Connected on 2007-06-28 13:00:00 from , , USA
- 1:04pm
- Bugscope Team Ready and waiting
- Bugscope Team Welcome SG.
- Guest thank you
- Bugscope Team Please let us know if you have any questions.
- Guest ok, when will we be starting?
- Bugscope Team We may not see much movement until Umesh starts driving.
- Guest ok
- Bugscope Team I think he is going to talk for 15 minutes and then start demonstrating the system.
- 1:09pm
- Bugscope Team Since we're controlling the microscope live, only one person at atime has control, so right now Umesh is using it during his presentation
- Bugscope Team SG as a guest you can see the images as they go by, and obviously the chat and the chosen questions/answers on the left (there are none now).
- Bugscope Team The person driving the 'scope can see preset thumbnails on the right, and controls for the 'scope on the top right.
- Bugscope Team We confer control to one person at a time, so we don't have multiple drivers.
- Bugscope Team This, on the screen now, is an ant spiracle, I think. It's a spiracle and I think we were on an ant.
- 1:14pm
- Guest ok
- Bugscope Team In the meantime there are a number of us here in Illinois, at the Beckman Institute, on computers at the microscope and in adjacent offices.
- Bugscope Team We usually have a real entomologist with us as well, or she logs in from her lab. But she is in California just now, collecting.
- Bugscope Team she should collect some for us too :p
- Bugscope Team We've been doing this for 8 years plus, now.
- Bugscope Team Yeah something with mites. You know those cerambycids often have mites.
- Bugscope Team Some cerambycids are dangerous plant (tree) pests.
- Bugscope Team Like the Emerald Ash Borers, which are causing trouble in Chicago.
- Bugscope Team among other places...
- 1:29pm
- Bugscope Team It's a claw.
- 1:38pm
- Teacher Hello Scott, we are in the demo now.
- Bugscope Team Hi Umesh. We're all ready here
- Bugscope Team You can see the claw now, and now you're drivin'.
- Bugscope Team On to the beetle head now
- Bugscope Team Mouthparts are visible towards the top of the frame
- Teacher Audience Question: What is that cluster?
Bugscope Team Looks like a chunk of dirt or dust. Not part of the insect itself
- Bugscope Team Nowe we can see some of the leg joints
- 1:44pm
- Teacher Audience Question: Do you accept specimens that are not just bugs? What about plants?
Bugscope Team Most of the specimens we get are bugs because they're easiest to prepare and typically look great. On special request we have done plants, rocks, etc
- Bugscope Team sure we like to look at plants, rocks... salt crystals..
- Bugscope Team Last week an artist brought in dried snap dragon pods
- Bugscope Team they look like little skulls, really cool
- Bugscope Team and the seeds themselves are really intricate, interesting
- Bugscope Team pollen is cool
- Bugscope Team sometimes we are surprised at the complexity of things that don't look like much in the macro world
- Teacher Audience Question to Scott: Is there any way we can see the snap dragon pods?
Bugscope Team I can send you a link.
- Bugscope Team switching samples is not possible, we'd have to vent the scope, that'd take 20-30 minutes
- Bugscope Team Since we didn't put those samples in the scope for the demo it would talk about 10-20 minutes to prepare the new sample, vent the vacuum, and pump down again
- Bugscope Team that's why we try to put several bugs on the stage, so we can see a variety of samples
- 1:50pm
- Bugscope Team okay you can pull this up on a separate tab if you want, but it does belong to the artist: http://www.itg.uiuc.edu/~sjrobin/KaMir/001.TIF
- Bugscope Team that is as low a mag as we can go
- Teacher Thanks to Scott from Audience
- Bugscope Team Did you get to see it?
- Bugscope Team That was just the first image she took.
- Teacher Audience Question: How many specimens can teachers send?
Bugscope Team As long as they fit on our about 2 inch diameter stage, they can send as many as they want
- Bugscope Team eleven
- Bugscope Team really as many very small samples as they want
- Bugscope Team one cicada would be too many
- Bugscope Team and 20 mosquitos or fruit flies would be fine
- Bugscope Team 80 lice
- Bugscope Team earwigs are the coolest
- Bugscope Team because they otten have mites
- Bugscope Team so you know I was joking about the eleven, of course -- the stub is 1.75 inches across
- Teacher Audience are now trying. Please note.
- Bugscope Team the coolest insects/arthropods are those that are most specialized.
- 1:55pm
- Bugscope Team for example you can imagine that an extreme generalist like a roach is streamlined, actually not very interesting
- Bugscope Team but a tick is really pretty cool
- Bugscope Team and mites are a thrill to see
- Teacher Scott, the preset 7 did not go to the image
- Bugscope Team you could put 106 fleas on the stage no problem
- Bugscope Team hit refresh
- Teacher Ressa: Can you upload a mite?
Bugscope Team Since these are live images from the running microscope (and we don't have a mite loaded), I'll have to try to find a mite image from a previous session
- Bugscope Team try refreshing your page? the preset did work on our end
- Bugscope Team Chas is checking the database and we should be able to give you a link
- Bugscope Team this is the antenna -- can you see it now?
- Teacher Ressa: What are the hairs for?
Bugscope Team The hairs, called setae on insects, have extremely varied function, and are commonly the topic of entire research papers. They can be mechanosensory (touch) or chemosensory (smell), or help increase surface area to offset heat loss
- Bugscope Team http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/database.cgi?Account Name=2002-035&Frame Number=000021
- Bugscope Team try that URL for an image of two mites on an Earwig
- Teacher Ressa: yes we can see it now?
