The special glands located on their legs were first mistaken for'ears.' Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. For many insects, their "ears" aren't located anywhere near their heads. Crickets have evolved organs on their front legs that allow them to detect sound. Meanwhile, moths, mantises, and cicadas gather auditory information from similar appendages on their thoraxes or abdomens.

Researchers at Imperial College London in the UK have developed a flexible catheter system that is designed to enable access and treatment of the deep areas of the brain. At present, catheters intended for such applications can suffer from rigidity, making it difficult to access the brain safely and effectively. This latest technology includes a robotic arm that steers the catheter through the brain. The robotic arm is partially controlled by artificial intelligence and partly maneuvered by the surgeon, allowing for highly sensitive movements. The catheter itself consists of four interlocking components that can slide over each other, allowing for flexible movement.

An ultra-thin surgical tool designed with inspiration from the egg-laying organ of parasitic wasps could be used to help operate on tumours and blood clots. Researchers from the Netherlands based their prototype on the ovipositor -- a long needle-like tube that protrudes from the rear of some wasps. The parasitic insects use their ovipositor to inject eggs into the bodies, eggs and boreholes of its hosts. The organ can also drill through wood and paralyse. The surgical device, however, will be less gruesome -- instead using the same segmented design to extract tissue samples during minimally invasive surgery.

Chinese researchers have found two previously unknown species of parasitic wasps in a swarm hovering 11,000 feet (3,400m) above the sea in Tibet. The two species look very similar to each other because they belonged to the same genus (Microplitis), according to the researchers. Specimens of the wasps were kept in the Institute of Beneficial Insects at the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU) in China after being collected in 2013. Chinese researchers have found two previously unknown species of parasitic wasps in a swarm hovering 11,000 feet (3,400m) above the sea in Tibet. The newly described wasps have been named Microplitis paizhensis and Microplitis bomiensis, after where they were found in Tibet.

Scientists exploring the Ecuadorian Amazon have discovered a new species of parasitic wasp that turns its victims into zombies. In what the researchers say is a particularly'hardcore' form of hijacking, these wasps first make normally social spiders turn their backs on their own colonies, before spinning a cocoon for the larvae that will eventually eat it. The gruesome attack stands out from most other known instances of wasp parasitism, being unusual in that it does not target a solitary spider species, as is usually the case. In what the researchers say is a particularly'hardcore' form of hijacking, these wasps first make normally social spiders turn their backs on their own colonies, before spinning a cocoon for the larvae that will eventually eat it'Wasps manipulating the behaviour of spiders has been observed before, but not at a level as complex as this,' said Philippe Fernandez-Fournier, lead author of the study and former master's student at UBC's department of zoology. 'Not only is this wasp targeting a social species of spider but it's making it leave its colony, which it rarely does.'

A new species of wasp has been discovered that starts its life in a horrifying way - by eating another wasp alive from the inside out. The gall wasps drills into the branches of trees to create a safe space for it to mature, but it turns out these crypts are not as safe as the insect thought. A new species of parasitic wasp - dubbed the Crypt Keeper wasp - has been found to deposit its eggs into the gall wasp's crypt. The gall wasps become stuck tunneling to freedom, and the parasitic offspring then eat their way out and emerge through the gall wasp's head cavity, like something out of the film Alien. The gall wasps drills into the branches of trees to create a safe space for it to mature, but it turns out these crypts are not as safe as the insect thought.