NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD… BUGS?
You may have thought bodies rising from the dead and zombies walking the earth were reserved for fantasy and fiction but scientists have discovered cockroaches that become “zombies” when controlled by a very unique wasp. The emerald cockroach wasp can control a cockroach’s central nervous system and command it to walk in controlled paths, rendering the cockroach completely mindless. http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071129/full/news.2007.312.html
The ampulex compressa, or emerald cockroach wasp, has a gruesome approach to feeding its young. While most predators, such as spiders or snakes, paralyze their victim so they can be devoured, the wasp poisons their target with venom that disables the roach’s ability to control their own movement. After disabling their victim, the wasp then injects chemicals directly into the brain to “remote control” the roach back to the nest.
Scientists have managed to duplicate this process using octopamine, a similar compound to dopamine, an important neurotransmitter responsible for motor control. If animals can be controlled by chemical signals, what potential might this technique -if advanced and engineered- have on humans?
April 25th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
I don’t really see what everyone is getting worked up about this one. I mean, if you look at it, they have to inject the chemicals directly into the brain, so there is no real risk of someone actually directly manipulating us with neurochemicals. They would have to find some kind of weird delivery system… though I suppose if they used insects to do it, they could try and reprogram them like those genetically modified “disassembly bee” rumors I’ve heard going around my students. That’s more science fiction than science fact.