Thankfully, getting rid of them isn't as hard as you'd imagine.
Every parent has said the line: "Good night! Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!" This sing-song rhyme that has been around for centuries alludes to the fact that bed bugs were prevalent in the past. After a significant decrease post-WWII, however, the sneaky pests have been making a comeback. Since the 1990s, bed bug infestations have risen dramatically, leading people to look for ways to avoid and get rid of the blood-sucking little buggers.
Unfortunately, a lot of the information about how to do that is flat-out wrong. Popular YouTube science communicator and former NASA engineer, Mark Rober invites viewers to forget what we think we know and go on an educational journey with the leading bed bug researchers at Rutgers University's urban entomology lab. Not only did Rober subject himself to bed bug bites on purpose to see what happens when they feed, but he also conducted a series of experiments in the lab to find out what is actually effective at killing them and what is not.
Bed bugs have a reputation for being nearly impossible to get rid of, which isn't really the case, according to Rober. When you know what works, it's actually a fairly simple process to kill an infestation. And the good news is that it doesn't entail any toxic chemicals—in fact the pest control chemicals sold for bed bugs don't work at all, according to Rober's tests.
A person in gloves inspecting for bed bugs. Photo credit: Canva
In the process of learning about bed bugs, Rober shared a few "super wild" facts about the infamous creatures.
Fact #1: Bed bugs can live 3 to 10 months without feeding.
Eek. No wonder it seems like it's impossible to get rid of them. Starving them doesn't work. They can live in the resting stage for three to six months, and if the environment is cold enough, they can survive around 300 days, or 10 months, without eating.
Fact #2: Bed bugs don't transmit disease
Some good news here: Unlike blood-sucking mosquitoes, bed bugs don't carry or transmit disease. The bad news on the front is that because they don't pose a disease threat, only an annoyance, there's not a big incentive to fund research to eradicate them.
Fact #3: Bed bugs are attracted to vertical objects
In one of Rober's experiments, he placed a dish with a cylindrical vertical column inside it and a dish without a column, and nearly all of the bed bugs in the enclosure ended up in the dish with the column. "If you think about it, humans sleep at the highest elevation any given room. So their logic is just crawl up any vertical surface you see until you eventually find a warm-blooded meal at the top."
Part of how they find humans is by smell, which is why certain strong-smelling items can act as a deterrent for bed bugs. In Rober's experiment, Bounce dryer sheets, moth balls, baking soda, and essential oils all seemed to repel bed bugs (as opposed to ultrasonic pest repellants, which appeared to have no effect). However, none of those things did anything to kill them.
Fact #4: Before 1950, one in three homes had bed bugs
Yikes. Even with the resurgence, we're still nowhere near those numbers, thank goodness.
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Fact #5: The way bed bugs mate is weird
The term used to describe it is called "traumatic insemination," and really, you should just let Mark Rober explain it with his visual metaphor. Start at minute 11:30.
Two things work well to kill bed bugs—diatomaceous earth and heat
In testing chemical sprays, foggers, and other items marketed for killing bed bugs, Rober found a "superstar" in a natural, non-toxic substance. Diatomaceous earth—pulverized fossilized remains of tiny aquatic organisms called diatoms—was the most effective at killing the buggers with a 90% mortality rate after 10 days as opposed to 12% with the Hot Shot bed bug spray. Diatomaceous earth is mostly silica, which absorbs moisture, and when the silica dust sticks to the bed bugs as the walk through it, it dehydrates them. A light dusting of diatomaceous earth around all the cracks and crevices of a room is one way to kill off an infestation, though that process can take days.
The other way to kill bed bugs is heat. Steam kills bed bugs, as does heating up a room to over 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Temps over 122 degrees kills bed bugs instantly, and as Rober points out, there's no way for them to build immunity to this kind of treatment. So steamers and clothes dryers set to high are the average person's best bet for killing off bed bugs if they have them. The "nuclear option" is to have a pro come in with big heaters and cook your home for a day.
How do you avoid getting bed bugs in the first place?
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An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and that's true for bed bugs especially. Avoiding an infestation if there's already one in your apartment building is trickier, but a lot of people inadvertently bring bed bugs home from hotel stays. Checking the underside of a hotel mattress as soon as you enter the room is a good habit to practice. Bed bugs poop a lot, and there will be spots along the edges of the mattress if bed bugs are present.
The other tip is to use the luggage rack to store your suitcase instead of leaving it on the floor or furniture, and to hang clothes on the closet hangers instead of putting them into the hotel room's dresser drawers. Some people may even put their suitcase in the bathtub, at least until they've checked the bed for signs of poop.
