How to get a girl *cicada style* Step 1: hide in your basement for the first decade and a half of your life Step 2: exit Step 3: scream Step 4: plan the wedding
thanks my wife says that my scream was so biutyfull that she couldnt rezist meuh [ jk im a teen and i want to collect dead butterflies and pin them down ina book :D ]
It might be a bit niche, but I'd love to see more insects being pinned - the process for pinning a butterfly or moth is a bit more involved, so a nice instructional video would be really cool.
Wing venation can be pretty key to differentiating species within a genus. That's why sometimes you'd want to avoid damaging the wings, and why it would be worthwhile to spread them apart.
To preface, this video is terrific and helped me a lot, these are not complaints, just silly little semantic things I thought were funny, mostly to do with the "chapter" names. "how to collect insects:" tells you where they collected the insects from. No mention of capture tools/techniques, storing, or transporting strategies. "Drying Insects:" tells you how to re-hydrate a bug if you find one that's dried out lol XD
The structure and format of this episode, its title cards and accompanying music, and other such details - polished, professional, and completely charming. Well done, Brain Scoop. Loved this particular topic. PS. Emily, your hair is lovely in that braid. It's a beautiful look for you.
I've had the same experience of being nibbled on the head by a horse while trying to do biology in a field in Sweden! I never realized it was a regional problem.
I really love seeing ladies having fun doing science. I always enjoyed biology in high school but didn't keep up with the sciences because of my less than stellar math grades, so I really enjoy the educational aspects of the brain scoop, as well as how much fun you and the other people on the show seem to be having. It's science without being "this is super serious" so it's approachable. I think it's really great for younger women and girls out there to see the variety in the kinds of jobs and the kinds of women who go into scientific fields, especially one as hands on as the brain scoop shows.
I'm an entomologist, and I learned something new in this video, thanks! I've only ever heard of pretty gross chemicals being used for relaxing, so I avoid it whenever possible. Knowing that steam will work just fine is super cool!
I love how quirky Emily is. Smart and personable, but not too serious. A great role model for young women wanting to get into the science field. Or just a great role model for anyone. Lot of good stuff in this video: the lame joke laugh at 1:20, Pancakes @ 4:05, Bench press @ 4:24, Story @ 6:18, and of course that great smile @ 6:55.
The right hand side of the Lorax ... This episode was awesome! I love it when they have special guests, it's like having two amazing teachers at the same time!
Really, it's whatever you take an interest in. Some insects will be easier to find than others, naturally - and make sure you've got a permit or permissions if you're collecting on public lands. I've always wanted my own millipede collection because they're so diverse and can be easy to find under logs and at night!
I had to do a project in high school which was collecting and correctly pinning & labeling 50+ bugs of at least 15 different orders. I don't remember everything I learned from that, but I do remember enjoying the things I learned from it.
Actually, spiders can't be pinned; they have to be preserved in alcohol. Insects are the only arthropods whose exoskeletons have the right composition - they harden when they dry out, whereas spiders fall apart.
You can also use an old, or used crock pot set on low to rehydrate the insect. I have a wire rack with foam set up above water. I fill it up with water and keep the lid a little ajar. Have to add water only once. Works great.
So my dad had collected beetles from his youth and had passed down his collection to me. The specimens are roughly 20+years held in a box of cotton and glass. They are very brittle and can break from moving the box. Will the steam method of relaxing the beetles be of any use?
How to pin an insect is our favorite video on this channel. We love this channel for everything cool! We met Emily at the field museum in Chicago and talked about how to pin an insect - thanks for being so nice! From chicagoians . . .
cicadas are my favorite insect because when I was a kid I used to run around outside collecting their shells. I piled them all over my room and would just stare at them for hours. Playing with their little legs, the ridges on their back, their little eyeball domes. Creeped my mom out.
I had a rather extensive moth, spider, and "other arthropods" collection as a kid. My 2-year-old sister ate and/or scattered bits of them all. I never started over.
