It's a Bug's Life! #Halloween Special! 🕷️| Science for Kids | Operation Ouch

Zond, we are getting a lot of messages from grown-ups about some of our squeamish bits. Listen to this one. Dear Dr Chris and Dr Zond, why is your program so disgusting? My children love it but I have to watch through my fingers. Please could you make it less gross? Zond, what have I said about eating in the lab? Um... What are you watching? These are our grossest moments. They're my favourite. I love the gross bits too but they do make some people feel a bit squeamish. Now feeling squeamish is a basic and important emotion. There are some things that turn almost everyone's tummies. Maggots. Dog poo. Dried sick on a pavement. A bogey smeared on the edge of a sink. But did you know that this is something that you learn and it develops as you get older? Babies for example aren't squeamish at all. Well to put this idea to the test we're going to need a baby. Give me one moment Chris. Here you go Chris, one baby. Zond, this is my baby. This is Lyra, your niece. Whatever. And we're going to need some of the most disgusting things we can think of. First up, worms. Here you go, here's some yummy worms. What do you think of that? Look at that. This is not a baby that's disgusted by a worm is it? Fair enough. Next up, maggots. This is really disgusting. Look at them move. Is she going in her hand? I mean that is not a disgusted baby is it? Right, if worms and maggots don't make you feel squeamish Lyra, I'm going to pull out all the stops with this next thing. Let's see if Lyra is disgusted by Rose. What do you think of Rose? Lyra seems very, very unbothered by Rose. And she's not bothered by the most disgusting thing of all, Dr Zond's beard and bogeys. Not disgusted by anything. No, he's not dether, I'm dether. So all of those things might have made you feel a bit squeamish, but Lyra isn't reacting because she doesn't know how to feel squeamish. It's only as you get older and learn more about the world around you that you start to develop these feelings of squeamishness, usually about the same things that the adults around you don't like. So we're going to put this to the test and see what happens when you are truly grossed out. Thank you Lyra, I think you're done. It's time to bring on some older guests who are cordially invited to our disgusting dinner. Welcome to the ouch disgusting dining experience. Joining us are Lennon, Kitty and James. Three foolish, I mean lucky ouchers. We are going to be serving a meal of delightfully disgusting dishes whilst they eat and we'll monitor their faces and heart rates so we can find out what feeling squeamish does to the body. Right, grubs up. Three, two, one. On the menu today, jellied eels, crickets, Mapani worms, fish eggs, stinky blue cheese and a giant Thai water bug. This food is totally safe. We expect empty plates at the end of the meal. Are those flies? Is that eggs? Those are fish eggs, yeah. Oh, oh. Now, Kitty's prepared a little spoonful of fish eggs and cooked crickets. So why don't you have a go at that? Looking at someone else eating it is like you're eating it. Our ouchers have all been making yuck faces. Their noses and foreheads wrinkled, they stuck out their tongues. This signals you're feeling disgusted and warns other people not to touch what's there. What is that? They made the yuck face because they have learnt that some things can be harmful, unlike Lyra, who hasn't learnt this yet. James is going to eat the water bug. Are you going to do it, James? Look how disgusting it is. James, his pulse rate was 66, it's now 82. So even the thought of putting this into your mouth has started to make James's body prepare. He's having this thing called a fight or flight response. Your squeamish response is very similar to feeling afraid. Your heart rate increases, so you're ready to run away from whatever might be harmful. How's it going? Good. It's good? I don't believe you. Because you're making your yuck face, you're squinting your eyes. Dessert time. Will our chocolate covered mealworms and worm lollies also make our ouchers feel squeamish? Kitty, you're eating the chocolate with the mealworms on it. That's not bothering you? No. After our disgusting main course, sweets with a few insects don't seem so bad. Our ouchers learned from each other that they could try different things. So because they saw each other eating bugs, their squeamish feelings decreased because they learnt the food wasn't harmful. Who's had this? Lennon's been licking that. Kitty, you'll eat the chocolate with the maggots, but you won't have the lollipop that Lennon's licked. Yeah. Why do you think you won't do that? His germs are on it. So that's an important point, is that there are some things that almost everyone is disgusted by. Poo and body fluids particularly. Some things are more likely to make you squeamish. They