MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: What causes the shell of a cockroach to be resistant to radiation?

Date: Tue May 5 10:51:26 1998
Posted By: Dan Berger, Faculty Chemistry/Science, Bluffton College
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 886887954.Gb
Message:

What causes the shell of a cockroach to be resistant to radiation?


Actually, the shell of a cockroach is not resistant to radiation. The cockroach itself is!
The cockroach's shell is made of chitin, a complex polysaccharide that is also found in the shells of crabs, and lobsters. Such material will stop one type of radiation, called alpha rays, but not others.
Cockroaches are not totally resistant to radiation any more than anything else is, but their systems are robust enough to handle a much larger dose than many other types of animal.

I am sorry I can't offer lots of information sources, but the site I linked to above came up in a Yahoo search for "cockroach" and "radiation".

  Dan Berger
  Bluffton College
  http://cs.bluffton.edu/~berger


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