10 Fascinating Facts About Cockroaches

10 Fascinating Facts About Cockroaches Nobody wants to see a cockroach scurrying under the fridge when flipping on the light switch. These creatures arent exactly revered. Entomologists know otherwise, though; these insects are actually rather cool. Here are 10 fascinating facts about cockroaches that just might persuade you to think differently about them. 1. Most Species Are Not Pests What image do you conjure up when you hear the word cockroach? For most people, its a dark, dirty city apartment teeming with cockroaches. In truth, very few cockroach species inhabit human dwellings. We know of some 4,000 species of cockroaches on the planet, most of which inhabit forests, caves, burrows, or brush.  Only about 30 species like to live where people do. In the U.S., the two most common species are the German cockroach, known as  Blattella germanica, and the American cockroach,  Periplaneta americana. 2. Cockroaches Are Scavengers Most roaches prefer sugar and other sweets, but they will eat just about anything: glue, grease, soap, wallpaper paste, leather, bookbindings, even hair. And cockroaches can survive a remarkably long time without food. Some species can go as long as six weeks without a meal. In nature, cockroaches provide an important service by consuming organic waste. As with houseflies, when cockroaches take up residence among humans, they can become vehicles for spreading diseases as they scuttle about the home. Feeding on waste, trash, and food, they leave germs and droppings in their wake. 3. Theyve Been Around For a Long Time If you could travel back to the Jurassic period and walk among the dinosaurs, you would easily recognize the cockroaches crawling under logs and stones in prehistoric forests. The modern cockroach first came to be about 200 million years ago. Primitive roaches appeared even earlier, about 350 million years ago, during the Carboniferous period. The fossil record shows that Paleozoic roaches had an external ovipositor, a trait that disappeared during the Mesozoic era. 4. Cockroaches Like to Be Touched Roaches are thigmotropic, meaning they like feeling something solid in contact with their bodies, preferably on all sides. They seek out cracks and crevices, squeezing into spaces that offer them the comfort of a tight fit. The small German cockroach can fit into a crack as thin as a dime, while the larger American cockroach will squeeze into a space no thicker than a quarter. Even a pregnant female can manage a crevice as thin as two stacked nickels. Cockroaches are also social creatures, preferring to live in multigenerational nests that can range from a few bugs to several dozen. In fact, according to research, cockroaches that dont share the company of others can become ill or unable to mate. 5. They Lay Eggs, Lots of Them Mama cockroach protects her eggs by enveloping them in a thick protective case, called an ootheca. German cockroaches may encase as many as 40 eggs in one ootheca, while the larger American roaches average about 14 eggs per capsule. A female cockroach can produce multiple egg cases over her lifetime. In some species, the mother will carry the ootheca with her until the eggs are ready to hatch. In others, the female will drop the ootheca or attach it to a substrate. 6. Roaches Love Bacteria For millions of years, cockroaches have carried on a symbiotic relationship with special bacteria called Bacteroides. These bacteria live within special cells called mycetocytes and are passed down to new generations of cockroaches by their mothers. In exchange for living a life of relative comfort inside the cockroachs fatty tissue, the Bacteroides manufacture all the vitamins and amino acids the cockroach needs to live. 7. Cockroaches Dont Need Heads to Survive Lop the head off a roach, and a week or two later it will still respond to stimuli by wiggling its legs. Why? Surprisingly, its head isnt all that important to how a cockroach functions. Cockroaches have open circulatory systems, so as long as the wound clots normally, they arent prone to bleeding out. Their respiration occurs via spiracles along the sides of the body. Eventually, the headless cockroach will either dehydrate or succumb to mold. 8. Theyre Fast Cockroaches detect approaching threats by sensing changes in air currents. The fastest start time clocked by a cockroach was just 8.2 milliseconds after it sensed a puff of air on its rear end. Once all six legs are in motion, a cockroach can sprint at speeds of 80 centimeters per second, or about 1.7 miles per hour. And theyre elusive, too, with the ability to turn on a dime while in full stride. 9. Tropical Roaches Are Big Most domestic roaches dont come close to the size of their giant, tropical cousins. Megaloblatta longipennis boasts a wingspan of 7 inches. The Australian rhinoceros cockroach,  Macropanesthia rhinoceros,  measures about 3 inches and can weigh 1 ounce or more. The giant cave cricket, Blaberus giganteus, is even larger, reaching 4 inches at maturity.   10. Cockroaches Can Be Trained Makoto Mizunami and Hidehiro Watanabe, two scientists at Japans Tohoku University, found cockroaches could be conditioned much like dogs. They introduced the scent of vanilla or peppermint just before giving the roaches a sugary treat. Eventually, the cockroaches would drool when their antennae detected one of these scents in the air. More Crazy Cockroach Facts Its often been said that cockroaches are so hardy that they can survive a nuclear explosion. Although the bugs can survive levels of radiation that would kill a human being within minutes, higher levels of exposure can be deadly. In one experiment, cockroaches were exposed to 10,000 rads of radiation, about the same amount as the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Only about 10 percent of the test subjects survived. These hardly bugs can also hold their breath for 4 to 7 minutes at a time. Scientists arent sure why cockroaches do this, but researchers in Australia say it may be in order to preserve moisture in dry climates. They can also survive for several minutes under water, though exposure to hot water can kill them. Sources: BBC editors. Cockroaches. BBC.co.uk. October 2014.Sampaolo, Marco, et al. Cockroaches. Brittanica.com. 14 September 2014.Walker, Matt. Why Cockroaches Need Their Friends. BBC.co.uk. 2 May 2012.Willis, Bill. Separating Fact from Fiction: Cockroach Myths and Misconceptions. National Institutes of Health. 1 February 2017.

