Cockroaches at Their Best at Night

Science_afficionado writes "A new study has found that cockroaches are morons in the morning and geniuses in the evening in terms of their learning capacity. Previous studies suggest that the learning capacity of both people and rats are also affected by their internal biological clocks. But the effect is far more dramatic in cockroaches and it is the first time it has been found in insects. And, no, the researchers didn't try giving their cockroaches a sip of coffee to see if it revived them!"

Another checklist...

[Ariastis (797888)]

Would they learn better if installed in groups? In cubicles? Are there pointy-haired cockroaches? Did the researchers give them 20% of their time to work on personal projects? come one, where's the research!

Tell me about it

[guruevi (827432)]

My previous boss was also a moron during the day and only when it was time to leave, came he up with a genius idea and called a meeting. Does that make him a cockroach?

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[goose-incarnated (1145029)]

and only when it was time to leave, came he up with a genius idea and called a meeting

Responding on /. in the morning, are we?

what does this mean?

[jollyreaper (513215)]

If we switch Washington, DC to working the night shift, we'll get a better government?

Re:

[BiloxiGeek (872377)]

HAH!! I doubt you could even get a cockroach to stoop so low as to working for our Uncle Sammy in DC!! Cockroaches have higher standards!

No idea

[suv4x4 (956391)]

The people who conducted this study said in an interview:

"An interesting question is why the animal would not want to learn at that particular time of day. We have no idea."

The interview was conducted during the day. I leave you with your own conclusions on the similarity between cockroaches and some people.

"Genius"?!

[Sody (940054)]

These are cockroaches we're talking about here, folks. Calling them "genius" at any time of the day is stretching it just a little, yes?

Of course, the same could most likely be said of the person who came to mind when you read the summary, too....

Re:"Genius"?!

[Aladrin (926209)]

They also seem to assume there are no other factors involved. Maybe it's not 'ability' to learn but 'desire' instead. Maybe their digestive system doesn't normally work at that time of day, and there's not enough incentive to learn. There's probably a billion other reasons they haven't thought of, right down to which researchers worked with which groups, and what other smells were nearby at each time, etc. I'm sure they tried to rule out all outside influence, but it's impossible to do so completely.

I'd also like to remind everyone that a finding doesn't have any weight until it's been independently verified by a couple other labs.

Others are just plain morons

[berny@work (57298)]

I haven't heard of insects committing suicide before, but there has been a couple that have walked under my feet as I am walking. I guess Darwin would have something to say about that....

Hangover?

[clarkkent09 (1104833)]

I'm not in the fuckin mood for running around some stupid maze. And turn down those lights!

Change of name?

[Baumi (148744)]

Considering this new development, shouldn't we be calling them "clockroaches" from now on?

Almost Obvious

[MrCrassic (994046)]

Anyone who has had to deal with cockroach buildups in an apartment or house would know that in order to prevent them from coming to your kitchen is to wipe it down really well, because once they start coming, it's damn near impossible to stop them. Once they find a hint of food in a certain location, they will continue to look for it in the same location...

Just sayin'.

Curious...

[creimer (824291)]

Did anyone cross-referenced the late night genius cockroach study with the I.T. workers sleeping on the job [slashdot.org] study?

Sounds like some managers I know

[Shivetya (243324)]

they can't be told anything while people are here during normal hours but suddenly have great ideas when everyone else has gone home for the day

The researchers also found

[simong (32944)]

that if you pull a cockroach's legs off it goes deaf [k12.ca.us].

Caffeine Kills Bugs - That's Why Plants Make It

[rabun_bike (905430)]

I'm pretty sure a sip of coffee would kill the cockroach. "Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the beans, leaves, and fruit of over 60 plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants. It is most commonly consumed by humans in infusions extracted from the beans of the coffee plant and the leaves of the tea bush, as well as from various foods and drinks containing products derived from the kola nut or from cacao. Other sources include yerba mate, guarana berries, and the Yaupon Holly." -- wikipedia

Re:Caffeine Kills Bugs - That's Why Plants Make It

[AceJohnny (253840)]

Then how come a vegas roach trap [wikipedia.org] is effective, even through it's based on coffee grounds?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Previous studies?

