CNN sometimes likes to throw some of their articles under the optimistic label of "Tech for Good." Maybe it's my personal, visceral hatred of insects talking here, but creating a cyborg cockroach or beetle does not seem like a good thing. It seems like the kind of thing the Joker to my Batman would do to torment me.

A student from the University of Queensland named Lachlan Fitzgerald has developed a way to attach a small circuit board to the backs of beetles and cockroaches. Those circuit boards send electrical pulses to its antennae, allowing the researchers to steer the bug's movements.

Other than being used to follow me endlessly until I'm driven insane, the technology is currently being positioned as a tool to aid search and rescue workers as they try to find people trapped in disaster areas, like anyone missing after an earthquake or hurricane. Fitzgerald says he can envision a future where his legion of cyborg insects can locate survivors, deliver supplies, and maybe even rescue some folks. Or, he will outfit them with guns and destroy us all as he sits on the throne of skulls, maneuvering his bug army with an Xbox controller.

Fitzgerald isn't the only one working on cybernetically controlled animals, either. The California Institute of Technology has developed similar technology that can control jellyfish using pacemakers to study the deepest, darkest depths of the ocean. Cornell University has developed robots that are controlled by the electrical pulses of fungi. Surely, these technologies, currently well-intentioned, will never be abused by psychos with a disdain for human life that is only surpassed by their thirst for power. Surely.