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Study says roaches can sense danger PRINCETON, N.J. (June 15, 2000 7:59 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Anyone who has ever tried to swat a cockroach knows the bugs seem to have a sixth sense that enables them to avoid being squashed. Researchers say the roach's ability to scurry out of the path of an oncoming shoe or rolled up newspaper is aided by an organ that senses the slightest changes in wind speed and direction. It's an organ that most other creatures, including humans, lack, according to scientists at NEC Research Institute whose study appears in Thursday's editions of the journal Nature. Hanan Davidowitz, a physicist and lead author of the study, said scientists found the organ by pinning roaches in wax, attaching electrodes to their neurons and sticking them in a wind tunnel. After analyzing nerve impulse patterns, researchers learned that the microscopic hairs covering the organ, which sticks out their back end, could sense minute changes in wind patterns from an approaching predator - or an armed human. The hairs, called cerci, typically allow the roach to determine the direction of the danger soon enough to escape. Even with wind blowing around them, the insects can detect the particular gust created by an approaching animal, the study said. Davidowitz said NEC, known best as a computer company, funded the study at its research arm in order to learn more about the cockroach nervous system, a sophisticated electronic device in a small package. The Associated Press Copyright 2000 Nando Media janet paterson 53 now / 41 dx / 37 onset 613 256 8340 / PO Box 171 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Canada visit my website "a new voice" at: "http://www.geocities.com/janet313/"