Nobody wants to deal with bed bugs, but at least now we have clear evidence of what actually works to get rid of them and what doesn't. Cook them with heat/steam and dehydrate them with diatomaceous earth, and take some simple steps when traveling to lessen your chances of getting them in the first place.
Sleep tight, everyone!
This article originally appeared last year.
Kids in the 1970s pretending to cook
"What's for dinner?" has been asked by kids for millennia, probably, and the most common answers depend on both where and at what time in history it was asked. In ancient times, people were limited to what they could hunt or gather. Medieval recipes look different than what people ate in the 19th century. And what our grandparents ate when they were children was different from what our kids eat today.
Obviously, people couldn't DoorDash Chipotle in the '70s, but when someone on Reddit asked people born before 1970 what they ate for dinner most weeks, there were some standard meals a lot of Americans clearly ate regularly growing up. Lots of meatloaf and beef stroganoff. Pork chops and chop suey. Convenient assistance from Shake n' Bake, Hamburger Helper and TV dinners. Canned fruits and veggies. So much Jell-O.
from AskOldPeople
Here are some of the most popular responses:
"Overcooked pork chop, minute rice, canned green beans, canned fruit cocktail
Spaghetti with ground beef and sauce made from a packet (Durkee?)
Pot roast (whatever cut of meat was on sale) cooked with Lipton onion soup mix. Frozen peas. Canned peaches.
Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and canned green beans. Canned pears
Shake n bake chicken and scalloped potatoes from a box. Canned fruit of some kind.
On awesome days Chef Boyardee pizza mix from a box.
I liked LaChoy chop suey.
Always with a jug of milk on the table."
Meatloaf was a staple dinner.Photo credit: Canva
"So I think many of our moms went to the same home ec classes. Our house also had on rotation:
Goulash: It wasn’t what I have come to understand is Hungarian Goulash, but ground beef/spices/tomatoes.
Chicken Diane: Way overcooked chicken with rosemary, thyme and other seasonings.
Meatloaf: Yes, ketchup on top.
And the ever-present rice. Dad bought an aluminum rice cooker from his time in Japan and we had rice (he added soy sauce on top) 3x per week. The other side was baked potatoes.
The big treat!!!??? Chef Boy Ar Dee pizza from a tube on Friday once per month. Mom had a round aluminum baking pan and make dough, spread the included sauce on the dough, add the Parmesan Cheese (in the included packet). That was the biggest treat - and in all honesty I would go back to that day cause I miss my mom. Best pizza ever."
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"Hamburger patty or braised round steak, green salad, canned vegetable (peas, beans, corn, beets). Occasionally a baked potato. Sometimes my mom would toss chicken in a flour/seasoning mix and bake it and we'd have oven fried chicken--maybe once every couple of weeks. We got beef from a cousin so it was cheap, and chicken was expensive.
Mom also made spaghetti with ground beef, and beef stew with the tougher cuts of the cow. Oh--and liver--God how I hated liver night.
We always had cheap grocery store 'ice milk' in the freezer for dessert."
Spaghetti is still a classic.Photo credit: Canva
"Sunday - Spaghetti/macaroni and homemade spaghetti sauce and a salad.
Monday - Roast chicken, a side (potatoes, Rice-a-Roni), and a veg.
Tuesday - Pork chops, a side (potatoes, Rice-a-Roni), and a veg.
Wednesday - Spaghetti/macaroni and homemade spaghetti sauce and a salad.
Thursday - Rump or sirloin steak, a side (potatoes, Rice-a-Roni), and a veg.
Friday - breaded and fried fish (ugh--haddock, halibut, or cod if the latter was on sale), a side (potatoes, Rice-a-Roni), and a veg.
Saturday - Rump or sirloin steak, a side (potatoes, Rice-a-Roni), and a veg.
Dessert would be supermarket ice cream (carton, usually Neopolitan), Jello chocolate pudding, Table Talk pie (usually apple)."
Why were pork chops so popular?Photo credit: Canva
"Typical meals: stroganoff made with ground beef and egg noodles. Pot roast. Swiss steak. Chicken cacciatore. Fried chicken. This was in California, but my parents were from the Midwest so pretty meat-and-potatoes. There was always a side vegetable and a starch. Rarely bread or rolls. Occasionally salad but not always until the 1980s. No formal/planned dessert except for special occasions like birthdays and holidays, but sometimes there was ice cream in the freezer or there were cookies (store bought; my mom wasn't a baker). In the late 70s my mom loved Julia Child and started to be more adventurous with cooking; later she took Asian cooking classes too."