I am looking into this! From what I've learned/seen so far, though, it seems to be a pretty long (like, multi-day) process with a lot of "hurry up and wait" involved. Will report back soon.
Had never heard of diaphonization before. Read Comment. Spent an hour reading articles on diaphonization. Totally obsessed for the moment. Who said we don't learn things from UA-cam Comments!
GAH! I wish this video came out a year ago during my 6th form biology project. We had to collect, pin & preserve insects from 10 different orders. I punctured a hole in each wing of the winged insects to spread them and most of them ripped. )): Anyhoo! Will pass this video on to my biology teacher. Thank you, The Brain Scoop!
I never saw the yearly "dog day" Cicadas when I was little but I heard them during every summer vacation. Since the noise over my head seemed to be moving up and down the street I figured it must be coming from the only thing I could see, the wires on the telephone poles. In my early teens I happened to walk alone through a field of 17 years Cicadas. Suddenly surrounded on all sides by a truly deafening and unfamiliar noise I did the sensible thing and ran like hell.
3:00 I imagine it is helpful if you are in the same state as the insect you are pinning. It would be hard to pin an insect in Illinois if you are in Oregon.
if you put them in solution with high alcohol content, like methylated spirits for a while they'll harden any you will have to soften them before pinning, although they can't always be softened without being significantly modified, or falling apart in some cases
Just watched this with my 4 year old daughter. I have no interest in insects but she wants to be an entomologist. She loved this and now wants to start her own bug collection. She got a bug catching kit for her birthday.
Once you've pinned an insect, does that mean you are going steady? Seriously, once the insect is dried, it stays in the position you pinned it? right? So you don't need the vellum or ALL the pins for final display, am I correct?
Yes, you'll notice the only pin actually in the insect is the one in the thorax. Once its dried it retains that position. The labels with information like species (if known), date, location and conditions of its collection are stuck on the central pin underneath the insect and its then stored.
Once it's dry, you can remove all the bracing pins and just leave the 'handle' through the thorax. I usually leave mine for several days though, just to be sure.
I lost a sling (super tiny baby tarantula) and I want to preserve it somehow for educational purposes, do I need to dip it in an alcohol bath first or can I just pin it as is?
One of my greatest fears the summer of 8th grade was the looming possibility of needing to create my own bug collection for 9th grade science. I just couldn't imagine coping well with capturing, freezing, and pinning a whole bunch of insects. Fortunately for me, I didn't go to the school that required the collecting, and I still don't think I could stomach it today!
I'm studing biology in Science University of Oporto, Portugal and we had an assignment for invertebrates class where we had to make an insect collection And we had to pin them and indentify them. It was so much fun :)
You should do a video on how to pin butterflies. I have always wanted to start a collection and have found some really pretty ones but don't know how to preserve them so the wings don't degrade.
I prefer freezing my insects, though 70% ethanol (30% water) is commonly used for long storage. The jars in the video look dark because the fluids and some color from the insects will leech out into the solution while they're marinating. Freezing kills most insects really well, and when they thaw they're pretty hydrated still. BUT don't leave them for more than a year or two because the freezer can dry them out and then they'll need rehydrating.
You want to keep any markings on the thorax intact for identification purposes and since they are symmetrical you can pin on one side (happens to be right) and keep the markings on the other undamaged. Never pin right in the middle as it will damage the only part with that marking.
Because most insects are vampires and, as everyone knows, you have to stab vampires through the heart, which is on the right hand side of their thorax.
I think it's really cool that both of you have an artistic background but are working in science because I also love art but I am also really interested in science and don't really know what I would like to study or even do for a living :)
Vellum is also important because it 'typically' is acid free. This allows the material it is touching to not be degraded over time by the acids in the material holding it down. Important step for archival :)
Once the butterflies are pinned and dried what can be used to preserve them. It has been my experience that they will eventually be slowly eaten by other very tiny bugs. I await your reply.
