About this episode
<p>A couple summers ago, Radiolab reporter Alex Neason got out of the shower and almost stepped on her worst nightmare: an American Cockroach. It was flipped onto its back, struggling, and for a split second, Alex swears she felt the spiny tickle of its legs on the underside of her bare foot. And, like every other time she has come into contact with a roach, this sent her into a debilitating spiral of fear, anger, and disgust. <br><br> This week, Alex tries to understand what might be behind her fear, in the hopes she can overcome it. And in doing so, Alex learns more about these so-called pests than she could have ever wanted to.<br><br><i>Special thanks to Jessica Ware, Timothy Marzullo, Alexandra Bell, and Changlu Wang</i><br><br><strong>EPISODE CREDITS: </strong><br> Reported by - Alex Neason<br> Produced by - Jessica Yung and Annie McEwen<br> with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom<br> Fact-checking by - Sophie Samiee<br> and Edited by - Pat Walters</p> <p><strong>EPISODE CITATIONS:</strong></p> <p><strong>Articles - </strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.environmentandsociety.org/arcadia/american-cockroaches-racism-and-ecology-slave-ship" rel="noopener noreferrer">American Cockroaches, Racism, and the Ecology of the Slave Ship</a> (<a href="https://zpr.io/UNKsMz7ZaLvb" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://zpr.io/UNKsMz7ZaLvb</a>) by Lindsay Garcia, <i>Arcadia</i></li> </ul> <p><strong>Books -</strong> </p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/pests-bethany-brookshire?variant=40262537379874" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains</i></a><i> (</i><a href="https://zpr.io/6E5wJBM4Kvcv" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://zpr.io/6E5wJBM4Kvcv</a><i>) </i>by Bethany Brookshire</li> <li><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-cockroach-papers-a-compendium-of-history-and-lore-richard-schweid/9d02eb4319bfe507" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>The Cockroach Papers</i></a> (<a href="https://zpr.io/CvKePYxEMEAW" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://zpr.io/CvKePYxEMEAW</a>) by Richard Schweid</li> <li><a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo3536632.html" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Cockroach</i></a><i> </i>(<a href="https://zpr.io/UuEAjmfqKccQ" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://zpr.io/UuEAjmfqKccQ</a>)<i> </i>by Marion Copeland</li> </ul> <p><strong>Other cool stuff -</strong></p> <ul> <li>Have fun with neuroscience and ... Roaches @ <a rel="noopener noreferrer">www.backyardbrains.com</a></li> </ul> <p><i>Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. </i><a href="https://radiolab.org/newsletter" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Signup</i></a><i> (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!</i></p> <p><i>Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of </i><a href="http://members.radiolab.org" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>The Lab</i></a><i> (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.</i></p> <p><i>Follow our show on </i><a href="http://instagram.com/radiolab" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Instagram</i></a><i>, </i><a href="http://twitter.com/radiolab" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Twitter</i></a><i> and </i><a href="http://facebook.com/radiolab" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Facebook</i></a><i> @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing </i><a href="mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>radiolab@wnyc.org</i></a><i>.</i></p> <p><i>Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.</i></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>