Hi everyone, it's Allie.

A long, long time ago, we got a request from James, who was five at the time, to do an episode

about tarantula hawk wasps.

When we started researching the insect, we kept coming across the name Dr. Justin Schmidt.

Grady had already heard of him.

You may have two.

He invented what's called the Schmidt Sting Pain Index.

The index measures just what it sounds like it would, how painful different insects stings are to humans.

Dr. Schmidt is also the author of a book called The Sting of the Wild, which we recommend you all read.

We had the great pleasure of having a Skype conversation with Dr. Schmidt from his office in Tucson, Arizona.

We talked about not just the tarantula hawk wasp, but also about other

stinging insects. Why some insects die after they sting you? How much it hurts to get stung by a bullet

ant? It's a lot. And lots, lots more. Check it out. We will be back soon with our regular format,

and once again, we know we have a growing list of folks who we owe bookmarks and replies to, you are on our radar, but summer fun is getting in the way. We will be back on track very soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Hi there. I was just busy learning about giant centipedes. I have to give a talk to some kids

on Saturday about giant centipedes. I know quite a bit about them, but you know, you've got to make sure you've got your

facts right. I'm an insect guy, not a centipede guy. Yeah. What's the most interesting thing you learned about giant centipede?

I guess the most interesting thing I learned is that we don't know much about them.

We don't know how long they live.

We don't know how many eggs they have.

We're not even sure how they envenomate.

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