RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Perhaps Fluffy the cat let roaches and other insects in on a little secret about cleanliness: Turns out, the creepy crawlies incessantly groom themselves to keep their antennae free from environmental pollutants and chemicals the insects themselves produce, a new study shows.

The catlike bathing removes debris in order to keep insects' sense of smell sharp for finding food and mates and sensing danger, the researchers report today (Feb. 4) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences..

"The evidence is strong: Grooming is necessary to keep these foreign and native substances at a particular level," said study co-author Coby Schal, an entomologist at North Carolina State University, in a statement. "Leaving antennae dirty essentially blinds insects to their environment.".

Though animals from mammals to insects are known to groom themselves, exactly why insects such as cockroaches do so remained a mystery..

To investigate the phenomenon, Schal and his colleagues compared the antennae of cleaned American cockroaches with those on cockroaches prevented from grooming. Normally, the bugs use their forelegs to shove their antennae into their mouths, and then systematically lick from top to bottom.

In the experiment, when antennae got dirty, they accumulated both environmental chemicals and a waxy substance that the giant insects secrete to stay hydrated.

By contrast, when insects were able to clean themselves, the action uncovered tiny pores on the antennae that allow sensory chemicals to travel to olfactory nerves, letting the cockroaches smell key chemical signals..

When the researchers exposed both groups of cockroaches to sex pheromones, or chemicals used by the insects to communicate about mating, scientists found the clean antennae could better detect the mating chemical than could dirty ones..

The team then subjected carpenter ants, German cockroaches and houseflies to similar experiments and found that all of the insects' antennae accumulated debris that could impair their senses of smell. (Carpenter ants rub their legs over their antennae to clean the organs.).

The findings could help in the design of better insecticides against the creepy crawlies. Many existing insecticides must slowly seep through insects' waxy outer cuticles. But because cockroaches constantly lick their antennae, a mist that settles onto these organs could cause the bugs to eat the poison very quickly, the researchers suggest..

So you bought an electronic pest repeller for $9.99 and plug it into an outlet and it repels all insects from your entire house. That’s how it works right? I mean if it were that good there would be no pest control industry! These gimmick devices have been soundly disproven by science again and again. The problem is that people do not believe science and facts so millions of these stupid things are still being sold every year!

Well, here is some visual proof that proves yet again that these things are a gimmick. This ultrasonic unit was plugged into an outlet in an apartment in Boston. As you can see it did absolutely nothing to repel or control the German Cockroaches. In fact they seemed to love the extra warmth it provided as evident by the copious amounts of fecal matter. Perhaps I should go into the snake oil sales business?

Jon Hinthorne
Service Specialist
Environmental Health Services, Inc.

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Biofuel Cells May Turn Cockroaches into Cyborgs

The sugars in a cockroach's belly have been harnessed by a fuel cell and converted into electricity, a big step toward turning insects into cyborgs, scientists are reporting.

Once miniaturized to the point that the fuel cells are non-invasive to the cockroaches, they can be implanted to power sensors or recording devices, for example.

A rechargeable battery inserted along with the so-called biofuel cell would store the trickle of energy it generates, explained Daniel Scherson, a chemist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

"If you want to be futuristic, one may use the energy stored to try to control the neurological system of the cockroach and then you might be able to (control) the cockroach (with) a joystick," he told me.

Yes, in the future, that nasty cockroach scurrying across the kitchen floor might actually be a spy set loose by a nosy neighbor, or the CIA.

Sugar Fuel

The power supply for this fuel cell is food the cockroaches eat, avoiding the need for devices that harness electricity from movement, such as shoes that turn mechanical energy into electricity.

The fuel cell devised by Scherson's team uses a cascade of reactions by enzymes to convert energy stored as sugars into electricity.

The first enzyme breaks down the sugar trehalose, which cockroaches constantly produce from their food, into two simpler sugars.

A second enzyme oxidizes the simple sugars, releasing electrons that "can then be funneled together to electrodes where they are captured and delivered to oxygen," Scherson explained.

The team first tested the system on trehalose solutions, then inserted prototype electrodes into the belly of a female cockroach. It worked.

The biofuel cell produced a trickle of electricity — 0.2 volts. Full details on the system are published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Intermittent Tasks

Since the researchers don't want to load down a bug with a heavy fuel cell and impair its ability to move, they envision storing the energy up in a battery, then using that energy to perform tasks such as power sensors.

One potential application is to equip social insects such as bees or ants with sensors tuned to detect a dangerous chemical and send them out to the environment.

Periodically, the sensor would turn on and broadcast its finding, shutting down between broadcasts to allow the battery time to recharge.

Operating at 0.2 volts is enough power to send a message a few inches, according to Scherson, far enough that a message could be sent down a line of ants spying on a top-secret meeting in a park.

To get there, the researchers need to shrink their fuel cells so they can be fully implanted, find long-lasting materials to make them with so they don't breakdown inside the bugs' bodies, and build the signal transmitters.

All of this is in the realm of possibility, noted Scherson.

"People do wonderful things with circuitry."

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA