Mike Carruthers

And there's a link to her book in the show notes.

Sade, thanks so much for sharing this.

You probably like to think that your home is relatively bug-free, but boy, are you wrong.

Researchers surveyed 50 American homes and discovered a total of 579 species of spiders, beetles, mites, flies, and ants all lurking in the shadows.

Every home had at least 100 species living in it.

And the investigators only examined visible surfaces that could easily be accessed, like behind furniture and on ceilings, shelves, and baseboards.

Now, the survey was done in homes in North Carolina, but it turns out it's very typical no matter where you live or how clean you keep your home.

We all have lots of non-human roommates.

And although some of them are unwelcome guests that accidentally just stumble into your house, a lot of them move in because they need humans to survive.

And it turns out a lot of these insects can be good house guests as they clean up after themselves and us.

The carpet beetles and book lice search for dead insects, molds, and algae and eat them, and they clean up after humans by finishing off food crumbs left behind, as well as eating hair and dead skin.

So yeah, it's pretty gross.

but there's nothing you can do about it.

And that is something you should know.

I would love it if you would please tell someone else about this podcast so they could give it a listen and help us grow our audience.

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Just use that share feature on the player you're listening to right now.

I'm Mike Carruthers.

Thanks for listening today to Something You Should Know.

I know you like interesting and thought-provoking conversations and ideas because you listen to something you should know.