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bedbug a species that may be more than 250000-years-old. [applause] [inaudible conversations] her science where she authors the blog our modern place and tonight she will be discussing her new book how the bedbug

infiltrated our bedrooms and took over the world. it came out april 8 from the university of chicago press and has received great feedback already for example "the new york times" book review wrote the book is by necessity about everything. she definitely takes us through this microcosm -- [inaudible] whoever went back. so without further ado, please welcome brooke. [applause] >> thanks for coming. this is my first ever reading.

i'm both excited and a little terrified so bear with me. i wanted a little icebreaker and show you the trailer that actually launched this week. my friends made this for me. it gets a little racy for so if you don't want to hear anything about the bedbug's sex you might want to cover your eyes for the part. >> they might seem friendly but they are actually so hundreds of millennia ago .-full-stop acting like your brooklyn invasion is the next. henry miller loved dirty word phrases. they appear in seven of the most famous novels. they tried to build a detector that used bedbugs to sniff out enemies. it didn't work.

fact number four, two words, traumatic insemination. it's how bedbugs say i love you. the male climbs on top of the female in the stands her in the back ejaculating right into her. literally a single female can spark an entire infestation. i will just let that sink in. number six, they make us crazy. how crazy? we've tried killing them with everything from gunpowder to baseball bats to blow torches to ddt and they still come back. number seven, there are bedbug infestations in all 50 states. yes, yours to. i'm talking to you. once more? check out my book and tested how the bedbug infiltrated our bedrooms and took over the world from the university of chicago press with additional support from the alford foundation.

>> so those are some stories. [applause] and in here is one saying hi. so there are a lot of stories in this book and some of them are funny like in the animation and some of them are really weird like in the animation some are summer quite sad. but i'm going to do is tell you why i wrote this book up until where we are right now and then we can open up for q&a and you can ask anything. late in the summer of 2004 in new york city i watched my doctor to cable point pen and trace the perimeter of a world welt of unknown origins on my right leg which had spread to the center of my calf. he told me if it extends it extended it extended the longest line go back to the emergency room.

when playing them but there were others on everything from spiders and mosquitoes. i'd been tested for blind disease to extinguish an infection that i by a likely pickup from scratching too much and i described. one deceased is negative and although they made them disappear, the relief was not to last. despite the visits over the course of two months they always returned. whatever was lurking in my room at night was still there. as you can probably guess, i was incredibly shocked to find this out. i heard the term before but i never -- it never occurred to me that it was an actual species. >> has anyone here had bedbugs? as you either no the reader

knows yourself or have heard from your friends, they can be really difficult to deal with emotionally. you have to go through a lot of clothes and laundry. this is your sanctuary. it feels invasive. so i went through all that but i thought it was a strange thing to happen to me until 2009 when i got in place again. i had to deal with them twice and that was painful. then not long after that i was seeing them in the news at the empire state building in victoria's secret and all these lawsuits were happening. and i was working as a journalist and i wanted to write about bedbugs.

this is when i got the idea. during the interviews i learned the bedbug which most people thought after world war ii the debut of the modern pesticides within ancient past. they lived with our ancestors at least since it was ruled egypt stretching back to the places seen before humans existed when they may have made a living on the part of both the `result is through occasionally sought shelter. from there it was solidifying the bond when we moved to the camps and cities and conquering the world. i'd grown up with no knowledge of the past. to be oblivious of the bedbug i realized was a strange thought of children not doing the cockroach, and would fly in a begin to understand what is the most intriguing aspect of the story but it isn't a fluke it is a return to normal.

so that led me to this project and what i found in the animation is that they've been around for a very long time although it would be a lot more research to pinpoint areas regardless if you've been around a long time with some relative of ours were others that we interacted with and then the abbreviated throughout the world and you can trace them through historical documents in all these references throughout the world going through the atlantic to the americas and ending up here. i wanted to show you this to show a full body bedbugs this has also been having sex. i thought why not just get it out of the way. on the video that was censored out the mail is on top it might be hard to see that there is

almost a stinger or something coming out. that is a bedbug penis and he's about to stab her in the gut. i also wanted to show you this so you could see what it looks like for the next slide. so this is the oldest known physical evidence of a bedbug. this was discovered in the late '90s and ecological site in egypt. it's really dry. they found a bunch of remains that for thousands of-years-old. this one was probably in the sleeping chambers. and you can see just like in the last picture they are gone but you can see that same shape. so those are just additional evidence that they've been around for a. long time. through all this time we are used to dealing with bedbugs and they would be engaged.

