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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The German cockroach is one of the most common household pests worldwide.</li><li>New research found that the species evolved to thrive in human dwellings about 2,100 years ago.</li></ul>If you ever <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-city-cockroaches-rats-mice-exterminator-places-avoid-infestation-2019-3">saw a cockroach</a> scuttling across your kitchen floor or a restaurant wall, chances are it was a German cockroach. The German roach is the most common of the 70 different cockroach species in the US.For 250 years, scientists didn't know where it came from and how it managed to spread to every continent on Earth except Antarctica. Now that mystery has been solved, and the answer is that it's largely our fault.The German cockroach is "a creation of human-made environments," Edward Vargo, an entomology professor at Texas A&amp;M University and co-author of a new <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2401185121">study</a> identifying the roach's origins, told The Washington Post.The German cockroach can't survive in "temperate winters outdoors" and all species of cockroaches "prefer warm, moist places where they can feed on human and pet foods, decaying and fermenting matter, and a variety of other items," according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.That's why it's pretty safe to say that if human-built establishments like houses, stores, restaurants, and other buildings didn't exist, neither would these pesky pests. The researchers published their results last week in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.<h2 id="6fb7a1cb-9f81-4197-9939-0d5b65745e61">Where did the German roach come from?</h2>Scientists have long understood that the species thrive indoors, but their origins remained a mystery.Through DNA analysis, Vargo and his colleagues found that the species' closest relative is the Asian cockroach. The German roach evolved from its Asian cousin about 2,100 years ago to adapt to "human settlements in India or Myanmar," the researchers reported in their paper.With advancements in transportation and "temperature-controlled housing," the German <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/home/how-to-get-rid-of-roaches">cockroach</a> made its relatively recent global spread, the researchers said in their report.<h2 id="76a46be3-d8a0-4b80-a863-ddb4fc30ecca">How the German cockroach took over</h2>The German cockroach's adaption to warm environments, ability to rapidly breed, and unique <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroachs-2014-3">resistance to insecticides</a> make them a frustratingly common presence in households.For example, in a lifetime, one adult female German roach can produce four to eight egg capsules containing up to 48 eggs each, according to Penn State's Department of Entomology. Do the math and that's between 192 to 384 roaches, if every egg survives to adulthood. But German roaches didn't migrate thousands of miles across oceans and continents on their tiny insect legs. Their global spread coincides with advancements in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vintage-travel-photos-from-100-years-ago-1920s">human travel</a> and housing, according to the study.In particular, the researchers determined that the German cockroach's spread began along two routes, west and east of its origin in India or Myanmar.The roach's westward spread likely occurred during times of increasing "commercial and military activities of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-10-greatest-empires-in-history-2011-9">Islamic Umayyad or Abbasid Caliphates</a>" about 1,200 years ago, the researchers reported. Meanwhile, the pest's eastward spread about 390 years ago was likely caused by "European colonial commercial activities between South and Southeast Asia."Understanding the German cockroaches' origins could help other scientists understand how the species evolved to become so resilient against <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cockroaches-becoming-resistant-to-insecticide-harder-to-kill-2019-7">common insecticides</a>. One <a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/jee/article/115/1/259/6469283?login=false">study</a> found that they're resistant to five types of common household insecticides."If we can know the origin of the species, we can try to identify the mechanism of this rapid evolution of insecticide resistance," Qian Tang, a research associate at Rowland Institute at Harvard who led the new study told the Post.

