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  • Is my mic still working?

  • Wow, you guys!

  • That first video was really awesome!

  • I don't even know what to say

  • other than thank you so much

  • for expressing your interest in what I'm doing here.

  • I am so incredibly excited about doing this

  • and working with you guys

  • to make this show

  • so totally awesome.

  • I was mentioned on the Scientific American website.

  • I mean... that's... pretty awesome.

  • So, anyway, you guys had a lot of questions

  • in the comments and on Twitter and on Tumblr and on Facebook

  • and I just kinda wanted to go through

  • and answer some of those questions that you had today.

  • @Arthur40TwoDent asked: Are you gonna have new episodes soon?

  • When are you gonna have new episodes? I need to know.

  • We're gonna have so many episodes!

  • We signed up to do at least 96 episodes this year on the Brain Scoop channel.

  • That comes out to being like 2 episodes a week

  • and we're gonna have all different kinds of formats;

  • we're gonna have tours of the museum and collections,

  • we're gonna visit researchers, we're gonna go on field trips,

  • we're gonna have history lessons about taxidermy,

  • we're gonna dissect things,

  • we're going to go bird watching,

  • we're gonna collect roadkill...

  • We're gonna do all the things!

  • Skylarkien on Tumblr asked: Did you kill all of these animals?

  • Sometimes they are animals that accidentally died during research projects,

  • sometimes they are animals that died in zoos or pet stores

  • or people who have exotic pets,

  • sometimes we get them through exchanges of other universities and museums,

  • sometimes they're donated by people who work for the State Department,

  • sometimes they're roadkill.

  • Sometimes a hunter will get something in the field

  • and he doesn't want to keep the skull of his animal,

  • so he'll donate it to us.

  • We get these animals by a variety of means,

  • none of which are us actually physically going out and killing them ourselves.

  • Aaron @Bowlbo92 asked on Twitter: What was the first animal you brainscooped?

  • You guys, I've been scoopin' brains since 2010.

  • In November of 2010 I first came to the museum

  • with a co-worker who was working in the prep lab at the time

  • and she said "Hey, do you wanna come and check out the lab sometime?"

  • and I said "Oh, that sounds pretty cool, yeah, let's go!"

  • So she brought me here and pretty much as soon as I walked into the lab,

  • someone handed me a scalpel

  • and a western jumping mouse

  • and said "have at it!"

  • And I have been here ever since.

  • Some anonymous person on Tumblr asked:

  • Do you need any special training to do this?

  • Yes, absolutely, you guys, these are dead animals we're talking about here.

  • They have all kinds of bacteria and diseases and parasites

  • and you don't even know what they have until maybe after you already have it.

  • In addition to all of the weird funky things that these animals may or may not have,

  • it may also be illegal for you to collect or possess their remains

  • even once they're dead.

  • So before you go out into the woods, picking anything up,

  • make sure to inform yourself of you local, state, and federal laws

  • concerning the collection and possession of animal remains.

  • If you guys are interested in doing this as a profession or a hobby,

  • I wholly encourage you to look into your local colleges or schools

  • that may offer classes in taxidermy and animal preparation.

  • Smileyshamrock asked: Are there lots of animal ghost?

  • Some of you guys on Twitter and Tumblr and Facebook have asked:

  • How big is this place?

  • Have you run out of space yet?

  • When the American Society of Mammalogists reaccredited us in 1985,

  • they said at that time we had run out of space.

  • Since then we have lost about 400 square feet of museum cabinet storage space

  • and we have gained about 3,000 extra specimens.

  • GodoftheC on YouTube asked: What are you gonna call your viewers?

  • I don't know! You decide!

  • Twitter user, I'm gonna butcher your name.

  • Your name is Bec, your user name is Bec-r-hodes? Hod-es? Hodes?

  • You wanted to know: What's the weirdest way someone has ever given you something for the museum?

  • One time our curator Dave was working in the lab on a weekend

  • and we're on the second floor.

  • And he heard somebody throwing pebbles at the window.

  • So he went downstairs to let them in

  • and instead of the guy saying anything to Dave,

  • he just shoved this plastic bag into Dave's arms and then ran away.

  • And Dave was like, I don't know what this is,

  • I guess I'll take it upstairs and look into the bag,

  • and when he opened it up, it was a bald eagle!

  • Which isn't good, because it is illegal for any private citizen to ever

  • touch or habour or sell or transport any part of a bald eagle, living or dead.

  • @WillTople on Twitter is wondering: Children.

  • What is the silliest thing they have ever asked you on a tour?

  • They always ask if everything is dead.

  • Is that dead? Is that dead? Is that dead? Is that dead?

  • Yes, you guys.

  • Everything is dead.

  • I hope that answers some of the questions that you guys you had today.

  • If I didn't get to your question, never fear,

  • we will probably be doing this again.

  • If you have more questions that you would like me to answer,

  • make sure to send them to the Twitter or the Facebook or our Tumblr

  • or leave them in the comments below.

  • Don't forget to subscribe,

  • my name is Emily and this is the Brain Scoop.

  • It still has brains on it.

Is my mic still working?

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