allowing for mass-rearing these wasps for application releases. Widow spiders commonly prey on cockroaches. Cockroaches can be trapped in a deep, smooth-walled jar baited with food inside, placed so that cockroaches can reach the opening, for example with a ramp of card or twigs on the outside. An inch or so of water or stale beer (by itself a cockroach attractant) in the jar can be used to drown any insects thus captured. The method works well with the American cockroach, but less so with the German cockroach. A study conducted by scientists at Purdue University concluded that the most common cockroaches in the US, Australia and Europe were able to develop a “cross resistance” to multiple types of pesticide. This contradicted previous understanding that the animals can develop resistance against one pesticide at a time. The scientists suggested that cockroaches will no longer be easily controlled using a diverse spectrum of chemical pesticides and that a mix of other means, such as traps and better sanitation, will need to be employed. Researchers from Heriot-Watt University demonstrated that a power laser can, with high effectiveness, neutralise cockroaches in a home, and suggest it might be an alternative to pesticides. As food Although considered disgusting in Western culture, cockroaches are eaten in many places around the world. Whereas household pest cockroaches may carry bacteria and viruses, cockroaches bred under laboratory conditions can be used to prepare nutritious food. In Thailand and Mexico, the heads and legs are removed, and the remainder may be boiled, sautéed, grilled, dried or diced. In China, cockroaches have become popular as medicine and cockroach farming is rising with over 100 farms. The cockroaches are fried twice in a wok of hot oil, which makes them crispy with soft innards that are like cottage cheese. Fried cockroaches are ground and sold as pills for stomach, heart and liver diseases. A cockroach recipe from Formosa (Taiwan) specifies salting and frying cockroaches after removing the head and entrails. In traditional medicine In China, cockroaches are raised in large quantities for medicinal purposes. Conservation While a small minority of cockroaches are associated with human habitats and viewed as repugnant by many people, a few species are of conservation concern. The Lord Howe Island wood-feeding cockroach (Panesthia lata) is listed as endangered by the New South Wales Scientific Committee, but the cockroach may be extinct on Lord Howe Island itself. The