You've probably already looked up an answer, but I'll go ahead and say that putting them in an extremely well fitted container can slow those bugs (probably dermestid beetles) down. Also, you can get little chemical packs of napthalene (moth balls in a different form) to put in the boxes to keep them away/kill them.
Great subject for a video. Anyone remember back when kids, and grandparents, and people in between used to do this as a hobby? I just wonder how many people out there still do this as amateurs. And of course that makes me wonder if the Field has any collections of insects that were donated by amateur back yard collectors. I remember going to the county fair as a kid and seeing some fantastic displays of butterflies and beetles and other things that various people brought to show off. I didn't think of it at the time as science, but one of the things I've learned from the Brain Scoop is that collecting specimens is a critical part of science.
Does the Chicago field museum have any devil frog fossils? And if you don't, do you have any pacman frogs in your collections? (Relatives to the devil frog and look just like them)
when i was younger, my mum and i went trekking. come evening, we were getting ready for bed after a long day, and i opened a window to breathe in the fresh air. and there, on the wooden window sill, was the most beautiful moth i'd ever seen. i reached out, expecting it to fly away, but it didn't. i took the insect and it perched on my finger. its white wings were bigger than my childish hand, and one of its wings was torn - it was apparent that the moth couldn't fly at all. i must have spent hours absentmindedly switching it from one hand to the other, until my mum told me to go to sleep. i put the moth back on the window sill, but before i'd closed the window i changed my mind. i pinned the insect, large as it was, with my thumb. it started fluttering uncontrollably. then i crushed its thorax, thinking i was being merciful, my whole hand sticky with its insides. sometimes i still wonder if it would've lived, but something tells me i would've ended its life either way. it's certainly something to think about.
So, for beetles their shell is actually the forward pair of wings. You want to get it in the rectangular thorax that is above the main body of the insect, below the head. Insect pins are sharp enough that usually they'll punch though without damaging much.
OH MY GOD! You ladies are awesome! If I had met you two in High School I totally would've studied science in college. Back then all the science majors I met were really not nice older men. And thank you for making this video because I found a beautiful dragonfly in perfect shape on my grandmother's driveway yesterday.
I've heard that certain butterflies must have their wings separated from their bodies to be pinned or else the wings will lose their color. Is this true?
This is somewhat true - there are physical differences in wing scale structure that leads to coloration. One way is by light reflection: the tiny scales reflect light and therefore coloration will not fade over time. Pigmented colors, however, are very light sensitive and exposure to light over any period of time will bleach the pigments out. Therefore it's important that insect collections (and many others) be kept in sealed drawers and housed in light-proof cabinets.
Nice video, but you guys left out the next steps: How long to let them dry after they have been positioned, and then different options for either storage, or display. Also where to affix or pin the labels, etc. There's actually a lot of other insect pinning videos on UA-cam, so I know the answers, but for others, this video could have quickly recapped some of the other details. You could always go into that in your next Q&A segment, or if there's another follow-up video.
Thank you for this video, it really helped me and you are very cool ;) I have a question: My mantids use to become black with time to time, what can I do against this? They just become black at their eyes and body, not the wings or legs.
Mantids are tricky because the abdomen is large and also soft. The other parts are mostly rigid exoskeleton with some muscle tissue but the abdomen has a bunch of organs mucking up the pinning process. I would guess the blackening is rot? Try putting the pinned insect in an environment that will dry it out very quickly and thoroughly could possibly help with that? I don't have a ton of experience with that family, sorry.
Yesterday, I saw this cicada flying through the air and then it started tumbling. It started tumbling because a hornet tackled it and started stinging it. It was quite an interesting sight.
This makes me want to start my own collection. I find bugs very interesting. Thanks for such a good way for anyone to get exploring their surroundings.
