Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hi brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren vogel Bomb, and this this is a classic
Speaker 1: episode from our archives. I like insects as a general rule,
Speaker 1: but I have to admit that even I've had my
Speaker 1: moments where I've wished that particularly annoying ones like mosquitoes
Speaker 1: or cockroaches would just quietly vanish from this planet. But
Speaker 1: what would really happen if there were suddenly no cockroaches?
Speaker 1: Hi brain Stuff, Lauren vogel Bomb. Here, what if there
Speaker 1: were no cockroaches? The question sounds like it's straight out
Speaker 1: of the marketing materials from Paradise. Cockroaches spread bacteria like salmonella,
Speaker 1: they leave droppings behind everywhere they walk, and they can
Speaker 1: exacerbate allergies and asthma. All our good reasons to squash
Speaker 1: them all, but not so fast. Only a few species
Speaker 1: of roaches out of an estimated five to ten thousand,
Speaker 1: are commonly found infesting homes. Most cockroaches live in warm,
Speaker 1: tropical climates, happily minding their own business and staying out
Speaker 1: of humans business. Some are even beautiful, no really, and
Speaker 1: glow in the dark. But if you are still determined
Speaker 1: to play this game out, then would better take a
Speaker 1: look at what would happen if they all disappeared. Long
Speaker 1: story short, it's not good. In tropical forests. Cockroaches feed
Speaker 1: on decaying wood and leaves, and all those droppings they
Speaker 1: leave behind, well, they're filled with organic debris and nutrients,
Speaker 1: including nitrogen, which are added back into the soil. Nitrogen
Speaker 1: is essential to the growth of trees, which are essential
Speaker 1: to forests and our own lives, since we use wood
Speaker 1: products to shelter both ourselves and the animals that we
Speaker 1: do actually like. Oh and speaking of those animals that
Speaker 1: we like, especially small mammals, birds and reptiles, they feed
Speaker 1: on cockroaches, And since other animals feed on these small
Speaker 1: mammals and reptiles, disrupting even this one small skittering link
Speaker 1: in the food chain could have a widespread effect on
Speaker 1: the world around us. So the next time you're attempted
Speaker 1: to smash a cockroach before it runs under your fridge,
Speaker 1: consider that it may be helping to refuel a local
Speaker 1: forest when it isn't hanging around your house or I mean,
Speaker 1: go ahead, but don't wish death on the whole lot
Speaker 1: of them worldwide. Don't worry though, they are in no
Speaker 1: risk of going extinct anytime soon. Cockroaches have been around
Speaker 1: since before the dinosaurs. Cockroach fossils show that they've been
Speaker 1: around for at least three hundred million years. That's some
Speaker 1: serious staying power. They really are some of the hardiest
Speaker 1: creatures around, capable of withstanding radiation and huge doses far
Speaker 1: more than a human could handle, and going without food
Speaker 1: for up to a month. So if you do squash
Speaker 1: one scurrying across your floor, you're in no danger of
Speaker 1: having doomed these resourceful bugs to extinction. Today's episode was
Speaker 1: originally produced by Tristan McNeil and it's based on the
Speaker 1: article what if there were no cockroaches on how stuffworks
Speaker 1: dot Com written by Karen Kirkpatrick. Brain Stuff is production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and partnership with how stuffworks dot
Speaker 1: Com and is produced by Tyler Plang. Four more podcasts
Speaker 1: for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.