Mythbusters to Test Cockroach Radiation Myth

redwoodtree writes "An article on the site for the Tri-City Herald sums it up perfectly: 'Contrary to popular belief, not a significant amount of research goes into cockroach radiation.' To test the old saw about 'the cockroaches being the only survivors of a nuclear war' Discovery Channel's Mythbusters are going out to Hanford Site, where plutonium was manufactured for the first nuclear bomb. It's the single most polluted nuclear waste site in the U.S. The Mythbusters are going to take cockroaches and other insects and apply successively higher doses of radiation in a controlled setting."

Sorry...

[snowgirl]

I for one welcome our new irradiated cockroach overlords.

Really, I apologize, I can't help it... :(

Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[Joe The Dragon]

Don't forget to test twinkies as well

Call from PETA in ... 3, 2, 1

[AmIAnAi]

Lets hope they don't get besieged by PETA, who seem to want to protect the rights cockroaches now [cbs2chicago.com]

Cockroaches, harmed in the making of broadcast?

[Marcion]

Strange how little cats and dogs are protected on TV, but our little six-legged friends, well 200 can merrily risk their little lives in the name of pseudoscience television.

go-go roachzilla

[User 956]

The Mythbusters are going to take cockroaches and other insects and apply successively higher doses of radiation in a controlled setting.

So, what precautions do they have on hand in the event one of them grows to enormous size and goes on a rampage?

COAP?

[Red Flayer]

FT(Third linked)A:

All the bugs will go back to San Francisco. But instead of flying, a Mythbusters employee is having to drive the bugs back. Airlines, it seems, don't like cockroaches on a plane.

I don't know about the airlines, but I'd always assumed coach class was named so as a contraction of cockroach, since flying coach makes me feel like a cockroach.

TMNT

[vodevil]

They should bring turtles. I'd like to see some mutant ninja turtles.

Re:Yeah, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll do some damage to her with MY dna...

Oh for the love of trolling

Re:Call from PETA in ... 3, 2, 1

[Trigun]

Just invite them out to watch the taping.

Re:Yeah, but...

[BlackSnake112]

Kari should pass on this on. send in the other ones, just leave Kari alone. She should be protected.

Re:Call from PETA in ... 3, 2, 1

[necama]

Let's hope the PETA people want to watch the roaches from very close by as the radiation is applied.

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[hyades1]

And lawyers. Couldn't we try some lawyers???

Re:Safety?

[purpledinoz]

And, for the big finale, I wonder if they're going to set off a nuke. Those guys love to blow things up.

Re:COAP?

[markana]

You can't legally treat animals (or insects) as badly as the airlines treat their passengers...

Cockroaches are used to better living conditions than coach anyway... certainly better food.

Don't let Jamie get hit with radiation...

[autophile]

...otherwise his mustache will become huge and go on a rampage!

Boric Acid

[curmudgeon99]

As a proud resident of cochroach-ridden New York City, I can report that the little devils are immune to everything but Boric Acid which--apparently--causes them to become constipated.

Re:go-go roachzilla

[calebt3]

Lots of PETA activists as bait to lure it into charging through a pesticides factory.

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[fm6]

Nothing can destroy twinkies. When humanity is long gone, alien archaeologists will marvel at the mummified remains of the dominant life form, all worshipers of the mysterious god Hostess.

And I thought they were geeks

[shrikel]

Haven't they learned ANYTHING from science fiction?? Geez. Well, there goes the neighborhood.

Dude!

[markov_chain]

Where exactly did you go to high school? :)

take care

[clem]

Don't get bitten by any of those radioactive cockroaches. Lord knows the superpowers you'd acquire.

Re:Safety?

[grogdamighty]

You just shouldn't put stuff you find on the ground in your mouth..

Note: this is generally good advice anywhere.

Re:Is it a MYTH???

[burtosis]

Still waiting for the episode on Catholicism.

Re:Call from PETA in ... 3, 2, 1

[Anonymous Coward]

PETA member...cockroach...seems pretty redundant from where I'm standing.

wont someone think of the Cockroaches!

[BlueshiftVFX]

Ok so when does the "But all life is valuable" argument begin to sound idiotic. what about the Aids virus? what about that life? what about all other Virus "Life-Forms" that cause all kinds of horrible ailments and diseases? wont' somebody think of them too? is there life any less valuable then another?

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[simcop2387]

They would but there insurance won't allow them to do that, AND the lawyers cost too much per hour.

Re:Cockroaches, harmed in the making of broadcast?

[SydBarrett]

Strange that people like yourself can't tell the difference between a cockroach and a dog.

Dude, roaches and dogs taste COMPLETELY different.

I'm still waiting....

[mark-t]

... for Paul and Jamie to blast off and land on the moon to provide current affirmation that humanity has been there before. Although I'm sure that the hoax-sayers will just insist that they are part of the conspiracy also. Still... a condensed version of the trip would make an awesome extended episode (and they'd also get to bust some myths about zero-G during the flight).

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[cayenne8]

C'mon, the test I'm wanting to see them perform is the one that claims:

"In the event of a nuclear holocaust, the only survivors would be cockroaches and Keith Richards [keithrichards.com] ".

