Have you ever wondered why some people are scared of bugs? Let’s find out together! Bugs, or creepy-crawlies, are little creatures with lots of legs. Sometimes, when a bug flies or crawls into a room, people react in different ways. Some might scream, some might stay calm, and others might even try to catch it. How do you feel about bugs?
Dr. Samuel Ramsey is a scientist who studies bugs. When he was a kid, he was really scared of them. He even had nightmares and asked his dad to check his room for imaginary bugs before he could sleep. But as he learned more about them, he became less scared.
Some people think bugs are dangerous because of scary-looking spiders or stinging insects like bees and wasps. But guess what? Most bugs aren’t dangerous at all! For example, dragonflies might look scary, but they love to eat annoying bugs like mosquitoes and flies. They’re amazing hunters!
Bees might worry some people because they can sting, but they are super helpful. Bees help flowers make seeds and fruits through a process called pollination. Without bees, we wouldn’t have many of the fruits we love, like apples and strawberries.
Did you know that some superheroes are named after bugs? Spiderman and Ant-Man are two examples. Bugs have incredible skills that seem like superpowers. The Hercules beetle can lift things 850 times heavier than itself, like you lifting 10 elephants!
Some bugs, like the Atlas moth, are masters of disguise. Their wings look like a cobra to scare away predators. Bugs also have amazing eyes. Flies have eyes with thousands of tiny sections, so they can see all around them, even behind their heads!
Dr. Ramsey discovered that learning more about bugs made him less scared. He spent a summer reading bug books at the library and decided he wanted to be an entomologist, a bug scientist, when he grew up. Now, he loves bugs and thinks they’re awesome!
Now it’s your turn to have some fun! You can create your own creepy-crawly with a special activity. Check out the link at the end of the video to try it out. And remember, there are mysteries all around us. Stay curious and keep exploring!
Bug Observation Walk: Take a walk in your garden, park, or backyard with an adult. Look for different types of bugs. Can you find a beetle, a butterfly, or an ant? Observe how they move and what they are doing. Draw a picture of your favorite bug and write a sentence about what you noticed. Did you see any bugs helping plants, like bees or ladybugs?
Create a Bug Superhero: Imagine you are a superhero with bug powers! Choose a bug and think about its special abilities. For example, a spider can spin webs, and an ant can lift heavy things. Draw your superhero and describe what powers they have. How would they use their powers to help people or other bugs?
Bug Role Play: With your friends or family, pretend to be different bugs. One person can be a bee, another a butterfly, and someone else a dragonfly. Act out how you would move and what you would do. How do you help the environment? Share what you learned about your bug’s role in nature.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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(Phone ringing) – Hi, Doug. – Hi, Hunter. – I have a question for you. Why are so many people scared of bugs? – That’s a great question. Rather than me answer it, I know the perfect person for this question. His name is Dr. Samuel Ramsey. He’s a scientist who studies bugs. I know he’s got some thoughts about this question. Dr. Ramsey, what do you think? – Why are some people afraid of bugs? That is a great question. Let’s talk about bugs. Now today, when I say “bug,” I’m using it in the non-scientific sense of the word, as in things that some people call creepy-crawlies, you know, the stuff with a lot of legs. Have you ever seen a bug fly or crawl into a crowded place, like maybe your classroom? If you did, I bet you noticed a lot of different reactions. (Girl screams) There were probably some people who were pretty freaked out. Some people were probably calm about it. Some people may have gotten excited or even tried to catch it. How about you guys? How do you feel about bugs? Okay. You ready? Well, I don’t know how you feel about bugs, but believe it or not, when I was really little, around seven, I used to be terrified of them. I would have nightmares about bugs and make my dad come into my room and check for imaginary bugs before I could go to sleep. I was so scared that I didn’t even want to go outside anymore. Now, most people aren’t that scared of bugs, but a lot of people think that they’re pretty creepy and crawly and pretty much stay as far away from them as they can. Why is that? Could it be that some people feel like bugs are a little dangerous? Like, think about the scary-looking spiders or creepy-crawlies you’ve seen in movies, or maybe you’ve seen stinging bugs, like scorpions, bees, or wasps, in real life. It’s easy to understand why some people might get a little nervous around them. These creatures can actually cause pain. But here’s the thing. Most bugs aren’t dangerous at all. Consider this bug. Up close, it might look scary to some, and with a name like dragonfly, it sounds ferocious. Can they bite? Can they sting? But guess what? Dragonflies love to eat. They love eating bugs that you might find annoying, like mosquitoes and flies. They’re amazing hunters. To catch their prey, they make a little trap with their legs and hold the bugs in place with their mouths. Oh, and just think about bees. Bees are one insect that probably cause people the most worry. Who wants to be stung by a bee? It might even be tempting to imagine a world without bees, but if that really happened, it would be terrible! Bees are one of the most helpful bugs of all. They help flowers produce seeds and fruit. It’s called pollination. So without bees, we wouldn’t have many of the beautiful flowers that we love to look at or the foods that we eat, like apples, peaches, strawberries, and melons. So, many bugs aren’t really all that scary. They’re helpful. It’s no coincidence that a lot of superheroes, like Spiderman and Ant-Man, are named after bugs. In fact, some bugs have incredible skills that almost seem like superpowers. Check out this guy. It’s called a Hercules beetle. These beetles can lift things that are 850 times heavier than their own body weight. That would be like you lifting 10 elephants stacked on top of each other. Oh, and this insect, this is one of my favorites. It’s an Atlas moth. They’re masters of disguise. Don’t these markings on the wings make them look just like a cobra? That helps scare animals away that might try to eat them. Consider this. You and I have only two eyes, but bugs have a lot more than that. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to catch a fly? That’s because two of their five eyes are separated into thousands of tiny little sections. So they can never miss when something moves even a little bit, and they can see all around them, even behind their heads. But here’s something interesting that I noticed. Maybe part of why these creatures seem scary is because they’re so different from us. Being different from us isn’t a reason to be scared. I mean, I would guess that I look different from some of you, and maybe you look different from some of your friends, but isn’t it differences like this that make life so interesting? I mean, some bugs are so amazingly different that they’ve inspired artists to create a lot of aliens that we’ve seen in science fiction movies, in video games, and not just the scary ones. The incredible strangeness of bugs has inspired some really fun characters too, like Caterpie, a character from Pokémon. Doesn’t it look just like this caterpillar in real life? I know that bugs still might look scary to some, but learning more about them can make you less scared. At least, that’s what happened to me. One summer, my parents dropped me off at the library and encouraged me to hang out in the bug section. So, that’s what I did. I read every bug book I could find, and before that summer ended, I wasn’t so afraid. I even remember riding in the car with my mom and saying to her, “I want to be an entomologist when I grow up.” (chuckles) That’s what you call a bug scientist. And here I am today. Thanks for listening and for giving bugs a chance. I know they’re a lot different from us, but that’s what makes them so awesome. That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Hunter, for asking it. – And thank you, Dr. Ramsey, for being our guest. Now, we have something special for this week’s episode. My friends and I here at Mystery Science created a special activity where you can create your own creepy-crawly. You can find a link to the activity at the end of this video. I hope you’ll try it. For the next episode, I reached into our question jar and picked out three questions sent into us that we’re thinking about answering next. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from who invented candy, how big can a pumpkin grow, or why are orange and black the colors of Halloween. So submit your vote when the video is over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
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