Will cockroaches survive nuclear war? Scientists have come up with an answer

However, scientists from Australia urge to take this myth with caution: the insects' resistance to radiation is greatly overestimated.

Professor of Global Health Tilman Ruff and biologist Mark Elgar explained why, in fact, the survival of cockroaches in a large-scale nuclear disaster is unlikely.

Where the myth came from

Rumours of cockroaches being 'radio-resistant' are thought to have emerged after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Allegedly the insects continued to run among the ruins. However, Prof Ruff emphasises: there is no reliable evidence of this.

"The photos of the victims show flies, and perhaps some insects did survive. But that doesn't mean they weren't affected," he says.

The TV show Mythbusters did an experiment in 2012: cockroaches were exposed to radiation. They did survive doses that were devastating to humans, but still died at extremely high levels of radiation.

Who's tougher: cockroaches or flies?

Professor Mark Elgar clarifies: although cockroaches are more resistant to radiation than humans (by a factor of 6-15), they are not the most resilient insects. Fruit flies, for example, are even more resilient. And ants, especially those digging deep holes, may have a better chance of surviving a disaster.

That said, common household cockroaches - the American and German species - have got a bad reputation because they are constantly being caught by humans. In reality, there are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches, including dressy Australian ones like the "Mardi Gras cockroach" with yellow spots and blue legs.

Even cockroaches won't survive a nuclear apocalypse

The main problem is not only radiation, but also lack of food. Cockroaches feed on organic waste, corpses and rotting matter. However, if the entire ecosystem is destroyed, they simply have nothing to feed on.

"All living things depend on other living things. If everything goes extinct, the cockroaches simply have nothing to eat," Elgar explains.

Even if some individuals survive the irradiation, they could suffer serious mutations, shortened lifespans and infertility.

Professor Ruff adds: ionic radiation damages the DNA of all organisms, affects cells, causes cancer, cataracts, cardiovascular disease, reduces biodiversity and decreases fertility.

Studies using Chernobyl as an example show: no species, from fungi and insects to birds and mammals, escaped the effects.

"The higher the contamination, the more tumours, mutations and disorders in all living things," Ruff emphasises.

It used to be thought that the more complex an organism was, the more it was affected by radiation. By that logic, humans were the most vulnerable and insects should survive. But modern science speaks of ecosystem interdependence: even if the cockroach itself is resilient, it can't exist outside the destroyed environment.

"You can't look at an individual species out of context: there's also nutrition, mutations, intergenerational effects and chronic exposure," explains Prof Ruff.

So, contrary to myth, cockroaches will not escape the nuclear apocalypse. Neither will anything else. In a real catastrophe, it's unlikely that anyone would survive - whether you're a cockroach or a human.