Bugscope: Members Page

Live Session Transcript

Connected on 2008-09-03 20:00:00 from Richland, WA, US

7:28pm
Bugscope Team you'll have to correct my spelling
Bugscope Team pardon my (poor) French

7:35pm

7:41pm

Bugscope Team Hi Lisa!
Teacher Hey- So glad it works... let me just get attendance, etc. going and then we will join you with these interesting creatures!

Bugscope Team hey lisa
Bugscope Team Cate made a great sample for you.
Bugscope Team lamellated antenna
Teacher Remind me how to reset the screen size to maximize and get rid of the toolbar... you'd think I would have the hang of this by now!
Bugscope Team f11 i think, scott?
Bugscope Team F11 will give you full screen, see if that helps
Teacher Perfect!
Bugscope Team Cate is a genius
7:49pm
Bugscope Team Lisa take control anytime I have just been cruising around.

Bugscope Team this looks so cool
Bugscope Team you know I think it's a pollen grain, deflated, with brochosomes on it
7:55pm
Bugscope Team with these brochosomes we are nanoscale tonight
Bugscope Team or you could say submicron
Bugscope Team hi Michelle!
Bugscope Team hi Molly!
Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!
Bugscope Team Hello Diana and Laura!
Bugscope Team hey everyone~
Bugscope Team now I can't type that fast..
Student hello scott, meet my class
Bugscope Team Cool -- Hello!
Student Hi Jody :)
Student HI Jamie
Student hi, scott
Student Hi Scott
Student Lets see some bugs!!!!!
Student hi kat
Student Hi everyone!
8:00pm
Student Hi vp626
Student Hello Michelle
Bugscope Team we are looking at a pollen grain, stuck to a bizarre-looking fly, with brochosomes on it that are about 450 nm in diameter
Bugscope Team these are brochosomes on a bug
Bugscope Team Lisa would you like us to give anyone else control of the 'scope?
Student What are brochosomes?
Bugscope Team You all (one at a time) can drive. And you can choose from among the presets along the right side of this chat box
Teacher Molly wants control!
Bugscope Team go ahead molly!
Bugscope Team they are something that leafhoppers produce, and we arent looking at something on a leafhopper so this insect was associating with one
Student the presets disappeared
Bugscope Team brochosomes are tiny wax-like particles that as Cate says are only produced by leafhoppers

Bugscope Team hit F5 if they are still gone

Bugscope Team to refresh your screen

Student What is a leafhopper?
Bugscope Team a green insect that hops around on leaves :p

Bugscope Team these are ommatidia

Student i am having trouble getting it to stop moving
Student how many eyes does a mosquito have? w/i the compound
Bugscope Team ommatidia are the individual facets of the compound eye
8:06pm
Student That's what I thought Cate!

Student does that mean many eyes?

Bugscope Team some insects have thousands of ommatidia
Bugscope Team these are slightly deflated from having dried out
Student they look like peas
Student What is an Ag Fish?
Bugscope Team scott was being funny. it is a silverfish. you often find them in bathrooms
Bugscope Team yeah they do vp
Bugscope Team singular is ommatidium, so I am not sure what the derivation is

Bugscope Team pigments in insects are sometimes called ommochromes
Bugscope Team Ag = silver
Student I had an a problem with silverfish in my house. i made my husband bug bomb the place and then we left town for the weekend
Bugscope Team this was in my linen closet
Student bstaids wants control
Student bstauds
Bugscope Team lol i would do the same!
Student i cant see the presets
Student That good to know not too excited about them being in our bathrooms
Bugscope Team silverfish are interesting because they have scales, like mosquitos, butterflies, moths, and very few other insects

Bugscope Team bstauds are you doing better now?

Student what part of a spider is that?
Student i was just telling amber that they have feather-like scales like moths. we had them in our bathroom. they're so gross
Student what exaclty are we looking at here?