Cockroaches wouldn't exist without humans. We helped them become one of the world's worst pests, according to a new study.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.</li></ul>Happy Friday! I'm back in New York after a hectic week at CES, which might have been made easier with this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-device-tech-replace-rabbit-r1-sold-out-2024-1">portable AI assistant</a> unveiled at the conference.Speaking of CES, that's the focus of today's story. I'm giving a rundown of everything that stood out to me during the massive tech conference.What's on deck:<ul><li>Markets: Millennials and Gen Zers are <a target="_blank" href="https://businessinsider.com/esg-investing-strategies-millennials-gen-z-baby-boomers-compabnies-funds-2024-1">starting to invest like boomers</a>.</li><li>Tech: LinkedIn employees say the company's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-linkedin-culture-change-pivot-pips-layoffs-ai-2024-1">culture has shifted dramatically in the last year</a>.</li><li>Business: Hertz's electric-vehicle ambitions are fizzling as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hertz-sells-ev-electric-vehicle-fleet-cites-repair-costs-2024-1">it sells off one-third of its EV inventory</a>.</li></ul>But first, I gotta tell you about this one thing.If this was forwarded to you, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-today">sign up here.</a><h2>The big story</h2><h3>CES today, here tomorrow</h3><div type="image" title="The Honda Saloon concept car was unveiled on Tuesday." height="800" width="1200" msid="106776103" hostid="261"></div>What. A. Week.My first trip to CES also marked my first time in Las Vegas. Staying on the Strip for four nights felt like living in a city designed by a teenage boy who drank too much Mountain Dew.And I expected a bit of that same energy at CES. I'd heard a good chunk of the gadgets you see at exhibits are meant to be far-out concepts and don't have a shot of ultimately making it to consumers.There was a healthy dose of that, but this year's conference definitely had more products ready to ship than in years past.Here's some of the stuff that stood out to me the most:<div type="image" title="Samsung's Pixar-like robot, Ballie" height="1500" width="2000" msid="106776107" hostid="261"></div>Samsung's Pixar-like robot. Ballie — a small, round robot that rolls around your house to do a myriad of tasks — was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-unveils-robot-that-follows-owner-to-photograph-special-moments-2020-1">first announced back in 2020</a>. But now the robot is almost ready for primetime, as Samsung plans to sell it this year, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/08/samsung-ballie-home-robot-projector/">The Washington Post</a>.Mercedes steps up entertainment. Automobiles are a big piece of CES, from autonomous vehicles to futuristic models that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/honda-new-evs-futuristic-look-tesla-cybertruck-saloon-spacehub-2024-1">wouldn't be out of place in the next Tron movie</a>. But the German automaker touted a big upgrade to its entertainment system, including being able to remix songs based on how you drive thanks to a partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46306651/mercedes-mbux-infotainment-upgrades-ces/">rapper and producer will.i.am</a>.John Deere goes digital. The agricultural giant had a massive exhibit touting high-end tractors and data-intensive analytics, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/agtech-agriculture-industry-farming-methods-climate-change-labor-solutions-2023-9">which are becoming much more common in the space</a>. But what surprised me the most was John Deere's iconic green hat being the swag item of the conference, drawing a long line to snag one.Toilet tech. I'm a sucker for good branding, so I was drawn to Bemis' display of bidets and toilet seats under the signage "Best seat in the house." The products didn't disappoint — no, I didn't personally test them — including one that helps the elderly use the restroom <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240104578605/en/Bemis-to-Showcase-a-Trio-of-Innovative-Products-at-CES-2024">without needing the help of a caregiver</a>. Beyond helping older people maintain a sense of privacy, there's also an element of long-term cost savings as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boomer-wealth-transfer-myth-dont-count-on-inheritance-estate-planning-2023-10">elderly care can be extremely pricey</a>.The US government! When you think of tech innovation, the US government probably isn't top of mind. But Uncle Sam had a large exhibit touting the ways it can work with