Spotlight on Evolution – Schools Podcasting Workshop

By Conor Hull, Community Engagement Officer

As part of our plethora of brand new schools workshops, a group of sixth year pupils tackled the extinction of the dinosaurs to craft their very own Science Podcast.

On 15 June nine sixth year pupils form North Berwick High School worked with a professional science communicator and our very own Dr Sarah Stewart to explore the theory of evolution in a dynamic multi-media workshop.  This pilot was for one of our many brand new fantastic workshops for schools, which will be launched as part of the revamped Museum’s school programme from September.

Cameron Robinson, from Hello Science, took the pupils through a training boot-camp on how to script, record, edit and produce their own mini radio programme or podcast.

They interviewed Assistant Curator of Paleobiology, Dr Sarah Stewart. Sarah is an expert on dinosaurs and presented the pupils with an interesting question:  Dinosaurs – Evolutionary Success or Dead End?

Dinosaurs - Dead End?

The young people took inspiration from Sarah’s short talk and some real life fossils from our collections and thought of an interesting angle for their own podcast. They then wrote and recorded an intro and outro, before interviewing the expert. And here are the results:

Podcast 1: Dinosaurs – more successful than you think!

Podcast 2: Dinosaurs in the Hot Seat

Podcast 3: Could birds have evolved from Dinosaurs?

The new T.rex cast at the National Museum of Scotland.

Fancy trying this with your class? This workshop will be available to pre-booked groups on the following dates at the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street Edinburgh:

14 – 16 Nov and 22– 24 Nov 2011,

Senior Phase Pupils (S4-6)

£5 per pupil / max 15 per session.

For further details and booking see our website school pages, call 0131 247 4041 or email schools@nms.ac.uk.

 

Coleopterology to Couture Part 2: the creations take shape!

By Clare McIntyre, Department Administrator, Collections Management

Back in October, Fashion, Textile and Costume students from Edinburgh College of Art visited our entomology store at the collections centre, where they were encouraged to study, photograph and touch the insects.

Here’s a link to the original article.

Butterflies in the National Museums Collection Centre.

A few months on I’ve had the opportunity to see some of the finished art work and to chat about how the stunning designs developed from their initial inspiration.

The group that I visited were third year textiles students. Their project was to design a length of textile based on their observations.  In addition they were to team up with the fashion students to produce fabric for a full garment.  These designs had to be different, but complimentary and form a neat collection.

An example of the insect-inspired prints.

The lengths of textiles were exhibited at the college, as a display of stunning, shimmering, colourful fabrics which have been simply and elegantly hung and draped across mannequins.

The finished outfits from the student collaboration will be shown as part of a fashion show in May, but I was allowed a sneaky peek into the print studio to get an idea of what was being created.

Here are a few examples of the work along with some info and technical tips that the students described to me.

Claire Bryan with her design created using flocking.

Claire’s piece was based on the vein patterns and segments of butterfly wings.  She created it by painting flock sheet with coloured dyes.  The flock is added to the fabric by screen printing glue onto the silk in the shape of the design.  The glue is allowed to dry and then the flock is laid on top.  The whole thing is pressed in a heated press, then the flock sheet is peeled away, it will only stick to the glued area creating the pattern.  The use of the flock against the silk was based on the feel of the insects, as flock has a slightly rough, furry feel which is similar to some of the beetles and also represents the scaly quality of the butterfly wings.

Claire finished the piece with gold thread and hot fix crystals inspired by the jewel beetles from the collection.

Liucija Dervinyte and Nicola Lynch with their designs.

Liucija and Nicolas designs.

Nicola was influenced by the colours, the green, blues and blacks of the beetles.  The design was created using a technique called discharging. The white length of fabric was dyed with the rich jewel colours and then a bleach-like substance is applied which partially removes the dye, allowing the subtle pattern to be created.  At the bottom there is some dense beading reflecting the shapes and scaly qualities of the edges of the butterfly wings.

Liulij’s design was influenced by the transparency of butterfly wings, and their structure.  Some butterflies use interference colouring, which shimmers in different shades of blue as it reflects the sky and camouflages them as they fly. This fed into the choice of colour and texture in the design.  The darker parts have been printed with pigment, which gives them a heavy, more starched quality that contrasts with the lightweight silky, pale blue parts of the design.

Katie Watson and Kristina Lane.

Katie and Kristinas designs.

Katie was interested in the structure of butterfly wings and how they connect. Her design changes perspective to work with draping of the fabric. The material was dip-dyed and has then been printed with a technique called colour discharge. This technique works in a similar way to hair dye, as it bleaches the base colour and adds a new shade, The colour reacts differently to the different types of dye already on the fabric, creating the variety of shades.