The Left vs. the Right Brain

The Left vs. the Right Brain Home to your mind and personality, your brain houses your cherished memories and future hopes. It orchestrates the symphony of consciousness that gives you purpose and passion, motion and emotion. In mammals, the brain is located in the head, protected by the skull and close to the primary sensory apparatus of vision, hearing, balance, sense of taste, and smell.Early views on the function of the brain regarded it as little more than cranial stuffing. In Ancient Egypt, from the late Middle Kingdom onwards, in preparation for mummification, the brain was regularly removed, for it was the heart that was assumed to be the seat of intelligence.The first thoughts on the field of psychology came from ancient philosophers, such as Aristotle. As thinkers became more in tune with biomedical research over time, as was the case with medieval psychologists, the concepts of experimental psychology and clinical psychology began emerging.Human brain - midsagittal cutFrom that point, different branch es of psychology emerged with different individuals creating new ideas, with modern psychologists such as Freud and Jung contributing to the field.The theory of the structure and functions of the mind suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different "modes" of thinking. A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain, essentially dividing it into two distinct hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The left side of our body is "wired" to the right side of our brain, and vice versa. It operates much as an Ethernet cable or network connection between two incredibly fast and immensely powerful computer processors, each running a different programme from the same input.The sides resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side. For some reason, our right and left hemispheres control the 'opposite' side of our bodies, so the...

Describe the history of the Federal Reserve Bank. Include an Essay

Describe the history of the Federal Reserve Bank. Include an explanation of all the tools the Fed uses to contract and expand the economy using money supply and interest rates - Essay Example history of banking in United States suggest that during its nascent stage, Banking runs were common as many banks opened and faltered during small period of time. Based on the increase failures of financial institutions, Congress set up National Monetary Commission to look into it. Commission presented its first monetary reform plan to the Congress in year 1912. This plan recommended the establishment of National Reservations Association which would hold the reserves of commercial banks and could make short-term loans to banks to ensure credit availability. United States Congress responded to the situation by enacting Federal Reserves Act thus creating Federal Reserve System. President Woodrow Wilson endorsed these recommendations and Federal Reserves Act became a law on Dec 23, 1913 and FED was created (Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas). The primary responsibility of FED is to manage the enough money supply and credit to sustain the economic growth of the country by containing inflation. The contraction and expansion of economy is thus achieved with the help of following two economic variables: 1) Money Supply: Expanding or contracting the economy through the money supply is the most frequent method used by FED to exercise its powers to make changes in the economy. Traditionally called Open market operations, these are the activities through which FED either purchase or mope up the excess liquidity from the economic system by issuing securities called T-Bills or Treasury Bills. Similarly when FED wants to expand the economy through money supply, it will purchase the issued T-Bills thus off loading hard currency in the market. This is done primarily for one purpose and that is that through this, FED wants to control the flow of money in the economy. The easy availability to the excess money may create inflation in the economy hence have the potential to impact the real growth in the economy. 2) Interest rates: FED controls the expansion or contraction in the