startups. One example was Homeland Security's Silicon Valley Innovation Program, which will offer as much as $2 million in non-dilutive funding. These days, they're looking for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2024/01/05/st-announces-new-solicitation-synthetic-data-generator-solutions">startups that can generate synthetic data</a>.AI handwritten notes. "Handwritten" notes done by a robot are exactly the type of thing you expect to see at CES. <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Handwrytten/status/1745481648500580614">Handwrytten's machine</a> was legit, producing notes that genuinely looked to be done by a human hand. And while I realize having a robot write what's meant to be a personalized note might seem contradictory, there's a real use case for big organizations like nonprofits that want to thank donors in a more meaningful way than an email.<h2>3 things in markets</h2><div type="image" title="people wearing sunglasses on stock nyse floor" height="1279" width="1920" msid="106776109" hostid="261"></div><ol><li>Millennials and Gen Zers are starting to invest more like boomers. In 2023, younger investors <a target="_blank" href="https://businessinsider.com/esg-investing-strategies-millennials-gen-z-baby-boomers-compabnies-funds-2024-1">became less willing to support environmental, social, and governance</a>, or ESG, initiatives if it meant lower investment gains.</li><li>Here are all the spot bitcoin ETFs and the fees they charge. Following the SEC's approval on Wednesday, 11 spot bitcoin ETFs have officially begun trading. We broke down <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/spot-bitcoin-etf-round-up-fees-tickers-crypto-trading-approval-2024-1">each of the ETFs that are available to trade</a> and the fees they're charging investors. But if you're a Vanguard customer, don't bother — the firm said crypto isn't part of a "well balanced" portfolio and <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/spot-bitcoin-etf-round-up-fees-tickers-crypto-trading-approval-2024-1">won't let clients buy ETFs</a>.</li><li>Inflation is ticking back up. New data shows December's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inflation-up-how-consumer-price-index-looked-december-2024-1">consumer price index climbed 3.4% year over year</a>. So while inflation cooled for much of 2023, it increased and was still above the Fed's 2% target as the year closed.</li></ol><h2>3 things in tech</h2><div type="image" title="A chaotic pile of linkedin profiles with &quot;laid off&quot; and &quot;on a PIP&quot; labeled on them" height="1000" width="2000" msid="106776450" hostid="261"></div><ol><li>Silicon Valley engineers used to joke that you go to LinkedIn to retire. Then the PIPs and layoffs came. Current and former employees told Business Insider about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-linkedin-culture-change-pivot-pips-layoffs-ai-2024-1">company's culture shift over the past year</a>. Senior leaders want the company to be "scrappy" in the age of AI.</li><li>It's not just you — the TikTok Shop will show you literally anything. It appears to heavily promote videos and livestreams that use Shop — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-shop-live-shopping-fyp-livestream-junk-bad-experience-2024-1">even when what's on sale is junk</a>. It's great for sellers but sucks for viewers.</li><li>Even more tech layoffs have hit the industry. Google just laid off hundreds of staff, including those who <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-axed-hundreds-of-staff-working-on-google-assistant-2024-1">worked on its voice-activated assistant</a>. Read the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/read-memo-google-laid-off-workers-jobcuts-2024-1">email here</a>. Meanwhile, Amazon is cutting even more jobs, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-jobs-layoffs-audible-2024-1">including in its Audible division</a>. A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/before-layoffs-amazon-prime-video-unit-grew-fastest-2024-1">leaked recording</a> reveals that months before, Amazon Prime Video's boss warned employees they hired too fast.</li></ol><h2>3 things in business</h2><div type="image" title="Hertz car" height="867" width="1300" msid="106776453" hostid="261"></div><ol><li>Hertz is selling 20,000 EVs — in part because they're too expensive to repair. That accounts for around <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hertz-sells-ev-electric-vehicle-fleet-cites-repair-costs-2024-1">one-third of its electric fleet</a>. After the announcement, <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-hertz-stocks-car-rental-ev-electric-vehicle-elon-musk-2024-1">shares for Tesla and Hertz tumbled</a>. One reporter who rented a Tesla from Hertz said they weren't surprised by the move due to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/renting-tesla-from-hertz-what-it-was-like-experience-2024-1">the rental-process headaches</a>.