Bugscope Team this spider was on my ceiling, sort of stalking or flirting with another spider

Student lol

Bugscope Team this is (was) one of the spinnerets
Student what is a spinneret?
Student Probably stalking
Student i hope so
Student Jaz Wants control please
Bugscope Team I caught it in a jar and froze it
Student is there two or one here?
8:11pm
Student I would've squishe dit!!!
Bugscope Team four spinnerets
Student one spider here?
Bugscope Team we don't squish bugs anymore -- we have something to use them for
Student spinnerets are where they spin webs from, right?
Bugscope Team thats right
Bugscope Team oh yes just one spider
Student still no control
Bugscope Team yes if Spiderman had them he would be sort of funny looking, not get so many dates
Student Do all four work at the same time?
Bugscope Team um im not sure

Bugscope Team here Jaz you have control now

Student what type of ant is this?
Student seems like the spiders in our house uses all their spinnerets

Bugscope Team its some type of black ant. it has a big head
Bugscope Team the silk comes out as a liquid that solidifies in the air, and some webs are not sticky

Student How is that?

Bugscope Team they can eat the web when they are done with it and sort of use it again later

Student yummy
Bugscope Team Laura?
Student Kadi wants it next
Bugscope Team go ahead kadi
Student look at something good kadi!
Bugscope Team I'm sure they digest it -- it's not like it goes right through
Student so they recycle, does the web act like a protien?
Bugscope Team yes the web is made of protein. when its in the spider it is a liquid protein

Student oh man, there are a lot of these guys on our farm
Student i have like ten of those in my house..
Student is that the fly mouth?
8:16pm

Student fly's mouth

Bugscope Team I think it is a protein, and they are well equipped to break things down quickly once they ingest them
Student what is that blob looking thing?
Student is that its eye on the left
Bugscope Team spiders usually eat their prey by sucking its insides up like a milkshake

Bugscope Team bug-shake
Bugscope Team yes eye on the left
Student is that a compound eye on the left?
Bugscope Team looks like it!
Student thank you
Student thanks

Bugscope Team the blob is some solidified juju

Student looks like a pigs tail
Student anyone up for a milkshake after class? :s
Student what is juju
Bugscope Team this is the moth that reminds me of the Leonardo drawing of the soldier
Bugscope Team and the eye is like a golf ball

Student do moths really eat through your clothes

Student looks like a golf ball

Student it almost looks like feathers
Bugscope Team their larvae eat your clothes
Bugscope Team the scales help them get away from spiderwebs
Student amber wants control
Bugscope Team they all
Bugscope Team d'oh
Bugscope Team the scales fall out easily and the insect can get away
Student what does the moth eat? and how does it eat it?

Bugscope Team some spiders will cut nontasty butterflies out of their webs
Bugscope Team it drinks through it strawlike-proboscis

Bugscope Team moths eat using those coily tubes
Student good i like butterflies just eat the flies
8:21pm

Bugscope Team they expand them like New Years party favors, by filling them with hemolymph

