The Next Nuclear Fallout

Another question that you must have heard or listened to online (if you are online most of the time like me!) is:

Can Cockroaches Survive a Nuclear Explosion?

It was probably one of the first questions that popped into my mind after I read this article on Chernobyl. I couldn’t find anything on cockroaches in the article though.

Cockroaches seem pretty indestructible. They can live up to 7 days without a head, can survive without food for nearly a month, and apparently seem unaffected by operating appliances like microwaves. But can they survive dangerous (at least to us humans!) amounts of radiation? The answer isn’t binary. It is a yes and a no. Lemme explain.

In an experiment, mythbusters found out that as much as 30% of cockroaches still survived, 30 days after being exposed to 10,000 rads of radiation (10,000 rads is the same amount as the infamous Hiroshima explosion). It should also be kept in mind that not all cockroaches will survive a nuclear explosion. Only the few lucky ones not exposed directly to the enormous scorching heat waves will be among the ones who survive. But why should even one cockroach survive?

Nuclear radiation mostly affects cells that are actively dividing. Unlike humans, several insects and arthropods (spiderman and gang ) don’t have continuously dividing cells. The cells of many invertebrates divide in batches when they moult. Thus, at a given time, the number of cells of a cockroach that will be exposed to the nuclear radiation will be far less compared to us humans. Another point in favour of cockroaches is their fast reproduction. Faster rates of reproduction leads to more number of offspring in a shorter amount of time.

As mentioned above, cockroaches aren’t the only animals that will likely survive a nuclear explosion. In the same experiment, mythbusters found out that flourbeetles are far more likely to outlive even cockroaches. Flourbeetles can survive radiation up to 100,000 rads (100 times more than deadly levels for humans!). In fact,

• Fruit flies are killed by a high dose of radiation (about 64,000 rads).
• Tardigrades can survive about 500,000 rads worth of radiation and a temperature range from -200 degrees Celsius to abut 300 degrees Celsius.
• The first place obviously goes to the bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans which can survive up to 1.5 million rads!

It looks like the animals (or rather insects and microbes) that we work on and regard as lower lifeforms, may well inherit the earth in case we humans decide to nuke it!