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[00:00.16] If they find themselves in a particularly cool environment, they can enter a dormant state and survive over a year without feeding.

[00:10.78] While bedbugs can easily move around, they usually stay within 20 feet of where their human host is regularly sitting or sleeping.

[00:21.41] So new infestations are most often the result of humans accidentally transporting bugs via furniture, clothing, or other items.

[00:33.63] Throughout human history, we've tried almost everything to prevent these itchy invasions.

[00:40.53] In Eastern Europe, for example, people used bean leaves, which can trap bedbugs in their tiny, hooked hairs.

[00:49.57] Another common trick was running lit candles along bed frames to burn any hiding insects.

[00:57.80] While these methods were occasionally effective, bedbugs continued to thrive.

[01:03.91] And in the early 1900s, as central heating made homes more livable to humans and bugs year-round, populations hit unprecedented heights.

[01:16.13] But this bedbug renaissance was short lived.

[01:19.85] In the 1940s, the pest faced an existential threat in the powerful insecticide called dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane.

[01:31.27] Also known as DDT, this neurotoxin disrupts insects’ nervous systems, causing spasms and death.

[01:40.03] For decades, DDT was used across the globe to control agricultural pests and combat insect-borne diseases.

[01:50.13] However, in the 1970s, scientists realized DDT had accumulated to dangerous levels in the environment, potentially putting human health at risk.

[02:01.81] Many countries began banning DDT, but not before it had rid the world almost entirely of bedbugs.

[02:10.05] Almost.

[02:11.64] After decades of quiet comfort, bedbugs reemerged in the early 2000s, shepherded by fast-moving international trade.

[02:22.00] Many of these insects have since become pesticide resistant, developing traits like thicker exoskeletons, and the enhanced ability to break down insecticide toxins in their bodies.

[02:36.08] Thankfully, we still have options.

[02:38.74] People can utilize high heat, as most bedbugs and their eggs can’t survive temperatures above 45° Celsius.

[02:48.03] And despite their adaptations, bedbugs remain vulnerable to the suction of a vacuum cleaner.

[02:55.47] While simple, these tools warrant some gratitude. After all, unlike naval ships of the past, we no longer rely on the services of our other age-old nemesis, the cockroach.