Connected on 2008-11-25 12:00:00 from , TX, US
- 11:16am
- Bugscope Team sample pumping to vacuum
- Bugscope Team samples were relatively dry, so it should get to vacuum easily
- Bugscope Team 'lo Chas
- 11:22am
- Bugscope Team 2.7
- Bugscope Team Hi. I'm in a meeting in 4169 BI, just checking in. Did Scripps already have one connection this morning?
- Bugscope Team yes
- Bugscope Team so do we need to do anything -- oops lost Chas
- Bugscope Team 1.8
- Bugscope Team presumably we can just continue our demo session
- Bugscope Team 1.5
- Bugscope Team 1.4
- 11:29am
- 11:35am
- 11:42am
- Teacher Hi! I'm logged on, and I can't believe I've actually hooked up the projector and got it working all by myself this year! The kids will be here in about ten minutes. Can you remind me how to drive? Thanks!
- 11:48am
- Teacher LOVE the presets! Thanks so much!
- 11:53am
- Bugscope Team Hi Mrs C
- Bugscope Team sorry we were setting up and didn't see when you connected
- Teacher Hi! We're SO EXCITED!
- Bugscope Team we are happy that you guys are pumped up
- Teacher Just let me know when I have control of the microscope....
- 11:58am
- Bugscope Team you may have it now
- Bugscope Team you can have control now if you want
- Bugscope Team let us know if you have any trouble drivin'
- Teacher I am a controlling person, so I'd love to have control whenever you want to give it me. Thanks!
- Bugscope Team yeah go for it
- Bugscope Team lots of mouthparts on this praying mantis -- lot of palps
- Teacher Are there any mandibles?
- Bugscope Team drop the mag a little and we can see
- Bugscope Team maybe they are obscured
- 12:03pm
- Teacher The kids want to know if this is food in his mouth...
- Bugscope Team I don't remember them having fierce-looking mandibles
- Bugscope Team not sure
- Bugscope Team it's in the right place
- Bugscope Team your ant spiracle
- Teacher Love it! What are the little hairs for?
Bugscope Team a spiracle is like a nostril, the air comes in through here, and the hairs are there to catch anything that doesnt belong, like nose hairs
- Teacher Is this dirt next to the spiracle?
Bugscope Team yes it looks like it, they do like mucking around in dirt
- Bugscope Team yes!
- Teacher Who is our guest named crystal?
- Bugscope Team we thought it was you
- Bugscope Team Hi Crystal!
- Teacher I think it might be a parent...
- Bugscope Team we are happy to have guests
- Bugscope Team this is cool
- 12:08pm
- Teacher Are we looking inside the proboscis or outside?
Bugscope Team the proboscis is the part curled up, so we are looking at the outer part of it
- Bugscope Team a pollen grain outside the proboscis
- Bugscope Team d'oh like you were already doing
- Guest i have a friend doing this but shes not here
- Teacher Okay, so what are all of the hairs around us?
- Teacher COOOOOOOL!
- Bugscope Team those I think are fine setae on the head
- Bugscope Team now you can see the eye, to the left
- Guest Is Airmee there?
- Teacher Yes, she is - are you her cousin in California?
- Guest Yes, I'm Aaron
- Teacher Welcome!
- Bugscope Team this is a true bug -- hemiptera
- Teacher So, is this one of our insects that we sent in or is this one of yours
Bugscope Team this is one of yours, you and your class thought it was an ant, and it does look like one
- Bugscope Team we know because it has piercing mouthparts
- 12:13pm
- Bugscope Team it's antennae are somewhere else
- Teacher Wow! So, it's a true bug! We see the compound eye, but what is next to it?
- Bugscope Team those holes are where they were
- Bugscope Team antenna base, juju
- Teacher Very cool!
- Bugscope Team in this case the juju is hemolymph
- Bugscope Team they are scimitar-like
- Teacher What is scimitar-like?
- Bugscope Team now the facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team like a sword
- Bugscope Team these are really pretty butterfly scales
- Bugscope Team the same stuff that is soft and powdery when you touch their wings
- 12:18pm
- Teacher WOW! So, are we looking at a single scale now or many scales?
- Bugscope Team yeah these are really beautiful
- Bugscope Team this is part of one scale
- Teacher SO COOL!!!!!