i don't know why someone would set this up for a family photo but this is an image that refers to the hunting to kick them out so they could get a good nights sleep. and also through all of this just like we try to do now to try to kill them because we did not like them anymore than we do now. this is a guy with a gas mask on and it's hard to see that he is in army barracks there are drawers photo in the background. he's going to leave and that's going to fill up the structure. that's the same material that was used in the holocaust gas chambers and is incredibly bad so we were going to risk health

and life to get rid of bedbugs which is kind of crazy. >> i'm pretty sure this is from "time" magazine. the story changed so they were so common that until around world war ii the insecticide properties were discovered right around the start of the war and used to kill mosquitoes and other disease carrying insects to protect the troops. ddt is good. it wasn't intended to be used. part of the reason it was effective is because it left a residue. they hide either during the day

usually during the dates are sleeping at night they will shift their schedule for people that are on a different schedule if you were a night worker they will come out in the day but regardless it was helpful because it would stay on the surface and they would pick it up and eventually die. that's also why was a problem because it stayed in the environment a lot longer than we wanted it to. but as this was happening we knocked the numbers down because they never encountered anything like this before. we also started -- there was evidence building resistance to the pockets all over the world and it's totally inevitable when it comes to evolution but overall the numbers were down and little pockets are starting to emerge.

there is one example of that and this is one of the guys i interviewed for the buck and father book and thought there might be a hunch further interesting stories to include in the book. i was working as an army entomologist and one of their jobs is to help protect troops. he was stationed in new jersey at fort dix and there were army recruits getting bitten into his was to figure out how to get rid of it and as you would guess it was bedbugs and he had never -- even though he studied these kind of insects generally, he had never come he had never seen them in real life before. he'd only seen images of the many books and this is pretty typical during that entire time.

co. as well as exterminators so they didn't learn about it extensively. if you are looking closely to what he but he kept them alive is to feed him on his arms and legs. although it is a couple of times he sends the advance to a little bit better barriers for them. he's been feeding these better and for reasons i won't get into

they've ended up being important for research. i watched as he attached a small flat boxed his arm with a rubber band. he modified one of the signs. the boxes originally intended as a display case but as he pointed out he explained he used it for feeding demonstrations. on the table to my right there were several jars with lids lids sealed along the edges with layers of duct tape and rubber bands and a typical feeding he said he would hold each against his arm or leg to marriage more at once. i could see a handwritten label attracts the dates of each meal. he had even more at his house. they held around 6000.

he got at least 72000 bedbug sites every year. when i asked if he ever had an allergic reaction we will put the pants leg to reveal one of the bites. as i leaned in for a closer look watching as they grew and turned red. what does that feel like? as he describes the mechanics of the bedbug bite he gestured with his hands and clasped them as he paused to think. he clamped down and put his hand out for me. this one is getting pretty big. we will go to the next one. so now they are back and why is

that? first we have the resistance of bedbugs still in the wilderness time. go after world war ii. attendees into the '90s it got a lot easier and cheaper to travel so that happened in the u.s. and in the 80s it came into effect in the 80s anyway because of the deregulation of airlines there were similar treaties that happened in the '90s internationally and travel was up and there were more people flying so you have more people getting opportunity to spread them wherever they were further around. there were also more people on the planet than ever before to spread these things around and more of us are living in cities than ever before. within half the world's population live in urban environments. they can still end up in the country were in the suburbs.

