Scientists Turn Cockroaches into Superbugs to Help Rescuers in Disaster Sites

A Madagascar hissing cockroach is pictured in this photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo. | REUTERS
A Madagascar hissing cockroach is pictured in this photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo. | REUTERS
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Scientists Turn Cockroaches into Superbugs to Help Rescuers in Disaster Sites

A Madagascar hissing cockroach is pictured in this photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo. | REUTERS
A Madagascar hissing cockroach is pictured in this photo provided by the San Francisco Zoo. | REUTERS

Cockroaches are known to infiltrate homes through the tiniest of gaps, and this innate ability now has engineers in Singapore working to turn the pesky insect into an ally of rescuers at disaster sites.

One variety of the insect, in particular, has the team at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) excited – the Madagascar hissing cockroach. On average, an adult is 6cm long, 2cm longer than the local variety.

The species is large enough for associate professor Hirotaka Sato and his team at the school of mechanical and aerospace engineering, to equip the bug with a 5.5g “backpack” consisting of several sensors, including those that can warn of the presence of gasses such as carbon dioxide.

The cyborg bugs also carry a small infrared camera that can detect life by picking up temperature signatures. The idea is to release a team of them at a disaster site.

Prof. Sato’s research, which started four years ago, is being conducted in partnership with Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and engineering firm Klass Engineering and Solutions.



Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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Pizza Delivery Monitor Alerts to Secret Israel Attack

The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)
The Pentagon is seen from the US Army Golden Knights parachute team plane ahead of their performance during the Twilight Tattoo ceremony as part of the Army’s 250th Birthday Festival in Washington, D.C., after taking off from Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, US, June 11, 2025. (Reuters)

The timing of Israel's plan to attack Iran was top secret. But Washington pizza delivery trackers guessed something was up before the first bombs fell.

About an hour before Iranian state TV first reported loud explosions in Tehran, pizza orders around the Pentagon went through the roof, according to a viral X account claiming to offer "hot intel" on "late-night activity spikes" at the US military headquarters.

"As of 6:59 pm ET nearly all pizza establishments nearby the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity," the account "Pentagon Pizza Report" posted on Thursday.

While far from scientific, the Pentagon pizza theory "is not something the internet just made up," The Takeout, an online site covering restaurants and food trends, noted earlier this year.

Pentagon-adjacent pizza joints also got much busier than usual during Israel's 2024 missile strike on Iran, it said, as there are "a multitude of fast-food restaurants in the Pentagon complex, but no pizza places."

Pizza deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled right before the US invasion of Panama in December 1989 and surged again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

President Donald Trump told The Wall Street Journal he was fully aware in advance of the bombing campaign, which Israel says is needed to end Iran's nuclear program. "We know what's going on."

For the rest of Americans, pepperoni pie activity was not the only way to tell something was about to happen.

Washington had already announced it was moving some diplomats and their families out of the Middle East on Wednesday.

And close to an hour before Israel unleashed its firepower on Iran, the US ambassador in Jerusalem, Mike Huckabee, sent out a rather revealing X post: "At our embassy in Jerusalem and closely monitoring the situation. We will remain here all night. 'Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!'"