SHOCKing Parasites at the Telus Spark Centre: Shocktober 2017

SHOCKing Parasites at the Telus Spark Centre: Shocktober 2017 

After exhausting the entire Junie B. Jones series in 4^th grade, I visited the public city library on a hot July afternoon in 2005 to take out some new books and freshen up my reading repertoire. One particular kids’ science book – whose title has long escaped my memory – had an entire illustrated page about mites. The thousands, if not millions, of 8-legged, microscopic creepy-crawlies that live in your bed and eat your dead skin, and the reason why you should really wash your sheets… often. It was from this moment forward that I became infatuated with science and developed a strong affinity for non-fiction literature, the mark of a true biologist-in-training.

Volunteering at the annual Halloween event at the Telus Spark Science Centre this year reminded me of that first time I fell in love with science and with the terrifyingly awesome world of microscopic beings. Shocktober (previously known as “Monster Mashup”) was a perfect coming together of Halloween spirit, creepy crawlies, and curious minds, young and old alike.

The HPI table was parked just inside the entrance, and the slideshow of digitally-drawn enlarged parasites, display of a giant stuffed tapeworm and huge paper-mâché tick caught the attention of many Shocktober-goers. Children flooded to the tables - parents trailing closely behind - where fettuccine-like worms floated lifelessly in plastic containers, a large stuffed dog fell victim to a (fake) flea infestation, and tiny bugs surprised eager eyes from underneath microscopes too tall for many of the young parasitologists-in-training. As a new trainee to the HPI program, I learned a lot about parasites outside of my field of study as I explained parasitic origins and routes of transfer to visitors, and stood back and watched the veteran trainees like Leah Hohman answer questions with expertise. Jacob Hambrook, from the University of Alberta, managed to convince many shocked young visitors that “zombies really do exist!” with an eloquent yet simple explanation of the life cycle of lancet liver flukes that turn ants into self-sacrificing zombies.

Shocktober truly shocked me, as I’m sure our parasites shocked the public, in many ways. Although “eww”, “that can live inside me?” and *shudders* were the common reactions to the display of floating bugs and plastic models, the odd “Oh my God, they’re so cute” from tough little girls never ceased to make me laugh. The scientific proficiency of some children also surprised me, retorting to my questions with satisfied head nods and “yeah, we learned about that in science class! Did you know…?” A final pleasant revelation was the childlike curiosity of adults who were simply intrigued by the parasites. The number of entertaining conversations I had with parents about how difficult bed bugs were to exterminate, the different types of hosts a given parasite could have, and how gross and big tapeworms could be, made me realize how important educational events like these are, not only for the children, but for the big kids inside all of us. There’s something fascinating about organisms unseen to the naked eye, satisfying about sharing knowledge with others, and humbling about simply learning that brings us all back to childhood.