Ologies with Alie Ward

Bonus Episode: COCKROACH MILK with Joshua Benoit and Sinead English

October 20, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • The Pacific beetle roach (*Diploptera punctata*) is the only truly viviparous cockroach species known to produce milk to nourish its developing embryos within a brood sac during pregnancy. 
  • Cockroach milk is an extremely nutritious substance, described as turning into caloric crystals inside the developing larvae, and its evolution of live birth has occurred independently far more often in insects than in vertebrates. 
  • Commercial replication of cockroach milk for products like lattes is currently difficult due to challenges in synthesizing the necessary lipokalins in bulk, making direct consumption or synthesis from ground cockroaches more likely alternatives. 

Segments

Introduction to Cockroach Milk
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(00:01:01)
  • Key Takeaway: Host Alie Ward was prevented from tasting cockroach milk on the Tonight Show due to safety concerns.
  • Summary: Alie Ward recounts her experience preparing for a Tonight Show segment involving bugs, which included obtaining frozen cockroach milk samples. The planned on-air taste test was ultimately vetoed by ‘Safety Steve.’ The host expresses her passion for the topic, which stems from a 2017 article proclaiming cockroach milk the most nutritious substance on Earth.
Guest Introductions and Background
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(00:04:53)
  • Key Takeaway: Dr. Sinead English and Dr. Josh Benoit collaborate on studying pregnant bugs, including tsetse flies and cockroaches.
  • Summary: Dr. Sinead English from the University of Bristol and Dr. Josh Benoit from the University of Cincinnati are introduced as researchers working on insect viviparity. Dr. English specializes in tsetse flies, which also nurse their young, while Dr. Benoit has a background in entomology research. They have been collaborating for about five years on the science of pregnant insects.
Pregnancy vs. Gravidity in Insects
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(00:06:02)
  • Key Takeaway: Insect ‘pregnancy’ involves holding post-egg stage young within the body, unlike ‘gravidity,’ which usually refers to carrying eggs.
  • Summary: Insects are considered gravid when carrying eggs, but true pregnancy involves retaining the developing young past the egg stage within the body. Tsetse flies carry a tiny maggot in a uterus, while cockroaches utilize a brood sac, which functions like a pseudoplacenta. The cockroach and tsetse fly represent two major models for studying viviparity in insects.
Focus on Diploptera punctata
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(00:07:16)
  • Key Takeaway: Diploptera punctata, the Pacific beetle roach, is the only known truly viviparous cockroach species.
  • Summary: The specific species studied is Diploptera punctata, known as the Pacific beetle mimic cockroach, which resembles a beetle and is found in tropical and subtropical regions. Despite 7,000 identified cockroach species, this is the sole one confirmed to be viviparous. Live birth has evolved independently multiple times in insects, far exceeding its evolution in vertebrates.
Evolutionary Reasons for Live Birth
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(00:08:56)
  • Key Takeaway: Live birth in D. punctata may be an adaptation to reduce vulnerability to predation or cope with resource uncertainty in island environments.
  • Summary: One hypothesis suggests that keeping young internally until they are more developed increases their evolutionary success by protecting them from early predation. Another theory links this trait to resource uncertainty in tropical and subtropical island areas, where the mother’s reserves can sustain the young longer than immediate external food sources.
Pregnancy, Lactation, and Anatomy
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(00:10:27)
  • Key Takeaway: Unlike mammals, D. punctata nurses its young via milk production concurrently during the 70-90 day pregnancy period inside the brood sac.
  • Summary: The cockroach nurses its young while they are still developing inside the brood sac, contrasting with mammals who separate in-utero nourishment and post-birth lactation. The milk is described as thick, like tapioca pudding, and is ingested by the embryos, forming highly nutritious crystals in their guts. The pregnancy lasts a long time, 70 to 90 days, resulting in babies up to ten times the size they would be if hatched from an egg.
Birth Process and Diet
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(00:13:31)
  • Key Takeaway: The mother gives birth to 8 to 18 deflated embryos that inflate with air upon emergence, increasing their size significantly.
  • Summary: The mother can carry between eight and 18 developing embryos in the brood sac, which are deflated inside. Upon birth, the young inflate with air, emerging two to three times larger than their size within the sac, resembling clowns exiting a clown car. The mother sustains this massive nutritional output by grazing on a generalist diet, such as dog food, demonstrating remarkable efficiency.
Milk Composition and Microbiota
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(00:15:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Cockroach milk composition is protein-rich, featuring lipokalins, and transfers beneficial microbes to the embryos.
  • Summary: The milk contains proteins like lipokalins, which are specialized for carrying fat-soluble vitamins, similar to mammalian milk. It is a highly caloric, complete diet for the developing young. Furthermore, the milk transmits specialized microbiota from the mother to the embryos, which is significant given the importance of endosymbionts in cockroach biology.
Commercialization and Harvesting Milk
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(00:17:43)
  • Key Takeaway: Collecting cockroach milk is extremely difficult, requiring internal extraction methods, which limits commercial viability for a ‘milk’ product.
  • Summary: The food industry has shown interest, but industrializing the process is hard because synthesizing the necessary proteins artificially can be toxic to the production medium. Milk is obtained either by dissolving crystals from the guts of deceased embryos or by placing absorbent material into the internal brood sac every few hours. The collected sample Alie Ward obtained was dissolved in PBS, resulting in a consistency similar to 1% milk.
Host’s Personal Milk Experience
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(00:21:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Alie Ward successfully paid a researcher to milk cockroaches, but the resulting sample is currently stored frozen at the American Museum of Natural History.
  • Summary: Alie Ward paid researcher Gabrielle Lefebvre to obtain a few milliliters of cockroach milk, suspecting it might be worth its weight in gold. The sample was intended for the Tonight Show but was removed due to safety concerns. The two tiny vials are now stored in the bug freezer in the entomology department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Final Thoughts and Credits
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(00:27:00)
  • Key Takeaway: The host reveals using a beta blocker to manage nerves before appearing on television with live insects.
  • Summary: The episode concludes with thanks to the guests, researchers, and production team, including Mercedes Maitland for editing and production. Alie Ward shares a secret: she took a legally prescribed beta blocker to manage her nerves and prevent hand shaking while handling scorpions and bugs on live television. She advises listeners to only take such medication under a physician’s advice.