Live Captioning Information
- Throughout BugFest 2020, live captioning will be provided for all programs, with the exception of videos and movies.
- ASL interpreters are available upon request, please contact accessibility@naturalsciences.org at least 36 hours prior to the start of the program.
- Spanish captioning will be available on the NCMNS YouTube channel for all archived BugFest 2020 programs.
Monday
Learn about the world’s most dangerous animal — the mosquito! See how NASA’s Earth-observing satellites are helping us predict, monitor, and respond to mosquito-transmitted disease and check out a free NASA-sponsored app to help track mosquito habitats.
Jon will discuss some of his favorite projects and some unique challenges that he has as an entomologist at BASF. How DO you feed a bedbug?
In this talk, Dr. Michael Reiskind will describe the natural history of humanity's greatest scourge, the disease-causing mosquitoes. He will also discuss how mosquitoes have affected human history, and how science has and is being used to combat this threat to public health.
BugFest 2020 is going virtual & Prairie Ridge is getting in on the action! Be among the first to see the premiere of our BugBlitz 2020 how-to video and learn how you can help document the insects you see anywhere in NC as part of our first ever statewide insect bioblitz.
We’ll discuss non-pesticide solutions to pest problems. Are there plants or botanicals that keep mosquitoes at bay? We'll look at botanical solutions to pest problems, including in the garden.
Being a flying fly is clearly the only way to be right? Wrong! Some flies have ditched what seems like such a clear advantage for a totally different, and totally fascinating alternative life cycle. Today Dr. Ramsey will be your tour guide as we venture through it!
Want to learn about compound lenses and make your own pair of fly eyes? Gather your materials and join us for a fun DIY demonstration.
Tuesday
This beneficial insect can digest virtually all human food waste, devouring kitchen scraps without delay, leaving little residue behind. This helps offset methane production and helps the climate. Join Karl Warkomski of Tar River Trading Post, LLC to learn more about these fascinating flies!
Practice your observation skills and learn more about the adaptations of butterflies and moths.
While many see flies as just the typical house fly crashing a picnic, these insects are also often beautiful, complex and surprising examples of the diversity of ways that organisms can both succeed in, and sustain, natural environments.
Maggots (and other insects) were once used medicinally to fight infections. Medicinal maggots, now regulated by the FDA, are once again in demand by hospitals, doctors and patients with serious wounds.
Discover with the Montreal Insectarium entomologist Dr. Julia Mlynarek how to recognize and appreciate flies as pollinators. See how these generally forgotten pollinators help fertilize cultivated & wild plants, and what we can do to help promote this wonderful group of insects.
Learn about chocolate and how flies/midges pollinate the cacao pods.
Join Museum educator Martha Fisk as she talks about predatory flies! Flies are not known for being picky eaters. While some flies are eating from your dinner plate, other flies are snatching bugs in mid-flight. Learn more about this fascinating group of insects, also known as the "robber flies."
What's all the buzz about? Meet several fabulous scientists who do research with fruit flies as they share highlights of their research programs. How DO you catch fruit flies in your backyard??
Discover aquatic insects and their role in nature through fly fishing and fly tying. Join us and the Orvis Raleigh team as they discuss the importance of aquatic bug life while tying some of their favorite patterns to imitate some of the bugs that live in our local waterways.
Wednesday
Join Museum Director and CEO Dr. Eric Dorfman along with Chief Veterinarian Dr. Dan Dombrowski for the launch of “Love Nature: The Biophilia Podcast.” This is an interactive program you will not want to miss!
Start your day with a buzz! In this unique yoga routine, we will try new poses like the “Cecropia,” “Crane fly,” and others inspired by the world of insects! All experience levels welcome, and we recommend this program for teenagers and adults.
Create your own unique pom-pom fly friend with teaching artist, Taylor McGee from Artspace in downtown Raleigh. You will learn how to make a pom-pom fly and miniature fruit from familiar materials while discovering the anatomy and diet of the amazing fly!
Art is full of bugs: figuratively, illusionistically, literally and for BugFest this year ... virtually. Join us for a presentation about the good, the bad and even the beautiful ways that bugs have contributed to art.
Join Alexis Gambis, the writer, director, and scientist behind "The Fly Room," and Adrian Smith, scientist and filmmaker at the NCMNS, to discuss "The Fly Room" and the intersections between the work of a filmmaker and that of a scientist.
Join us to watch as an artist and entomologist work together to make a one-of-a-kind zine (a mini magazine). You’ll learn about zines, flies and creativity, and you’ll walk away with the ability to contribute to our BugFest Zine!
Join team members from Kidzu Children's Museum for a honeycomb crafting session, featuring a LIVE storytime and BEE trivia hosted by Kidzu's STEM coordinator! Gather your recycled materials and bring your creativity because this community art project is sure to be a BUZZ for all ages!
Create your own unique pom-pom fly friend with teaching artist, Taylor McGee from Artspace in downtown Raleigh. You will learn how to make a pom-pom fly and miniature fruit from familiar materials while discovering the anatomy and diet of the amazing fly!
