Good news!
New Scientist reports that an Israeli scientist has made a big step in curing zombie cockroaches.
Some highlights:
Quote:
Cockroaches can lose their ability to walk when stung by jewel wasps (Ampulex compressa) – the females of which use the cockroaches to feed their young.
The wasp, being much smaller than the cockroach, has evolved a fine sting that can deliver a venom cocktail directly into the cockroach’s brain. The poisons effectively turn the cockroach into a zombie.
Frederic Libersat from Ben-Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel, injected stung zombie cockroaches with candidate chemicals that resembled various neurotransmitters in the brain.
Libersat found that one of the drugs, a mimic of the neurotransmitter octopamine, succeeded in bringing the roaches back to life.
"The cockroach begins to walk spontaneously again, especially when injected directly into the brain," says Libersat.
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One good shot to the brain stem, and no more zombie! This may yet save the world.
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Shut up and hug. MoreThanPretty, Nov 5, 2008.
Just because I'm nominally polite, does not make me a pussy. Sundae Girl.
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