![Beetles, Mites, Cockroaches Oh My! [Insect Collection Tour]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rgUP3x8_smY/mqdefault.jpg)
How to get a girl *cicada style*
Step 1: hide in your basement for the first decade and a half of your life
Step 2: exit
Step 3: scream
Step 4: plan the wedding
lmaoo
thanks my wife says that my scream was so biutyfull that she couldnt rezist meuh [ jk im a teen and i want to collect dead butterflies and pin them down ina book :D ]
"That's the way to get ladies' attention" What, burst out at age 17 making incredible amounts of unbelievably annoying noise? ....wait...
Drag queens do that x)
No fucking way I'm a periodical cicada
It might be a bit niche, but I'd love to see more insects being pinned - the process for pinning a butterfly or moth is a bit more involved, so a nice instructional video would be really cool.
Emily: The only person I know of who could confuse "Cicadas stored in ethanol" with "Pancakes and Syrup".
Thank you.
Man, I would really like to try her pancakes now!
cecasander
I think they might be cicada-flavored.
Learning FTW Or vodka flavoured.
I do this to live insects and then interrogate them for the location of their Queen.
papersplease lol
XD
Watch what you say online because I’ve heard PETA has a swat team now
You couldn't just follow the trail of ants? You go through all of that just to find the queen. Just say you hate ants and love to torture them.
*Deep raspy voice* WHERE IS SHE!
Wing venation can be pretty key to differentiating species within a genus. That's why sometimes you'd want to avoid damaging the wings, and why it would be worthwhile to spread them apart.
To preface, this video is terrific and helped me a lot, these are not complaints, just silly little semantic things I thought were funny, mostly to do with the "chapter" names.
"how to collect insects:" tells you where they collected the insects from. No mention of capture tools/techniques, storing, or transporting strategies. "Drying Insects:" tells you how to re-hydrate a bug if you find one that's dried out lol XD
I love how many people at the Field Museum have tattoos.
What a disgusting ugly Hair cut.
@@alicrow yep, he looks like man
alicrow How mean
@@alicrow Yours is worse
alicrow hahaha I was looking for this
Now let's see How to Pin a Human.
its really easy once you've done it a couple of times.
Ask jesus, he has first hand experience with it
nachoijp WOW TO SOON!!
James Collins seriously? it's been 2000ish years already!
nachoijp too soon man, too soon... xD
The structure and format of this episode, its title cards and accompanying music, and other such details - polished, professional, and completely charming. Well done, Brain Scoop. Loved this particular topic.
PS. Emily, your hair is lovely in that braid. It's a beautiful look for you.
I've had the same experience of being nibbled on the head by a horse while trying to do biology in a field in Sweden! I never realized it was a regional problem.
Oh no this episode ended too fast! I really wanted to see more pinning with different body types :< can we have more? *puppy eyes*
Soon :)
YAY! : DDD
Noha Ijiachi I agree, more!
thebrainscoop and cleaning those dung beetles!
That profile pic makes the puppy eyes even more compelling
I really love seeing ladies having fun doing science. I always enjoyed biology in high school but didn't keep up with the sciences because of my less than stellar math grades, so I really enjoy the educational aspects of the brain scoop, as well as how much fun you and the other people on the show seem to be having. It's science without being "this is super serious" so it's approachable. I think it's really great for younger women and girls out there to see the variety in the kinds of jobs and the kinds of women who go into scientific fields, especially one as hands on as the brain scoop shows.
I'm an entomologist, and I learned something new in this video, thanks! I've only ever heard of pretty gross chemicals being used for relaxing, so I avoid it whenever possible. Knowing that steam will work just fine is super cool!
Don't freak out, but there a bee on your ear, Emily.
Chris LeeWoo where
Oh ok lol
Emily Graslie: queen of braiding. And also dead things. Great combo
I love how quirky Emily is. Smart and personable, but not too serious. A great role model for young women wanting to get into the science field. Or just a great role model for anyone.