- Bugscope Team the hairs are sensory, often, chemosensory or mechanosensory
- 2:00pm
- Teacher Hi. This is Colleen now.
- Bugscope Team some of the small ones (we call them setae or microsetae, or trichae, etc.) are there to add surface area or sometimes create a pattern
- Bugscope Team hi colleen
- Bugscope Team Hi Colleen
- Bugscope Team You can tell which setae are sensory, or likely sensory, by the attachment at the base. Often it is very apparent that they connect through th exoskeleton to nerves beneath.
- Teacher So do you worry about bugs in your bed now that you have been up close and personal with them?
Bugscope Team You become less worried about a lot of them actually, the more you know and see. You come to appreciate how complex they are, something that's easy to take for granted when you can't see it with your own eyes
- Bugscope Team we looked at bedbugs earlier this week
- Bugscope Team we prefer of course to look at them this way
- Bugscope Team but it gives you a new outlook. when you see a pesky fly in your office you know you can catch it and put it in the 'scope
- Bugscope Team looking at bugs NEVER bothers me, but then i've watched fast food nation while eating a big mac, so i'm a wierd-o
- Bugscope Team I like it when people send me mosquitos, or lice, or fleas...
- Bugscope Team because they are useful to us now, particularly in the wintertime when it is harder to get samples for bugscope
- Bugscope Team just one big mac?
- Bugscope Team Preferrably sent deceased. It's not a lot of fun to receive live spiders, ticks, etc
- 2:06pm
- Bugscope Team yeah we got a whole container of big live ants a couple of weeks ago
- Bugscope Team if they are still alive they tend to stay that way even after freezing
- Bugscope Team and as Cat says they just woke up after we froze them
- Bugscope Team SuperSize?
- Bugscope Team Hi Kevin!
- Bugscope Team hey kevin
- Teacher why are roaches so boring?
- Bugscope Team because they have so few features
- Bugscope Team Maybe they are to you :)
- Bugscope Team they are so streamlined, there are no specialized parts
- Bugscope Team One interesting thing about roaches is that they have these hairs coming out their back sides, laced with nerve endings
- Bugscope Team they are ancient so they should have just basic parts
- Teacher how do they look up close?
- Bugscope Team it's like looking at a cricket or a grasshopper
- Bugscope Team smooth
- Teacher what are the nerve endings for?
- Bugscope Team The nerves are connected directly to the legs, and can activate the running mechanism before their brain even registers it
- Bugscope Team you know there are interesting features
- Teacher is that why we can't squash them?
- Bugscope Team The reason being that it saves time not having to have the electrical impulse go all the way up to the brain and then back down to the legs
- Bugscope Team Exactly!
- Teacher do you ever look at specimens on food?
Bugscope Team Not that I can remember. Everything has to dry out so it doesn't outgas in the vacuum, so putting in most food items would be a challenge without special preparation
- Bugscope Team The hairs are sensitive to the air currents made by your hand coming down on them
- Bugscope Team We have looked at mites that eat plants, and then the mites that prey on them
- 2:11pm
- Bugscope Team this was for a company in England, and we used the 'scope in weet mode
- Bugscope Team wet mode, sorry
- Bugscope Team and we have looked at Shigella on cilantro, parsley, apples...
- Bugscope Team lots of E coli
- Teacher awesome
- Bugscope Team Also, roaches have been around for millions of years; part of the reason they're so streamlined. Evolution has removed just about everything unecessary. Many people theorize they'd be one of the few living organisms left after an all-out nuclear war
- Bugscope Team we have looked at Shigella that were live when we put them in the 'scope
- Bugscope Team lots of gloves and ethanol to clean the surfaces
- Bugscope Team Had to wear gloves, lots of disinfectant, and use biohazard disposal bags
- Bugscope Team still it was a little scary
- Bugscope Team Yeah, I would get really worried every time I had a stomach cramp or something
- Bugscope Team when we looked at those mites, one of the species names was urticae, which is enough like urticaria (itching) to make us more cautious
- Teacher All: This is Umesh. Now back to summary of the presentation. Thanks. The audience loved it.
- Bugscope Team we had a live Monarch butterfly chrysalis in the 'scope once, coated with gold-palladium, and later on the butterfly hatched
- Bugscope Team unfortunately we are in a basement, and it was wintertime
- 2:23pm
- Bugscope Team Hi Pam!
- Bugscope Team Let us know if you have questions, or if you would like to drive the 'scope, since I think Umesh is done.
- Student Thanks. Just catching up.
- Bugscope Team You have control ability now.
- Bugscope Team You can drive around, and you cna select presets if you want.
- Bugscope Team can
- Student Thanks.
- Bugscope Team this is the jaw of an ant, or the jaws, I guess
- Bugscope Team This is from a spider body
- Bugscope Team And a beetle claw.
- Bugscope Team you can change to a lower mag and look around.
- Bugscope Team Like here on the fruit fly. Cool!
- Bugscope Team These guys have setae in between most of the ommatidia.
- Bugscope Team most of the eye facets...
- Bugscope Team the setae are sensory
- 2:29pm
- Student cool thanks.
- Bugscope Team You can see part of the antennae there
- Bugscope Team on the right
- Bugscope Team pam you are it.
- Bugscope Team But if you've had enough no problem.
- Student Ok -- I'm done now.
- Bugscope Team SG are you still there?
- Bugscope Team Well we can stay on for a little while longer. In case someone else connects.
- 2:34pm
- Bugscope Team Okay I am peeling out. Over and out...
