今天早晨打开邮箱，收到一位Nature杂志科学新闻撰稿人David来信。心中隐约有些高兴：会不会是他们对中国传粉昆虫或分类学有兴趣？仔细阅读，却发现来信内容大相径庭：David希望就南华早报四月份的一篇关于四川西昌大规模室内养殖大蠊（蟑螂的一种）的工作，深入了解我的想法。

我支持昆虫养殖事业，但蜚蠊不是我的研究类群，也没有发表过任何和该类群相关的思路或言论。David的来信中提供了该报道的链接（https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2142316/giant-indoor-farm-china-breeding-six-billion-cockroaches-year）。一般邮件中的链接，如果不是科研相关，我都比较慎重，避免直接打开链接。但David提问题之前，引用了“我”在报道中的一些言论：

1. According to the article, you said it would be a "catastrophe" if billions of cockroaches were suddenly released into the environment. Do you think that is likely to happen? You were quoted as saying: “Multiple lines of defence must be in place and work properly to prevent the disaster of accidental release." Do you feel those lines of defense are in place? 

2. You were also quoted as saying: "Given Xichang’s warm climate and ample rainfall, a dozen of them could infest an entire neighbourhood.​" Why wouldnt that happen everywhere? I have lived in cities where there are more than a dozen cockroaches. What is different here? Why wouldnt cockroaches already "in the wild" there take over the town?

3. The article mentions AI techniques to manage the breeding colony, but does not give details. Do you know what this is about? How could AI help manage cockroaches? Have you seen the report that is mentioned here from Sichuan?

4. What did you mean by saying that "every cockroach is a super cock-roach"?

因此，我首先搜索了我所有的文件记录和往来邮件，没有发现任何蜚蠊、蟑螂或者相关昆虫饲养的工作记录或邮件。这些问题一方面让我感觉云里雾里，另外一方面也促使我打开了这个报道链接。这是一个介绍某公司在四川西昌大规模饲养蜚蠊企业行为的文章。该记者专门把“我”的一段话放大，感觉要强调大量蟑螂释放到野外，可能会对当地环境造成生态“灾难”。这应该引起了一定的社会关切，并吸引了David的眼球。

Professor Zhu Chaodong, the Institute of Zoology’s lead scientist in insect evolution studies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said it would be a “catastrophe” if billions of cockroaches were suddenly released into the environment – be it through human error or a natural disaster like an earthquake that damaged the building.

To Xichang’s near-800,000 inhabitants, one such accident could be “terrifying”, Zhu said. The farm is also located close to Xichang’s Qingshan airport.

“Multiple lines of defence must be in place and work properly to prevent the disaster of accidental release,” Zhu said.

同行来访，也提到他看到过这样的中文报导。我搜索了一下，确实发现该南华早报新闻被多家媒体转载。如腾讯网以“揭秘四川全球最大蟑螂养殖基地：AI系统控制着60亿只蟑螂“为标题（https://new.qq.com/omn/20180419/20180419A1OQ4A.html），引述“我”的言论如下：中科院动物研究所的首席专家朱朝东称，这里必须设有多重的防备措施，因为一旦由于天灾人祸导致这些蟑螂外逃，那绝对是一场灾难。

以前关于传粉昆虫或者分类学，我也和一些媒体打过交道。每次和记者交流之前，我们都约定好：作为一个科研人员，专业的言论需要言之有据，专业的事情需要特定的人去完成；作为记者，需要忠实于科研人员的表述，成稿在刊发之前需要和本人进行确认。他们都对要报道的题材，开展了深入调研。在此基础上，再和我们沟通，并最终确认后发表。因此，我们交流非常畅通和愉快。

然而，这篇关于室内蜚蠊饲养的报道则完全没有涉及我或研究组的专业方向；没有任何媒体记者，通过电话、邮件或者信件和我有过任何交流，便给我安了个“动物研究所首席科学家”的名头；如果没有David来信，我也不知道这篇报道已经在2018年4月份刊发。除了记者提及“我”的单位信息和学科方向都比较准确外，该报道中提及我的头衔，引用所有“我”所说的话，应该都是这位记者随意杜撰的。