- Bugscope Team such a cool pattern -- we see these a lot but this is particularly nice
- Teacher Do we know what the purpose of the holes is?
- Bugscope Team the shapes of the fine structures of the scales can produce structural colors -- colors that come from the shape, not from pigment
- Teacher That is SO AMAZING!
- Bugscope Team the holes, however, we have always assumed they make the scale that much lighter
- Bugscope Team sometimes you can see pigment granules in these same places, around the holes, but not here
- Teacher They remind us of bird bones, hollow with the brackets in them
- Bugscope Team so they will be strong and light as well
- Teacher Is this the annoying insect that we sent that I said I find in my kitchen a lot?
- Bugscope Team yes!
- Teacher DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS?????????????????
- Bugscope Team we think it looks like a wasp or bee, it is probably non agressive if it never hurt you
- 12:24pm
- Bugscope Team yeah we are not sure -- we were thinking it was a wasp
- Bugscope Team this is a job for Annie, our entomologist, who is not here today -- she's headed south
- Bugscope Team it has four wings, like a wasp
- Teacher Okay.... do you know what all of the dots are? Is this just a dirty bug?
Bugscope Team yes if you increase the magnification, you will find a lot of debris like dust or dirt on it
- Bugscope Team bees have four wings as well, but this is not a bee
- Teacher Are these hairs on a membranous wing?
- Bugscope Team yes little spines
- Teacher This is really exciting - you're bringing our studies to life!
- Bugscope Team Yay!
- Bugscope Team that's great, we like it when our sessions go really well
- Bugscope Team focus ex machina
- Teacher This is REALLY COOL! Why would they have spines on those types of wings?
- Bugscope Team when we look at insects we often have more questions than answers -- but think about if you had wings and they got wet -- it would be good to have something that would keep them from sticking to a smooth surface
- Bugscope Team this is ours the top of a tick
- Bugscope Team this is the business end of a tick
- Bugscope Team the part right in the middle is the part that holds into your skin
- 12:29pm
- Bugscope Team the gunk around the mouth is what is left of the cement type stuff that makes the tick get a good hold onto your skin
- Bugscope Team on the opposite side of that it is sort of like a file, with finer rasping toothlike projections
- Teacher Do all of those spines go into your skin? Or is it the scalloped looking section
- Bugscope Team the parts on the sides fold down
- Teacher Lots of OOOOOOHHHHHs going on here!
- Teacher What are the holes on either side for - with the spikes
- Bugscope Team also on the other side of the head are little eyespots
- Teacher Those are the eyes????
- Bugscope Team these remind of of antennae/taste buds. scott?
- Bugscope Team we think those little ports are likely sensory -- they can smell the air -- maybe CO2 that you would breathe out
- Teacher Is that a part that broke off, or is it always like that?
- Bugscope Team they don't have eyes, but where we cannot see there are little spots that look like the top of a pepper shaker
- Bugscope Team this is always like this, but with less juju
- Bugscope Team yeah I think they are like the taste buds on antennae -- the chemosensory buds
- Bugscope Team see the jaws?
- Bugscope Team they open like a gate
- Bugscope Team insect mouths usually operate sideways, compared to ours
- Teacher They don't look as sharp as we would think? What does a wasp eat?
- 12:34pm
- Bugscope Team any they seem to have many more components
- Bugscope Team and, not any
- Bugscope Team they often look like this, not really sharp
- Teacher Wasp TARSUS, right?
- Bugscope Team yes!
- Teacher We see a main claw, but what are the other big hairs around it for?
- Bugscope Team wasps eat lots of stuff -- like people food, from what I have been reading
- Bugscope Team the hairs are most likely mechanosensory
- Bugscope Team paper wasps have an interesting eat habit: Adult paper wasps either drink nectar or catch caterpillars and drink the caterpillar's blood, or hemolymph. Then the adult wasp flies back to the nest and regurgitates (throws up) the nectar or blood into the mouths of young (larval) wasps or other adult wasps. After the young wasps are full, they produce a saliva (or spit) which is fifty times more nutritious than nectar. The adult wasps drink this saliva from the mouths of the young wasps.
- Bugscope Team the big ones
- Teacher That is SO DISGUSTING but SO COOL!
- Bugscope Team I am glad people are not like paper wasps -- can you imagine what it would be like at a restaurant?
