:: bug's life

OLD COCKROACHES SEIZE UP JUST LIKE HUMANS
By John von Radowitz, Science Correspondent, PA News
Cockroaches get doddery in their old age, just like humans, scientists revealed today.
In the first detailed study of insect ageing, researchers found that the bugs’ joints seize up and they have trouble walking up hills.
American scientists noticed that cockroaches that survive into old age reduce the time they spend moving around by about 40%.
When the team put the insects on a mini treadmill, adults that had reached the ripe old age of 60 weeks took half as many steps per second as one-week old individuals.
Many of the old timers developed a stumbling gait as their front foot caught on their second leg.
Angela Ridgel, who led the study at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, told New Scientist magazine: “It happens every couple of steps. It does slow them down.”
The constant tripping happened because the insects’ joints had stiffened up. By 65 weeks old, more than 80% of the cockroaches were tripping over themselves.
Old cockroaches also did badly at climbing a 45 degree slope. While all the younger insects managed the task, 58% of the older ones failed.
There was one rather drastic way to speed up an old cockroach, the researchers discovered.
Ridgel tested the ability of one cockroach species to run off when nudged. She found that elderly individuals were more likely to escape after being decapitated.

"Escape"? In what sense is running away after someone's cut your head off escaping?

However, interesting to find I have so much in common with cockroaches. Apart from the decapitation thing, obviously.