Christina used two techniques: foil, which is similar to flocking but using a metallic foil; and Shiburi, which is a Chinese-based technique similar to tie-dying.  The fabric is pleated and folded before being put in the dye, which means the material soaks up different quantities creating patterns with light and shade.  Christina’s method is unusual because the foil was applied first and the Shiburi second; it was then heat set which added all the texture and crinkling, representing the translucent veined quality of insect wings.

Jamie Bruce with his blue quilted design.

Jamie combined butterflies and space…  He said that when he saw some of the specimens they reminded him of pictures of space so he’s incorporated both into his design. The colours are inspired by the jewel beetles, and he then added quilting and embroidery to provide further structure and texture.  For his collaboration he’s working on a piece that uses flashes of very vibrant colour, which is similar to a butterfly using colour to warn of predators as a defence mechanism.

Coral Higgins with her textured pigment print.

Coral created this amazing design based on tiger moths by adding pigment to velvet.  Normally this would be something to be avoided at all costs as it makes the velvet clump and become rough, but it was perfect for this design as it mimicked the feel of some of the beetles in the collection.

This was an unusual project for the students as they all visited the Entomology store together as a group.  They said that the explanations and anecdotes of Richard Lyszkowski (the Assistant Curator of Entomology) , were as inspiring as seeing the real specimens.  I asked if their research could have been done using the internet or books, but they said it was important that they were able to see the size of the insects and to get the close up view through a microscope of the scales and to touch the specimens, as this really added an extra dimension to their work and their ideas.

Students at work in the studio preparing garments for the fashion show.

Students at work in the studio preparing garments for the fashion show.

Students at work in the studio preparing garments for the fashion show.

Lindy Richardson their tutor said that it’s also been different to have mixed art disciplines working together, and that the students have found it really beneficial.  They’ve had to compromise and adapt or try new techniques, which has pushed them creatively.  It’s also a more realistic taste of how the industry would work on projects.

I was extremely impressed by their work and really chuffed that we had been able to inspire them. I previously wondered if they could have been as inventive as nature and years of evolution, and I have to say they’re not far off!

I’m hoping to get the opportunity to attend the fashion show in May and see the final outfits, so watch this space…

Designs and fabrics for one of the final garments.

 

Coleopterology to Couture… or inspirational insects

By Clare McIntyre, Department Administrator, Collections Management

Recently, Costume, Fashion and Textiles students from Edinburgh College of Art have been visiting the Collections Centre to study our insect collections.

This has been a collaboration between Edinburgh Art College,  Scott Neil in Learning and Programmes, Richard Lyszkowski, the Assistant Curator of Entomology, and myself in Collections Management.

Twenty-seven budding Alexander McQueens have spent time swarming over the Entomology collections, with a further 19 still due to visit. The array of colours, shapes and patterns in the insect world are perfect for inspiring designs, especially when combined with Richard’s fascinating facts and anecdotes about insect behaviour.

Students photographing insects at the Collections Centre.

Sketching butterflies from our collection.

We have around two million specimens, from beautiful delicate butterflies to spider-hunting wasps. We’ve recently invested in improved storage for the collection with financial help from the Pelham Clinton fund, and it’s been great to use the new facilities to enable people to see one of the most spectacular collections in the museum.

Spider-hunting wasp.

I’ve helped to facilitate the sessions and have really enjoyed looking at the collection in greater detail. Richard has been brilliant at explaining the differences between species and the survival methods they use.

Sketching butterflies.

I’ve found myself fascinated by beetle wings. They operate on a hydraulic system, where the beetle pumps fluid into the veins of the wing to expand them ready for flight, then drains and intricately folds them up, to tuck into the protective wing casings. All this takes place in an instant, so this power of transformation could be applied to anything from carnival costumes to hi-tech tents and soft-top cars.

Beetles from our collection.

My other favourite insect innovation involves lycaenid butterflies – they include our hairstreak butterflies. The floaty tail pieces on their wings means that when they land on plants and fold their wings back, their rear-end mimics the shape of the antenna on their head, tricking any predators into attacking the wrong end.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the creations that the art students develop as a result of their visit. But I do wonder if the human imagination will prove as creative as natural selection…

 

Museum curators learn about alcohol!

By Sankurie Pye and Fiona Ware, Curators of Invertebrate Biology

Window on the World, our amazing new display that will reach from the ground floor to the top of the Grand Gallery in the redeveloped National Museum of Scotland, will showcase a wonderful array of objects from our collections and will give visitors a taste of what can be seen in our new exhibitions. This display will include sea pens, worms, crabs, snails, octopuses, sea urchins, frogs, lizards and fish, which are preserved in alcohol and sealed in glass jars.

