Scientists develop syphilis mode of roaches control

Scientists have identified the chemical emitted by female German cockroaches, aka the "biggest pest worldwide", that brings males running from afars, and they hope to develop a special trap using the pheromone.
A swift-death trap will not do as it would not appeal to females. Instead, the trap would contain a lethal pathogen, which males would pick up and pass through their colony.

"And cockroaches are very gregarious so they will run back and interact with other members of the colony and they'll pass the pathogen on to them," comments Wendell Roelofs, of Cornell University, New York.

Roelofs and his team found the gland that emits the pherome, at the tip of the female cockroach's abdomen. Their next task was to identify the chemical that lures sex-hungry males, then they had to manufacture it artificially.

Via BBC News.
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