Awesome Bugs

There are lots of awful things that happen in the wasteland of Fallout, but it’s the gigantic mutant cockroaches that freak us out the most. With some sponsorship bucks from Prime Video, The Hacksmith set out to create a life-size robotic Radroach. Or five. Two of the remote-controlled creepy crawlers roll on wheels, and they’re all filled with nasty green goo.

This fast-paced arcade game asks players to control a flower and a wasp to fight off various enemies in their otherworldly ecosystem. Caleb Wood, one of the concept artists behind the exceptional sci-fi series Scavenger’s Reign, created the game. It’s out now on Steam for Windows and supports single-player and local co-op modes.

(Flashing lights) Jacob Weldon’s gruesome horror short film BUG has a slick, neon-lit style inspired by the 1980s. But there’s nothing glossy about what happens to its protagonist after she gets bitten on her arm by a pesky fly. It makes us wonder if the bug was related to Jeff Goldblum’s infamous Brundlefly.

When it comes to living creatures, everything starts small. This fascinating and creepy nature video from Adrian Kozakiewicz’s Insecthaus uses jump cuts to show how insects progress from eggs or larvae to their adult forms. Adrian also has no problem letting his menagerie of bugs crawl all over his face.

With his backyard teeming with mosquitoes, Allen Pan found inspiration in a TED Talk by Nathan Myhrvold for a machine that zapped mosquitoes out of the air with lasers. While that never came to fruition, Pan and laser expert StyroPyro came up with something simpler – a sort of fly swatter that uses a pair of powerful laser beams instead of a mesh screen.

Dr. Adrian Smith of Ant Lab is back with another amazing slow motion macro video of insects taking flight. This time, you’ll witness a variety of mantises, weevils, flies, and other bugs lifting off. The 6,000 FPS footage reveals the normally unseen but dramatic differences in how each insect takes flight.

Are you bugged by insects? These fly swatters on steroids zap flies, mosquitoes, and other pests on contact with a 4000-volt jolt. The built-in blue light lures in bugs to meet their doom. They recharge via a USB cable and offer up to 10,000 zaps per charge. Sold in a 2-pack.

Wildlife photographer David Weiller introduces us to one of nature’s many strange and wonderful creations. This alien-looking spiny devil katydid (panacanthus cuspidatus) is both intimidating and adorable as it does a kung fu pose and stares us down with its beady magenta eyeballs.

Nature show host Ze Frank takes on some of the most varied and strange looking bugs out there. These planthoppers like to hang around on leaves and branches, sometimes mimicking other insects, other times standing out like a sore thumb. Most of the incredible macro images featured are by Dr. Andreas Kay.

If you’re like most of us, you don’t want to go anywhere near a wasp nest. The guys at Stinger Creations, on the other hand, are more than up to the challenge. In this crazy clip, go inside of an old Chevy Malibu that has become a massive haven for thousands of nasty yellow jackets.

The more legs something has, the more it freaks us out. As such, one of the creatures that makes our skin crawl most is the millipede. Why is it that they have so many tiny dangly legs? Anna’s Science Magic Show Hooray! delves into what makes these crawlies so creepy.

We hate trying to clean the sticky mess off of our windshields when bugs smack into them, so we can’t imagine how much time it took to scrub the bug debris off of this truck after it ran into a massive swarm of locusts on a road in Dagestan, Russia.

Sick of people stealing your sandwiches from the fridge at work? They’re sure to stay away from your lunch the second they see the nasty insect taking a nap on top of your sammie in these zipper bags. Comes 24 bags per pack.

BBC Earth Unplugged turns its macro lens on the house fly to show just how good they are at detecting impending doom, with their omnidirectional vision and fast reaction time. It’s fascinating footage, but we’re pretty sure they could have hit the fly if they tried harder.

Insects need to keep in shape too. So that’s exactly what this guy is doing, as he lies on his back and does some spinning lifts with his medicine ball. Apparently, he kept this up for three hours straight.

Scientists have uncovered some fascinating behaviors of ant colonies. When poured through a funnel, they act as a liquid, moving around each other – but when picked up or pushed down they become a sort of solid, clinging to each other.

North Carolina State University researchers used a microcontroller to relay commands to a cockroach’s antennae and abdomen and guide its movement. Epic prank research is now underway.

The idea of an electronic device that stops bug bites from itching seems implausible, but Therapik actually works, using heat to “deactivate” the venom of numerous insects and sea creatures.

New York artist Christopher Conte, a former prosthetic limb maker, creates futuristic sculptures from cast components, found parts and exotic materials from the aerospace and medical fields.

A couple lounging in their hot tub gets an unexpected visitor. This commercial for Orkin is also officially the first commercial ever with a motorcycle-riding cockroach. We think.