No, seriously, cyborg crickets. This is a good thing!

Why? Simple. When a building collapses, say from an earthquake or a terrorist bombing, survivors are often trapped in the rubble. Sometimes they're rescued, and sometimes, due to the nature of being buried alive under tons and even tonnes of rock (something we do lose sleep over), they aren't.

Enter the cyborg crickets. What the Pentagon hopes to do is make these six-legged pests into chemical sniffers and eventually even human sniffers when catastrophe strikes.

They'll do this by implanting electrodes into winged insects to control their wing muscles. The inaugural class of crickets, cicadas and katydids are already being worked on as I type this, so that their usual calls and communication will instead only occur in the presence of certain chemicals.

Additionally, scientists would "install" an acoustic sensor on our new six-legged saviors that's "designed to respond to the altered calls of other insects." Ultimately, this final modification would ensure a cascade effect amongst the insects, so that their signals are eventually picked up by ground-based human-controlled transceivers.

So the next time you're trapped in a collapsed building, don't crush that little guy who's chirping madly into your ear. He may very well be trying to save your life. [New Scientist]

Struggling to keep John's airways above water, Thomson yelled for someone to find him a tube, snorkel, funnel or anything he could use to transfer air down to keep him alive. A witness was able to find a vacuum cleaner hose in Thomson's own boat-rental kiosk. Thomson used the hose to blow air into John's lungs until the paramedics arrived, 10 minutes after the excavator had originally collapsed.

Thomson and John's unidentified coworker have been recommended for bravery awards. Sure, it's very brave of Thomson, but I could only hope that the hose hadn't just been used for vacuuming up spiders—or God knows what else—before it was converted into a breathing apparatus. [The Age via AdelaideNow]

The tourists, a skier and snowboarder, were lost in the mountains of Southeast Switzerland, with temperatures reaching -15 degrees Celsius. They attempted to phone for help, but their mobile phone ran out of juice just after making the connection. Luckily, the faint light of an iPod screen was enough to catch the eye of a helicopter rescue team, who recovered the two sports enthusiasts quickly enough to avoid any more serious consequences than very mild hypothermia.

Reuters reported this story, but didn't go into the kind of detail that techies like you and I really need. What kind of iPod was it? What generation? What brightness setting was the backlight set to? Is there a difference in helicopter visibility between, say, LCD and OLED? Without that kind of information, I don't know that I can ever go skiing in remote Swiss mountains again. [Reuters]

With a length of 8 meters, it can dive in with its fiber cam where rescue dogs can't, leading the way for human rescuers. Look for it slinking around in rubble piles next year. [Nikkei and Tohoku University via Crunchgear]

The video above pretty much says it all, but to put things into perspective, the CIRT can take down a concrete barrier in about 13 minutes—which is about 16 minutes quicker than conventional methods. That may be a little slower than Juggernaut, but it is not too shabby. Plus, it is not much of a burden for two burly dudes to handle. A price point for the device has yet to be determined. [Boston]

Mammut's Pulse Barryvox Avalanche Transceiver looks like an invaluable gadget for skiers and climbers everywhere. It acts as a signal beacon in the event of you being caught in an avalanche, enabling the rescue team to locate you and dig you out quickly. They will be able to check on your health, as the PDA-sized gadget contains an accelerometer that can check on your breathing and radio the results to your rescuers.

The Pulse Barryvox also has a search status to help you find people caught up in an avalanche. Its simple LCD screen, visible from all angles and in direct sunlight, can pinpoint the missing person's exact whereabouts, telling you how far they are from you and in which direction. Just don't buy it and then leave it in the room of your skiing lodge. – Ad Dugdale

Product Page [Mammut via Oh!Gizmo]