Connected on 2007-12-17 12:15:00 from , RI, US
- 11:37am
- Bugscope Team Hi Jacqueline!
- Teacher hi Chas!
- Teacher I'm just settiing up while the kids are at lunch,,,,,
- Bugscope Team welcome to bguscope
- Teacher thanks!
- Bugscope Team cool, we are doing your preset, we'll be ready in 10-15 minutes
- Bugscope Team at that point you can practice driving the scope if you like...
- Teacher that's great, I'm picking up the class in awhile, and then we'll be ready to roll w2hen you are!
- 11:42am
- Bugscope Team okay
- 11:49am
- 11:58am
- Bugscope Team ~Hello
- Bugscope Team Hmmm...maybe the German tilda does not work...
- Bugscope Team ~test
- Bugscope Team I have been printing out school addresses here in my home town and will hand out the Bugscope Scott had mailed to me =)
- Teacher hi, I just got back
- Bugscope Team Hi, we're just about ready to let you take control here. Setting the last preset!
- 12:03pm
- Bugscope Team okay, session is unlocked, we are ready for you and your class jackie!
- Bugscope Team ask us any questions that you may have.
- Bugscope Team are the kids going to login themselves? or chat through you?
- Teacher great, did any of my specimens MAKE IT TO YOU?
- Teacher They'll be chatting through me, since I'm projectinig onto the whiteboard..,.
- Bugscope Team what age are the kids/what grade?
- Bugscope Team yep, presets are #1, #8, #9, #10
- Teacher this is grade 2...
- Teacher we'
- Teacher we're ready to begin!
- Bugscope Team cool, we are ready too
- Bugscope Team Scot, the German tilda sign does not work. I am not sure if Chas has any quick fixes.
- Bugscope Team jackie, you can drive the scope via the controls on the top right side of your browser: magnify, nav, focus and adjust
- Teacher What is the picture we're seeing right now?
- Bugscope Team ~
- Bugscope Team this is the edge of a psudeopod pupa of an unknown bug that you sent to us
- Teacher that was a waxworm pupa....
- Bugscope Team this is a pupa you sent; it's part of a repeating set of what look like pseudopodia
- Bugscope Team notice the magnification is currently at 500x, you can change that any time you like
- Bugscope Team cool
- 12:08pm
- Bugscope Team yeah you can take the mag lower to see where you are
- Bugscope Team ah, okay a waxworm pupa. i will change the database to reflect that
- Bugscope Team Nice job with the focus! It looks like there's a leg or something dangling up above, thus the blurry part in the center
- Bugscope Team sometimes at higher mags it is hard to tell what we are looking at
- Bugscope Team there is some juju on this
- Bugscope Team Great, now we can see something hovering above the part that's in focus below. It's most likely a leg since we try to put them on their backs
- Bugscope Team JTG you can choose any one of the presets to the right, here, and the 'scope will take you to that place
- Bugscope Team Hi Don!
- Guest Hi, Scott!
- Teacher what are the bumps on there (brandon)?
Bugscope Team We're seeing a cross-section of the outer skin of the pupa, presumably where it has broken after it dried. The bumps may just be from it shriveling up due to dehydration
- Bugscope Team what we see now is a cross-section of the pupa cuticle -- the shell around the worm's internal organs
- Bugscope Team the bumps are folds and debris
- Teacher cool
- Bugscope Team some of the bugs can get kinda dirty...
- Bugscope Team If you take the mag lower you can see where we are on the pupa
- 12:13pm
- Bugscope Team jackie, this is one of the bugs you sent us, we thoguht a caterpillar?
- Bugscope Team this is the caterpillar-like casing you sent
- Teacher That's a painted lady caterpillar!
- Bugscope Team coolness
- Bugscope Team this is something we have never seen before
- Teacher Why are there little holes at the ends ?
- Bugscope Team it is on the inside of the body cavity
- Bugscope Team We see a lot of hair-like structures ("setae"), but very infrequently do the appear hollow as these do
- Bugscope Team we wonder whether they are absorptive structures
- Bugscope Team if you look up close, a little further along the straw-like shafts, you see that there are tiny pores as well
- Bugscope Team this is pretty cool stuff but also a mystery to us
- Bugscope Team those images look great
- Bugscope Team we are missing our entomologist today
- Bugscope Team nice driving jackie, you are doing very well with the new controls!
- Bugscope Team see the tiny pores?
- Teacher Jasmine wonders what the lines are?
Bugscope Team The lines are just creases in the setae, part of the texture. You can see in-between them there are rows of pores, tiny little holes. It's hard to say exactly what the function is, but you'll see many more fascinatingly complex patterns like these, especially on the spider setae preset
- Bugscope Team the lines show that the little tubes are fluted, and they seem to provide support so that the tubes do not bend much
- 12:18pm
- Bugscope Team if they were smooth they would fold much more easily; with their fluted shape they are more rigid
- Bugscope Team i wonder if they are fluted on the inside of the tube as well? to create more surface area?
