Kickstarter Project Funds Cyborg Cockroaches

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June 12, 2013

Image Credit: Backyard Brains

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

A new Kickstarter project wants to allow you to own and control your own cyborg cockroach.

The RoboRoach is the worlds first commercially available Insect Cyborg that involves neuroscience and engineering. Researchers from Backyard Brains created a device that allows you to install a pack to the antenna of a cockroach and control the insect using an app available on the iPhone.

Our RoboRoach is an innovative marriage of behavioral neuroscience and neural engineering, the Backyard Brains researchers wrote on their Kickstarter page. Cockroaches use the antennas on their head to navigate the world around them. When these antennas touch a wall, the cockroach turns away from the wall. The antenna of a cockroach contains neurons that are sensitive to touch and smell.

They said the neurons help to convey information back to the brain using electricity in the form of spikes. A backpack installed on the back of the cockroach helps communicate directly to the neurons using small electrical pulses.

When you send the command from your mobile phone, the backpack sends pulses to the antenna, which causes the neurons to fire, which causes the roach to think there is a wall on one side, the scientists wrote.

By utilizing this method, the researchers have devised a way for you to control the direction in which a cockroach is turning, all from your iPhone. This technology is the same used to treat Parkinsons disease and is also used in cochlear implants. They said the funding will help better their research into this technology, which could even spill over into other neurological fields as well as help the publics understanding of neurology.

This product is not a toy, but a tool to learn about how our brains work. Using the RoboRoach, you will be able to discover a number of interesting things about nature, the researchers said.

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Kickstarter Project Funds Cyborg Cockroaches

RoboRoach: Control a live cyborg cockroach from your phone

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In what they dub a marriage of behavioral neuroscience and neural engineering, the minds at Backyard Brains have mounted a Kickstarter project that lets you build your own cyborg out of a bug.

How are your surgery skills, and how do you feel about using them on a creepy crawly cockroach? If your answers are between "excellent" and "I'm willing to find out," there's now a way to create your very own, smartphone-controlled cyborg insect.

RoboRoach, from Backyard Brains -- the same science-minded folks who played Cypress Hill to a squid -- is not for the squeamish. Like many of the group's experiments and projects, it requires at least some vivisection.

The way it works is pretty interesting. A cockroach gets around by relying partly on its antennae. Sensitive to touch and smell, the antennae signal what to avoid, such as walls, and where the insect can find food. The RoboRoach rig runs a wire down each antenna to artificially stimulate the nerve, allowing Bluetooth commands to be sent to the bug to tell it where to go.

While this isn't the first time we've seen a cyborg cockroach, such creations are now crawling into the public sphere. The RoboRoach kit, which comes with a minimum $100 pledge, consists of the "backpack" and helmet, recording electrodes, and a battery. You need to supply your own Bluetooth device, insect, and surgery (you can anesthetize a cockroach by putting it in a container of iced water, no fancy drugs required).

The team is very careful to note that this is not a gimmick or a toy; it's a learning tool for observing neural control.

"The RoboRoach is the world's first commercially available cyborg!" Backyard Brains said. "That's right... a real-life insect cyborg! Part cockroach and part machine. This is not a gimmick... just good ol' fashion neuroscience, evolution and engineering."

For those who have ethical concerns about performing experiments on live creatures, Backyard Brains acknowledges that "our experiments are not philosophically perfect and without controversy," and posted a response to the most common qualms.

(Source: Crave Australia)

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RoboRoach: Control a live cyborg cockroach from your phone

How you could swim in filth at suburban beaches

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Bacteria counts were so high in Woods Creek Lake at Indian Trail Beach in Lake in the Hills last year that swimming was banned for eight days.

That's despite test results that show the beach should have been closed for 10 days.

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Due to a lag in the time it takes the state to test water samples, beachgoers may be frolicking in filth. Illinois Department of Public Health officials said it can take as much as two days for test results on water samples with dangerously high bacteria levels to be discovered.

"That's one of the flaws in the system," said Melaney Arnold, IDPH spokeswoman.