</li><li>Aaron Rodgers' ESPN ban lasted a full day. On Wednesday, we heard he wasn't going to be on ESPN for the rest of the NFL season. But on Thursday, he was already <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aaron-rodgers-espn-ban-reversed-bob-iger-pat-mcafee-disney-2024-1//">back on Pat McAfee's show</a>.</li><li>eBay must pay a $3 million fine after its employees waged a harassment campaign. Employees sent live spiders, cockroaches, and a bloody pig mask to a Massachusetts couple, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ebay-to-pay-3m-employees-sent-spiders-cockroaches-to-couple-2024-1">according to court documents</a>.</li></ol><h2>In other news</h2><ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-launches-strikes-houthis-following-shipping-attacks-2024-1">US launches strikes on the Houthis from air and sea after warning there would be a price to pay for their constant attacks</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/half-russia-imported-military-technology-us-eu-companies-ukraine-2024-1">Nearly half of Russia's imported battlefield tech has been coming from US and EU companies: joint report.</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-ceo-sam-altman-married-oliver-mulherin-wedding-2024-1">OpenAI CEO Sam Altman just got married</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-boeing-737-max-planes-have-issues-2024-1">Why the Boeing 737 Max seems to have so many issues</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ozempic-weight-loss-drugs-insurance-medicaid-taxpayer-dollars-2024-1">Your tax dollars are getting spent on weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, and the total is adding up</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-belichick-stepping-down-new-england-patriots-report-2024-1">Bill Belichick reportedly agrees to part ways with the New England Patriots</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/got-fired-from-job-deserved-it-2024-1">I was put on PIP and then fired from my tech job. Looking back, I deserved it</a>.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-spark-drivers-say-tip-baiting-remains-a-problem-2024-1">Walmart Spark shoppers can remove their tips up to 24 hours after delivery. Drivers say that contributes to a problem of "tip baiting."</a></li></ul><h2>What's happening today</h2><ul><li>NASA is expected to unveil a new, quiet supersonic aircraft. The X-59 is part of the space agency's effort to make commercial supersonic flight a reality.</li><li>Happy birthday, Issa Rae! Jeff Bezos, Zayn Malik, Howard Stern, Kirstie Alley, Naya Rivera, and Rush Limbaugh were also born on this day.</li><li>Earnings today: Delta Air Lines, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, <a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">and other companies</a>.</li></ul><h2>For your bookmarks</h2><h3>Trader Joe's vs. Whole Foods</h3><div type="image" title="Trader Joe's orange chicken (left) and Whole Foods orange chicken (right)" height="615" width="1300" msid="106776455" hostid="261"></div>A comparison of three Trader Joe's cult-classic products with their Whole Foods counterparts. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trader-joes-whole-foods-orange-chicken-peanut-butter-cups-cauliflower-2024-1">orange chicken, peanut butter cups, and gnocchi</a> go head-to-head.The Insider Today team: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/dan-defrancesco">Dan DeFrancesco</a>, deputy editor and anchor, in New York City. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/diamond-naga-siu">Diamond Naga Siu</a>, senior reporter, in San Diego. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallam-bullock">Hallam Bullock</a>, editor, in London. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/jordan-parker-erb">Jordan Parker Erb</a>, editor, in New York. <a target="_blank" href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/click/33739711.1210015/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYnVzaW5lc3NpbnNpZGVyLmNvbS9hdXRob3IvaGF5bGV5LWh1ZHNvbj91dG1fbWVkaXVtPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXImdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1TYWlsdGhydSZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249SW5zaWRlcl9Ub2RheQ/6388bd81e7b7ccd0ba0929daB5b9051cd">Hayley Hudson</a>, director, in Edinburgh. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/lisa-ryan">Lisa Ryan</a>, executive editor, in New York.

