COCKROACH

The cockroach, the earliest known winged insect, emerges in the fossil record in the Carboniferous Period, a full 350 million years ago. This insect—with its delicate antennae sensitive to the slightest movement, even an air current, its perfect wings, even its ability to withstand nuclear radiation—has remained exactly the same for hundreds of millions of years. This 50-million-year-old cockroach is no different from present-day specimens.