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How you could swim in filth at suburban beaches

Alabama beaches reopen to swimmers after deadly rip current

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GULF SHORES, AL (WLOX) -

Gulf Shores beaches reopened Tuesday under restricted conditions. This after the beaches were closed when four men drowned in dangerous rip currents since the weekend. Gulf Shores officials are warning everyone to be cautious of hidden dangers.

The beaches in Gulf Shores were full of swimmers in the water soaking up some summer fun. Grady Holder traveled from Long Beach with his family.

"I was really happy to find out the beaches were open. We love the water andwe like to spend as much time as we can here," said Holder.

But many of the swimmers admit they are still concerned about the rough water conditions in Alabama after four people drowned in just a two day span.

"We came out here yesterday and there were two red flags that were flying, which that means to stay out of the water because it was unsafe," Iowa tourist Valerie Shepherd said.

"I am already scared of things in beach water, so tohear that people die and stuff, that is really terrifying," tourist Faith Cartwright said.

When the double red flags came down, a yellow warning flag took their place; it's a warning that swimmers should use caution.

"There is a chance for rip currents, but the types of currents that are out there are of relatively low risk. When you go to the Gulf and you don't see strong, high waves, there is still a threat of rip currents," Gulf Shores Public Information Officer Grant Brown said.

Beachgoers agree safety is a must because anything can happen in these waters.

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Alabama beaches reopen to swimmers after deadly rip current

Beaches need clean-up during monsoons too

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If you think the sea can swallow all the muck that you throw into it or on the beach, think again. You should not throw garbage into the sea. In the current season, it is especially important not to litter the beaches, said a city-based scientist.

Bindu Sulochanan, Scientist, Research Centre of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Mangalore, told The Hindu, Awareness has to be created, it is not just the (responsibility of the) government, each person has to take responsibility.

Visitors at beaches and fishermen, who make and vend fishing nets during the fishing holidays, must be more careful with disposing of garbage. With monsoons, more than half of Panambur beach gets submerged under water.

The rip currents begin and erosion is severe. The water reaches a longer way up the beach and goes back to the sea carrying with it all the trash it finds on the beach. When the calm current returns (the same day), it comes back with all the trash.

Fishermen are another section of people who should act. She said, Only with fishermen we can retrieve trash only through them it can be resolved.

Yathish Baikampady, CEO, Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project, said, Monsoon trash is a big nuisance Now is the right time to clean the beaches. In Panambur, the garbage is like a 40 ft road of up to one ft height. Higher the tide more the garbage, and it must be removed or else it leads to pollution. The sporadic rains now are a trailer to the real monsoon.

We need volunteers. This is the time, not when everything is fine, he said.

He said a large part of the garbage thrown into the sea comes through the rivers, is churned by the water and forms an island (called palke in Tulu), which becomes a shelter for leaves, dry forest waste and from where fishermen go and catch fish. Later, some garbage gets back to the beach.

A study titled Marine litter in the coastal environment of Mangalore by Bindu Sulochanan, G. S. Bhat and S. Lavanya, published in the Marine Fisheries Information Service journal, says, Chitrapur has the highest rate of marine litter of nearly one kg per square metre or 901.5g/m2 to be exact, followed by Tannirbavi 689.85 g/m2 and Panambur 83.33 g/m2.

The marine litter consisted of ice cream spoons, toothbrushes, bottle caps, plastic sachets, footwear, nylon ropes and thermocole.

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Beaches need clean-up during monsoons too

Gulf Shores beaches reopen; Panama City beaches closed

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Gulf Shores beaches reopen; Panama City beaches closed Gulf Shores beaches reopen; Panama City beaches closed

Updated: Tuesday, June 11 2013 5:13 PM EDT2013-06-11 21:13:24 GMT

Updated: Monday, June 10 2013 10:50 PM EDT2013-06-11 02:50:55 GMT

Updated: Friday, June 7 2013 11:24 PM EDT2013-06-08 03:24:20 GMT

Updated: Friday, June 7 2013 10:56 PM EDT2013-06-08 02:56:25 GMT

Beaches in Gulf Shores have reopened under yellow-flag conditions after being closed when four men drowned in dangerous rip currents.