From smart toilet seats to Samsung's Pixar-like robot, here's what I'm still thinking about after a week at CES

<ul class="summary-list"><li>America has seen major protests across the country for five nights, with frequent clashes between the police and protestors, following the death of <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword>. </li><li>President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr have both blamed the worst violence on anarchists and <keyword id="5002721" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="antifa">Antifa</keyword>, a left-wing political movement. </li><li>On Sunday, <keyword id="3825603" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="president-trump">President Trump</keyword> tweeted that he would designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. </li><li>There are no legal consequences for designating a group as a domestic terror organization, but all 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces have been monitoring the protests. </li></ul>President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon that the United States would be designating the left-wing political movement Antifa a domestic terrorist organization. The <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> comes after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/protests-death-george-floyd-minneapolis-new-york-denver-2020-5">five nights of protests across America</a> protesting the police killing of George Floyd. Saturday saw the highest tension yet, with police shooting tear gas and less-lethal projectiles at protestors, some of who responded by throwing bricks and bottles and, in some cities, lighting police vehicles on fire and looting stores.On Saturday, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-george-floyd-remarks-tragedy-mob-violence-2020-5">the President blamed</a> Antifa, short for anti-fascist, and other left-wing groups for the riots and looting."The memory of George Floyd is being dishonored by rioters, looters and anarchists. The violence and vandalism is being led by Antifa and other radical left-wing groups who are terrorizing the innocent, destroying jobs, hurting business and burning down buildings. The main victims of this horrible, horrible situation are the citizens who live in these once lovely communities," the president said.The State Department can designate foreign organizations as terrorist organizations, but there is no law governing domestic organizations. At the moment, it is unclear what President Trump's tweet refers to in concrete legal steps. The Patriot Act defines domestic terrorism, but there are no federal crimes tied to domestic terror.Trump said in July of 2019 that he was considering declaring Antifa an "Organization of Terror."Another challenge is the nature of Antifa, which is less of an organization, with structure and leaders, than a decentralized movement. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-antifa-movement-charlottesville-va-trump-news-2017-8">Antifa is a global movement largely made up of anarchists, socialists, and other left-wing groups that oppose right-wing authoritarianism and white supremacy, sometimes violently</a>. Unlike other radical groups, there is no controlling organizational structure, choosing instead to operate semi-autonomously and without leaders.Antifa is known for its black-bloc protest tactics, where protestors wear all black and cover up their face so that they can't be identified by police or right-wing opponents.Antifa's name comes from the pre-World War 2 German group Antifaschistische Aktion, which resisted the Nazi German state, and birthed the design of Antifa's now infamous flag. <div type="image" title="Antifa" height="1956" width="2608" msid="76126142" hostid="261"></div>Antifa gained much more public attention under the Trump presidency, as the movement disrupted events with far-right speakers across the country, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/proud-boys-antifa-fight-nyc-video-2018-10">such as Vice and Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnis's speech at the Metroplitan Republican Club</a>. Most notably, the organization faced off against the white nationalist Unite the Right rally. Noted black clergyman and left-wing activist Cornel West told Democracy Now that Antifa protected him and other clergy from the worst of the white nationalist violence."We would have been crushed like cockroaches were it not for the anarchists and the anti-fascists," he told Democracy Now. "You had police holding back and just allowing fellow citizens to go at each other."Trump, in his response to the Charlottesville protest, said that he blamed Antifa and the "alt-left" for violence as well. "What about the alt-left who came charging at the alt-right?" <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-duke-thanks-trump-for-condemning-the-leftist-terrorists-in-charlottesville-2017-8">Trump said at a press conference</a>. <a href="https://www.insider.com/barr-says-floyd-protests-are-being-hijacked-by-violent-radical-elements-2020-5">Attorney General William Barr also blamed "anarchist and far-left extremist" groups</a> for the violence on Saturday. On Sunday, the Attorney General's office released guidance that said that the his office is working with the 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces to "identify criminal organizers and instigators."