Student is that what paralyzess the bugs
Student so what do they drink?
Student what is hemolymph
Bugscope Team bug bomb
Student Thank you for your time!
Student thank you for your time!
Student really ? thank you for your time
Student thanks!
Bugscope Team I think we are close up on the Japanese beetle head now
Student thanks for showing us around
Student Thank you for your time! :)
Student thank you for your time
Student thanks! bye!
Student thank you!
Bugscope Team blood
Student well, thanks a lot for your time it was interesting!
Bugscope Team lol
Student thanks for the fun session!
Student thanks for the awsome and sometimes yuky buggy time.
Student Thanks, bye bye!
Student thanks!
Bugscope Team hemolymph is what they use for blood
Bugscope Team Thank You!
Bugscope Team thank you for all your questions!
Bugscope Team Diana C said call me was she joking?
Bugscope Team lol
8:29pm
Bugscope Team okay I am saving this stub, take a few art photos tomorrow, I hope
Bugscope Team l;ot of lag here
Bugscope Team still
Bugscope Team Thanks Cate
Bugscope Team that was good I think
Bugscope Team yeah i hope so
Bugscope Team i think i get my game tomorrow cant wait
Bugscope Team ill have a fun weekend
Bugscope Team ha cool
Bugscope Team so are they totally done?
Bugscope Team I ordered that player, plus one French and three Japanese films
Bugscope Team yeah I think so ...
Bugscope Team usually it is like this, super quick
Bugscope Team umm
Bugscope Team have you heard of a weird movie called Delicatessen
Bugscope Team I have a copy
Bugscope Team it is really good
Bugscope Team not sure I could find it
Bugscope Team yeah i requested it from the library along with french twist
8:34pm
Bugscope Team shares at least one writer with City of Lost Children but is much better
Bugscope Team anyways i've got some reading to do, cya tomorrow?
Bugscope Team I can't think of the name of the French movie.
Bugscope Team heh
Bugscope Team got some reading to do, I like that -- see you
Bugscope Team oh company!
Bugscope Team hey lkk
Bugscope Team let us know if you would like to drive
Guest hi
Bugscope Team our session is done for tonightso you have the run of the 'scope if you wish
Guest okay
Bugscope Team now you may drive -- you should start to see controls to the upper right
Bugscope Team and you may choose from among the presets on the right of this chat box
8:39pm

Bugscope Team clicking on a preset takes you to that position on the stub
Bugscope Team this is someone's compound eye
Bugscope Team I think it's one of the flies
Bugscope Team you can take the mag lower if you would like

Guest thanks
Bugscope Team okay this is the Japanese beetle

Bugscope Team please look around, and try anything you'd like

Bugscope Team you can drive by clicking on the screen, after selecting 'click to drive'

Bugscope Team but you have to remember to click to stop as well

Bugscope Team or you can use click to center
Guest okay

Bugscope Team and las I had said you can also simply choose from the presets
8:44pm
Bugscope Team as

Bugscope Team where are you from, LKK?

Guest omaha
Bugscope Team hard to talk and drive at the same time
Bugscope Team cool
Guest sorry i was busy looking at all the details
Bugscope Team no problem

Guest ever find a parasite on a bug?
Bugscope Team yes

Bugscope Team we find different kinds of mites

Bugscope Team but not tonight, not yet...

Bugscope Team earwigs and big millipedes are usually good for mites, in our experience

Guest how often are you online?
Guest are you an entomologist?
Bugscope Team whenever we have a session, could be 1-3x a week
8:49pm
Bugscope Team or as Cate said

Bugscope Team whoever wants to run bugscope fills out an application and then our secretary works out a date and time and then we have the session on that date
Guest cool
Bugscope Team we have been doing this long enough that we know a little about 'bugs'
Bugscope Team and we work with entomologists sometimes, when they have samples to image for their research
Guest are those antennae that look kind of like folded hands
Bugscope Team yes those are lamellated antennae that help characterize certain beetles
Guest what does lamellated mean?
Bugscope Team the compound eyes look pretty smooth until you get close
Bugscope Team the antenna has different segments that fan out

Guest I never knew that - !!

Bugscope Team like the segments are stacked on top of each other like a Ddagwood sandwich

Bugscope Team this is a mandibular or maxillary palp
8:55pm
Bugscope Team the end has tiny setae in it that are likely chemosensory
Bugscope Team like a tastebud
Guest are they picky eaters??? just kidding

Bugscope Team Hello Taco Man!

Guest hello

Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!

Bugscope Team this is the head of a Japanese beetle
Bugscope Team oop lost him
Guest Taco Man - have at it - its fun
Bugscope Team looks like

Bugscope Team LKK I moved us to the silverfish head
Guest great

Guest looks like scales
Bugscope Team oh
Bugscope Team yes you are right

9:00pm

Bugscope Team it is uncommon to find scales in other than butterflies, moths, and skeeters

Bugscope Team this is so wild looking, like he has eyelashes
Guest any reason why those have scales - protection?

