By John Mayida
“Insect Fear Film Festival” on Saturday, February 27, 2010, was one successful event in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Foellinger Auditorium was jam packed with adults and children with one thing in common -- the love and fear of bugs. The theme of the 27th consecutive “Insect Fear Film Festival” was Prehistoric Insects. There were display cases filled with insects and other critters ranging from a few recent years up to millions of years old for this event.
Scientist Sam Heads, discussed his research at the University. As an entomologist, he studies insects. We found him with a powerful microscope and he introduced us to what was being scoped. He showed a very small piece of limestone that looked like a tiny piece of yellow paper. This limestone amber is preserving a fossil cricket 20 million years old. "This limestone is early cretaceous limestone from Brazil and is 110 to 115 million years old, which is well within the age of the dinosuars. So when the dinosuars were wondering around doing what dinosuars did... these guys were still hopping around and singing like they do today," Heads said.
The festival showed two films about ... you guessed right, BUGS!
"The Black Scorpion" is a black and white movie from 1957 and "Ice Crawler" was made in 2003. These movies made the audience laugh out loud because of all the cheesey acting. Once in a while you would hear a few people gasping.
Besides insects there were drawings and other art entries from students in the community schools. Many of the young artists were there showing their parents and bug lovers what they drew. These kids knew all about their bugs.
“Insect Fear Film Festival” on Saturday, February 27, 2010, was one successful event in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Foellinger Auditorium was jam packed with adults and children with one thing in common -- the love and fear of bugs. The theme of the 27th consecutive “Insect Fear Film Festival” was Prehistoric Insects. There were display cases filled with insects and other critters ranging from a few recent years up to millions of years old for this event.
Scientist Sam Heads, discussed his research at the University. As an entomologist, he studies insects. We found him with a powerful microscope and he introduced us to what was being scoped. He showed a very small piece of limestone that looked like a tiny piece of yellow paper. This limestone amber is preserving a fossil cricket 20 million years old. "This limestone is early cretaceous limestone from Brazil and is 110 to 115 million years old, which is well within the age of the dinosuars. So when the dinosuars were wondering around doing what dinosuars did... these guys were still hopping around and singing like they do today," Heads said.
The festival showed two films about ... you guessed right, BUGS!
"The Black Scorpion" is a black and white movie from 1957 and "Ice Crawler" was made in 2003. These movies made the audience laugh out loud because of all the cheesey acting. Once in a while you would hear a few people gasping.
Besides insects there were drawings and other art entries from students in the community schools. Many of the young artists were there showing their parents and bug lovers what they drew. These kids knew all about their bugs.
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