Personally at this point, I don't think anything can kill him....

creation of super-PETA

[MoFoQ]

o crap....don't want to have a mutant Super-PETA ppl.

besides, this is for scientific research....not solely for entertainment like that roach-eating contest.
(and for the record....roaches have been around for millions of years....they've survived the devastation that wiped out most other forms of life...they can surely survive if a few of their comrades get irradiated.)

Re:Safety?

[Chmarr]

Exactly. Pumpkins are totally dangerous.

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[nuzak]

> Personally at this point, I don't think anything can kill him....

Holy water?

A New Low?

[Cunjo]

It's not even a myth! It's just a common saying stemming from the fact that cockroaches are so prolific and notoriously hard to kill. What's next? they test the theory that there's more than one way to skin a cat?

Re:take care

[iknowcss]

Hmmm:

• Fear of light
• Lives mostly indoors
• Hunched over
• Content with junk food

*looks at "computer nerd" checklist*
*looks at "Cockroach-Man" checklist*

Oh my God.

I HAVE SUPER POWERS

Re:go-go roachzilla

[david.given]

So, what precautions do they have on hand in the event one of them grows to enormous size and goes on a rampage?

Adam will whip up something out of a chainsaw, some mysterious plumbing he found at the junk jard, and a large tank of napthalene that he happened to have out back. The result will have a major design flaw but will spew flaming death anyway. The result will be bolted onto Jamie's customised vending machine robot. With the addition of about twelve wireless video cameras, the result will go out and kick ass. Adam will get overexcited.

Does that answer your question?

Re:Is it a MYTH???

[operagost]

I can assure you that Catholicism does exist.

Re:Sorry...

[Spaseboy]

In Soviet Chernobyl, cockroaches irradiate YOU!

Re:Safety?

[burndive]

I totally want to try the salt thing!

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[eln]

Yes, but he was also able to survive with a crayon lodged in his brain for like 30 years, and he was also able to fall down a giant gorge, hitting every rock on the way down, and survive (albeit with fairly serious injuries). Clearly, something has given Homer Simpson superhuman powers. I suspect it has something to do with the chemical content of the inks with which he's drawn.

Obviously, science should be doing more research into this issue.

Re:Dude!

[ArsonSmith]

Soviet Russia.

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[Spy der Mann]

And lawyers. Couldn't we try some lawyers???

Are you NUTS? They'll MUTATE! It's bad enough with NORMAL lawyers already!

Re:Call from PETA in ... 3, 2, 1

[operagost]

So what is your criteria for what you will and won't murder ?

That depends. Are you still beating your wife?

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[SleepyHappyDoc]

I highly doubt lawyers produce enough radiation to harm a cockroach. Now, toxic fumes.....

The real question is

[geekoid]

Will they blend?

Re:Safety?

[SuSEboy]

What? You pick pumpkins off of the ground and put them in your mouth?

Re:Is it a MYTH???

[pilgrim23]

Seems mythic enough to me.

You are mythtaken, it is actually a mythtery

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[Anonymous Coward]

In the event of a showdown between the two, Keith Richards would challenge Chuck Norris to a drinking contest. The two would still be doing shots when our sun goes supernova, destroying all the alcohol and shot-glasses thus leaving the contest unsettled.

Re:From Caltech via the Wayback Machine

[john83]

I would love to see the National Institute for Standards and Technology establish the standard "reference cockroach".

Bah! They'd only over-specify it. Kernighan & Richie's cockroaches are entirely good enough for most uses.

Re:Is it a MYTH???

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

That seems a little unscientific. I'm going to wait for the results of properly peer-reviewed experiment data before I make a judgement on that one.

Re:A couple of things

[Crypto Gnome]

"Nuclear Free Zone"

Luckily for us all they are not capable of enforcing such a ridiculous declaration.

If they ever were able to do so, their first act would be to abolish the Nuclear Force [wikipedia.org] which , ironically, would result in the most spectacular explosion this world has ever seen (and apparently that was specifically what they were trying to discourage).

Re:Don't forget to test twinkies as well

[hyades1]

Well, I guess you'd have to follow rigorous scientific protocol and sacrifice the subjects at the end of the experiment. Disposal should be easy enough. Once you clean all the crap out of a lawyer, what's left should fit into a baggie.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Safety isn't the issue

[Anonymous Coward]

> This is Mythbusters. They'll do whatever
> they think is coolest, correctness be damned.

Translation: They'll blow up the roaches.

Re:Is it a MYTH???

[Agripa]

Do I believe in The Bible? Hell! I've seen one!

Cockroaches have left Russia

[Anonymous Coward]

Some years ago virtually all Russian cities have been abandoned by cockroaches. The little critters are simply not here anymore. No one knows why they left. Some say that modern insecticides are way too powerful even for cockroaches to resist. Some say cockroaches do not tolerate cellular radiation. The most pessimistic believe that cockroaches feel some impending disaster and flee the doomed ship.

Re:Safety?

[Akzo]

Well done fellow moderators. A warning about evil pumpkins is of course not funny, but informative.