they do not discriminate but they have an easier time spreading from one family to another for example you can imagine a big apartment building and someone bringing them in and it can spread much more easily from one family to another. then the other part of that is the only insecticides were allowed to use legally in our bedrooms at this point we can't use ddt anymore. these work in a very similar way. so all of those and their offspring had cross resistance to the main chemical and they've developed other assistance is. chemical pesticides are one way that is pathetically cheap and easy is that it's getting increasingly harder to do.

and so now that they are so common, they are back in the poetry and art and music then they went off broadway musical. it's great. i saw it twice and thought creator is here today and this is one example. it's sort of cathartic to express ourselves because they are actually kind of terrifying to a lot of us. >> i do have one other quick -- i wasn't going to do this but we are okay on time. one other reading i'm going to go to commit some of them are coming out with some really relative so after that we start building structures like apartments and churches and they

brought the bugs with them so there are some scientists. these have been separated for a long time and they are trying to figure out how they are related and this is outside of progress. there are 1200 that's at the top and the chimney had bugs living on it and they would go up just like they come out to us and it's too hot for them to stay there so they hide in the pools and cement. so i was there with another scientist to collect and they eventually were looking at the dna comparing it to figure out how long ago they split off and appeared enough if the research keeps coming in the restriction it might be an interesting model to study evolution and how it

splits onto two different hosts. they will piss on us, he warned me. the idea of little facts little back speeding on me while i collected a bedbugs seemed funny. within 24 hours later with them over my head, i was not so sure. actually you can do the next slide. they made up -- i'm not scared of animals and i was a little uneasy when i was there. they are pretty harmless but they were loud. so they are mining the raptors at the apartment complex and they were protected for reasons i won't go into and that's why he was there in accounting. it made it hard for me to follow the running commentary on the assignment. every minute or so he spoofed the length of the attic and jumped with each pass.

i knew they wouldn't hurt me. they are interested and besides they are used to the occasional scientist claiming publican stops to count or collect them. still, knowing the fact doesn't settle the reflexes. it took me a while but i've moved my way to the chimney and i started collecting bugs. i have tweezers and plastic containers i was putting them into. finding then became a game. the first was by discerning a small smudge from a lighter shaded insect. second was to guess whether it was dead or alive before i went in because we needed more life forms and we didn't have much time. in the beginning i couldn't recognize but after ten minutes i could see they emanated a vitality that i couldn't pinpoint even when they were frozen in place. they were brighter and ready to take off running. once i caught it between my pleasers into the next step was to test it to settle the

captured books in the bottom slip the bug inside and snap the lid on. [inaudible] it was pretty gnarly. as the collection bottles filled up i remembered a passage from a biography where the public is thrown into a prison in philadelphia for dodging the world war ii draft. he spent his first evening over which man could catch the most bedbugs. he allegedly cheated by stretching the pieces so they each come to the double. a drop kick my head then another. then we can open up for questions. they are going to pass the microphone around solis before you ask any questions.

>> was the biggest myth that you uncovered that seems to be something people commonly think? >> one that is important is people associate bedbugs with poor people and that is unfair. they will go to anyone. there are populations that are much more horrible. definitely the poor and elderly and disabled. it's expensive to get rid of them and it can be physically demanding so you can imagine certain groups might have a difficulty and if you have a situation like a big apartment comics were public housing or maybe the people running the places are not willing to spend the money and put the effort in to help that is one that i think is important.

>> what did you learn about how to protect yourself which of those of us that have experiences it's really perfect and i don't want them again. >> i ended up getting them in the hotel room and i turned in the first draft of my book. so i don't know, who knows how good i am that i do when i'm traveling i try to be mindful of my stuff. i do check the bag. it's not guaranteed that you'll find them but i pulled the sheets up in up and check around the edges of the mattress into the headboard. after one point i was taking headboards of the wall and then i couldn't lift it back back back up so i can stop doing that after that. i check around those areas may be with a flashlight. i'm usually looking for a really bad infestation because you're more likely perhaps to take them home. but even after i don't see anything i try to keep -- i

don't put my luggage on the bed i put it on the closet and then i will go home and do laundry but even in chicago we got bedbugs in our room because they were hiding in the bedskirt. you can search everywhere so doing laundry on high-tech pitcher, be more aware. it's unlikely to get them from the movies but maybe if you don't carry a billion bags to the movies, just don't take stuff with you so much. >> for the psychological trauma associated do they carry disease or what's the worst physical reaction? spinnaker they are not known to carry disease. they've been researching this for many decades and they have all kind of microbes living. but there isn't any evidence that they can transmit those to humans. there was a study that came out last winter that i think will have to pay close attention to.

