He hopes to create an army of insect-machine search and rescue workers. Researchers in Australia are fusing control backpacks onto beetles and cockroaches to direct their movements. Fitzgerald says cyborg search and rescue beetles or cockroaches might be able to help in disaster situations by finding and reporting the location of survivors and delivering lifesaving drugs to them before human rescuers can get there. Fitzgerald says that although the work might seem futuristic now, in a few decades, cyborg insects could be saving lives. University of Queensland student Lachlan Fitzgerald hopes to one day use the insect-machine hybrids as search and rescue workers.

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Persons: Lachlan Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald, ”, Dan Soekov, “, He’s, bioethicists Organizations: CNN, University of Queensland, California Institute of Technology, Caltech, Cornell University Locations: Australia