Lot of good stuff in this video: the lame joke laugh at 1:20, Pancakes @ 4:05, Bench press @ 4:24, Story @ 6:18, and of course that great smile @ 6:55.
Definitely a great role model for anyone. She's just an inspiring human being, and it's awesome to see anyone who genuinely loves their work.
Right… “quirky”
I may die in peace now that I know how to pin insects
Killer tattoos Gracen!
Also, so modest Emily. You're contributing to science on the order of the most famous Science popularizers out there. IMHO
I always have to listen to the end and make sure "...It still has brains on it." hasn't been editorially removed.
The right hand side of the Lorax
...
This episode was awesome! I love it when they have special guests, it's like having two amazing teachers at the same time!
I love the conversation and little facts shared while carefully pinning the insects! Its cool to see the insects returned to their lifelike poses.
How do you transport insects from other countries? Surely we can't do that in our personal collections because of customs, right?
Any tips on starting private collections, what specimens to look for?
Really, it's whatever you take an interest in. Some insects will be easier to find than others, naturally - and make sure you've got a permit or permissions if you're collecting on public lands. I've always wanted my own millipede collection because they're so diverse and can be easy to find under logs and at night!
I had to do a project in high school which was collecting and correctly pinning & labeling 50+ bugs of at least 15 different orders. I don't remember everything I learned from that, but I do remember enjoying the things I learned from it.
But how do i pin that meter and a half wide black spider that's making noises just outside my cave?
You'll need at least a half-nelson.
Actually, spiders can't be pinned; they have to be preserved in alcohol. Insects are the only arthropods whose exoskeletons have the right composition - they harden when they dry out, whereas spiders fall apart.
You can also use an old, or used crock pot set on low to rehydrate the insect. I have a wire rack with foam set up above water. I fill it up with water and keep the lid a little ajar. Have to add water only once. Works great.
Great video. Will pass this on to all of our insect pin customers!
So my dad had collected beetles from his youth and had passed down his collection to me. The specimens are roughly 20+years held in a box of cotton and glass. They are very brittle and can break from moving the box. Will the steam method of relaxing the beetles be of any use?
Probably not since they are so fragile that just moving the box damages them.
can we just sit and appreciate emily's accessory of choice for the days? very interesting.
I've been wondering/thinking about pinning bugs for a few weeks - thank you for this!
I personally like specimens in resin blocks , but this can also help if i wanna know how to get the right position before its set in the resin.
I didn't think I'd find this interesting, but then I did. This is why I love the brainscoop. Yay introductions to new things!
I CAN´T STOP WATCHING EMILY'S HAIR. WOW. SO BEAUTIFUL.
I was thinking the same thing but wasn't sure if I could say so. (I thought it might be bad form to compliment a scientist's braids...)
C.I. DeMann
The rule is, you also have to compliment her work. (Both the work and the hair are amazing)
who cares about her hair. check out that gracen. where size bowl does she use?
Pancakes one that was too big
Pancakes a cromag shaped bowl and an ostrich egg shaped bowl that was formed into one misshapen hybrid bowl. =[
How to pin an insect is our favorite video on this channel. We love this channel for everything cool! We met Emily at the field museum in Chicago and talked about how to pin an insect - thanks for being so nice! From chicagoians . . .
cicadas are my favorite insect because when I was a kid I used to run around outside collecting their shells. I piled them all over my room and would just stare at them for hours. Playing with their little legs, the ridges on their back, their little eyeball domes. Creeped my mom out.
I had a rather extensive moth, spider, and "other arthropods" collection as a kid. My 2-year-old sister ate and/or scattered bits of them all. I never started over.
For myself, I'm a bit partial to Merlinpods and Galahadpods.
Jonathan Compton They're very tasty.
this girls give me cottage entomology teacher and apprentice lesbians and i love it
You can tell these are the type of people to pin insects
Please please please, for the love of all that is good and great on this God given green earth, please do a how to episode on diaphonization.