Bugscope Team because if you get caught in a web you can just shed your scales, easily, and get away
Bugscope Team butterflies and moths release their scales to get out of webs
Guest wow - didn't know that - slippery kind of deal
Bugscope Team many insects have evolved protection mechanisms from ants, in particular
Guest really?

Bugscope Team the aphid, here on the stub, has cornicles on the left and right tail of its body
Guest what are cornicles?

9:05pm
Bugscope Team they are short tubes
Guest tough world out there

Bugscope Team if you were to go and pester an aphid from behind you might find yourself stuck in wax

Bugscope Team the insect world seems very savage
Guest I'll keep that in mind

Bugscope Team lucky we are so big and insects cannot grow as large

Bugscope Team insects and other arthropods
Guest this part almost looks metallic
Bugscope Team that scale has flapped up and there is charging beneath it where it is not conductive
Bugscope Team totally wild lookinh
Bugscope Team looking
Bugscope Team they are silver and really do look metallic

Bugscope Team we often compare the exoskeletons of insects to coats of armor

Bugscope Team they live inside a shell
Bugscope Team which is why we see so many sensory setae (hairs) sticking through
Guest looks pretty tough to me

Bugscope Team kind of Victorian with those shingles

Bugscope Team dog-tongue shingles
Guest I can't believe all the sections this bug has
9:10pm

Guest whats this elephant thing?
Bugscope Team LKK I moved us to a bizarre fly Cate put on the stub this morning
Bugscope Team I don't know

Bugscope Team I think it is a fly, like Diptera

Bugscope Team but I have never seen a snout like that on a fly that I can remember
Guest looks like a honeycomb
Bugscope Team that is the way the ommatidia close-pack

Guest what does that mean?
Bugscope Team ommatidia are the individual facets of the eye
Bugscope Team and when they are close together like this it is natural that they assume a hexagonal shape

Guest do you really think they see thousands of pictures or just like a mosaic?

9:15pm
Bugscope Team I think it is like a mosaic, and an advantage is that they are very sensitive to movement -- the ommatida make them able to detect movement more quickly than our eyes might
Bugscope Team which is good in that world
Guest pretty ugly nose here
Bugscope Team things happen so fast -- like in soccer
Bugscope Team yes it is

Bugscope Team it resembles a mosquito proboscis but without the scales and, apparently, the fliexibility
Guest looks like it grew as layers were added?
Bugscope Team yeah it does. I imagine that kind of growth makes it more rigid than if it was smooth
Guest so this guy probably injects stuff into its prey
Bugscope Team hey im heading out. gnight all
Guest thanks
Bugscope Team Thanks Cate!

Bugscope Team We will have to ask our entomologist about this. All of these images are recorded to the school's database.

9:20pm

Bugscope Team they will be surprised that the session went on so long without them
Bugscope Team I am not sure what this is.
Guest you know a lot about these bugs is why - you gave me lots of answers
Bugscope Team sometimes we find these things, and they have to do with sex -- they are called gonopores

Bugscope Team this is super fun for us LKK

Bugscope Team I had some iced tea before coming back into work this evening for the session

Bugscope Team you can see that the wing is covered with microsetae
Guest wow i was expecting more like scales
Bugscope Team tiny hairs
Guest think it like dimples on a golf ball to help with flying?
Bugscope Team I think they have a function like scales might, as well -- they give the wing surface area without adding too much weight

Bugscope Team you can see someone else's scale there too

Bugscope Team hey that sounds plausible
Guest where do you get these bugs?

9:26pm
Bugscope Team the classes sometimes collect and send them. and we catch bugs ourselves as well
Guest do people ever send you bugs after doing one of these sessions

Bugscope Team well they normally send them first

Bugscope Team but we do get repeat classrooms

Bugscope Team some people have connected with us for 6 or 7 years running

Guest wow
Bugscope Team this is our tenth year
Guest any police people ask for your help with some case with bug id?

