This American Roach

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

History, Science, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

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. 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.Special thanks to Jessica Ware, Timothy Marzullo, Alexandra Bell, and Changlu WangEPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Alex NeasonProduced by - Jessica Yung and Annie McEwenwith mixing help from - Jeremy BloomFact-checking by - Sophie Samieeand Edited by - Pat Walters EPISODE CITATIONS: Articles - American Cockroaches, Racism, and the Ecology of the Slave Ship (https://zpr.io/UNKsMz7ZaLvb) by Lindsay Garcia, Arcadia Books - Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains (https://zpr.io/6E5wJBM4Kvcv) by Bethany Brookshire The Cockroach Papers (https://zpr.io/CvKePYxEMEAW) by Richard Schweid Cockroach (https://zpr.io/UuEAjmfqKccQ) by Marion Copeland Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. 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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends. We're doing something new and fun, a show not just for your ears, but also for your eyes and your skin and your tongues.
0:11.3	Watch if that sounds a little weird. What we are doing is a live show where we give the full radio lab treatment to other senses, not just hearing, but now taste and touch.
0:24.0	We're taking to the stage as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, one night only,
0:29.0	June 9th, to explore pleasure.
0:32.1	You're going to be literally tasting things and feeling things that hopefully you have
0:36.1	never tasted or felt before.
0:38.4	And with the help of friends, musicians, science writers, foodies, we're going to try to blow out your senses,
0:46.7	to give you a new understanding of how you taste and feel this world.
0:51.7	We would love if you join us, make us your Tuesday night date, June 9th at 6 p.m. in Tribeca. I love that it's Tuesday night. Like, we're not asking for a Friday night. We're not a Friday night date. Sure. But Tuesday night, you know, you can spare one of those. I love a Tuesday night date. You can buy your tickets at Tribecafilm.com slash audio. That's Tribecafilm.com
1:13.3	slash audio. And we're going to give you a little discount code. So get your pen or your notes app ready.
1:19.2	That's TF26 Radio Lab. That's it. Join us. Hope to see you there. Woo. Woo. Oh, you're listening. Okay.
1:32.5	Wait, you're listening.
1:35.9	Okay.
1:37.2	All right.
1:38.5	Okay.
1:39.8	All right.
1:41.2	You're listening to Radio Lab.
1:44.2	Radio. Radio Lab.
1:44.6	From W. N. Y.
1:46.7	C.
1:47.6	See?
1:48.0	Yeah.
	...

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