Myth Or Fact Cockroaches Will Survive A Nuclear Blast?

Welcome back my fellow learners, today we are going to see if it is true and cockroaches will be the only living thing left standing after a nuclear blast?

Myth - Cockroaches can survive a nuclear fallout?

Most of us have heard the saying, the only things to survive a nuclear war would be cockroaches. However, this is not strictly true. It has even be said cockroaches could survive ground zero radiation after a nuclear explosion, though needless to say, not the actual explosion they were next to it, all assuming of course they weren’t inside a lead lined fridge, then of course they could survive.

In any case, the latest research shows that, even though cockroaches are capable of withstanding ionizing radiation bursts around 10 times more than humans, they are in fact light weights within this arena. In fact, it would only takes around 1,000 rads to interfere with their ability to reproduce, which of course lead to the end of cockroaches, should they be exposed to this level. For reference, this is around the same level of radiation at 15 miles away Hiroshima straight after the bomb exploded, this bomb was a 15 kiloton weapon, which is nothing compared to the megaton bombs which are found in nuclear stockpiles today.

Further more, at levels of only 6400 rads, approximately 95% of pubescent cockroaches will die and at 10,000 rads, and most adult ones will not survive also. While this impressive by human standards, as we are only able to withstand 400 to 1000 rads before dying, it’s very unimpressive by insect standards, as most will survive higher rates than cockroaches, so says the United Nations Scientific Committee, who, when they aren’t taking forever to say their name, apparently get immense enjoy from zapping living things with ionizing radiation.