[Katipan]

Cockroaches have to go in there. Probably right after Illuminati.

Before deciding to magically render extinct German and American cockroaches, we might pause to marvel at their adaptation to human-dominated environments. They can live in broad temperature ranges and survive for weeks without food. They can eat almost anything, from spaghetti to steak, whereas other insects specialise. They have a waxy coating that prevents them from drying out in heated or air-conditioned environments.

The dangers of cockroaches are often overstated. Cockroaches do carry bacteria: faecal matter adheres to them, they ingest it during grooming and they defecate it, sometimes on to human food sources or food-related equipment. Nevertheless, Schal says, few studies have conclusively shown that roaches regularly transmit disease to humans. In fact, their main danger to people is the production of airborne allergenic proteins that are inhaled by people. Urban children sometimes suffer asthma or allergy attacks from roach exposure.

The verdict on cockroaches? It's unanimous among the entomologists I spoke with, at least for German cockroaches: we could safely eliminate them. They are so exquisitely adapted to life with humans that they fill no other ecological niche.