- Bugscope Team What makes them think the bug is flat?
- Bugscope Team when we see a piece of the bug it does look flat, doesn't it?
- Bugscope Team it shifted a little
- Bugscope Team The pollen grain is peeking into the frame up at the top there
- Bugscope Team check out the cool ball of pollen near the top of the image...
- Teacher they're all excited about this pollen!!!
- Bugscope Team these are tenent setae. we call tiny hair-like structures 'setae,' which is pronounced see-tee
- Bugscope Team tenent is like the Spanish tener, to hold
- Bugscope Team the tenent setae are found on some insects' limbs, at the end, to help them stick to things as they walk
- Bugscope Team when you see a ladybug crawling up a wall and such, they are using their tenent setae
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag a tiny bit down you can see where we are with relation to the claw, for example
- Teacher Samantha wants to know what all those pointy things around the pollen are?
Bugscope Team Many insects have a pad of these very orderly arranged setae called a pulvillus. The pulvillus is located on their legs right near the foot and it is usually sticky, allowing them to climb walls
- Bugscope Team the pointy things are like little suction cups so the ladybug can crawl on vertical surfaces
- 12:24pm
- Bugscope Team they look like tiny calla lilies
- Bugscope Team Alex brings up a good point about the tiny patterns of lines: Everything almost certainly has a benefit to the insect. I would guess the pattern has something to do with keeping the hairs from sticking to each other
- Teacher What are the threadlike things on the pollen
Bugscope Team that is so it will stick easily to whatever insect comes upon it
- Bugscope Team as a fact about ladybugs--people in the past have used ladybugs as treatment for toothaches and measles
- Bugscope Team ouch, my tooth hurts. can i have a ladybug please!
- Bugscope Team that's bec ause they taste so bad that people forget about their toothaches for a minute
- Bugscope Team my cat pukes up ladybugs all the time
- Teacher Alana wants to know what the lines are?
- Bugscope Team this looks like text; maybe it's German and Claudi can read it
Bugscope Team Scott, sorry I missedf it. The internethere is VERY slow...
- Bugscope Team these are the openings in the ribbed structure of a butterfly scale
- Bugscope Team the scale is much like a feather is to a bird
- Bugscope Team getting better...
- Bugscope Team ooh that is pretty good
- Bugscope Team nice focus'ing JTG!
- Bugscope Team it looks like Roman numerals
- Teacher Brandon wants to know what the little lines are?
Bugscope Team hi brandon! the little lines between the ribs on the scale are there to hold the shape of the scale and to provide support. and we believe the holes are there to provide some air-ation, as well as reduced weight, so the scale is lighter and more able to provide flying capability
Bugscope Team This pattern is very efficient at being strong yet light, an obvious requirement for something that wants to fly
- Bugscope Team these are very small features that trap air
- Bugscope Team they have a lot of surface area but little weight
- Bugscope Team D'Oh.
- 12:29pm
- Bugscope Team Claudi this is the German writing now.
- Bugscope Team but we can't read what it says
- Bugscope Team aeration
- Teacher Haley wants to know what the 'furrry' stuff is?
- Bugscope Team I'm not sure what you mean by furry stuff, can you point it out better?
- Bugscope Team hmm, what furry stuff? we aren't sure what you are refering to?
- Teacher stuff on sides?
- Bugscope Team By the way, if you look at the scale bar in the lower-left corner of the image you'll see that a bacterium, which is about 2 microns long, would appear about an inch and a half big at this magnification
- Bugscope Team Now we're got a view of a bunch of mouthparts
- Bugscope Team ant mouths always look like there is some other bug inside
- Teacher Oliviaa wants to know what the lines on the outside of it ARE?
Bugscope Team The thin little lines are called "setae", they're somewhat analogous to hair, but can also be specialized for sensory purposes
- Bugscope Team you can see the 'tines' of one of the jaws, where it looks like the end of a fork
- Bugscope Team there are lots and lots of setae on its face
- Teacher they think it looks like hair!
- Bugscope Team yes it looks very much like hair
- 12:34pm
- Bugscope Team setae pretty much is hair--insect hair
- Bugscope Team the hairs are often mechanosensory -- they are used to sense the surroundings of the insect
- Teacher Samantha wants to now what all the folds are
Bugscope Team Ant mouths have jaws, but they also have many other little limbs used for handling and swallowing food: a lot of the jobs we use our tongue for.