[Metaphorically (841874)]

Previous studies suggest that the learning capacity of both people and rats are also affected by their internal biological clocks.

Anybody got pointers on this previous research for humans? That could change my daily schedule...

Cockroach racing, anyone?

[niktemadur (793971)]

Back in my college days, there was a nasty area right across the boulevard from Monterrey Tech (in Mexico) unaffectionately known as The Bronx. During weekends, it wasn't uncommon to see a molotov cocktail hurled here and there, from four or five story apartment buildings, just for the hell of it. There would be a towable hot dog stand parked on the curb, suddenly you'd hear a perpetrator from above yell "MOLOTOV!", the hot dog vendor would yell back "FUCK YOU!", then a molotov cocktail would fly in a parabola right above customers' heads and burst into flames in an empty lot across the street. Some of the customers would smile or laugh, some would groan in exasperation - but nobody was shocked.

Sanitation in the area was a disaster, there were so many cockroaches in the buildings that many students simply gave up trying to exterminate them and simply accepted them as "pets", going as far as wagering on cockroach races. I don't know if it still exists, but back in those days there was a cheap repellent stick known as Chinese Chalk that was smeared on surfaces, and while it was fresh, supposedly no cockroach would cross the boundary. Racecourses were designed with Chinese Chalk, beers were popped open, wages were placed on the floor, and the festivities began.

Years later, simply mentioning The Bronx can still make ex-alumni shudder.

Aw, what the hell, here's another good cockroach story:

One day, a friend of mine saw to his horror, three cockroaches huddling in his kitchen wall. So the guy approached nervously with a can of Raid and, involuntarily shutting his eyes, blasted 'em for about ten seconds before jumping several feet back. With morbid fascination and never taking his eyes off them, the guy slowly approached the dying, quivering roaches, still attached to the wall. He was just a couple of feet away when two of the roaches, in a final, heroic act of revenge, lunged at him. Screaming bloody murder in a high pitched tone that must've cracked a neighborhood window or two, the guy jerked violently, tripped and fell in a weird position, dislocating his shoulder.
On a happy note, my friend himself tells that story, and has a good laugh while doing so.

Re:

[erikina (1112587)]

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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[Joebert (946227)]

Kinda makes you wonder who was really being observed doesn't it ?

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[stranger_to_himself (1132241)]

From TFA

The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Presumably they're interested in the effect of the circadian system on memory aquisition and retrival, which is certainly worth studying and probably simailar in all animals, and its far easier to do initial work on insects and then scale it up to mammals.

There might also be direct benefits to understanding cockroach behaviour, since they are a major public health risk in some parts of the world.

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[Walt Dismal (534799)]

"they spread diseases and cause food poisoning, mostly due to their fondness for eating rotting food and crawling through excrement"

Wait...wait.. I'm confused. Are we talking about politicians here?

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[Pantero Blanco (792776)]

What the hell is this awful flash website?? The complete text of the story is flash, and before i can read the article, i have to watch an animation that prepares me for the structure of it??

Flash wasn't even installed on the computer I'm using right now, so I spent about thirty seconds looking for a "Go Straight to Article" link before realizing there wasn't one.

If you do get to the final article, though, there's a "Tell us what you think of our new look!" link. Amusingly, there's a html/txt version, but t

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[Mox-Dragon (87528)]

Actually, you've got it backwards. Operant and respondant conditioning are vacuous concepts that are at least 60 or 70 years old. They're lacking in explanatory power and have been shown false by almost every study of the processes of language learning ever. In fact, the method of teaching a foreign language based on good ol' BF Skinner's ideas about "learning" was the most spectacular failure that teaching has ever seen.