&lt;blockquote class="twitter-tweet"&gt;&lt;p lang="en" dir="ltr"&gt;AG Barr: "To identify criminal organizers and instigators, and to coordinate federal resources with our state and local partners, federal law enforcement is using our existing network of 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF). " &lt;a href="https://t.co/mueuIo8LSa"&gt;pic.twitter.com/mueuIo8LSa&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) &lt;a href="https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller/status/1267145904223592448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"&gt;May 31, 2020&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt; &lt;script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;It is unclear what other avenues the federal government may use to pursue enforcement actions against Antifa, but the FBI Agents Association has been lobbying for the creation of a domestic terrorism law. Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/president-trump-to-designate-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization-2020-5">Insider</a>

President Trump says he is designating Antifa as a domestic terror organization following widespread protests. There are no legal consequences to that designation.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Ophthalmologist Rupa Wong and optometrist Jenifer Bossert debunk myths about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/vision">vision</a> and <keyword id="573055" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="eye-health">eye health</keyword>.</li><li>They debunk the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/myths">myth that</a> carrots improve your eyesight and reading in the dark damages your <keyword id="6526661" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vision">vision</keyword>.</li><li>They also discuss the safety of <keyword id="54152" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lasik">LASIK</keyword> eye surgery and the best practices for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/contacts">contact</a> use.</li></ul>The following is a transcript of the <keyword id="21654" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="video">video</keyword>. Rupa Wong: "If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way." Man, that's an oldie but a goodie."It's OK to go swimming or take a shower in contact lenses."All right, everybody does it. But they really shouldn't."Styes are contagious."Jenifer Bossert: No!Wong: Not at all.Bossert: Styes are not contagious.Wong: And you don't get them from pools.Bossert: And you don't get them from rubbing your eyes.Wong: Doorknobs.Bossert: Kissing others. No, you don't get them from any of those things. Aloha, my name is Dr. Jenifer Bossert. I am the optometrist at the Honolulu Eye Clinic. I've been in practice for 30 years, and my specialty is contact lenses.Wong: And aloha, everyone. I am Dr. Rupa Wong. I am a board-certified ophthalmologist. I've been in private practice here in Hawaii for 13 years working alongside this wonderful lady here. I specialize in pediatric ophthalmology and adult strabismus.Bossert: And today we are here to debunk myths about vision. We're going to start off with debunking myths that we used to think were true."Reading in the dark or while lying down will damage your vision."Bossert: No, this is a myth. It does not damage your vision.Wong: And my oldest son reads in the dark all the time. My mother, obviously knows I'm an ophthalmologist, still comes to my house and tells me, "Your son should not read in the dark." Not true. Because people need good light to see better, they assumed maybe that when you're reading in the dark, because it is usually more challenging, maybe they thought that was straining your eyes. People confuse those issues with damaging your eyes."Eating carrots will improve your eyesight."Wong: I have actually just studied where the origin of this myth came from. It's really interesting. So, it was basically a campaign during World War II because the British air fighter pilots had this radar technology to be able to detect the German targets. But they didn't want the Germans to know that they had the radar technology, so they just said that their air pilots were eating a lot of carrots and therefore had good night vision.Bossert: How fascinating! See? I learned something today. I love it!Wong: Vitamin A is very important for the metabolism that's being performed in your retina.Bossert: A, C, E, magnesium, lutein, omega-3s, those are the common ones that we all consider important for optimum eye health.Wong: Zinc.Bossert: Zinc.Wong: All of these vitamins can help halt the progression of macular degeneration, but in the studies it didn't demonstrate any more effect for people like us, that don't have any macular degeneration."Wearing someone else's <keyword id="332" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Glasses">glasses</keyword> will ruin your vision." Wong: If a child, really younger than 13, is wearing someone else's glasses, it can ruin their vision if it is completely off. Because if it's promoting blurry vision, that's going to inhibit the growth of the connections between the eyes and the brain. So kids under 13, they are in a special period of their vision development called the critical period. So, absolutely, I never, ever recommend that children wear anybody else's glasses. But for adults, it's a little bit of a different story.Bossert: With adults, it isn't going to harm your eyes, but it can contribute to eye fatigue, eye strain, headaches. So, yes, we