Those leggy insects in your kitchen sink are not all bad

I've been planning for years to look up those many-legged insects you see so often scuttling around the house. They are not quite as alarming as cockroaches, but they can still give you a bit of a shock when they scurry away from you when you open a door or switch on a light.

Well, it turns out they are called house centipedes, or scutigera coleoptrata if you are Roman or an entomologist. They are originally from the Mediterranean region, but can be found pretty much worldwide now, and have made themselves quite at home in the human world. They have fifteen pairs of legs, two very long antennae, and two equally long appendages at the back, so you can't quite tell which way they are facing until they set off.
They eat spiders, bed bugs, termites, cockroaches, silverfish, ants, and a bunch of other beasties much less desirable than they are. So, they may be a nuisance as they wander around your kitchen sink of a morning. But don't just squash them: catch them and put them outside if you must do something. They do serve a higher purpose.