- Bugscope Team in general, wasps are predators and eat small insects and spiders. They also like sweet things such as very ripe fruit, and will even eat from sugar water feeders that people hang out for hummingbirds.
- Bugscope Team ew
- Teacher I'm so glad I'm a person!
- Teacher It hairs on the actual CLAW! The kids think they need a shave!
- 12:39pm
- Bugscope Team now you can see more of the tarsi
- Teacher The poor wasp lost his stinger!
- Bugscope Team insects need to have lots of hairs (setae) because they have an exoskeleton -- it's like if you were wearing a suit of armor all of the time
- Bugscope Team if you were wearing armor you would not be able to feel the wind or things touching you
- Bugscope Team the hairs are connected to little nerves that relay back what the insect is sensing
- Bugscope Team but if you drilled little holes in the armor and stuck things through that touched your skin you would be able to feel
- Bugscope Team so it's like Cate says -- the hairs are connected to nerves so the insect can feel
- Bugscope Team some of the hairs can pick up chemical signals, and some can feel heat or cold
- Teacher Are all the little dots dirt or pollen?
- Bugscope Team look a little closer and you will see
- Bugscope Team there is a little charging, but you will likely see both
- Bugscope Team Hello Mrs Canada!
- 12:45pm
- Bugscope Team the stinger is probably inside where we cannot see it
- Teacher Are the spiky things pollen?
Bugscope Team yes!
- Bugscope Team yes!
- Teacher Hi, Kimberly!
- Bugscope Team it helps them stick to things
- Bugscope Team Hi Kimberly, and ritaroo
- Guest Hello, my son is in the next class...just a little early to make sure I did everything right. This is GREAT!
- Bugscope Team yay!
- Guest Hello is Caroline Gonzalez in there somewhere??/ ;-))
- Teacher Hi, ritaroo!
- Teacher Not yet - 10 more minutes, ritaroo!
- Bugscope Team now we are seeing a lot of charging because the electrons cannot escape from this part of the sample readily
- Teacher Is this the closeup of pollen grain?
- Guest ok Mrs. C.
- Bugscope Team yes it is
- Bugscope Team yes there may be better ones to the north
- Bugscope Team like in preset 13
- Bugscope Team ha
- Teacher SO BEAUTIFUL!
- Bugscope Team cool
- Teacher Are there scales on the abdomen?
- Bugscope Team the cuticle has such a cool pattern on it
- 12:50pm
- Teacher What is the cuticle?
- Bugscope Team looks like scales but I think that is the way it forms
- Teacher Oh, Caroline's Papaw!
- Bugscope Team cuticle is what we call the exoskeleton
- Bugscope Team it is like what your fingernails are made out of -- or like a shrimp shell
- Bugscope Team also called chitin
- Guest great magnification....says Papaw
- Bugscope Team more scaley looking surfaces
- Teacher We never want to look in our flour again....
- Bugscope Team you can sort of tell how high the mag is by looking at the micron bar in the lower left of the image
- Bugscope Team the weevil mouth, from below
- Guest he looks like he has had a really bad day..is that its tongue??
- Bugscope Team those are mandibular and maxillary palps, which help insects manipulate and taste their food
- Teacher He uses the palps to taste your flour before he eats it, right?
- Bugscope Team in the tips of the palps we see little taste bud like things
- Bugscope Team nice imaging!
- Teacher WOW!!!!!
- Bugscope Team great job focusing
- 12:55pm
- Bugscope Team there are some "tastebuds" or in the insect world chemosensory setae
- Bugscope Team see the micron bar now?
- Guest will this still be available on the web tomorrow for some H.S. students to view from my advanced anatomy class...says Papaw
- Teacher The kids think it looks like playdough coming out of a playdough thing....
- Bugscope Team 14 microns is 7 bacteria long
- Teacher The kids want me to tell you that God is SO AMAZING!
- Bugscope Team that is exactly what it looks like isnt it
- Bugscope Team seven bacilli end to end
- Bugscope Team cool
- Teacher What is at the base of the taste bud things?
- Guest I love the presets bar...very cool.
- Bugscope Team ritaroo tomorrow is dedicated to research here
- Teacher We're wondering what our tongues would look like this close up - do we have hairs on our tongue, too?
- Bugscope Team we have to share the microscope with our in-house, in-University people
- Guest so is that a no that no one can log on tomorrow???