Beach flags in Panama City Beach have been returned to double-red, according to reports from WJHG-TV, effectively closing the waters there in what may be a possible drowning.

Gulf Shores officials on Monday had posted double red flags on all beaches in the city, meaning that extremely hazardous conditions are present and all waters are closed to the public.

The beaches were re-opened Tuesday under yellow-flag conditions, meaning that moderate surf and/or currents were present, and swimmers should use caution, according to a telephone hotline for information on beach conditions.

The men who drowned were from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana.

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Gulf Shores beaches reopen; Panama City beaches closed

Deadly rip currents prompt Alabama city to close beaches

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GULF SHORES, Ala. An Alabama city closed all of its beaches Monday after four men drowned in dangerous rip currents in the Gulf of Mexico in a two-day period.

Gulf Shores officials on Monday posted double red flags on all beaches in the city, meaning that extremely hazardous conditions are present and all waters are closed to the public.

Beaches in Gulf Shores were re-opened Tuesday under yellow-flag conditions, meaning that moderate surf and/or currents were present, and swimmers should use caution, according to a telephone hotline for information on beach conditions.

The men who drowned were from Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana.

Matthew Hattaway, 25, of Bossier, La., was pronounced dead about 3 p.m. Sunday. A relative spotted him floating in the surf, Baldwin County Coroner Stanley Vinson said.

John Hogue, 51, of Overland Park, Kan., died on the beach a few hours later, Vinson said. He had been swimming and was pulled from the surf unconscious.

Authorities said those people were swimming off Fort Morgan Peninsula near Gulf Shores when they got into trouble.

"The waves didn't appear all that large, but the rip currents were really bad," said Grant Brown, a spokesman for the city of Gulf Shores, near where the incidents occurred.

William H. Moore, of Jonesboro, Ark. died Monday when he tried swimming to a woman who was having trouble staying afloat near the Gulf State Pier. Vinson said another swimmer was able to pull the woman to shore and Moore's body was found floating in the water about an hour later by Alabama Marine Police.

On Monday night, Baldwin County sheriff's officials say they found 34-year-old Joshua Kimbrough of Bowling Green, Ky., on the Fort Morgan peninsula Monday night. His body was recovered more than 24 hours after he disappeared in the surf. Kimbrough was last seen swimming Sunday afternoon in the Gulf at the Beach Club and was found at the nearby Martinique subdivision.

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Deadly rip currents prompt Alabama city to close beaches

Investments in Clean Beaches Pay Off

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Southern California boasts a world-class beach culture. But who wants to show off their bikini/speedo bod on sand contaminated with pollution washed off the streets of Santa Monica and Malibu? Pollution from storm runoff causes many beach closings, which costs local businesses money.

PHOTOS: Life on the Ocean Floor Garbage Patch

However, a 10-year-long study of 26 beaches in southern California found that beach attendance increased after systems to divert storm runoff were put into place. The research was published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.

PHOTOS: Top 10 Beaches of 2013

Cost has many municipalities opposed to installing storm drain diversion systems, but the data showed these investments pay off, said study co-author Linwood Pendleton of Duke University in a press release. Beyond their effectiveness as a tool for managing pollution in coastal waters, storm drain diversions increased attendance at individual beaches in the region by 350,000 to 860,000 annually.

Storm water runoff diversion systems channel water into sewage treatment systems. For example, in 2007, the City of Malibu opened a storm water treatment facility capable of processing 1,400 gallons per minute of runoff. The system first screens trash and other large pollutants from the water. Then the water is filtered and disinfected with ozone, a triple-oxygen molecule capable of destroying disease-causing microorganisms, such as Escherichia coli, fecal coliform bacteria and enterococcus bacteria.

IMAGE: Santa Monica beach (Jon Sullivan, Wikimedia Commons)

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Investments in Clean Beaches Pay Off

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