"Beef stroganoff, fried bologna, weiners wrapped in bacon and then broiled, baked beans, (from scratch) liver.
Jello 1-2-3 (so space age!) Bundt cake, canned fruit salad, canned pears, canned peaches."
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"When we had some money (early in the pay period):
Spaghetti with sausages and homemade sauce
Liver and onions
Chop suey
Spare ribs and sauerkraut
Pork chops with mashed potatoes and gravy
Beef stew
Boeuf bourguignon
Beef stroganoff
When we were short on money:
Spam & scrambled eggs
Homemade macaroni & cheese
Cold cereal
That’s all I can think of right now.
We very rarely ever had dessert and almost never ate out. We never had fast food, the only fast food chain in town was Burger King, and McDonald’s was a town away and only open about six months of the year."
Here's to all the meals that nourished us in every era of our lives.
Parents are giving sneaky tips for birthday invitations to prevent party disasters like this one.
Kids birthday party culture is definitely a source of major strife in the current zeitgeist. For one thing, parties have become outrageously expensive. Renting a lane at the bowling alley and getting some pizza for a dozen kids used to be the cheap party. Now that same experience will probably run $500 or more. If you tack on custom desserts (unless it's a Costco sheet cake), goodie bags, and a premium venue like a trampoline park or arcade, you could be looking at a bill of close to $1000! That's madness!
RSVP etiquette is in crisis, too. Social media is rife with stories of no one RSVPing, RSVPers no-showing on the day, and others sorts of rude or bizarre behavior from parents that turns parties sour and, sadly, ruin kids' birthdays.
One parent's story of a birthday party gone horribly wrong, though, definitely takes the cake.
A bad birthday party can really hurt the birthday boy or girl. Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
"My son's birthday was recently and we decided to throw him a party at a local place that was kid focused and amazing," the parent writes in a Reddit post. Due to classroom rules and wanting to pass the invitations out through school, the family invited all 24 kids from their child's class.
"Not a single parent RSVP'ed. Not a single one. My name, my phone number, AND my spouse's phone number was on the card. I'm literally staring at one ... that I handwrote and this was included on the invite. I handwrote every card so I know for a fact what was on there," they say.
Not wanting to cancel the birthday party (and traumatize his son), the parent began inviting kids from other branches of their network. Friends' kids, coworkers kids. Basically anyone with a warm body so that they could throw a proper party. In the end, the family planned and paid for 15 kids to attend the party, including a resounding zero from class.
And then everything went haywire.
A lot can go wrong if you don't get the birthday invitations just right.Photo credit: Canva
"Party was yesterday night. ... We get there, get settled in, and start seeing kids come in. A few of his classmates began showing up. I was fine with that and was excited kids started showing up for him. And then more kids started showing up. One family brought 7 kids total; 3 teens, 2 slightly older kids, a girl from his classmates, and their cousin. Another family brought their son AND one of his friends because 'they didn't know if their son would know anyone there so we wanted to make sure he had a friend to play with'. So many of them brought siblings."
The numbers quickly got way, way out of hand. Organizers at the venue told the parent they were going to have to pay for all the extra kids that showed up. So the OP unfortunately had to tell anyone who brought uninvited kids, or failed to RSVP, that they would have to pay their own way for all the crafts and activities available at the venue.
A few families apologized and ponied up, but... "I had multiple parents tell me that they didn't know they couldn't bring their other kids and promised to pay before they left. Some asked for my Cashapp/Venmo/Zelle so they could reimburse me later since they couldn't afford it right now. Some just left, a few taking their presents with them."
With so many kids running amok, the party took an unfortunate turn. Kids started being mean to an animal that was brought out for entertainment and its handlers had to put it away. Trash went flying everywhere. Kids climbed on tables and got kicked out. It was pandemonium.
In the end, the parent had to pay an extra cleaning fee, pay for damage done to the venue, and pay for all the extra kids who showed up whose parents left before chipping in. Worse yet, their son was devastated at how the party turned out.
"I was in tears. My son is really upset that there were so many mean kids. He said this was the worst party ever and asked to not have a party for next year."
The obvious question coming out of this story: Why are people so awful?!
Stories like this one sadly aren't rare. The cynical take is that parents are ruder and more self-absorbed than ever, that our chronically disconnected society has diluted our sense of community and obligation to be kind to each other.