Bugscope Team since I have been here at the University of Illinois there has been no forensic stuff
Bugscope Team in Kansas City I got it sometimes
Guest from what you have explained tonight you could be consultants

9:31pm
Bugscope Team we really enjoy this and have a friendly competition to answer questions better and more completely
Guest do bugs have tendons?
Bugscope Team they have things that are probably analogous

Bugscope Team there is a thing called an unguitractor that closes and opens a claw, for example, and it functions like a tendon.
Guest do you have to prepare the bugs in any way before you put them on the scope?
Bugscope Team the more you do this the more you realize you don't know
Bugscope Team we usually receive them air dried, so all we have to do is mount them on the stub with doublestick carbon tape and silver paint, and then coat them with gold-palladium
Guest okay - unguitractor -how do you remember all of this?
Bugscope Team if we get them in alcohol we can critical point dry them and they will look better
Guest wait - gold ? for reflection?
Bugscope Team I have a book called Attachment Devices of Insect Cuticle -- something funny like that
Bugscope Team in a way

Bugscope Team the gold palladium -- an alloy -- covers the sample, for the most part
Guest are you teachers?
9:36pm
Bugscope Team and when the electron beam hits it, secondary electrons are ejected from the coating
Bugscope Team we teach grad students and postdocs, mostly, to do their own research using microscopes of all kinds
Guest so this is from a scanning electron scope?
Bugscope Team yes you are controlling a $600,000 microscope
Bugscope Team you are doing the driving
Guest most expensive thing I have ever driven
Bugscope Team ha!

Bugscope Team it has the capacity to do elemental analysis as well
Guest what other kinds of microscopes do you have?
Bugscope Team plus a few other things

Bugscope Team we have a transmission electron microscope (TEM), a number of great and fancy light microscopes, some scanned probe microscopes, and several micro and nanoCT machines
Guest wow
Bugscope Team we are half of a group -- the other half is an image-processing lab
9:41pm
Bugscope Team they have all kinds of cool imaging software
Guest do you have a site with bug pics when you are not doing this interactive thing?
Bugscope Team it is a very exciting place to work
Bugscope Team the bugscope web site itself has thousands of images
Bugscope Team and we have something on our website called image of the week
Bugscope Team that has bugs, sometimes
Guest i guess i just jumped online without checking it out

Bugscope Team http://www.itg.uiuc.edu/

Bugscope Team that is our website
Guest thanks
Bugscope Team if you know teachers who might be interested in running bugscope with their classes, that is one thing we do, of course
Guest before I go - favorite bug?
Bugscope Team well I like ticks, earwigs because they often have mites...
Bugscope Team there are lots of individual interesting things about a number of insects/arthropods
9:46pm
Bugscope Team I have enjoyed getting to talk to you
Bugscope Team and Cate did as well
Guest thanks for all the info - i will pass this on to a teacher friend of mine - tons of fun!!
Bugscope Team we get all geared up for a session and then sometimes they're done so soon
Bugscope Team thank you LKK
Bugscope Team log in again if you wish -- you can see when the sessions will be running
Bugscope Team Over and Out...
Guest great stuff - I will do that!!!!
Bugscope Team Hey Cool -- Good night!

School Name	Washington State University
School Homepage	www.wsu.edu
Location	Richland WA, US
Community	Suburban
Type	Public

Subjects Taught	Methods for preservice teacheras
Grades Taught	Other
Number of Students	20

Project Title	Teaching preservice elementary teachers about Bugscope
Insects To Study	Whatever you have!
Project Description	I am teaching the Technology course again this semester at WSU and would love to be able to bring this technology to the preservice teachers. They are always looking for ways to integrate new technologies into their (future) classrooms and this is a perfect program for them to start with!

Session 2008-074 with Washington State University

Application

The School

The Class

The Project

Miscellaneous

Live Session Transcript

Connected on 2008-09-03 20:00:00 from Richland, WA, US