Virtual SUTS! Planet of the Insects
Welcome to Science Under the Virtual Stars! Bees! Bugs! Beetles! Oh my! This month, we will be learning all about important insects here on Earth. Enjoy the kids (of all ages) activities, a virtual natural history tour of Brackenridge Field Laboratory, and a bug hunt! The live lecture and Q&A with Tristan Kubik will be held on November 12th at 7:00 pm CT (UTC -6)–the Zoom link is at the end of this post (and we worked the bugs out this time! haha Sorry, I couldn’t help myself…).
Activity 1 (hands-on): Ant Life Cycle Craft 1 (To print or download to your computer, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Activity 2 (hands-on): Ant Life Cycle Craft 2 (To print or download to your computer, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Activity 3 (hands-on): SUTS Ant Farm (To print or download to your computer, click click the 3 vertical dots on the right-hand side of the screen > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Activity 4 (hands-on): Butterfly Life Cycle Craft (To print or download to your computer, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Activity 5 (hands-on): Complete vs. Incomplete Metamorphosis Activity & Information Sheet (To print or fill out on your computer, click the 3 vertical dots on the right-hand side of the screen > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Tour of Brackenridge Field Laboratory (13 min)
A Backyard Bug Hunt! Courtesy of Austin360
Zoom Information for live lecture and Q&A, November 12th at 7:00 pm CT (UTC -6). Note: You must have a (free) Zoom account in order to access this meeting. The meeting will not be recorded.
Topic: Science Under the Stars: Planet of the Insects
Time: Nov 12, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
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November 12th, Tristan Kubik
Planet of the Insects
Please note that for this event, both the lecture and Q&A will be live and NOT recorded.
If you don’t like insects, then you’re living on the wrong planet. Earth is likely home to over ten million species of insects. Compared to the 5,000 or so mammal species and the 20,000 or so plant species, insect biodiversity vastly overshadows all other life on our planet. Furthermore, there are close to 10 quintillion insects estimated to be alive this very second. That’s more than 111 million creepy crawlies for every single one of the 9 billion humans alive today. Insects eat everything, do everything, and without them, life on land could not exist. Insects are important pollinators, they take care of life’s waste and dead organic material, and support every terrestrial ecosystem they occur in. But not all insects are allies. Insect pests are our number one competitor for food, blood-sucking insects have killed more humans than all the wars, famines, and natural disasters combined, and bugs constantly invade our homes and spoil our goods. So why are insects so successful? What has driven their massive diversity? How old are insects? And what are some of the ways we humans have figured out how to coexist with the true overlords of planet Earth? Join me, Tristan Kubik, a zany entomologist, as I introduce you to the marvelous microcosm of insects and show you that, contrary to what we would like to believe, insects truly are the dominant form of life on planet Earth.
Science Under the Stars has gone virtual! This semester all SUTS activities will be online, but we encourage you to participate outdoors under the stars in your backyard! (If wifi allows for it, of course.) November’s schedule is as follows:
- November 5th: Links to the kids activities and live online lecture/Q&A will be posted here and as an event on our Facebook page.
- November 12th, 7:00pm CST: Live online lecture and Q&A with the speaker!
Science Under the Stars is a free public outreach lecture series based in Austin, Texas.
Spring Neighborhood Science at Twin Oaks Branch Library
Science Under the Stars has expanded to include the Austin Public Library! At Neighborhood Science, previous SUTS speakers will present at different library branches around the city a couple times a month. Below are the dates and descriptions for this fall at the Twin Oaks Branch Library, 1800 S 5th St, Austin, TX 78704. All talks begin at 7pm.
Photo credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen
Photo credit: Hubertl
Neighborhood Science at Twin Oaks Branch Library
Science Under the Stars has expanded to include the Austin Public Library! At Neighborhood Science, previous SUTS speakers will present at different library branches around the city a couple times a month. Below are the dates and descriptions for this fall at the Twin Oaks Branch Library, 1800 S 5th St, Austin, TX 78704. All talks begin at 7pm.