always encourage everybody to get their annual checkups, wear their own glasses, and keep them updated."Sitting too close to the TV is bad for your eyesight."Wong: Typically a parent wants their child to move back from the television, and it's a total myth.Bossert: And it doesn't harm an adult's eyes, either. So, when I have a parent ask me that in the exam, I encourage them to bring them in so that we can actually check their child and just see if it's a habit that the child has or whether they actually have an underlying nearsighted process occurring. If they're sitting too close to the television, then I'm concerned that maybe they've been developing nearsightedness. A young child doesn't know that that's happening.Wong: Just because your parents are nearsighted does not mean 100% you're going to be nearsighted. Several studies have shown that two hours a day of sunlight is helpful at preventing nearsightedness progression. So I always tell my patients to get outdoors, but it's not so easy in other parts of the country or world."If you cross your eyes, they'll stay that way."Wong: Man, that's an oldie but a goodie, I think.Bossert: I remember my grandmother telling me. We were out running around, and kids all playing, and my grandmother saying, "Your eyes are going to stay that way!"Wong: Of course, that is actually my area of specialty, is crossed eyes. That's what I do surgery for, to fix them. And I can tell you, I've never had to operate on anybody who crossed their eyes in intentionally and it got stuck that way. So that's a complete myth. Some people are born with it. We call that congenital esotropia. Typically, if you're born with it, you're born with crossed eyes. Sometimes people develop it because the eye is blind for whatever reason, a separate reason. So if they're young, then the eye tends to cross in with the blind eye. If they're older and they sustain some kind of trauma or injury to the eye to cause it to become blind, then the eye wanders out. 'Cause I've seen so many patients that have come from other eye doctors who have been told for years, No. 1, "Your insurance doesn't cover it." No. 2, "You're too old for this surgery." I've operated on a 95-year-old."Squinting is bad for your eyes."Bossert: We do know that when you squint, you tend to be able to see a little bit better when you're nearsighted. Something called the pinhole effect. So that could be how that myth got started. A parent might see their child squinting and then think that it was the squinting that actually caused the nearsightedness, but it was the opposite. The nearsightedness caused the squinting."You will become dependent on your glasses if you wear them too much."Wong: As someone who now has started to need reading glasses, it is really hard to not believe this myth. I, when I take my reading glasses off, I swear I could see the iPhone way better.Bossert: It's not that the glasses made your vision worse, it's just that your brain got used to having good, sharp vision when y ou put them on. So then when you take them off, your brain's like, "No! I want them back again! I like seeing clearly!" "You can't wear your <keyword id="572717" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="contacts">contacts</keyword> if you have astigmatism."Bossert: This is definitely not true. I still hear that in this day and age, despite media campaigns, despite information dissemination. People still believe that if they have astigmatism, they won't be able to wear contact lenses.Wong: Or that they're going to have to be hard contact lenses.Bossert: Yes. Because 30 years ago, it was true, that really the only way that you could mask that astigmatism was to take a hard lens and put it on the eye. But now, daily disposables, I can correct 2.75 units of astigmatism, which is a lot. And in a reusable contact lens, I can go up to 5.75. I even have a brand-new option that if you are over 40 and need reading glasses, if you have astigmatism, you can even wear a bifocal contact lens that corrects for astigmatism now. But they are more difficult to fit because they interact with the eyelid, the shape of the eye. So sometimes we'll have to go through two or three lens designs to find the best one for the patient. But it's pretty rare that we can't find something in this day and age.Wong: Now we're gonna talk about myths we hear all the time."Staring at a screen all day will make your eyesight worse."Bossert: Well, the jury's still a little bit out on this one. Yes, anecdotally, we perceive that people that spend longer hours on a screen are the ones that are more likely to end up nearsighted. But studies don't prove that. And particularly with COVID, with COVID and homeschooling, online schooling, we've seen a huge increase in parents asking us, "Do I need to get my kid blue blockers?" Well, the answer is no. There was a small study that came out and said that, yes, it could help decrease fatigue. But, like any study, we need to take those small studies and turn them into large studies to really truly get facts and figures that hold out for the larger population. So when they redid the study, it came out 50-50. It just really wasn't proven to be statistically significant.Wong: And that's why we always recommend the 20-20-20 rule. People need to take breaks every 20 minutes for 20 seconds where they look at something 20 feet away."Only people with bad eyesight need eye exams."Wong: That is definitely a myth. There's all sorts of conditions that still you