I am looking into this! From what I've learned/seen so far, though, it seems to be a pretty long (like, multi-day) process with a lot of "hurry up and wait" involved. Will report back soon.
***** Coolcoolcool, thanks for the reply.
Had never heard of diaphonization before.
Read Comment.
Spent an hour reading articles on diaphonization.
Totally obsessed for the moment.
Who said we don't learn things from UA-cam Comments!
Fencer Dave The first time I saw a diaphonized fish I was like "Whaaaaa?" and then proceeded to read about it for the rest of the week.
Please make this happen, brainscoop!
Gracen is cool! Would be nice if she was featured in another episode
I adore your hairstyle today Emily!
GAH! I wish this video came out a year ago during my 6th form biology project. We had to collect, pin & preserve insects from 10 different orders. I punctured a hole in each wing of the winged insects to spread them and most of them ripped. )):
Anyhoo! Will pass this video on to my biology teacher. Thank you, The Brain Scoop!
ahhh thank you I've always been curious about how people have been able to pin bugs!
I never saw the yearly "dog day" Cicadas when I was little but I heard them during every summer vacation. Since the noise over my head seemed to be moving up and down the street I figured it must be coming from the only thing I could see, the wires on the telephone poles. In my early teens I happened to walk alone through a field of 17 years Cicadas. Suddenly surrounded on all sides by a truly deafening and unfamiliar noise I did the sensible thing and ran like hell.
3:00 I imagine it is helpful if you are in the same state as the insect you are pinning. It would be hard to pin an insect in Illinois if you are in Oregon.
what kind of alcohol are the insects kept in? and does keeping them in alcohol preserve them when they have been pinned?
if you put them in solution with high alcohol content, like methylated spirits for a while they'll harden any you will have to soften them before pinning, although they can't always be softened without being significantly modified, or falling apart in some cases
That was cool, I hope we see Grace again sometime.
Just watched this with my 4 year old daughter. I have no interest in insects but she wants to be an entomologist.
She loved this and now wants to start her own bug collection.
She got a bug catching kit for her birthday.
Once you've pinned an insect, does that mean you are going steady?
Seriously, once the insect is dried, it stays in the position you pinned it? right? So you don't need the vellum or ALL the pins for final display, am I correct?
Yes, you'll notice the only pin actually in the insect is the one in the thorax. Once its dried it retains that position. The labels with information like species (if known), date, location and conditions of its collection are stuck on the central pin underneath the insect and its then stored.
Once it's dry, you can remove all the bracing pins and just leave the 'handle' through the thorax. I usually leave mine for several days though, just to be sure.
I lost a sling (super tiny baby tarantula) and I want to preserve it somehow for educational purposes, do I need to dip it in an alcohol bath first or can I just pin it as is?
One of my greatest fears the summer of 8th grade was the looming possibility of needing to create my own bug collection for 9th grade science. I just couldn't imagine coping well with capturing, freezing, and pinning a whole bunch of insects. Fortunately for me, I didn't go to the school that required the collecting, and I still don't think I could stomach it today!
I just bought some stuff to pin my old insect collection that I gathered when I was younger. Is it still worth rehydrating them?
Really, I love you, this is exactly the kind of video I've been waiting for since the trip to the field with the enthomologist!
Completely unrelated to insects..but your lovely hair braids have inspired me to start braiding my hair more often, Emily. :)
I'm studing biology in Science University of Oporto, Portugal and we had an assignment for invertebrates class where we had to make an insect collection And we had to pin them and indentify them. It was so much fun :)
Such a lovely video! Im so excited to try this out for the first time with this one bug that I have. Thank you.
You should do a video on how to pin butterflies. I have always wanted to start a collection and have found some really pretty ones but don't know how to preserve them so the wings don't degrade.