An octopus preserved in fluid.

Specimens preserved in jars.

Preparing the specimens and jars for exhibition has presented an interesting challenge. The process involved an initial evaluation, breaking some very stubborn old seals without breaking the original jars and lids, cleaning the glass and repairing and respiriting the specimens before finally resealing the jars. The quality of the seal is particularly important because anticipated temperature fluctuations in the display cases will cause pressure changes within the jars, which in turn may cause imperfect gelatine seals to fail and the specimens to dry out.

Natural history specimens have been stored in preserving fluids since the mid 17th century and gelatine has been used to seal glass lids to the jars since the 19th century. This method is still used today, with good gelatine seals lasting for more than 20 years.

We participated in a four-day training course at University of St Andrews’ Bell Pettigrew Museum to update and improve our skills in the fluid preservation of specimens. Practical sessions included cutting and grinding new glass lids, mounting specimens on backing plates, identifying the preservative used in historical preserved specimens and making glass needles to repair specimens. Each specimen and glass jar had its own unique challenge, and we look forward to puuting our new skills to use in our own collections.

Cutting new lids from a sheet of glass.

Sealing a jar with gelatine.

 

The Blaschka models

October’s Object of the Month on our website features the beautiful Blaschka models, delicate glass representations of sea creatures and other invertebrates created by master craftsmen Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka. Here curator Geoff Swinney talks about the appeal of the models.

By Geoff Swinney, Research Curator, National Museums Scotland

I have long been fascinated and intrigued by these glass models. For me, these models are from a different world. They were made in a time when photography was in its infancy, and the aquarium was an expensive new invention. In such a world how could people be shown the smaller animals which live in the seas? Sure, there were engravings in scientific books, but Leopold Blaschka devised a way of bringing these pictures ‘to life’ in 3D.

Glass model of Anthea cereus by Leopold Blaschka, National Museums Scotland

I find it fascinating to think that opportunities to see the living animals close up and in detail were so rare that even Blaschka himself had to work from scientific illustrations. These he translated from mere two dimensional pictures into lifelike models.

Glass was an ideal medium for capturing the delicacy and beauty of these invertebrate animals. His training as a jeweller enabled him to craft the glass into exquisite representations of how the animals would look when alive.

• Are the models works of art?
• Are they examples of superb craftsmanship?
• Or are they merely exquisitely-made teaching aids?

For me such questions are pointless. The models, quite simply, are things of beauty, made with great skill and ingenuity. They lie at an intersection of art, natural science and technology. I am delighted, therefore, that when the refurbished Victorian portion of the National Museum of Scotland opens next summer, the models will feature in the Window on the World section of the Grand Gallery. There they are not associated with any particular section of the collections: they are neither art nor science. In this setting, the models may be enjoyed in a variety of ways and can tell a variety of different intersecting stories drawn from both art and science.

Actinia chiococca

Aureliana augusta

Corynactis viridis

Helix pomatia

Limax maximum

Sagartia rosea

The Blaschka models epitomise National Museums Scotland’s declared aim to be a place ‘Where the arts and sciences intermingle: a space where the full spectrum of human creativity and invention, across cultural boundaries and through time, can be seen alongside the wonder and diversity of the natural world.’

 

Bat walk No.3

A guest post by John Hawell of the Clyde Bat Group

24 August 2010. The nights are gradually drawing in and we start tonight’s bat walk a wee bit earlier, at 8:30pm. There is a strong and chilly wind blowing from the south-west and the cloud cover is almost complete  - but it’s bright, following a pleasant sunny afternoon, and dry.

We have a small group assembled tonight, just three adults and three children. After the usual introduction we set off. A fox dashes across the road behind us   ~   just a fleeting glimpse. We then hear our first bat at 8:58pm, a soprano pipistrelle. It takes a while before we see it. Only when the bat flies clear of the tree canopy and against the light sky does it comes into view. Soon there are others flitting about.

Red fox from Skandinavisk Dyrepark, Denmark by Malene Thyssen.

Pipistrelles are our smallest and most common species of bat in the UK. In fact we have two species of common pipistrelles that until just a few years ago were considered to be a single species. Bat detectors alerted bat workers to the realisation that some bats were echo-locating at about 45 kHz, while others were echo-locating at about 55 kHz. Further research revealed that the bats looked different - those calling at about 45 kHz had black faces and because of their resemblance to bandits, now tend to be called bandit pipistrelles! The others, because they ‘sing’ at a higher level, are commonly called soprano pipistrelles.