The (slightly) more optimistic and probably more accurate take is that today's parents are completely overwhelmed and have their hands full coordinating handfuls of events that are months away, responding to dozens of daily emails from school and teachers and daycares, being engaged and hands-on in every aspects of their kids lives, etc. So RSVPs sometimes slip to the bottom of the list and get forgotten. The behavior in this parent's story is appalling, but probably not intentionally malicious.
Still, social media users were furious on behalf of the child and his parents in the story.
"This is unacceptable behavior," wrote one commenter.
"People suck and kids parties bring out the worst in people!" added another.
"manners have gone out the window lately I don't know why anyone would do this, its so unbelievably rude," someone wrote.
"Upside: I feel like you're raising a kid that's going run circles around these folks later in life," another person added optimistically.
Parents were distraught after kids who never RSVPd trashed the party. Photo by Malachi Cowie on Unsplash
Whatever the cause, there are a few ways you can protect yourself and your kids from birthday party catastrophes like this one.
Don't include the specific location on the invite. The best way to stop people who didn't RSVP from showing up unannounced is to stay vague about the party venue. Just put the day and time on the invitation so people can save the date, but make them text or call before you tell them where the party will be held. That way, you can secure a commitment beforehand.
Specify whether siblings are welcome. Unfortunately, some parents have been known to use other kids birthday parties as informal daycares, dropping all of their kids off at once and taking themselves a nice break! It's not all conniving, though. It is legitimately a lot easier on some families to bring everyone along to a party rather than dividing and conquering to entertain siblings who weren't invited. Just be clear on the invite or in RSVP discussions about who's allowed to come and whether parents are expected to stay (or if it's a "drop off party").
(For parents RSVPing, experts agree that you should never assume siblings are invited.)
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Understand classroom rules. A lot of schools now require that, if birthday party invitations get handed out in class, that everyone is invited. That rules comes from a great place of not wanting anyone to feel left out, but it also causes a lot of problems. The inclusivity is a positive but it also means you end up inviting a lot of kids and parents you don't know very well or at all. If you're up for this logistical challenge, go for it! But if not, consider a smaller party with just your child's good friends—and invite them privately outside of school.
Keep it simple. Many parents are choosing to keep parties cheaper and simpler to avoid financial catastrophes like the one in this parent's story. Meet-ups at a public park with cake and juice boxes, for example, are much lower stakes than anything involving wildlife. Inviting a small handful of people to your house rather than an expensive venue involves cleaning and prep, but allows you the advantage of operateing at your home base.
Finally, for anyone on the receiving end of a birthday party invitation, don't be a jerk! RSVPing either way is a much appreciated gesture. On the chance that you do forget to RSVP (it happens), don't show up unannounced. It may not seem like a big deal, but when a couple dozen sets of parents all have the same thought, this dad's viral story shows exactly what can go wrong.
This article originally appeared in March. It has been updated.
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A teacher showing her students their grades.
Remember in school when the teacher would split the class into different reading groups? One was always, clearly, more advanced, while the other went at a slower pace. But the groups usually weren't labeled as such out loud.
One teacher, at least, says maybe they should be.
The results from 2024’s National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the slide in American students' reading abilities has only worsened. The percentage of 8th graders with “below basic” reading skills was 33%, the lowest in the exam’s three-decade history. The percentage of fourth graders “below basic” was the largest in 20 years at 40%.
“Our lowest performing students are reading at historically low levels,” said Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP exam. “We need to stay focused in order to right this ship.”
A big reason for the drop was the disruption in education caused by the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but educators are looking to see if there are other causes behind the drop in competency. “This is a major concern — a concern that can’t be blamed solely on the pandemic,” Carr said. “Our nation is facing complex challenges in reading.”
Alarmed by the drop in reading scores, a high school teacher named Amber, who goes by @Amber.Maree44 on TikTok, is considering telling her students the grade level in which they read in hopes that it will motivate them and give them a reality check on their performance.
@amber.mariee44 Please give your feedback I can’t tell if this is a good idea or not #teacher #teachersbelike #teachertok #teacherlife #teachersoftiktok #highschool #literacy
“I'm starting to think that we need to be more straightforward with students about their progress and where they're at academically,” Amber said. "I think they need to know what grade level they're performing at."
Amber’s perspective may also be helpful to parents. A 2023 study revealed a significant gap between parents' perceptions of their child's performance and their actual standing compared to grade-level standards. Nearly nine out of ten parents thought their child was at grade level, while about half were below grade level nationally.
“I'm hesitant to do this because I know that we don't want students to feel bad about themselves, and I know that we don't want to discourage students by showing them their deficits. So I think, for a lot of students, having a real reality check like that where it's like, 'Hey, you're in high school. But it looks like you're reading at a fifth-grade level,' I think some students need that in order to push themselves to actually try in school," she continued.