Go Gracen! Suddenly the insect net and pinning block I'm buying off of you have become pop culture artifacts.
whats the things you do after catching an specimen?
how do you kill it, is there anything else in the jars other than alcohol?
thanks grate job!
I prefer freezing my insects, though 70% ethanol (30% water) is commonly used for long storage. The jars in the video look dark because the fluids and some color from the insects will leech out into the solution while they're marinating. Freezing kills most insects really well, and when they thaw they're pretty hydrated still. BUT don't leave them for more than a year or two because the freezer can dry them out and then they'll need rehydrating.
"That's not a mantid!"
"Yes it is."
"Really?"
"NO!"
This is the nerdiest friggin channel and I love it to pieces.
Ahhhh love thebrainscoop. Wish I knew where Emily got her necklace. I collect and pin insects in my spare time and I'd love to have it.
Ok, so i have 2 tarantula hawk wasps and i want one with wings up and one with them apread, but they seem to keep folding up when i spread them out???
why the right hand side of the thorax?
You want to keep any markings on the thorax intact for identification purposes and since they are symmetrical you can pin on one side (happens to be right) and keep the markings on the other undamaged. Never pin right in the middle as it will damage the only part with that marking.
thanks
It is also because if, for ID purposes, you can go back and spread the wings. If you pin the center the wings are demolished
Because most insects are vampires and, as everyone knows, you have to stab vampires through the heart, which is on the right hand side of their thorax.
Maybe it's specifically the right side because of organ location? Just a guess. I'm probably completely wrong.
I think it's really cool that both of you have an artistic background but are working in science because I also love art but I am also really interested in science and don't really know what I would like to study or even do for a living :)
I used to do that all the time when I was about 9-13 years old! Sadly I have lost my collection though, but I might start again someday..
Vellum is also important because it 'typically' is acid free. This allows the material it is touching to not be degraded over time by the acids in the material holding it down. Important step for archival :)
the wes anderson influence on the brain scoop lately is overwhelming :D
Once the butterflies are pinned and dried what can be used to preserve them. It has been my experience that they will eventually be slowly eaten by other very tiny bugs. I await your reply.
You've probably already looked up an answer, but I'll go ahead and say that putting them in an extremely well fitted container can slow those bugs (probably dermestid beetles) down. Also, you can get little chemical packs of napthalene (moth balls in a different form) to put in the boxes to keep them away/kill them.
More bug videos please! I like the dynamic between you two!
Great subject for a video. Anyone remember back when kids, and grandparents, and people in between used to do this as a hobby? I just wonder how many people out there still do this as amateurs. And of course that makes me wonder if the Field has any collections of insects that were donated by amateur back yard collectors. I remember going to the county fair as a kid and seeing some fantastic displays of butterflies and beetles and other things that various people brought to show off. I didn't think of it at the time as science, but one of the things I've learned from the Brain Scoop is that collecting specimens is a critical part of science.
Magical Experience: Digging through horse poop for dung beetle, horse puts it's mouth all over my head.
DysnomiaFilms haha hilarious 😂
They're both so adorable I can't focus on the insects.
Please be less adorable. You adorable science girl, you.
Does the Chicago field museum have any devil frog fossils? And if you don't, do you have any pacman frogs in your collections? (Relatives to the devil frog and look just like them)
when i was younger, my mum and i went trekking. come evening, we were getting ready for bed after a long day, and i opened a window to breathe in the fresh air. and there, on the wooden window sill, was the most beautiful moth i'd ever seen.
i reached out, expecting it to fly away, but it didn't. i took the insect and it perched on my finger. its white wings were bigger than my childish hand, and one of its wings was torn - it was apparent that the moth couldn't fly at all. i must have spent hours absentmindedly switching it from one hand to the other, until my mum told me to go to sleep. i put the moth back on the window sill, but before i'd closed the window i changed my mind.
i pinned the insect, large as it was, with my thumb. it started fluttering uncontrollably. then i crushed its thorax, thinking i was being merciful, my whole hand sticky with its insides.
sometimes i still wonder if it would've lived, but something tells me i would've ended its life either way. it's certainly something to think about.
