Hey, vote for me in the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest this week!
I’m waging an aggressive social media campaign to win this thing, and I need your help.
(I’m Benjamin Nyberg from Los Angeles, CA)
THANKS
I could like something 15 of my friends like. OR, I could like something 1,180,609 strangers like…
Why do cockroaches die on their backs?
First, few cockroaches die on their backs in the wild. Natural death of cockroaches probably occurs in the stomach of a bird, bat or other small animal.
Second, Cockroaches are not used to living on a polished marble or vinyl floor. They are more used to a ruguous living plane including leaves and sticks and other vegetable debris. Thus when a cockroach finds itself on its back (by some mistake in its orienteering) it may have trouble righting itself if there is not debris around to grab hold of with its legs. (Try it, put a cockroach on its back on a polished floor with and without some crinkled paper.)
Third, often we come across dead cockroaches in buildings that have died of insecticide. Most of these insecticides are organophosphate nerve poisons. The nerve poison often inhibits cholinesterase, an enzyme that breaks down acetyl choline (ACh), a neurotransmitter. With extra ACh in the nervous system, the cockroach has muscular spasms which often result in the cockroach flipping on its back. Without muscular coordination the cockroach cannot right itself and eventually dies in its upside down-position.
(source)
FIFA to Ban Vuvuzela Jokes from the 2010 World Cup
Please don’t make any more jokes about vuvuzelas. Jokes about jokes about vuvuzelas are still allowed, however.