- Bugscope Team Although they're frequently not visible with the naked eye, setae are preset on almost every kind of bug we've ever looked at, even the ones that appear shiny and smooth without a microscope
- Bugscope Team the setae (hairs) are used, often, like whiskers on a rat or a cat
- Bugscope Team because insects have an exoskeleton they do not have nerve ending in their skin (since they do not have skin)
- Bugscope Team insects don't have nerves in their skin, they don't have skin at all in fact. so the hairs (setae) are there to help sense the surroundings, and report that info back to the underside of the exoskeleton, where the nerves lie...
- Teacher Colleen wants to know what the things that look like legs are
Bugscope Team Those are the other limbs it uses for eating, but they're all folded up at the moment
- Bugscope Team some of the tiny setae have a chemosensory function -- they can sense smells
- Bugscope Team so the insect can taste its food
- Bugscope Team the things that look like legs are palps that help manipulate and taste food items
- Teacher The spider setae look even more hairy....why?
Bugscope Team Spider setae are the most complex and pretty setae I've ever come across. My theory is that the complex shapes are necessary to handle the sticky spider silk without getting stuck to it. This is because the setae near the spinnerettes are typically way more complex than the rest of the body
- Bugscope Team spider setae are very beautiful
- Bugscope Team spiders need to be able to sense vibration, and the setae are like tiny antennae tuned to vibrations
- Teacher James thinks it looks like a tree bark on the body of the spider!
Bugscope Team it does!
- 12:39pm
- Bugscope Team spiders often have soft bodies, unlike insects
- Bugscope Team you can see that if the spider ate a lot it could get bigger and the ridges would open out and become smooth
- Teacher Meagan wants to know what those dots are?
Bugscope Team Most likely the dots are bits of dust, especially if the insect was critical point dried
- Bugscope Team some of the dots may be brochosomes, if the spider was eating leafhoppers, for example
- Bugscope Team we could go up in mag and see
- Bugscope Team leafhoppers produce tiny soccerball like particles called brochosomes, and no other insect does that
- Teacher what's a bochosome?
Bugscope Team Brochosomes are tiny waxy particles generated by the leafhopper insect. It excretes them almost like a liquid (because they're so small), and rubs them all over itself. They are used as a water repellant!
- Teacher what kind of spider is it?
- 12:45pm
- Bugscope Team as Chas says, however, this may be precipitate left from the critical point drying phase of sample prep; the tiny objects may be salts, for example
- Bugscope Team I am sorry we do not know what kind of spider this is today
- Bugscope Team The spear-like objects are more setae! These ones are distributed between the individual facets of the compound eye
Bugscope Team they allow the fly to navigate through the air more easily than without having them
- Teacher what are the sticklike things?
Bugscope Team Those are the setae. They are usually only found on the eyes of insects who depend heavily on their sight
- Teacher Last question: why are there a lot ot eyes?
Bugscope Team It's easier to design compound eyes that have a nearly 360 degree field of view, as many flying insects do. If you've ever tried to swat a fly by hand, you know the benefit of having wrap-around vision
- 12:50pm
- Bugscope Team the shape of these setae shows us that they are rigid and sensitive to the wind; they give the fruitfly information about windspeed and direction so that it can fly better
- Bugscope Team if you look at the brain of a fruit fly you can see that a large percentage of it is devoted to visual processing -- to decoding what the eyes see
- Teacher WHAT ELSE IS BETWEEN THE EYES?
Bugscope Team Besides those setae, very little. These compound eye facets look circular, but you frequently see them in a hexagonal arrangement so that they can be spaced even more closely together
- Bugscope Team well, those setae, and sometimes we see bacteria
- Teacher We have to get ready for The Grinch, so thanks so much for having us!!!
- Bugscope Team ok have fun, and i hope you had fun with us!
- Bugscope Team thank you for joining us, you were fantastic!
- Bugscope Team great driving and focusing
- Bugscope Team Glad to have you back for another session, have a good holiday!
- Bugscope Team all the images and chat are saved, and stored on your bugscope member page: http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2007-075
- Teacher i can't drive a catr tyo well, so my husband won' tt believe I drove a microscope
- Bugscope Team you can tell your husband that women are better drivers than men, that fact is very well documented...
- Bugscope Team And you can tell him this microscope probably costs about 20x more than the car!
- Bugscope Team and as far as driving a scope, you are even better!
- 12:55pm
- Bugscope Team Thank You Jackie. Please consider coming back next year.
- Bugscope Team okay, going to close up the session in a couple minutes...
- Bugscope Team Thanks Alex and Cate and Chas and Claudi
- Bugscope Team laters
- Bugscope Team ~no German tilda quick fix?
- Bugscope Team laters
- Bugscope Team the key you actually need to hit is the single quote, not the tilda
- Bugscope Team is there a single quote on that keyboard?
- Bugscope Team session disabled, rxl stopped, session locked.
- Bugscope Team nice session everyone. see you later.