What liquid did you use to preserve the insects in the jar?
Today I learned from The Brain Scoop what I have in common with dead, dried insects: I find saunas relaxing.
I know it would be waaay off topic on this channel, but I would love a hair tutorial for the hair you have in this!
How long does a bumblebee need to decay after pinning it?
If it’s done on beetles, will it damage their shell?
So, for beetles their shell is actually the forward pair of wings. You want to get it in the rectangular thorax that is above the main body of the insect, below the head. Insect pins are sharp enough that usually they'll punch though without damaging much.
awesome! i love all the work you do to try and better the content found on youtube.
Where can I get insect pins and other proper tools for the job?
I feel like everyone but the taxidermist always looks at Emily at the end like "what now?"
OH MY GOD! You ladies are awesome! If I had met you two in High School I totally would've studied science in college. Back then all the science majors I met were really not nice older men. And thank you for making this video because I found a beautiful dragonfly in perfect shape on my grandmother's driveway yesterday.
Serpentinyaa What wrong with men
SuperManBoy1 she said not nice older men
it wasn't that they were men
it was that they were jerks
calm down dude xD
Gore Creature I'm calm the question is, is she
LETS DO THIS WITH BEES!Anti-sting armour,ACTIVAAAATE!!!!KABOOOM!
I've heard that certain butterflies must have their wings separated from their bodies to be pinned or else the wings will lose their color. Is this true?
This is somewhat true - there are physical differences in wing scale structure that leads to coloration. One way is by light reflection: the tiny scales reflect light and therefore coloration will not fade over time. Pigmented colors, however, are very light sensitive and exposure to light over any period of time will bleach the pigments out. Therefore it's important that insect collections (and many others) be kept in sealed drawers and housed in light-proof cabinets.
Nice video, but you guys left out the next steps: How long to let them dry after they have been positioned, and then different options for either storage, or display. Also where to affix or pin the labels, etc. There's actually a lot of other insect pinning videos on UA-cam, so I know the answers, but for others, this video could have quickly recapped some of the other details. You could always go into that in your next Q&A segment, or if there's another follow-up video.
I might buy some spiders as pets and when they die id like to pin them, do you have to do anything before you pin them ?
tr3nta You can't pin spiders
oh my god I've been waiting my whole life for this video
Thank you for this video, it really helped me and you are very cool ;) I have a question: My mantids use to become black with time to time, what can I do against this? They just become black at their eyes and body, not the wings or legs.
Mantids are tricky because the abdomen is large and also soft. The other parts are mostly rigid exoskeleton with some muscle tissue but the abdomen has a bunch of organs mucking up the pinning process. I would guess the blackening is rot? Try putting the pinned insect in an environment that will dry it out very quickly and thoroughly could possibly help with that? I don't have a ton of experience with that family, sorry.
No way! So if I died tomorrow, I could be outlived by a cicada?
Emily, I quite like your necklace here. What kind of stones are those?
Yesterday, I saw this cicada flying through the air and then it started tumbling. It started tumbling because a hornet tackled it and started stinging it. It was quite an interesting sight.
yay! I was so in the mood for a new episode. Very interesting.
Great video! Also Emily, your hair was on point.
Is there any special reason the pin goes in that little recessed channel in the foam block, instead of just anywhere on the block?
I'm guessing it's so that the wings will be level with the foam next to the channel.
"It's like bench pressing" 😂 I laughed so hard. Thanks for the education and comedy!! Great tips
Another super cool episode! What do u do outside of the museum for fun? Or do you secretly sleep there? :) because I would.
This makes me want to start my own collection. I find bugs very interesting. Thanks for such a good way for anyone to get exploring their surroundings.