Bingeing bugs cause blackout

09.02.48: FIFTEEN TOWNS in Essex were without power last night after armies of cable bugs stripped insulation from the main National Grid power lines.

The bugs, a genetically engineered cross between a moth and a locust, were developed to help deal with the world's waste problems. Scientists believed that the bugs would chew through the great dumps of waste plastic, and in trials the system worked well. But experts failed to foresee that the bugs would seek a fresh food source once they had exhausted waste supplies.

Teams of bug-busters are trying to control the insects by imposing sonar pulse signals onto the electric current carried by the cables. These pulses are interpreted as bat radar signals by the insects, which scurry away and hide from the nonexistent predators. JWM