Cockroach vs. Hydraulic Press: Who Wins? | Deep Look

Do cockroaches -- those daring, disgusting disease vectors -- have anything at all to offer us? Scientists think so. They compressed American roaches with a hydraulic press, subjecting them to the force of 900 times their body weight. Don’t worry (or do): They survived! How exactly do they do it? SUBSCRIBE to Deep Look! Please join our community on Patreon! DEEP LOOK is an ultra-HD (4K) short video series created by KQED San Francisco and presented by PBS Digital Studios. See the unseen at the very edge of our visible world. Explore big scientific mysteries by going incredibly small. Cockroaches can cause asthma and allergies as they spread their saliva and poop around your home. But scientists think these daring, disgusting disease vectors have something more to offer us than salmonella. American roaches are one of the fastest insects on the planet. They’re also talented athletes, compressing their bodies while scurrying through incredibly tight cracks. The American cockroach can withstand compressive forces totaling over 900 times their body weight! Researchers are using what they’ve learned about roaches to build robots the size of insects, which can squeeze into places humans can’t – like piles of rubble left by major earthquakes or hurricanes. And maybe down the line, much smaller versions of these robots could even enter our bodies to perform life-saving tasks! --- Spider legs inspire researchers! Biomechanist and roboticist Kaushik Jayaram (@JayaramKaushik), who worked with us on our cockroach episode, also finds inspiration in the creepy, crawly spider! Specifically spider joints! Check out his work with spiders and robots in this paper: --- Pesticide resistant roaches? Professor of Urban Entomology Chow-Yang Lee (@chowyanglee), of the University of California, Riverside, studies many critters who cohabitate with humans. He’s been looking into how certain populations of German roaches (Blattella germanica) consistently evade our pesticides. Read more here: --- Find additional resources and a transcript on KQED Science: --- More great Deep Look episodes: This Daring Fly Swims in a Shimmering Bubble Shield Have You Met a Hagfish? It’s About Slime How Does the Mussel Grow Its Beard? GIF CHALLENGE WINNERS: 🏆Congratulations🏆 to these 5 fans on our Deep Look Community Tab who came up with the 5 most popular new names for our friend, the American cockroach! @gabriellasteele727 / @jessehunter362 for “skitter critters“ @avanelletheclockfriend2515 for “Rubbish runners, Scrap skidaddlers, Litter critters, Impervious invertebrates, Tenacious trash tenants @Weirdomanification for “Dysentery-dispensers“ @ChasingMoonMoths for “Scurry peanuts or speedy Lincoln logs.“ And a special mention for @willsal529, for the astounding number of fun suggestions! Go here to see all the names our community proposed: --- Thank you to our top Patreon supporters ($10 per month)! MaxPal Burt Humburg Karen Reynolds Daisuke Goto Chris B Emrick Tianxing Wang Companion Cube Wade Tregaskis David Deshpande Laurel Przybylski Mark Jobes Laurel Przybylski Porkchop LAUREL PRZYBYLSKI Titania Juang Cindy McGill Roberta K Wright Syniurge KW El Samuels Jellyman Carrie Mukaida Jessica Hiraoka Mehdi SueEllen McCann Louis O’Neill Noreen Herrington xkyoirre Elizabeth Ann Ditz Jeremiah Sullivan Levi Cai TierZoo --- Follow Deep Look and KQED Science on social: @deeplookofficial Instagram: Twitter: --- About KQED KQED, an NPR and PBS member station in San Francisco, serves Northern California and beyond with a public-supported alternative to commercial TV, radio and web media. Funding for Deep Look is provided in part by PBS Digital Studios. Deep Look is a project of KQED Science, the largest science and environment reporting unit in California. KQED Science is supported by the Dirk and Charlene Kabcenell Foundation, Campaign 21 and the members of KQED. #deeplook