Some things in nature are simply frightening. Coming across a snake in the wild is going to get your heart racing every time!

Just because something seems scary, however, doesn't mean that it is harmful. Celebrate the arrival of fall in a different way by learning about the science behind the things in nature that may scare you but are essential to their environments.

The Ambler Arboretum of Temple University will host The Science of Scary on Saturday, September 25, from 4 to 7 p.m., in and around Bright Hall in the center of campus. Register for this family-friendly free event online. Please note: Family-friendly Halloween costumes are welcomed! 

“The Science of Scary is intended to familiarize people with possibly some of their biggest fears,” said Sam McGuriman, Ambler Arboretum STEM Programs Specialist. “Familiarity and understanding help us to break down the things we're afraid of and hopefully, alleviate our fears of them.”

The Ambler Arboretum, through its educational programs for all ages, has built partnerships with organizations throughout the region "that share the common goal of helping people learn how to make a positive impact within their communities while exposing them to science, research, plants and wildlife.

“Not only is it exciting to host an event that unites a variety of exhibitors working together to demystify the things we commonly fear, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to bring community members together to share in the passion of those exhibitors,” McGurman said. “It's such a special opportunity to witness an exhibitor's love and passion for and dedication to snakes, spiders, or bees when those are the very things that might be scary for us. It builds a connection between exhibitors, community members and the things that are (hopefully no longer) frightening to us.” 

Science of Scary 2025 exhibitors will include the Elmwood Park Zoo, the Academy of Natural Sciences, Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, master beekeeper Vince Aloyo, Sarah Howard and her menagerie of tarantulas, the Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum and the Back to Earth Compost Crew!

Additional Temple exhibitors will include the Tyler School of Art and Architecture Greenhouse Education and Research Complex, the Temple College of Engineering’s flight simulator, the Temple ESA SEEDS (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity, and Sustainability) Chapter, the Temple Ambler Library and College of Science and Technology Biology Assistant Professor Christopher Agard and his students who will explore everything from reptiles and amphibians to things that go bump in the night!

Hands-on Citizen Science

For Dr. Agard much of the research that he does in his lab at Temple Main Campus and in the field at Temple Ambler provides hands-on opportunities for his students and fellow researchers. He and his students are bringing that same sort of hands-on approach to Science of Scary.

“Most of us think about learning in a classroom setting. You think about being at a desk, looking at the teacher, seeing what’s on the board and making taking some notes,” he said. “For a lot of us, that’s not our best way of learning and it’s not necessarily a natural way to learn. When we first start learning, we learning by putting our hands on things, sensory experiences — those are the things that we remember because we are engaging with them not just with our eyes and our minds and ears, but also with touch, with smell, with seeing these things in their natural environment as opposed to a page or a PowerPoint screen.”

Agard said it’s essential for students “to have opportunities to learn in this way and I think research is a great way for that to happen.”

At Science of Scary, Dr. Agard and his students will be inviting visitors to get hands-on with a number of “scary” topics.

“Science of Scary is a really cool opportunity to engage with the larger Temple community and visitors from the region to help folks learn a little bit about science in a fun way. Halloween is my family’s favorite holiday so the fact that I’m getting a chance to bring the scary and the fun back into science is going to be awesome,” he said. “I’m going to talk about the big scaries like snakes and spiders and try to help people what they are and why we think they’re so scary.”

His students are brewing up some scary science as well, he said.

“One of my students is currently studying the effects of forest fires so we’re going to talk a little bit about fire, which is a scary thing. Some of my other students are going to talk about the different sounds of the night — the things that scare is when we can’t see them,” he said. “We’re going to talk about all of those things through the lens of animal behavior and herpetology, which is the study of reptiles and amphibians.”

Programs like Science of Scary, Agard said, “are really important for the community because often times these types of programs are among the only opportunities for professors and their neighbors to engage, for visitors to talk to the experts really doing the science that they read about.”

“It helps to humanize us as professors and share some things that we can help people learn about. I think it’s very helpful for the professors as well because it can be really hard to think about how to talk about research to someone who hasn’t been doing the same work,” he said. “These are great opportunities for us to explore how people want to hear about science because it really important for a community at large to understand how the science we depend on works and to educate ourselves in general.”

For Agard, the number one thing he hopes people take away from their interactions with him and his students is “to see how cool and how interesting all of these herptiles, these scary little spiders, these worms and centipedes that we love are.”

“I love working with lizards, I love snakes. I think they are some of the most amazing animals — snakes do all of the things that we do, more or less, without hands. I haven’t seen a snake write a paper yet, but give them some time,” he laughed. “I want people to come away from this with a sense of wonder and perhaps with a few new things that they didn’t know before. For me, I want to get to know our surrounding community who I might be able to engage in research. I’m always looking for ways to get younger and younger students involved in research and seeking out potential ambassadors for science. I also want my students to take away some experience with interacting with the general population in talking about their research in a way that is interesting and fun.”

