Episode 28

Flies and Termites

Hannah Davis

Jan 19, 2021 | Science

Hannah Davis is a Biology PhD Student at Carleton University. She is studying cold tolerance in fruit flies! We also talk about termites and wasps!

Hannah Davis talks about how wasps and bees that sting you are all female!

About This Episode

In this episode, I speak with Hannah Davis, a PhD student in Biology. We talk about her research with fruit flies, her previous research with termites, and we talk a bit about wasps, hover flies, and what it’s like to be expecting a child for the first time!

Hannah Davis on ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hannah_Davis3

Topics and Timestamps

  • Introduction (0:00:30)
  • Why fruit flies are a model organism in science (0:01:33)
  • Choosing to study insects out of curiosity (0:02:50)
  • What is a “chill coma”? (0:04:01)
  • Fruit fly cold tolerance traits (0:06:12)
  • The hardiness of one specific fruit fly species (0:08:40)
  • Research during COVID (0:09:58)
  • Differences between ants and termites (0:10:35)
  • Body structure between ants and termites (0:12:55)
  • Termites are social cockroaches! (0:14:09)
  • The caste system in termite colonies (0:15:28)
  • Termites have a king! (0:16:30)
  • Lab colonies are different from the wild (0:17:45)
  • Watching termites is fun! (0:18:48)
  • The termite soldier class (0:19:27)
  • What did they feed termites in the lab? (0:22:20)
  • Hannah’s research with termites (0:23:42)
  • Diseases that affect termites (0:25:20)
  • Pest insects are great to study! (0:26:37)
  • The smell in labs! (0:28:30)
  • Studying science in Germany (0:31:20)
  • University differences between Canada and Germany (0:34:39)
  • Differences in creatures and fauna (0:37:50)
  • Talking about hornets! (0:39:45)
  • A hornet’s stinger is a modified lady part! (0:40:56)
  • Hannah’s love of hover flies (0:43:20)
  • Mimicry in nature (0:46:25)
  • The love of spiders (0:48:07)
  • Hannah is expecting a baby! (0:49:12)
  • Plans for the next year (0:55:34)

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