Bill Nye The Science Guy: Insects

Season 02

Episode 11

Duration 23:00

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Insects have been part of the world for more than 400 million years, and they outnumber and outweigh every other kind of animal put together. In this episode of Bill Nye the Science Guy, Bill shows how a body plan of three parts, six legs and a tough exoskeleton has let insects fill almost every corner of the planet.

In this episode you will discover:

Why every insect has three body parts: head, thorax and abdomen
How an exoskeleton holds an insect together the way an aircraft skin holds a plane
Why most insects go through four stages of metamorphosis
How a compound eye builds one picture from many little images
Why insects are the world’s great pollinators and decomposers
How different insects make sound with wings, legs and abdominal drums

What makes an insect an insect

Bill uses the giant insect model of science to show the rules: three body sections, six legs (three on each side), and a hard skeleton on the outside made of a material a little like a fingernail. That exoskeleton gives the insect its shape and stiffness, the same way the skin of a plane holds the wings and fuselage together. Everything else, from a beetle to a bee, is a variation on that theme.

Key concept
Exoskeleton
A hard outer shell that gives an insect its shape and protects the soft parts inside.

Key concept
Metamorphosis
The complete change from egg to larva to pupa to adult that most insects go through.

Key concept
Compound eye
An eye made of many small lenses, each picking up part of the scene, which the brain blends into one image.

Bill Nye’s demonstrations

Bill drums on his own arm to show that human skin is soft, then taps a hollow aircraft frame to make the point that an insect’s body is stiff on the outside like the plane. He walks through the four stages of a butterfly’s life with Pat on the giant model, and visits entomologist Steve Kruecher’s laboratory to meet hissing cockroaches from Madagascar, tarantulas, scorpions and mealworms. Later he explores an ant colony inside a rotting stump and visits Vernard Lewis at Berkeley, whose termite villa houses more than 25,000 insects to study how they recycle dead wood.

Try this at home

The fruit fly life cycle jar. Cut a piece of ripe papaya or banana, drop it into a clean jar and leave the jar near an open window. When a few fruit flies appear, stretch a paper towel over the top with a rubber band. The flies lay eggs in the fruit, the eggs turn into larvae, the larvae become pupae, and then adults hatch out. The whole cycle takes about two weeks and you get to watch metamorphosis without leaving the kitchen.

The compound eye kaleidoscope. Roll a piece of card into a tube, tape three small mirrors together in a triangle inside it, and look through. Every object splits into many copies at once. Insect brains do something similar, blending dozens of tiny images from a compound eye into one picture of the world.

Cool facts

Insects have been on Earth for more than 400 million years, long before dinosaurs, flowers or birds.
All the ants on Earth together weigh about 60 billion kilograms, roughly a fifth of the weight of every human on the planet.
A honey bee colony can hold 40,000 workers, all daughters of a single queen.
Ants tunnelling under a stump can turn a fallen tree into fresh soil in a few years.

Science update: since this episode aired

The episode says insects are everywhere, but a long term study in German nature reserves found that the total mass of flying insects had dropped by more than 75 per cent in 27 years, an early warning that the numbers Bill was so confident about are moving in the wrong direction. Hallmann et al., PLOS ONE, 2017
A new count using DNA barcodes from more than 1.6 million tropical specimens estimates the true number of insect species at 14 to 20 million, roughly three times the figure quoted since the early 1980s. Guzman et al., PNAS, 2026
The United Nations food agency now recommends farming insects as a serious source of protein for people and livestock, because crickets and mealworms need only a fraction of the feed, water and land that cattle do. FAO, Edible insects report

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Curriculum focus

Built on NGSS MS-LS2-2 (patterns of interactions among organisms) and 3-LS1-1 (life cycles). Complementing that, it is pitched at KS3 biology (structure and function of living organisms, and interdependence in ecosystems) and works as an introduction or revision aid for GCSE and IGCSE biology on classification, life cycles and ecosystems, across boards such as AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Cambridge IGCSE. The worksheet and critical thinking questions take these ideas further than the episode alone.

NGSS MS-LS2
KS3 biology
GCSE revision
IGCSE revision
Life cycles
Ecosystems

Interactive Science Lesson

Insects

Based on Bill Nye the Science Guy · Season 2, Episode 11 · 23 min

They outnumber us millions to one, they live on almost every continent on Earth, and they come in some of the most bizarre shapes imaginable. Join Bill Nye the Science Guy as we shrink down to explore the wild, crawling, and buzzing world of insects!

Step 1 of 6 · Engage

Engage

What Has Six Legs and Flies?

Explore

Put Your Instincts to the Test

Think about what you already know about the bugs in your garden. Pick an answer for each question, then see if your instincts were right.

What is the incredible process called when a caterpillar completely transforms its body to become a butterfly?

Exactly how many legs does a true insect have?

Which body part acts as the engine room where all the legs and wings are firmly attached?

Explain

Understanding the Science

Tap each card to uncover the biological blueprints that make insects the most successful animals on Earth.

Key Concepts

Try It: The Picnic Defender

Catch 10 true insects with your net (three body parts, six legs). Leave the spiders and centipedes alone: three wrong catches and you are out.

Count before you catch: insects have three body parts and six legs. Spiders have two body parts and eight legs, and a centipede has a pair of legs on almost every segment.

Evaluate

Test Your Understanding

Answer these questions and get instant feedback. How many can you get right?

Reflection

If you could design your very own insect to survive in your back garden, what special adaptations would you give it? Would it have camouflage, massive wings, or a super tough exoskeleton?

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Bill Nye The Science Guy: Insects

What makes an insect an insect

Bill Nye’s demonstrations

Try this at home