July 1, 2022

Interviews Week Bug Scientist Christine Johnson Night (7-1-2022)

by Chompers

Background show artwork for Chompers

Tonight we have more answers to your questions with insect scientist Christine Johnson!

Where to Listen

Transcript

[THEME SONG BEGINS]


>>RACHEL: Welcome back, it’s time for Chompers, your morning and night toothbrushing show. 


Start brushing on the top of your mouth, and brush the inside, outside and chewing side of each tooth


>>KIDS: 3, 2, 1 brush!


[THEME SONG ENDS]


>>RACHEL: Its Interviews week, so Jasmine is talking to Dr. Christine Johnson, who works at the American Museum of Natural History. She knows a lot about insects and arachnids. 


>>CHRISTINE: Insects for such small organisms they're really incredibly powerful. 


>>JASMINE: Right! and we have a lot of questions about them that our Chompions sent in to us. But first....  Switch your brushing to the other side of the top of your mouth…


[SWITCH BELL]


>>JASMINE:  and brush the molars in the way back. OK. So we have a question from a kid named William and he asked, “How far do grasshoppers jump?” 


>>CHRISTINE: That's a great question. And grasshoppers can actually jump pretty far for their body size. So they jump between 30 inches and 38 inches. And it doesn't depend on the size of whether it's a small grasshopper or a big grasshopper they can jump that far. And that would be like a human jumping five stories up or like in three jumps a football field. 


>>JASMINE: Switch to the bottom of your mouth…


[SWITCH BELL]


>>JASMINE: -pick a side and keep brushing! This next question comes from a kid named Kelani and she asked “How do bees make honey?”


>>CHRISTINE: So bees fly to flowers. They lap up nectar with their tongue. They take that nectar and they store it in a special honey stomach. When they come back to the nest they sort of spit up the nectar and they share it with another bee in the nest who then chews it and chews it and chews it for a bit and they put it into a cone in their honeycomb then eventually you have honey.


>>JASMINE: Switch to the other side of the bottom of your mouth…


[SWITCH BELL]


>>JASMINE: -but don’t brush too hard. So do you have any advice for kids that think bugs are really cool and want to you know learn more about bugs.?


>>CHRISTINE: I think one of the most important things to know is that insects are really really important for our environment. They serve as food for birds. They decompose or they break down things that pass away // a lot of people are often afraid of insects // But most insects are really beneficial and a lot of ways.


[THEME SONG BEGINS]


>>JASMINE: That's it for chompers tonight. Special thanks to Dr.Christine Johnson, Aubrey Miller and the American Museum of Natural History


Until next time…


>KIDS: 3, 2, 1 spit!


[THEME SONG ENDS]