European scientists have used tiny robots to influence the behavior of cockroaches. By covering the robots with filter paper infused with cockroach pheromones they were able to successfully integrate with the group under laboratory conditions.

The experiments, conducted in a 1m diameter arena with 2 shelters, the roofs of which were made from plastic discs covered by red filters – one darker than the other. They first programmed the robots to have the same darkness preference as the cockroaches, then reprogrammed them to prefer the lighter shelters.

About 60% of the time, the robots tipped the insect group’s preference towards congregating in the lighter shelter.

Good to know.

Virtual Theft

A Dutch teen has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website. Another 5 teens are being questioned by police. A spokesman for Saluke, the company that operates Habbo Hotel, is reported as saying that:

“It is a theft because the furniture is paid for with real money. But the only way to be a thief in Habbo is to get people’s usernames and passwords and then log in and take the furniture.”

In the wake of recent concerns over the amount of personal information that people make public on social networking sites such as myspace and facebook, you have to wonder whether we could all use a lesson in common sense.