Daily briefing: ‘Cyborg’ cockroaches breathe underwater with printed suit

Remote-controlled insects could be used in search and rescue missions to explore dangerous areas or rubble that humans can’t access, researchers hope. (NTU Singapore)

Remote-controlled insects could be used in search and rescue missions to explore dangerous areas or rubble that humans can’t access, researchers hope. (NTU Singapore)

Researchers have equipped ‘cyborg’ cockroaches with diving suits that enable the insects to breathe underwater. These Madagascar hissing cockroaches ( Gromphadorhina portentosa ) have electrodes attached to their brains and sensory organs that allow researchers to remotely control their movements. The new 3D-printed suits attach tubes to the insects’ breathing holes, called spiracles, that connect to a chemical oxygen generator. In underwater tests, the roaches could explore a variety of underwater terrain and traverse obstacles for up to three hours at speeds similar to those they could move at on land.

Researchers have created an entirely synthetic cell that can feed, grow and reproduce. Dubbed ‘SpudCells’, the tiny blobs aren’t technically alive, but can perform some of the chemical reactions seen in living cells . “It’s a cell that was built, not born. It’s constructed, but it does what cells do,” says synthetic biologist Drew Endy. Scientists hope that humanmade cells like these can reveal secrets such as how many genes a cell needs to survive, or be engineered to produce compounds that natural cells can’t make.

Cancer research papers that appear to have been produced by paper mills — businesses that produce and sell low-quality or fraudulent manuscripts — garner double the citations than do genuine articles in the field . The problem appears to be self-propagating: in an analysis of tens of thousands of papers, researchers found that papers that were probably produced by paper mills frequently cite, or are cited by, other potentially fraudulent articles. This distortion of citations might also inflate the impact metrics of journals in molecular oncology, says statistician and study co-author Adrian Barnett.

Scientists need to acknowledge their own political biases to avoid eroding public trust in science , argues Mark Henderson, director of corporate affairs at the charitable foundation Wellcome. The scientific community can’t assume public support for their positions and should take care to ensure that science isn’t equated with membership in a wider liberal or progressive project. “If respect for science is bundled with wider political identity, people with more conservative values might feel pushed to reject science along with the politics,” Henderson writes.

In the waters of the Port of Miami, Florida, a community of coral is thriving — seemingly against all odds . Growing on hard materials such as concrete blocks and dumped shopping trolleys, the coral have stood strong in the face of disease, drastic swings in temperature and pollution that have caused bleaching in other Florida coral populations. The coral in the busy waters of the port are only a few decades old, and scientists think that human activity in the area could be what’s equipping these species with their unusual survival mechanisms. Now researchers are trying to work out how.

In The Political Economy of Rwanda’s Rise , economist Pritish Behuria details Rwanda’s bold attempt to transform its economy after the 1994 genocide. The nation has made impressive gains in health systems, technology and governance, but that has yet to translate into an industrial economy , Behuria writes. The book “is about much more than Rwanda”, says science writer Abdullahi Tsanni in his review. It “offers an important lesson: growth is not the same as transformation, and technological capability remains extremely difficult for nations to build”.

The US Department of Agriculture is moving ahead with plans to close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, one of its largest scientific campuses. The decision comes despite overwhelming opposition to the idea from scientists during a two-month public comment period, says retired cow geneticist Paul VanRaden. ( Science | 5 min read )