it's not nice to the -- among mice not humans. as far as physical sometimes there are cases where people -- and it's usually older folks that have a really bad infestation. there are also people that have that allergic reactions. it's not usual but blood blisters and shock and things like that. the definite thing is the mental health. they have issues with anxiety and insomnia. for people that already have existing mental illness specifically because they have a lot of problems.

but there is even one woman that had a suicide note and mentioned that so it could be quite serious for people. are they fruit bats or -- >> there are other species living with them. >> are they the same as the ones that bite human beings? >> those bats i am not sure if. i think they might be. >> so it seems like they've been around a long time.

do you think that we are going to win the war? >> we are really good at eradicating species that they are usually invasive species and they are especially also hard to eradicate. there's even a study on mosquitoes where they try to eradicate. they involve too quickly. it doesn't happen. >> can you please wait for the microphone. >> are they more prolific during the summertime or the

wintertime? during the warm winter. >> there are stories that they are more common in the summer. that might be the case but no one has ever totally studied that yet. their metabolism slows down in colder environments so it makes sense. we use heaters and whatnot so i don't know how much that affects them in winter and places like new york. >> any more? okay. >> how much business are they generating now thanks >> that's a good question. a lot. i wish i had this figure on the tip of my tongue. there was something like $409 million that's just for professional trade so there were

all these other things coming up so it was a pretty big business. i describe it as the wild west. there is a lot of helpful people out there just as you could imagine whether it is totally unintentional or not, i don't know. >> there are traps and you can go back through the patterns since almost the beginning and find big attracts -- bedbug traps. one way they used to do that actually they would take being leaves and put them under the bed and then they would walk through them and get stuck on them and speed and burn them or whatever and now some researchers have gone back to look at that and actually looked at them walking across the

leaves under a really strong microscope and found they were not just getting stuck. they were trying to develop a trap. last i heard it wasn't so easy to make a synthetic version. there are new traps that are not yet on the market so they can indicate pheromones like a lot of others. it isn't guaranteed that they are going to get in the trap. the other part of it, too roach traps it has their food in it and it is a little tricky to attract them. >> what's the timeline from one

in the station isn't a day or a year? >> it kind of depends. as you saw on the animation for it can actually be sparked and this is based on genetic research so they are actually pretty good at inbreeding. not all like to do that but they are pretty good at it. timeline i don't want to lead you astray. it depends which age they would be. definitely in a month or so. you might want to doublecheck that but it depends how comfortable they are temperature wise. are you itching it clicks >> how long can they go between feedings? >> you might hear on the internet they can go a year without eating into that probably isn't normally true.

it's probably only in situations where there is a hold involved where the metabolism is down. they can't all live a year so don't worry about that. >> any more questions? how often it did they attack domestic animals like dogs and cats? >> i've heard anecdotes. there is also research that shows the picture human arms that are less hairy. so i don't know. i think that probably in a really bad infestation they would prefer to munch on you if they had the choice. >> don't get a hairless cat.

>> don't get a hairless cat anyway. [laughter] i'm sorry. that's my opinion. but see there were bedbug eggs somewhere how long can they go? >> they can hatch in a week or two. i heard some people try to tell me they can last five years. i don't know if anybody has ever researched that. i don't think it's something you can slow down that much. they also can be hard to kill. not all treatments will.

