Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I need more research of madagascar hissing cockroach hisses and meanings, as well as several different possible experiments i could conduct using these cockroaches that acts as a benefit to society... maybe even an interesting idea?

Hi,

The madagascar hissing cockroach? You have certainly gotten my attention ... what an interesting topic!

What have you learned so far and what sources have you used? I did a quick search on Google.com for "madagascar hissing cockroach" and found a lot of diverse information. For example, this article mentions why the bugs hiss -- http://www.sawormfarming.co.za/madagasc ... ckroaches/

This article provides similar information and suggests a food experiment -- http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/mat ... aches.html

I expect you will find encyclopedia articles and even books about this topic. I searched on Amazon.com and found several books -- perhaps you could find "Bugs as Pets" by Hemdal in your school's library.

I searched Science Buddies "Project Ideas" for previous posts related to cockroaches. Someone was doing an experiment in cockroach color perception -- https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... =25&t=4294

Good luck with your work -- I'd like to learn more about cockroaches, too!

Bill

So far I have been conducting experiments using Lab Pro and logger pro software that has a pressure sensitive microphone and a device that measures decibels. My cockroaches have been picky hissing when they need to and i need to perform my experiments during my science research period which is in the brightest part of the day. Being a nocturnal species, experiments in turn are testing my schools little available equipment. I would like to have an experiment that is a benefit to society, but this species of cockroach seems to be more of an exotic pet, not a pest. I have previously worked with the chinese praying mantis and Painted Lady Butterfly using an incubator and a very precise scale. I am open to using any insect, but i am having difficulties choosing a beneficial project, as those are the ones that i feel may be the most important. I greatly appreciate any advice and i would be glad to help you as well as i am on to my third generation of bred cockroaches.

Thanks for all that information, you are quite advanced in your methods and progress.

I suppose there are at least three perspectives here regarding "doing something beneficial to society."

First, basic science is itself beneficial -- you are gathering data in a systematic way, documenting your results, and presumably learning more about these insects. You can't know what applications might be found, or how your own investigation might develop. Doing what interests you and doing it with excellence are already a contribution to society's well being.

Second, you could investigate further how insects are used beneficially. A recent study announced that cockroaches may produce antimicrobials that are toxic to otherwise drug-resistant bacteria -- http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and- ... ns-vs-mrsa
That would bring you into another experimental area in biology. Even if you don't have time or materials to pursue it now, you could show that your breeding work might be relevant to future experiments with these antimicrobials (e.g., we have to know how to successfully breed these cockroaches if we are to do further research with them).

Third, you could address the issue of why or in what sense these particular cockroaches are not pests. This article says that they live on forest floors, not in our homes -- http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/a ... cockroach/ Why is that? Perhaps your breeding experiments are directly or indirectly showing that their food requirements and other environmental factors are not provided by most homes. This might be a weaker "benefit" but it is interesting -- explaining to people through your experiment why all cockroaches are not to be feared or eradicated.

Bill

Hi,

This is a fascinating project idea. Bill has given you some suggestions that would make excellent projects and provided a very thoughtful explanation of what might be beneficial to society.

Here are some other ideas for project.

Here is a website that reports using hissing cockroaches to operate a miniature robotic vehicle.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoverie ... 5/07/68015

Perhaps you could develop a method to measure the intelligence of cockroaches to evaluate of the possibility of using cockroaches to do tasks that would be too dangerous for humans.

I looked, but could not find a scientific article describing the exact mechanism that hissing cockroaches produce a sound. This would be a basic research project, but the results might help in the design of future products, for example. This would be a unique and worthwhile project, but it would be challenging to design a method for studying the cockroaches.

You could do a project on communication. Let me know if you can’t open this link.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_o ... archtype=a

This article is not on cockroaches, but shows how to investigate chemical and visual methods of investigation in invertebrates.

http://www.susqu.edu/facstaff/p/persons ... al2009.pdf

Depending on your resources, you could investigate the allergenicity of hissing cockroach antigens:

http://www.annallergy.org/article/S1081 ... 6/abstract

Please let us know if you have any questions about proceeding on any of these projects.

Donna Hardy

The article involving the cockroach and locust brains containing Anti MRSA potential was very interesting. I feel that is project could be easily carried out, using the E.Coli bacteria it also mentions. However, i cant find any information on the processes used to extract the anti MRSA compounds. I would like to try to recreate this experiment because i feel this project has potential to save many lives.

This is beyond my area of expertise, but perhaps you will find some useful information by searching in Google "how are antimicrobials extracted from insects?" Various links mention extraction processes.

Pay particular attention to published articles. They will at least name the techniques used, which you can then research further -- e.g., http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 224.x/full

Do check out the other links, which might be even more promising.

Bill

Due to time restraints we postponed the roach brain project for another year. Now i am for sure focusing on the purpose of hissing in a madagascar hissing cockroach colony. i have found some articles where the sound producing parts of the cockroach are covered to prevent hissing, and then that is how the scientists discovered the roles of hissing in a colony.
Its hard at this point to think together a project involving hissing though.