Can Cockroach Live Through Nuclear Bomb Blast?
WouterCockroaches have a remarkable capacity for radiation resistance, which makes them good candidates for experiments on radiation defences. However, in the case of nuclear war, a cockroach’s survival would be hampered by its lack of food and heat. This is a concern because cockroaches rely on the decomposition of human and animal carcasses to survive, and nuclear war would render most of the plant life dead.
A University of Melbourne biologist says the results of the Mythbusters’ experiment are not accurate because they only focused on the cockroaches’ survival after a bomb blast, not on their ability to reproduce and lay viable eggs. Further, the test also failed to take into account the toxicity of radiation. According to recent studies, humans can survive a single exposure to 5 rems of radiation (rems are units of radiation damage). However, most people are exposed to up to 16 rems of radiation over their lifetime.
In a nuclear holocaust, mammals would be the first creatures to die, followed by all other forms of life. As a result, roaches stand a slim chance of surviving the nuclear blast. Their survival would be hampered by the radiation exposure, lack of food and water, and an inability to reproduce.
A nuclear blast is not only radiation, but heat, too. One thousand rads of radiation will kill you in about 10 minutes. However, a cockroach can survive 10,000 rads. This was tested by Mythbusters by exposing three German cockroaches to a dose of cobalt-60. Similarly, 100,000 rads would kill a human within ten minutes.
