Illustration: Patrick Seymour
Even the bugs have bugs. In the first-ever survey of the bloodsucker's microbiome, a University of Cincinnati researcher found that bedbugs host two types of microbes called proteobacteria that apparently enhance bedbug fertility.
They're bookworms. Reports of bedbugs lurking in book bindings and pages have led some infested libraries to run electric heaters for hours on end. Bugs and their eggs die at 122 degrees F; the books emerge unharmed.
They're bad in bed. Like, really bad. The male impales his mate in the abdomen with a needle-like penis. A specialized organ in the female called the spermalege stymies harmful pathogens transmitted by the deed, which scientists rightly refer to as "traumatic insemination."
- ### The Age of Invisible Design Has Arrived