smell strong or they're unfamiliar. But it's good to challenge it sometimes so you don't miss out on fun experiences like eating lollipops with worms in them. So we've shown you that squeamish feelings are a defence mechanism that you learn as you get older. And that your body's response is a lot like fear, increasing your heart rate, putting you into fight or flight mode. You know, Zand, I feel quite inspired by our archers today. And it occurred to me that us adopting an insect-based diet would be both environmentally sound and ethically responsible. I quite agree, Chris. In fact, I've got a delicious Mapani worm right here ready to go. Well, I'm delighted to hear it. Here's to our new lifestyle. Now, did you know your body can produce nearly two litres of gas every day? And this comes out either by burping or farting. Does my breath smell bad? Yes, it does, actually. I'm not surprised. I haven't brushed my teeth in two days. But it's all for a good cause, isn't it, Chris? I hope so. In fact, it was my idea. While I've been brushing my teeth twice a day, as you should, I haven't let Chris brush his at all for two days. But it's all in the name of medical research. My teeth feel fuzzy. That's because Chris has a layer of plaque building up on them. Open wide. I'm going to show you why plaque isn't something you want a lot of. When you go to the dentist, you'll have had your teeth scraped like this. Going anywhere nice on holiday this year, Chris? No. Oh, lovely. I've been there. It's wonderful at this time of year. Oh, Chris, this is disgusting. Plaque is a mixture of food particles, acid and bacteria. We've all got thousands of different bacteria living in our mouths, and most of them are harmless. But there are some bad ones that can turn the sugars in the food we eat into acid. And it's this plaque acid that's the real problem. It eats away at the tooth enamel, and that's what tooth decay is. Please, can I have my toothbrush back now? Soon, there's more to show you. We're both going to rinse our mouths with a special blue dye that will show up how much plaque we have on our teeth. It's my brush gnashers first. Ta-da! You look really funny. You look funny. Now, even though Zant has been brushing regularly, you can see that some dye has stuck to his teeth, and that's all plaque. That makes me a bit worried because I haven't brushed my teeth for over two days. Why'd you do that? It was your idea. Well, after a quick rinse with the blue dye, it's time to check out the state of my unbrushed teeth. Oh, there's plaque everywhere. How do you let this happen? So, if you compare my lovely clean brushed teeth with Chris's disgusting unbrushed teeth, you can really see the difference. And all that plaque has built up in just two days. That's gross. I feel quite disgusting. I would like my toothbrush back. Nope. I want to get a much closer look at your plaque, Chris, which is why I've put a dollop of it under this microscope. Look at this. Wow! So, these bacteria are the ones that live in my plaque, and although we can't tell which are the good ones and which are the bad ones, some of them are the ones that produce the acid that is rotting my teeth right now. Yep, and if you just leave plaque, it hardens like cement. That's called tartar, and it builds and builds. It can damage your gums and give you rotting teeth that look like this. Not a good look. That's it. I've had enough. I am going to brush my teeth. No, he's not. Every single day, your hands come into contact with all sorts of things, picking up a lot of bacteria along the way. But just how often do we wash our hands? Well, I'm going to find out using a special scientific tool called asking people. When was the last time you washed your hands? Uh, just before I left the house, which was probably about 20 minutes ago, maybe. Really? Okay. A couple of hours ago. Yeah. At school. When was the last time your dad washed his hands, do you think? I think it was never. You think he's never washed them? Uh, in the morning. In the morning? What time is it now? It's about... It's late afternoon. So maybe we don't wash our hands quite as often as we think we do. But why does it matter how clean our mitts are? Well, there are harmless bacteria on your hands, but your hands also play a crucial role in spreading illness. In fact, four out of every five illnesses are spread using your hands. Although you don't need to wash them all the time, washing your hands before you eat and after you go to the loo is very important, and I'm going to show you why. So, I'm gathering as many handprints as possible on a special jelly which will help to show what bacteria are on people's hands. That's brilliant. Next, I want to take a second handprint after their hands have been washed in water to see if there's a change in the amount of bacteria. Finally, I want to see the difference soap