have.Bossert: Retinal holes, retinal tears, retinal detachments.Wong: That's another thing, where people always think, mistakenly, that they've had LASIK and as if LASIK has corrected their eyeballs. And it hasn't. It's just made their vision better. But they still have the pathology, the retinal issues, that they still require exams once a year.Bossert: People think that they're going to the eye doctor for their vision. Eye doctors would tell you that you're going to the eye doctor for your eye health. Because if you don't maintain the eye health, then you're not going to be able to maintain good eye vision for the 100 years that you're present on this earth."You won't get glaucoma if you have perfect vision."Wong: Glaucoma is something that's asymptomatic. So you can have perfect 20-20 vision and have the absolute worst end-stage glaucoma. Glaucoma is typically high pressure inside the eye, which causes damage to the optic nerve of the eye.Bossert: And in the beginning, there are no signs whatsoever. So really the only way that we can detect glaucoma is to come in for your annual eye examination. And there are a series of tests that we do in the examination itself that allow us to screen for glaucoma.Wong: So, when you catch glaucoma early, then we can start treatments earlier. And we can't reverse any vision loss or any optic-nerve damage, but we can prevent future damage from happening, or at least slow that progression down. So, we start with eyedrops. We can even do laser treatments, which help with that drainage system and bring the fluid down. And then if we need to, we escalate to glaucoma surgeries.Bossert: Myths from the internet. Let's do those next."It's OK to go swimming or take a shower in contact lenses."Wong: All right, everybody does it. But they really shouldn't. You can really develop blinding infections from tap water and from water that's in hot tubs.Bossert: 'Cause no matter what body of water we're talking about, they all have some bacteria in them, even tap water. Which, that bacteria that bothers our eyes doesn't bother our stomach, yet you don't want to have it in the eye. Yes, do we all wash our face and we get water in? We do. But the critical thing is that this particular bug, called pseudomonas, is small enough that it can embed itself in the pores, in the matrix of the contact lens. And then it gets on your eye, and it sits there, and it sits there, and it sits there, for all those hours that you have it on. And that's when the risk becomes high. 'Cause then you reach up and you rub, you disturb the top layer of cells on the eye. Now there's a little window for that bacteria to walk right into the eye. And unfortunately with pseudomonas, we don't have good treatment modalities. It's very resistant to the antibiotics that we have available to us. "Stress causes eye floaters."Wong: No.Bossert: No. Age causes eye floaters.Wong: And trauma. A floater is just, it's a vitreous detachment. And I tell my patients the vitreous is like Jell-O. When you get older, it starts to liquefy, and you get pockets, and dries up. And that's what causes separates from the inner lining, from the retina. And that then floats all around in your field of vision. But it's actually inside your eye. People think it's a cockroach, they think it's an ant. They try to swat it away. It's not any of those things, but it's an actual change in the anatomy of your eye. It's not caused by stress."LASIK surgery is not safe."Bossert: LASIK surgery is definitely safe. At this point, LASIK surgery's been around ... 35 years now? Yes. If you were to do a Google search that pulled up some of those early results, there were definitely instances where there were cases of blindness. A lot of that was changed by further advancements in the technology, different ways to make the flap. So now, in this day and age, I would say that LASIK surgery is perfectly safe. That said, there is no surgery for any body part that doesn't come with a risk of complications. Like, any body part. You want the doctor that's doing the procedure on a weekly basis. You don't want the doctor that's doing this once every three or four months."Styes are contagious."Bossert: No.Wong: Not at all.Bossert: Styes are not contagious.Wong: And you don't get them from pools, public pools.Bossert: And you don't get them from rubbing your eyes.Wong: Doorknobs.Bossert: Kissing others. No, you don't get them from any of those things. Just like some people can have more oily skin or more dry skin.Wong: I describe it kind of like a pimple.Bossert: The contents in the oil gland can be different consistencies. So if you tend to have that heavier, thicker oil inside the gland itself, then you can be more prone to getting them.Wong: And usually what we want to do is heat. A lot of heat is going to help it drain. Pink eye is contagious. What most people think of as pink eye is viral conjunctivitis. Sometimes it can be bacterial conjunctivitis. Viral conjunctivitis is really, really contagious. That you do get from doorknobs and the surface of objects.Producer: Is it possible to get pink eye if you, like, fart in someone's face?Wong: Is that something people think?Producer: Yeah. Not true.Wong: Not true. What I hope people take away from this video is that they get their annual eye exams, they don't equal good vision with eye health, that they take their contact lenses out when they sleep and they shower, and that they follow the 20-20-20 rule.

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