A teacher helping a student.Canva/Photos
Amber’s suggestion runs counter to some in education who believe that if children are told they are below grade level, it will discourage them from reading. Students may not challenge themselves by attempting to read above their level, or they may become discouraged.
This may further deter their progress, and it is far from an imperfect process to determine where a child is with their reading skills.
"To the people saying 'oh but only tell the parents' no, the kid needs to know. The parents can't read for them, or do the work for them. also some parents don't care, or don't get it," one person wrote in the comments.
"I’m a teacher. I did this for years, and I would tell my students iif you aren’t at a level you’re proud of, I want you to know it’s NOT your fault. But if you choose not to fix it, it will be,'” another added.
Reading can be a challenge for many students.Canva/Photos
Amber believes that a big reason why 54% of adults cannot read at a fifth-grade level is that no one told them, so they don’t know they need help improving their reading skills.
To combat the literacy crisis, Amber was considering having her students take an online literacy test to determine their grade level; she doesn’t need to know the results because she already knows where they are from previous tests. Then, so no student feels singled out, she can have a dialogue with her students who have fallen behind about how they can improve their skills. This approach strikes a happy medium, allowing students to learn where they are without shame from their teacher, while also providing them with options to enhance their skills.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
Linguists break down why so many people say "is is."
The English language is bizarre, littered with inconsistent rules, surprising pronunciations and subtle quirks in phrasing that we often overlook. With that in mind, what is "is is"? For starters, it’s a pretty common grammatical pet peeve. Beyond that, it’s also a strange repetition that you might find yourself saying out loud even though you’d never write it.
Before we go any further, let’s give some examples. You might encounter "is is" in sentences like "The problem is, is that we don’t have time for dinner" or "My point is, is that rock music is best experienced on headphones." You might read both of those sentences and think, "I’d never say that." But read them out loud, using those commas for intentional pauses, and the concept should crystalize. (Next time you listen to your favorite podcast, keep this front of mind—it might now become your pet peeve. You’re welcome.)
@wordsatwork When it comes to English grammar, the weird thing is is that we can use "is" two times in a row - but how? And why? Let's talk about it! #language #linguistics #english #grammar #learnontiktok #education #fyp
You might call it the "is-is hiccup"
This isn’t just the stuff of online griping—linguists do have technical names for it. One common term is a "double copula," and an excellent article from the website GrammarBook.com uses the way catchier and more accessible "is-is hiccup." "Often these are statements made by sophisticated and qualified spokespersons," their author writes, distinguishing between real examples of this verbal flub ("The fact of the matter is, is that…") and others that are clunky and unorthodox but are technically correct ("[A] comedian from North Carolina named Andy Griffith once made America laugh with 'What It Was, Was Football,' his monologue about college football from a country boy’s perspective.")
So, why do we do this anyway? In 2013, Slate's Alyssa Pelish spoke to linguists and presented an educated guess. At one point, they ask readers to consider the following sentence as spoken out loud: "The thing is we are all out of pickles." They explain, "If the speaker places a definite stress on is, the rest of the sentence is likely to be followed by a pause, no? Linguists like Patrick McConvell at Australian National University and Laura Michaelis-Cummings at the University of Colorado have found that the stressed is, coupled with the break immediately after, sounds awkward to speakers’ ears, since it’s unlike the general patterns that stresses and pauses typically follow in English." The resulting "is is," according to Michaelis-Cummings, is something of a "workaround."
Teachers explain grammatical rules. Photo credit: Canva, Pressmaster (left, cropped) / pixelshot (right, cropped)
If you say "is is," you probably have good intentions
In other words, you’re probably using "is is" for the sake of clarity—even if some find it annoying. Speaking of which: One user created a thread about this topic in the r/grammar subreddit, and multiple people replied by theorizing about the concept. "The unnecessary 'is' comes from the fact that people often don't speak grammatically, but often speak in sentence fragments, especially when they're still figuring out what they want to say," one Redditor suggested. "I used to have to transcribe recordings of conversations, and it really struck me just how much people tend to stammer, use filler words, or change tacks in mid-sentence."
Others chimed in while also playfully using "is is." This comment wins the thread: "What the meaning of 'is is' is is not so clear." In response to one breakdown, someone replied, "This is very clear and actually helpful," highlighting the key difference between the written and spoken word. (But as another person noted, some examples in the thread are grammatically correct, and others aren’t. Confusing stuff!)
In summary: The thing is, is that words are weird.
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