such a book, but it's a surprising page turner, and chronicles all sorts of parasites and their deviously complex behaviors. One disturbing case is a parasite which initially neuters a male crab and then later gives it a virtual sex change, making it think it's female so it'll disperse its "eggs," which happen to be the parasite's eggs.
I found the parallel between allergies and parasites pretty interesting as well.
The moon may be smaller than the earth, but it's much farther away!
If you're going to be freaked out by a parasite, make it one that can attack humans.
Like, Candiru.
That one will freak the piss out of you. Just make sure there's no trace of urine afterward.
I completely agree that everyone should be respectful of everyone's personal beliefs, and I do respect yours as well. As you say, live and let live.
Prove it.
At least not in the way so many teach it. "Hell" is a translation of a number of original-language words for places of sleep-like death or inactivity for righteous and unrighteous together (including Jesus), angels, the Devil himself, etc. Hell as a place of torment and torture is not in the Bible.
Zombies are reanimated corpses. These aren't reanimated corpses. They aren't even "infected" flesh-eating humans as portrayed in so-called "zombie" movies. They're not one bit like any kind of zombie I've ever met. So please, get your story titles straight.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Old news... nothing to see here. The guys in the black suits won't even be interested in this as we have drugs that do this to humans already (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flunitrazepam) Thank you and have a nice day.
Apparently, Halliburton has been doing a major stockpiling of this venom. The Republicans see this as a way to win next year. They plan to sting all Democrats in the brain, then walk them docily to the polling places where they will vote for the Republican candidate.
Loss of dopamine creating cells is the basis of Parkinson's disease. That causes problems in complex actions in people, such as walking. When a "Parky" has trouble walking, you can give them a cane, not to lean on, but to hold in front of them and use as something to aim towards and thereby "steer" with, much as the cockroaches' antennae thingy. Many can then walk better. I think that's a wicked cool people hack.
FWIW, it works by pulling in processing from frontal lobe areas related to decision making and cognitive mapping (ie. the body' location and position in space) which don't rely as heavily on dopamine as does the motor areas. The latter requires dopamine to suppress unwanted movements and so "carve out" the wanted ones. Parkinson's is loss of the ability to suppress unwanted movements. Purposely "wanting" via decision making replaces in part the failing unconscious/automated "wanting" from the motor area. Cockroaches use their antennae to "decide" where to go. Using them to steer the bug makes perfect sense in this context.
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
"The salary sin pays is death". "The **soul** that is sinning will die".
A fishing siwming up my cock is not as scary as something taking over my nervous sytem and using my "mating reflex" to spread more paracites. Even good old toxoplasmosis seems freaker than the "willy fish." Fuck that sounds like "the clam" http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Sex/clam.html
to the hypnowasp!
There's a parasite that spends part of its life cycle in a snail, part in a bird's digestive system. It selectively destroys a piece of the snail's brain that makes it want to stay on the underside of the leaf it's feeding on, where a bird won't notice it. So the snail moves up to the top of the leaf and proudly announces its new desire to get a sun tan.
You can guess how Act II works out.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Fools, don't you realize the possibilities? You call me mad, but it is you who do not realize the power of my vision! With my army of zombie cockroach minions, I can...
Hm. What can I do?
Ah well. More zombies!! For Science!!!!
i'd hit it so hard, if you pulled me out you'd be the king of britain [bash.org]
Well, they duplicated the compound that the wasp did to control the cockroach.
Once they are doped up, humans can find a way to lead the roach via their antennae to
their death since they will follow the trail to the cockroach trap.
Seems to me a large commercial potential for this! It's a cheap harmless means
to control the roach and lead it to its death without the poisonous side affects that
chemicals have.
Antipsychotic drugs work by (typically) blocking dopamine D2 receptors. (Parkinson's drugs work the opposite way, by activating D2 receptors.) This seems to be similar to the phenomenon reported above.
The ramifications of this, I leave to you.