Overview
- Researchers led by Hirotaka Sato at Nanyang Technological University published tests this week showing Madagascar hissing cockroaches fitted with 3D‑printed, watertight suits can operate underwater for hours.
- The suit contains a small oxygen‑generation tank where diluted hydrogen peroxide decomposes on a manganese dioxide catalyst to produce oxygen that is pumped to the cockroaches' spiracles.
- In controlled trials the insects walked underwater for up to three hours at depths of about 50 centimetres, slowed only modestly from 87.5 mm/s on land to 78.4 mm/s underwater, and five monitored individuals showed no immediate ill effects three days later.
- The team frames the suits as a way to extend cyborg insects for flooded search‑and‑rescue and plans to test durability and function in harsher, space‑like conditions, though sending living insects to other planets raises planetary‑contamination concerns.
- Key limits remain small sample sizes, shallow test depths, short follow‑up and unanswered questions about scalability, long‑term welfare, remote‑control ethics and regulatory approval for real‑world or space deployment.