Science: Sexy Strategy

Sexy Strategy Fooling the crafty cockroach

For some 300 million years, the cockroach has survived the ravages of nature and, lately, the best efforts of man to squash it, spray it or bug-bomb it into extinction. Some 3,600 species of the hardy creature thrive in a variety of habitats all over the world. Now one of the most common species in the U.S., Periplaneta americana, or the American cockroach,* may be hit by a blow below the belt: scientists have synthesized periplanone B, a chemical that acts as one of the female roaches'...

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