Bringing the Zoo to You

Sarah Peterson, Education Administrator at the Elmwood Park Zoo, said many animals get a bad rap simply because of misinformation or through "urban legends" whispered down the lane. An opossum, for example, might have that long rat tail, but they are among the most docile creatures. They also serve an important purpose in nature — they eat a large number of insects, including thousands of ticks, every year.

“Elmwood Park Zoo educators are huge fans of engaging guests about the importance of the most misunderstood creatures including skunks, opossums, spiders, bats, snakes, frogs and vultures. These animals all serve vital roles in our ecosystem, and often provide direct benefits to humans — we will have a variety of these animals at Science of Scary,” Peterson said. “Our ambassador animals act as representatives of their wild counterparts, helping guests to get an up-close and personal experience that will hopefully make a lasting impression! When a guest has a personal connection to these animals, it can lead to better understanding and more empathy towards the species and its habitat and will hopefully encourage positive action in protecting and conserving wildlife.”

Peterson said events like Science of Scary are beneficial in “helping make conservation more accessible and relatable by allowing guests to engage with different aspects of the natural world that they may not have previously encountered or wouldn't be comfortable exploring on their own.”

“It helps to introduce them to ways that they can personally be involved, even in a small way, through citizen science,” she said. “Providing opportunities for the community to get a hands-on, up-close experience with natural science topics in a safe and fun environment can help prevent fear and build a better understanding of things that are normally deemed spooky, creepy, and scary.”

Tarantulas and Bees and Corpse Flowers (Oh My!)

"Along with some of the wonderful organizations who have supported Science of Scary year after year, we also have some other Temple experts — in addition to the Ambler Arboretum, the Temple Ambler Field Station, and Dr. Agard — who are sharing their personal passions for creatures that might send others running," said McGuriman. "Sarah Howard, Certified Investigator Trainer at Temple University Harrisburg, for example, has a whole collection of tarantulas!”

Some people are dog people. Others are cat people. Still others have a marvelous menagerie of furry, feathery and scaly friends. Howard took a decidedly different path. Her passion is arachnids and insects. Her first eight-legged pet? A rose-haired tarantula (Grammostola porteri) named Doris, who has been joined by more than 80 other friends! 

“People often ask me how I got so interested in these animals that most people are afraid of. The first thing was that several years ago, I received a good camera as a gift — I knew right away that I wanted to take pictures of nature, particularly animals,” she said. “I set off on walks through the woods in search of wildlife — it turns out that most animals in the woods will run and hide at the sight of a person. There was one kind of animal that wouldn’t run when I approached — spiders. So I ended up taking many photographs of spiders and as I did so, I began to appreciate how fascinating they were.”

As she started researching tarantulas “and learning how many different, beautiful species there are, I gradually added to my collection,” Howard  said.

“Now I can’t imagine not having these fascinating creatures in my life,” she said.  

Vincent Aloyo maintains several of the honeybee hives in the Ambler Arboretum. He and Temple Horticulture alumnus Frankie Napoli will share information about the importance of bees and beekeeping at Science of Scary.

Honeybees pollinate a full one third of all of the food crops that we consume in the United States, according to Dr. Aloyo, an apiculture educator and master beekeeper.

"Honeybees are an essential part of our ecological sustainability, but they are disappearing at an alarming rate," said Aloyo. "We need bees to pollinate the fruits and vegetables that we eat every day. Honeybees also pollinate wildflowers, which are essential to birds and other animals. One way to help honeybees make a comeback is through 'backyard beekeeping.'"

If you don’t think plants have a capacity to dial up the creep factor to 11, you haven’t met the Amorphophallus titanium, or as it is more commonly known, the corpse flower. The Tyler School of Art and Architecture Greenhouse Education and Research Complex has had several rare corpse flowers grow in the last few years, including one in 2024 — their scent certainly lives up to their name!

According to Greenhouse Education and Research Complex Manager Ben Snyder, the Amorphophallus titanium is the largest "unbranched inflorescence" in the world. The tallest flowers grow to about seven feet in height while the leaves spread a full 12 feet and the tuber weighs in at a monster 150 pounds — "Feed me Seymour!" indeed.

"You have to be patient with these plants as it typically takes seven to 10 years for them to flower and, in some instances, it can take up to 15 years," said Snyder, who will be providing a tour of plants that look and sound scary and plants that look innocent but have secret weapons! "When they bloom, it's truly an event because it's still quite rare in cultivation and the bloom only lasts a couple of days. You have huge crowds come to see an Amorphophallus bloom."

The fact that it attracts so much in-person interest runs counter to its other most well-known trait — when blooming it smells like death to an eye-watering degree. It's not called a corpse flower for nothing!

"The stench, the speckled maroon and pink coloring, it is this flower's way of attracting pollinators," Snyder said. "Rather than bees and butterflies, it attracts anything that would naturally be attracted to rotting meat, such as beetles and flies." 

Learn more about the Science of Scary at https://ambler.temple.edu/scienceofscary.   

For more information, contact [click-for-email] or 267-468-8108.