Marlene Zuk mentioned in NYT Science Times

Cockroaches, Reconsidered
Tara Parker-Pope, on Health
New York Times, Science October 31, 2007

While sitting in a New York City diner with my daughter recently, I felt a tickle on my foot. A cockroach had settled there, waving his (or her) antennae. I jumped up, screamed and stomped in one quick motion. Then the food arrived.

I had a choice to make. Should we stay and eat? Did this one bug signal a larger infestation lurking in the kitchen? Or was I overreacting? The answer to all three questions, I have since learned, is “yes.’’

As is often the case when things make me squeamish, I called Dr. Marlene Zuk, a University of California, Riverside biologist whose book “Riddled With Life’’ celebrates germs and parasites. But Dr. Zuk sided with the cockroach. I wouldn’t have squashed a butterfly had one landed on me, she noted. “There is nothing per se that is yucky about cockroaches,’’ said Dr. Zuk. “The ick factor is all psychological. Cockroaches are nice, lovely, interesting animals.” Some roaches, she noted, are even monogamous.

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