Bedbugs Have Been Bugging Us Since Before Beds

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Life Sciences, Wnyc, Science, Earth Sciences, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.5 • 5.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New research follows a distinct lineage of bedbugs that lived alongside humans for thousands of years, suggesting they might be the first human pest.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Flor Lichtenen and you're listening to Science Friday.
0:07.0	Today in the show, our oldest and least welcome roommates.
0:11.8	I'm not going to lie, they give me the egg. However, their genetics are really, really interesting.
0:23.7	A certain pest we love to hate. We fear them. We obsess over them. We can't resist turning them
0:31.7	into sitcom plot lines. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm sorry to bother you. My name is
0:36.7	Jack, and I have bedbugs.
0:39.9	If Jim has bedbugs, that means they're everywhere.
0:43.0	I can't risk them coming back to Shrut Farms.
0:45.2	Our biggest attraction is our 200-year-old mattresses.
0:47.8	That's our trademark.
0:48.7	Yes.
0:49.5	Trademark, uh, Billy Bedbug.
0:51.3	Bedbug?
0:52.1	You expect Nora Desmond to appear in a film with a bed bug?
0:57.8	Symex Lectalarius, the bedbug.
1:01.7	It's almost always the villain in our narratives.
1:04.8	But what's this little pest backstory?
1:07.3	Where did they come from?
1:08.7	How long have we lived together?
1:12.6	It turns out their history with us is ancient and predates even beds. Joining me to give a history lesson on our long relationship with bedbugs
1:19.7	is Dr. Lindsay Miles, entomologist at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Lindsay, welcome to
1:25.4	Science Friday. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to talk
	...

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