If you ever find yourself buried beneath the rubble of an earthquake’s aftermath or expiring in a remote cave, salvation may not arrive in the form of a dashing rescuer or detection dog, but of a hulking, hissing, spiky-legged cockroach.

Scientists are developing cyborg paramedic cockroaches designed to find people trapped in places human rescuers can’t reach, with the latest recruits capable of delivering medicine by firing syringes from a harpoon system on their backs.