Why Cockroaches Are So Hard to Kill

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, there's a banishment spell that declares,

"Be far from me, oh, vile cockroach." More than 3,000

years later, we're still trying to oust these insects. But from poison

traps to hastily brandished slippers, cockroaches seem to weather just about everything you throw

at them. So what makes cockroaches so hard to kill?

There are nearly 5,000 cockroach species. 99% of them live in a range of habitats

where they play important ecological roles by recycling dead or decaying organic matter

and nourishing other animals. But a couple dozen species adapted to live in