Like humans, lowly cockroach uses a GPS to get around, scientists find

Date: July 7, 2016

Source: Case Western Reserve University

Rats, men and cockroaches appear to have a similar GPS in their heads that allows them to navigate new surroundings, researchers at Case Western Reserve University report.

The finding, published in journal Current Biology, is likely an example of convergent evolution--that is, distinct animals developed similar systems to manage the same problems.

Due to their simpler brain, further studies on cockroaches that would be difficult--if not impossible--on mammals may yield new insights into how humans orient themselves and navigate. Or, what goes awry in people who have extreme trouble getting their bearings.

"We've known that a mammal can come into a new area and, after a short period of being disoriented, find its way around," said Roy Ritzmann, a biology professor at Case Western Reserve and an author of the new study.

Humans and other mammals rely on head-direction, place and grid cells in their brains to process, integrate and update sensory information. The cues come from the direction they look, what they see and motion, he said.

Insects must maneuver through new environments, too.

"Orienting contributes to spatial memory, so they can return to point A or navigate to something they like or away from something they don't like," said PhD student Adrienn G. Varga, lead author of the study.

By repeating experiments that uncovered head-direction cells in rats, Ritzmann and Varga found head-direction-like activity and evidence of contextual cue processing in cockroaches.

The experiment

The researchers recorded cell activities in an area of the brain called the central complex while roaches were restrained in a tube.

Each roach was placed on a platform that rotated clockwise or counter clockwise. The platform was encircled by a black wall with a single removable landmark: a white square.

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Cockroach disrupts pest control chief's testimony

CHICAGO (AP) — A cockroach embarrassed a Chicago official in charge of pest control when it took a stroll near him in full view of some aldermen, and its stunt just might have cost it and its buddies their lives.

After Thursday's hearing in the City Council chambers, Fleet and Facilities Management Commissioner David Reynolds had his office call a private contractor to come down to City Hall and do some exterminating.

The cockroach couldn't have picked a worse time to show its antenna on the wall of the City Council chambers: just as Reynolds was testifying during a budget hearing. Alderman Brendan Reilly wondered aloud how much money in Reynolds' department budget was devoted to pest control.

"I was mortified," Reynolds told reporters after the laughter died down.

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Man has cockroach pulled from ear in 10-minute procedure because he didn’t want it in there

So sorry to bring this to your attention, because it’s disgusting, but here you are reading anyway, so let’s continue. The Australian radio station 105.7 ABC Darwin is telling everyone the woe of Darwin, Australia resident Hendrik Helmer, a man who had a 2cm (.79in) cockroach removed from his ear.

However, it was only 15 minutes later, that he felt another “muscle-spasming, crippling” pain and what sounded like “drilling.” Unbelievably, Hendrik tried going back to sleep AGAIN. Finally, after the pain came back, he realized he was going to have to take care of it there and then.

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49-Million-Year-Old Cockroach Fossil Found

A common European and African cockroach may have gotten its evolutionary start in North America, according to new fossil findings.

More than 70 species of cockroaches in the genus Ectobius currently crawl through Europe and Africa, making them amongst the most common cockroaches in that part of the world. They measure only about 0.25 to 0.5 inches long (6.35 to 12.7 millimeters), considerably smaller than the American cockroaches (Periplaneta Americana) that can grow to about 1.5 in. long (4 centimeters) and plague major cities and small towns across the United States.

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Invasive cockroach found in NYC can take the cold

NEW YORK (AP) — The High Line, a park that turned a dilapidated stretch of elevated railway on Manhattan's West Side into one of New York's newest tourist attractions, may have brought a different kind of visitor: a cockroach that can withstand harsh winter cold and never seen before in the U.S.

Rutgers University insect biologists Jessica Ware and Dominic Evangelista said the species Periplaneta japonica is well documented in Asia but was never confirmed in the United States until now. The scientists, whose findings were published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, say it is too soon to predict the impact but that there is probably little cause for concern.

"Because this species is very similar to cockroach species that already exist in the urban environment," Evangelista said, "they likely will compete with each other for space and for food."

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Roboroach: Control cockroach with app

A company has created an app that allows users to remote control a cockroach.

The Roboroach is an electric backpack that fits onto a cockroach and uses impulses - controlled through the smartphone app - to stimulate the bug's antenna, making it turn on command.

The firm behind the Roboroach is Michigan-based Backyard Brains and they are now selling DIY kits allowing anyone to use the technology at home.

To attach the backpack, users dip the bug into ice water to 'anaesthetise' it, then a patch of shell on its head is sanded and electrodes are stuck to it using superglue.

The groundwire is then inserted into the insect's thorax and the antennae is trimmed so silver electrodes can be placed into them.

Its makers claim it would make a great classroom aide to teach children about how the brain works.

Although they also insist the cockroaches are treated humanely, they risk a backlash from animal rights activists who say it is cruel.

The backpack was announced in 2011 before successfully achieving funding through a Kickstarter campaign this summer.

DIY kit starts at $99 (£62) and Backyard Brains said it will begin shipping them to arrive in November.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/quirkies/Roboroach_Control_cockroach_with_app

CT Images Reveal 300 Million-Year-Old Cockroach

Scientists at a British university have revealed 3D images of 300 million-year-old insects.

By placing fossils in a CT scanner, and taking over 3,000 X-rays from different angles, the scientists were able to create 2,000 slices showing the creatures in cross-section.

From these slices, the researchers created 3D digital reconstructions of the fossils which allowed them to learn more about their lifestyle, biology and diet.

One of the insects, characterised by a large number of sharp spines, is a species and genus which no longer exists.

The other is an early predecessor of one of the great survivors of the insect world, the cockroach, and is one of the best preserved examples of this age ever seen by insect palaeontologists.

Writing in PLoS One journal, the University of Manchester scientists said that judging from its "well preserved mouthparts" it survived by eating rotting litter from the forest floor.

Both are members of a group called the Polyneoptera - which includes roaches, mantises, crickets, grasshoppers and earwigs.

However, analysing the exact relationships of the insects would be difficult to work out said Russell Garwood because insects have a habit of dramatically changing appearance as they develop.

"The most dramatic change is seen in insects like butterflies, which change from a larva, to chrysalis, to adult," said Dr Garwood, co-author with Professor Philip Withers of the report.

"But relatively few people look to the fossils try and work out how such a life cycle may have evolved.

"We are hoping that work like this will allow us to better understand the biology and development of these early insects, and how major innovations may have come about.

Continued:  http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ct-images-reveal-300-million-old-cockroach-003059466.html