makes, so I'm getting my volunteers to wash their hands with soap and water. Okay, so you do the backs of your hands. Oh, and get in between your fingers. This is an absolute masterclass in hand washing. What about a nice clean high five? Now our samples head off to the lab, where they are put in an incubator set at exactly 37 degrees, which is the same temperature as your body. They will happily grow in this perfect bacteria-breeding environment for 48 hours. Keeping an eye on our batch is virologist Rhiannon Lowe. So, Rhiannon, what have we got here? Okay, these are the plates that haven't been washed. So we've got normal skin flora that we've been growing up. So we've got lots of Staphylococcus species. We've got Streptococcus species. And that's kind of exactly what you would expect from a regular hand. This is normal hand flora. You can see the four fingers and you can see the thumb. Check out these furry fellas. Like the smell? Oh, that is a strong smell. So these are bacteria that you might find on your hands after not washing your hands after going to the toilet. So they will be faecal bacteria. Yep, that means poo. And these bacteria can cause food poisoning. So can we have a look at the next lot then? Yeah. A lot of people don't wash their thumb very well at all. So your thumb tends to have a lot more bacteria on them. What people just stick their... Yeah, just wash it like that. So there's still definite hand prints here. It's clear that water alone doesn't do much. What about number three then? Number three, let's have a take a look. Squeaky clean. Well, almost. It's just a few sporadic colonies. It just goes to show that using soap when you wash your hands is so much better. There are bacteria on your skin that are actually doing you good. So there's no need to keep your hands squeaky clean all the time. But washing your hands with soap and water, especially before you eat, is a great way of protecting you from getting sick. And remember, when you wash your hands, do it thoroughly. A good 20 seconds of washing with soap and warm water will keep your mitts clean and don't forget your thumbs. I'm going to show you how bacteria are good for you. Look at all of these people. Now, they all look different, but they all have something in common. Every single one of them is covered in millions of bacteria. We all are. But don't worry, this is completely normal. In fact, we need bacteria to survive. Now, this is a Petri dish named after its inventor, Julius Richard Petri. Doctors like me use these dishes to grow bacteria and see what lives on our bodies. That's what I'm going to do now, starting with our lips. Who's going to give me a kiss? Anyone going to give me a kiss? What I want is a kiss. A nice big kiss on that. What we're trying to do is look at what grows in people's mouths and things like that. Will anyone give me a kiss? Can I ask your girlfriend for a kiss? More manly kiss from you, all right? Can we get a nose pick as well? It's less exciting than a kiss. I'm just going to see what comes out of people's noses and what comes out of their mouths. He's a nice man, isn't he? Yeah. Oh, thanks. The kisses and nose swabs will now go off to be grown in a special laboratory. And after five days, it's time to see how the bacteria have blossomed. This is Dr. Richard Drew, a microbiologist and expert in all things gross. And now the kisses have gone all furry. Well, that's bacteria for you. So what kind of bugs have we got here? We have a lot of streptococci, which is kind of this slightly greeny color around the lips. But up here where their nose would have been, you can see the yellowy bugs growing. And these ones are more like staphylococcus aureus. Sounds like a dinosaur. It's completely normal to have these bugs in your mouth. So all of us have them. We could have got a kiss from everyone in Liverpool, and they all would have grown these two bacteria. Absolutely. You might think it's disgusting, but bacteria are really useful. They're important to have. For example, we've got bugs in our gut, and they help to digest food. And they fight disease too, by increasing the acidity in your gut to the point bad bacteria don't want to move in. So what about the weird things that live up our nose? This one, we found a lot of E. coli and a lot of staphylococcus as well. Now, E. coli can be dangerous. They do cause disease. But living up your nose, or commonly living up your bottom, is completely normal and completely safe. It's when it gets into blood or other bits of your body which shouldn't have it, like the brain or the joints, that it can cause problems. This one looks like cheesecake. Mmm, yummy. So our bodies are covered in bacteria, but that's not just normal. It's good because our bodies are amazing at protecting the bits that need to be protected, which is why kissing is fine. A bit disgusting, but fine.