>> everything you're saying makes it sound like they are everywhere moving quickly. why don't we all have them all the time? scenic they are doing that but there are reservoirs. like i said earlier, the multi-dwelling units i like big apartment buildings and that kind of stuff. they continue to be a problem in certain spots and then they kind of leak out from those spots pending on who is interacting where. >> but if i or someone i know has been to one of those hot spots then why is this not just a contagion sweeping the nation very quickly and what is limiting that? >> if you catch them early enough you can treat them pretty easily.

why are they not more widespread than that i'm not sure. the numbers are up. it's a lot less likely to pick them up into go into someone's home. a lot of them were interacting with each other and another thing that happens they sort of isolates themselves what they get isolated from their friends and family. i got an e-mail from a woman the other day telling me about her 73-year-old mother living in an elderly home and they didn't take care of it for two years

and when she moved out she brought them with her and she hasn't seen her grandchildren that entire time because she's afraid to visit so that probably has something to do with it. i don't know how much there is to support that but that would have something to do with it. >> for those people like yourself it's terrific for talking about the humanity that they've always been with us. before they had the chemicals used how did they survive cliques did they have better techniques? it seems frightening to face this without modern pesticides. >> they seemed to be gone for a

while and it was the shocking thing of people not knowing they existed. i don't think people like that back then either. i would be interested to see the mental health like when did we decide that they were a thing worth talking about publicly and how those all kind of interactive. i tried to talk to my parents about it because the math right before world war ii and my grandmother was like they existed but it's not something we would have talked about back then. if someone had this this, no one talked about stuff like that so it might have just been a different public mentality. as far as better treatments back then probably not. people were just more used to them and there were these practices passed down and they were doing the best they probably could and it was just a thing that was part of existing.

>> what about suburbs and cities like phoenix are they less prone to problems with bed bugs or is it something that hasn't really talked about? >> they can certainly. the patterns that you see isn't the land in bigger cities and of bigger cities and they will start spreading to smaller cities. i don't know about phoenix specifically that yes there can be problems. like i said earlier that people certainly certainly get them but when depend upon it happens unless they have a lot of people coming in and it's a little bit easier to contain. it's not going to be easy they are not going to call across the yard so easily to another apartment.

>> do you think the population recognizes this? >> recognizes a bedbug? >> there actually was a study on that in the uk a few years ago where i think that the grad students went out and showed people the images and decide what is best and older folks knew what it was but people were like i don't know what that is. i would guess a relatively similar thing would have been. people are a little bit more aware now and there've been a lot of images of them in the media and online so it's hard to tell the but people are recognizing them more than they used to. >> what is the weirdest thing that you've encountered in researching this book?

>> some of them i probably can't say. >> you can say it. >> and there are a lot of very colorful folks studying bedbugs. useful the story earlier he was kind of an interesting guy and there was one point he was showing me the bedbugs and two of them started mating and he was pointing out to me. he was the computer seen them before and i said no i have not seen that but thank you for pointing it out so they were awkward things like that. i'm going to leave it at that. is it basically one dominant

type of bedbug you know what i mean. is that a recent development? >> there are around 100 related species some of them are specific to us. they had out in the last ten posts. but the main one in the u.s. and a lot of more temperate regions that is the common bedbug for those of you that like their life and then there is a tropical one that's very similar and then there's overlap depending on some parts of the world.

back there. as someone that has bedbug advice can help you become a guru come into you get people to spam your inbox with photos asking what to do? 's been agreed immigrate to get a lot of photographs that gives this a bedbug and i can tell, it is a spec that i can tell. and i know what it looks like that all those other species i was talking about are very similar looking. ..

the

>> but i also think that i don't know if there is really a part of them that can take that out. some of these are obviously important, so i don't know. and okay. please go ahead out there. >> a couple of years ago they started using the heaving freezing and heating methods.

i'm wondering if that is more efficient in some of the chemicals that they have been using. >> the heaving is really spectacular, it is just expensive. and so as soon as we are done with that, they can still come back over. and so sometimes they do treat the department elting's in this way. but my understanding doesn't work as well. and you guys got a lot of questions. [laughter] >> please go ahead. [applause] >> thank you for coming. >> if you'd like your copy of the book, it's going to be right here. maybe you could please line up in that center aisle. let's have one more round of

applause. [applause] [applause] [inaudible] >> booktv television for serious readers. >> next on "after words", hollingsworth versus kerry which considers the constitutionality of proposition eight.