Further research revealed that these two species don’t just look different, and have distinguishably different calls, they behave differently as well. Sometimes the two species are encountered in the same general area but normally one would expect to encounter either one or the other, depending what type of habitat you find them in.

Common pipistrelle by Hugh Clark / Bat Conservation Trust.

Of course, it is impossible to hear these echo-location calls without the aid of a bat detector. The electronic bat detector brings these calls down to a level that the human ear can appreciate. The high frequency calls emitted by the bat are bounced back off any objects in their path. Their brains compute the echoing sound and form it into an audio image of their surroundings. In this way bats can move about freely, and catch their food, even in total darkness.

Despite using high frequency calls, much higher pitched than human beings would ever be able to hear, bats do also make calls that we can hear  – and they have eyes too! Anybody that has stood near a bat maternity roost at dusk on a summer evening will hear bats twittering and chirping in their excitement to leave the roost as soon as it is dark enough. But once bats are airborne, their high frequency echo-location system kicks in and they become silent to our ears, unless we use an electronic bat detector: then their secret world is suddenly revealed to us.

From 9:05pm onwards there are loads of bats about. The bat detectors are busy and the two young boys in particular are excited by the sight and sound of so many bats whizzing about in the twilight.

We encounter another swarm of feeding bats in the farmhouse garden. This is great. From a distance we investigate a bat roost in an old tree but we don’t see any bats emerge  - they are probably all out and whizzing about by now. We hear feeding buzzes through the detectors. The bats are feeding  - on midges!

Common snail (Helix aspersa) by the champ on Flickr.

It is time to move on. As we leave the garden, in the torchlight we spot a large garden snail being closely followed by a large leopard slug. The boys have never seen such things before and they are fascinated.

Leopard slug or Limax maximum part of Blaschka models at National Museum of Scotland.

The full moon is rising higher into the sky as we make our way back through the farm to our starting point. We hear an occasional bat as we proceed but most of them are behind us now, still feeding in the vicinity of the large trees and old buildings. One of the black farm cats joins us now and seems very pleased to see us. We finally finish tonight’s walk at 9:45pm.

 

Race a crocodile and see like a bat!

By Lyndsey Clark, Interactive Displays Manager

This week our visitors have been racing crocodiles and using echolocation to hunt like a bat in order to help us test two of the interactives under development for the Royal Museum Project.

Animal Sprint is a software interactive powered with an exercise bike which will allow visitors to race against a series of animals and perhaps be surprised at how fast some of them can move over land. You might expect the cheetah to have an unfair advantage but how do you think you would do against the crocodile or the hippo?

Testing with a stand-in bike while the real bike is being built.

Meanwhile, in the Supersenses section of the Animal Senses gallery, the challenge is how to design an interactive that will allow visitors to use a ‘sense’ that humans don’t have! Bats use echolocation to ‘see’ world around them. The bat generates a high pitched sound which bounces back from obstacles depending on how close the obstacle is. The bat’s brain takes this information and builds a picture in their mind which they use for navigation and hunting.

The software we are working on allows visitors to record a sound which they then ‘emit’ using a button as they fly around a virtual world with a joystick trying to catch moths. It sounds complicated, but the question is, is it too complicated? Around twenty families tried this activity last week and our summer intern Anna Downie is currently working her way through the feedback to see if the concept is working or what changes we might need to make.

 

Bat walk No.2

A guest post by John Hawell of the Clyde Bat Group

17 August 2010. Tonight’s bat walk at the National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride is the second in a series of six weekly walks taking place on Tuesday evenings. The walk is scheduled to begin at 8:45pm and it’s a wonderful, calm evening following a pleasant sunny afternoon.

We have seven adults and three children booked onto tonight’s walk and we are very pleased to welcome Anita from National Museums Scotland, in Edinburgh.

After our usual introductory talk and issue of bat detectors, reflective arm bands and torches, we set off. It isn’t long before we hear our first bat twittering through the bat detectors at 9:11pm. It is a soprano pipistrelle echo-locating at about 55 kHz. I am asked  ‘Do I give bats names’? Well no, but very soon we have a ‘Jimmy’ and a’ Fred’ flying round about us! There is great excitement as the bat detectors are increasingly busy with twitters and more bats come into view against the still bright sky.

Anita captures the moment with her camera. The results are excellent – take a look.

We move on and witness more and more bats joining the party. By 9:25pm there is a real buzz about the place. Bats, all of them soprano pipistrelles, are flying in all directions   – some of them come skimming quite close to us now as they fly beneath the tree canopy. It’s brilliant!

