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Photos: Robots befriend roaches
Follow us into the light...

By CNET News.com Staff

Published: Tuesday 20 November 2007

Hmm, no snacks here. But that's OK - this roach is looking for company, not food. And as it turns out, cockroaches may be more inclined to follow the crowd than to follow other entomological instincts.

Research published in the journal Science used matchbox-sized robots to put roaches to the test. Everyone who has ever stayed in a cheap hotel knows the brown bugs scurry for the shelter of darkness when confronted with a bright light - but could other roaches persuade them to adopt riskier behaviour?

Photo credit: Courtesy of José Halloy/Free University of Brussels