Sam Cooley's video: Government entomologist reveals collection of ancient insects

Inside a large multi-level building on Carling Avenue in Ottawa is an extremely large collection of more than 18 million insects, a handful of which are ancient specimens collected and obtained with the assistance of sticky tree resin from 80-100 million years old. In this video, federal scientist Jeff Cumming leads the viewer through the Canadian National Collection of insects, arachnids and nematodes, where he works as an entomologist who specializes in predaceous flies (which are flies that eat other flies). Currently the Canadian National Collection hosts more than 1000 specimens of insects embedded inside ancient amber fossils, many of which have been analyzed and studied by Cumming. He is among the team of international researchers who have named many extinct ancestral flora that can no longer be found on earth today. In this video he explains the reasons why studying these ancient insects can affect our understanding of biology today.