A Sweat Bee native to Texas covered in pollen. credit: Alejandro Santillana, Insects Unlocked
Thursday, October 3, 7pm: Megan O’Connell – “Bees go grocery shopping”
Leafcutter ants defending their nest against an army ant. Credit: Alex Wild Photography
Thursday, November 7, 7pm: Tristan Kubik – “Clash of the Myrmidons”
The Amazon rainforest is home to two unexpected titans. Leafcutter ants are peaceful, sedentary farmers responsible for processing huge volumes of tropical vegetation. They use their foraging material to cultivate obligate, fungal nurseries that cradle precious brood deep within their subterranean fortresses. Few organisms are courageous or capable enough to threaten mature leafcutter colonies, but the tank army ant is one of them. Tank army ants are nomadic, subterranean ant-killing machines. Their colonies can reach as many as several million and their hunger for leafcutters is insatiable. They flush out and overwhelm kilograms of prey every day with their numbers, mandibles, and venomous stings. And yet, leafcutter nests are not without defenses. Leafcutter colonies rapidly mount impressive responses to the alarming presence of tank army ant scouts including specialized soldiers, construction of barricades, and air-tight linear battlefronts. These two large, complex, derived societies clash in epic battles akin to the wars waged long ago by the Greeks and Romans with heroes just as notable as Hercules and Achilles. Such examples of social conflict are of great interest to systems science and parallels can be drawn to instances of immune systems vs disease, competing economies, and even human warfare. Join me for a night of bravery, sacrifice, and storytelling as I share my passion and knowledge about this riveting rivalry!
Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), an all-female clonal fish
Thursday, December 5, 7pm: Allison Davis – “How to get a date: story of a clone”
Neighborhood Science at Howson Branch Library
Science Under the Stars has expanded to include the Austin Public Library! At Neighborhood Science, previous SUTS speakers will present at different library branches around the city a couple times a month. Below are the dates and descriptions for this fall at the Howson Branch Library, 2500 Exposition Blvd, Austin, TX 78703. All talks begin at 7:30pm. **These talks will be held outdoors, so bring a chair!
A Sweat Bee native to Texas covered in pollen. credit: Alejandro Santillana, Insects Unlocked
Tuesday, September 24, 7:30pm: Megan O’Connell – “Bees go grocery shopping”
Bats use sonar to see. Credit: Uwe Schmidt
Tuesday, October 29, 7:30pm: Caitlin Leslie – “Sensory Superheroes: Extreme Animal Sensory Systems”
Tuesday, November 26, 7:30pm: Chase Rakowski – “Plankton: the little alien-like creatures that might save us all”
Leafcutter ants defending their nest against an army ant. Credit: Alex Wild Photography
The Amazon rainforest is home to two unexpected titans. Leafcutter ants are peaceful, sedentary farmers responsible for processing huge volumes of tropical vegetation. They use their foraging material to cultivate obligate, fungal nurseries that cradle precious brood deep within their subterranean fortresses. Few organisms are courageous or capable enough to threaten mature leafcutter colonies, but the tank army ant is one of them. Tank army ants are nomadic, subterranean ant-killing machines. Their colonies can reach as many as several million and their hunger for leafcutters is insatiable. They flush out and overwhelm kilograms of prey every day with their numbers, mandibles, and venomous stings. And yet, leafcutter nests are not without defenses. Leafcutter colonies rapidly mount impressive responses to the alarming presence of tank army ant scouts including specialized soldiers, construction of barricades, and air-tight linear battlefronts. These two large, complex, derived societies clash in epic battles akin to the wars waged long ago by the Greeks and Romans with heroes just as notable as Hercules and Achilles. Such examples of social conflict are of great interest to systems science and parallels can be drawn to instances of immune systems vs disease, competing economies, and even human warfare. Join me for a night of bravery, sacrifice, and storytelling as I share my passion and knowledge about this riveting rivalry!
Science Under The Stars 