Thursday
Join Museum educators for this silly session of Bug Yoga, where we will flex our muscles & brains while doing poses inspired by a bug's life! Join us to learn about adaptations & life cycles, play games, and practice your moves!
Join Chef Zweli Williams for an exciting cooking class WITH BUGS! Chef Zweli will prepare delectable dishes using crickets and meal worms. Zweli’s Kitchen was voted Best New Restaurant in Durham County by INDYweek’s Best of the Triangle.
Dogs have wonderful noses capable of detecting odors that we humans cannot. This includes odors released by insects! Join this session to learn about how the USDA trains dogs to detect the Mexican Fruit Fly in citrus fruit!
Instead of a bug cooking competition with judges tasting dishes, this will be a live, virtual interview with past judges and clips from past competitions. We'll play some clips, get judges' reactions and memories, and we'll talk about the experience of eating bugs and judging the competition.
Hear from scientists at BASF who are working to alleviate some of the issues with food production through the use of agricultural biotechnology, including creating pest-resistant plants.
A termite-focused talk with a brief history of entomophagy (eating insects) in humans, present-day practices of eating termites, and the future of eating termites and other insects for the health of the planet. Appropriate for all ages!
Get your introduction to your first hour of computer science. We will learn to code while we make stories, games or animation! Join us to create a computer code with no bugs, while you learn about "real bugs” from the Museum's entomologists, all in the same hour!
Various insect groups that live in Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be discussed, including fireflies, bees and other pollinators, aquatic insects, and many others.
Friday
We will show you what we do once we "rob" the honey bees of the excess honey. Come watch how we get the honey out of the comb and on its way to your kitchen table.
Aquatic flies are found in ponds, streams, and shorelines worldwide! Learn about flies that suck blood, flies that use suction cups, a fly that uses a snorkel, and some of the many other bizarre characteristics you can find in the flies that live in water.
In this program you will learn how the biology of insects can help inform legal investigations and hear about the experiences of a forensic entomologist. Please be advised that there will be discussion of graphic/sensitive topics.
This tiny insect is wreaking havoc on our hemlock trees and hurting forests in North Carolina and beyond. Learn how to spot these bad bugs and what you can do to stop them.
There are a lot of villain bugs that kill our trees, but did you know there is a force for them to reckon with? Come explore the GOOD GUYS—insects that take down the tree-killing pests of our forest!
In Madagascar, nocturnal lemurs like aye-ayes eat thousands of bugs every night; but they're not alone! By embracing insects as a protein source for humans, the DLC's SAVA conservation project is working to reduce illegal lemur hunting on the island.
This will be a briefing on the “5 Most Unwanted” pests threatening North Carolina’s Forests (emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, laurel wilt, gypsy moth, hemlock woolly adelgid). Caution, forest pests may be six-armed and dangerous.
Bug Museum owner and monster movie fan Wade Harrell will be showing off a variety of live arthropods that have made appearances in movies and TV over the years.
Join us for this family-friendly game to see if you can guess the bug! We will be sketching live ("Pictionary" style) while you try to guess the bug before anyone else! You might learn some fun new buggy facts along the way, too!
Saturday
Have North Carolina insect or iNaturalist questions? Did you find an awesome insect during the BugBlitz and want to learn more about it? Join us for a BugBlitz meetup to share your favorite BugBlitz photos and get answers to your insect and iNaturalist questions from a team of experts!
Join the Museum's Collections Manager of Fishes, Gabriela Hogue, for a conversation with scientists who have devoted their lives to the care of deceased arthropods and find out why this is really cool and extremely important.
When people hear the word "fly" they think of one type: the ubiquitous house fly. But NC's diversity of true flies is much more than that! Dr. Matt Bertone of NCSU will be showing some of the most visually stunning, strange & interesting flies found in NC.
Join Dr. Erica McAlister of the Natural History Museum, London, UK, for a look under the bonnet of the astonishing mechanics of fly anatomy. These marvelous beasts are truly some of the greatest explorers on the planet!
Routine hive inspections are important to honey bee management. Five County Beekeepers Association club co-president Greg Wolgemuth explains what a beekeeper is looking for.
It's been said that "the caterpillar does all the work, but the butterfly gets all the publicity." Not this time! Join Museum educator Melissa Dowland & learn about their amazing ability to eat, their defense & their incredible variety.
Museum educator Greg Skupien will share past Ask a Naturalist submissions & we'll learn about the interesting arthropod observations from over the years. Submit your own observations and see if you can stump our experts.
Arthropods aren’t just bugs on land – there are many diverse aquatic arthropods that live in lakes and oceans! Join Museum aquarists Molly Ashur and Elizabeth Reese as we talk about three wildly unique marine arthropods: horseshoe crabs, mantis shrimp, and decorator crabs!
With a sheet of paper and a few folds and cuts, kaleidoscope magic is yours! Paper, colored markers or pencils, and scissors are all you need to help children grow their math eyes and notice patterns everywhere. This is a calm and friendly series of short activities for the whole family.