Of course, these bats are feeding and, like all our eighteen species of British bat, they eat insects. Pipistrelles specialise in eating midges   ~   lots of them. Apparently a single bat can consume about 3,000 midges in one night! One can’t help but think what a great job they are doing, but at the same time wish they’d eat more!

More questions are forthcoming  - ‘If bats damage their wings can the damage be repaired, and will it leave a scar?’, and ‘Can you identify individual bats, and young from adults, and males from females?’ I’ll try to answer them here. Small holes in bat wings heal up very quickly but larger tears are more of a problem and may never heal properly. Broken bones can have miniature splints applied and will repair as well as if we were treated for such injuries by the National Health Service. Young bats are distinguishable from adults, at least until the young go into their first winter hibernation. Apart from checking the obvious, male and female bats are pretty much indistinguishable to look at, but some of their calls are different.

Like other mammals, bats can sometimes be identified as individuals. Perhaps there is a bump on their face or a particular mark on their wing, and so on. In addition, bats have personalities and it is often the way they behave that identifies them. For research purposes individually numbered tags are attached to the bats.

At last we reach the farm and Mairi the Clydesdale horse comes across the field to welcome us. She seems pleased to see us but alas we have no polos to offer.  Maybe next time. The two black farm cats also spot us and come to say hello.

Mairi the Clydesdale at National Museum of Rural Life

At the farm house garden we hit another hot spot for bats. Again, all of them soprano pipistrelles, but it’s great to see them and hear the bat detectors conveying their otherwise silent messages to us. It has been a really good evening.

Friendly cats at National Museum of Rural Life

We make our way back through the farm to our starting point. There is just an occasional bat now; they don’t like to fly over the open fields. The two cats follow us, both black in the darkness. Not easy to see but we know they are there. Last year we were worried they might get lost if they followed us, and follow us they did. Ewan and his dad used to take them back to the farm in their car afterwards. Not this year though - we’re now wise to their ploy for a free ride!

The walk finishes just after 10:00pm. It has remained calm, warm and dry throughout, and we’ve seen loads of bats - plus the bonus of Mairi the Clydesdale and the two friendly farm cats! We are all well satisfied and bid everybody a good night.

 

Natural Sciences go north

By Yves Candela, Curator of Invertebrate Palaeobiology

Taking advantage of a respite from the eruption of Goðasteinn (that’s the name of the volcano lying underneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier – jökull meaning glacier), last month research curator Brian Jackson and I were finally able to fly to Iceland, arriving on 12 June at Keflavik airport, southwest of Reykjavik, for a six-day expedition.

The trip had been planned for a long time but was unfortunately delayed by the long Icelandic winter, and the recent eruption that disrupted the air traffic across Europe.

The aim of the trip was to select and collect a large specimen of ropy lava (aka pahoehoe lava) for display in the forthcoming Royal Museum Project gallery, Restless Earth.

Our contacts were Dr Ármann Höskuldsson from the University of Iceland and Dr Kristján Jónasson from the Natural History Museum in Reykjavik. Dr Jónasson’s expertise of the local geology was very useful, and he kindly led us in the field in search of the ideal specimen.

We visited many sites around Reykjavik and ear-marked several possible options. However, one other locality in the southwest of Iceland needed to be visited, and it is about five hours’ drive from the capital city. Unfortunately our guest couldn’t accompany us there but gave a rough indication on a map of where to search – the search area covering more than five kilometres! We decided to dedicate two days for this trip, with an overnight stay around Skaftafell.

Panoramic view of Skaftafellsjokull.

On arrival we scanned the search area, pinpointing the different options. By the end of the afternoon we had found the ideal specimen, but it was half-buried in sand. However, its recovery will be straightforward as it is naturally pre-cut and very close to the main road. Dr Jónasson, who also delivers permits for collecting and exporting, will help with the recovery, the crating, and the shipping of the specimen.

An example of ropy lava.

The chosen specimen shows a combination of beautiful ropy structure with relatively well-preserved sheen crust and smooth surface. Additionally, the story behind the eruption that produced this specimen is very interesting … but you will all have to wait until the opening of the new galleries next year to read about it.

Grabrokarfell from Grabrok.

Svinafellsjokull, nearSkaftafell.

View of Thingvallavatn in North Selfoss.

A word of advice!

Pool of sulphuric acid.

The sky at midnight.

Lupinus Arcticus.

Flowers growing on volcanic sand.

Unidentified fungus.

Hot springs at Geysir. The word ‘geyser’ derives from Geysir.

Hot spring pools at Geysir.

Reykjanesta lighthouse.