Thaaaaaat's a giant arthropod!

It's question time, where you ask questions

and I provide some answers...

and wave my arms around a lot.

Here we go!

Theonewiththepoof asked:

Trilobites!

And you ask, what is a trilobite?

A trilobite is an early arthropod!

What's an arthropod?

An arthropod-

is a hard bodied invertebrate like our modern day lobsters and insects.

Trilobites existed on the planet from about 521 to 250 million years ago,

and as of right now, we know of about 20,000 different species.

These tiny little, and sometimes really large, invertebrates

were roaming all over the planet and they're just so cool.

Maura Griffith, @maurasaurus_rex, asked:

I mean there are entire museum studies courses that are devoted to picking apart this very question,

because you have places that call themselves museums,

but they don't have a collection.

Some museums do a much better job of educating the public than others

and really engaging them in what is going on behind the scenes,

but at the same time, if we aren't taking the proper care

to take care of our collections, then what do we have to share?

So I really feel like there could be a happy balance struck between

taking care of the collections items and ensuring that research is still happening behind the scenes,

and also helping to better communicate that research to the public,

which is where The Brain Scoop comes in.

Northernredwood asked:

Meteorites from space!

But really, we've got everything from the highest peaks to the deepest oceans

from Madagascar to Chile, to Antarctica, and everything in between.

Jim Slaughter, @jimmyslaughter, asked:

I really had no idea.

Heather Hsu got in contact with Michael and me to see if we would be interested

in visiting Chicago to film their annual Members' Night event, so of course we agreed.

Once we got here, The Field Museum allowed us to film behind the scenes

to see what was going on with the researchers and the staff here at the museum.

They lured me into a conference room with the promise of cookies

and we were sitting there, and Bill Stanley and I were talking

about how cool it would be if The Field Museum could do something kinda like The Brain Scoop

and he said, "That'd be really cool. Why don't you do it?"

And I said, "What?"

And he said, "We want you to work here."

And I don't remember the rest of the conversation

because my brain turned to soup.

Bytheletterc asks:

The taxidermists are the sculptors!

Taxidermy is as much of an art form as it is a science.

All taxidermists have to be avid observers of nature

because it is their job to recreate the essence of life after death.

So, if you're interested in finding a career that will

happily marry both science and art,

the first obvious choice is to be a scientific illustrator,

the second is to probably pursue taxidermy,

but that doesn't mean there aren't other career options available.

TBSkyen, or T-B-S-K-Y-E-N-I-don't-know-how-to-pronounce-your-name, asked:

To get as many people as possible excited about

the incredible unlikelihood of our collective existence.

Aurusallos asked:

A few years ago, I had a new volunteer in the lab

helping me to dissect and clean the skull of a bobcat.

It came in with all the fur on the head and everything,

and she did really well during the process,

but I couldn't ever get her to come back again.

I felt really bad about it and I guess

it's probably because it looked a lot like a house cat,

but I never judge anybody if they can't "handle" what's going on in the lab

or if they think it's too gross, because, honestly, at the end of the day,

I'm just really proud of them for giving it a try.

Drawingforawesome askes:

One time I was watching a colleague dissect a beaver

and when it got time to opening up the stomach it just-

...was a bunch of sawdust. And, I mean,

I know beavers eat trees, that totally makes sense,

But I just was not prepared for how well digested it was,

and it- it looked like a dust collecting bag from a table saw.

It was intense.

Katherinethegreat asks:

By definition, a scientist is somebody who is either studying

or an expert in one or more of the physical or natural sciences,

a science being a state of knowledge or constant pursuit of learning.

By definition, we are all scientists.

You, investing in The Brain Scoop and what museums do, are scientists.

You're pursuing knowledge in the field.

So, given those standards, I would say, yeah, I'm a scientist.

As are you.

Zeroarcana asks:

It's unfortunately not common knowledge that a lot of the dioramas

down in birds and mammals are close to 100 years old,

and they've been entirely sealed up to prevent any dust from settling or damaging the specimens.

Or, that an exhibit like Plants of the World could never be recreated today

because each leaf on every plant in that hall

was molded and sculpted and painted by hand!

42Dude asked:

Even though everything from art works to artifacts can end up at auction,

literally everything from gems to paintings to fossils and minerals,

that doesn't mean that these things inherently have a monetary value.

Because how can you really put a value on an entire ecosystem

or an entire culture of people?

You can't. You won't find anybody in a museum who assigns that kind of value to our collection.

I would argue that everything we have here is invaluable.

The real question is though, is having access to this invaluable material worth the $15 admission price?