- Guest How many eyes does a fly have?
Bugscope Team they have 2 compound eyes and 3 simple eyes. the simple eyes act as a navigational tool, like a built in GPS
- Guest Is everyone still there?
- Teacher You can see all of our images on our homepage once they're loaded, along with all of our questions
- Guest ooops, sorry
- Bugscope Team yes thats right
- Bugscope Team yeah I am sorry someone else is using the 'scope -- but tell Papaw he can sign up for his own session at the bugscope web site
- Guest gotcha....I told them to log in today...but I don't see them
- Teacher We're switching classes right now - a new class is coming in....the other class was very impressed thank you!
- Bugscope Team now the compound eyes can have hundreds to thousands of individual facets, which you can see right now
- Teacher Are the simple eyes visible on here anywhere?
Bugscope Team they are usually nearer the very top to part of the back of the head, so we don't always see them. they probably wont be visible here because it is lying on its back
- Bugscope Team please thank them for all their questions and their attention
- 1:00pm
- Guest wow thanks for this fantastic opportunity...ritaroo and papaw
- Bugscope Team but you could always try
- Bugscope Team if you have a high school class please consider running a session
- Guest How many are in a compound eye?
- Guest Bird...hello
- Guest the butterfly scale is beautiful in the presets
- Bugscope Team it would take a grad student with lots of time to count them
- Bugscope Team the simple eyes would be right behind the antennae. so we cant see them afterall
- Bugscope Team I like this.
- Guest For some reason the chat will not scroll for me
- Guest Mrs. Canada you just popped up in the scroll here...working well...love this one...Papaw
- Guest I have to type something for it to scroll for me...
- Bugscope Team Mrs Canada we have a similar problem sometimes on one of our computers.
- Bugscope Team if you cant scroll, maybe your browser window isn't wide enough?
- Guest ok a little levity...mascara anyone???
- Teacher If you go to view and full screen, it works better...
- Teacher Hi, Brian and bird! Are you related to anyone in our class?
- Bugscope Team no mascara?
- Guest Yes Parker
- 1:05pm
- Bugscope Team it does have eyelashes
- Teacher SO COOL!
- Bugscope Team nice little hexagons
- Guest look at the perfect form of these hexagons!!
- Teacher Look at how MANY hexagons are in ONE EYE!
- Bugscope Team yeah would you like to try counting them?
- Teacher Does the butterfly have ocelli?
- Bugscope Team sometimes when we get a moth or butterfly, we cant always tell if it is one or the other (the main way is by looking at its antennae), but we usually get them without their antennae attached. So another way to identify whether they are moth or butterfly is by looking at their eyes
- Bugscope Team I am not sure if we have ever seen ocelli, if they have them
- Bugscope Team which makes sense since they are night insects
- Bugscope Team time tunnel
- Teacher We have to show our administrator the pollen grains
- Bugscope Team some insects can see ultraviolet wavelengths of light, which we cannot
- Bugscope Team the differences in antennae are that butterflies have little clubs at the ends while moths do not.
- Bugscope Team this is the butterfly you sen
- Guest in the presets does that praying mantis look devout or what???
- Bugscope Team sent
- Teacher SO COOL!
- Bugscope Team spiracle
- Bugscope Team so just go to http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2008-097/ at anytime you wish.
- 1:10pm
- Teacher We have to show this to this class, too!
- Bugscope Team the scales!
- Bugscope Team they are kind of like little feathers
- Bugscope Team these are individual scales on a butterfly wing. They are what makes the wing feel velvety
- Guest in the presets...the tenent from the longhorn beetle is fascinating
- Bugscope Team sometimes the sample will appear to move. that is because either the electron beam is manipulating the sample or the carbon tape we have the insects on is shrinking a little bit
- Teacher We love the butterfly scales!
- Guest we do as well.
- Bugscope Team can I try fixing this at the 'scope?
- Bugscope Team these tenent or sometime they are called tenet comes from the latin tenere- to hold.
- 1:15pm
- Guest wow...this is like the old movie FANTASTIC VOYAGE!!
- Bugscope Team they are what allows the insect to walk on walls
- Teacher Is the longhorn beetle one of ours?
Bugscope Team yes, a longhorn beetle can easily be identified by its long antennae (antlers)
- Bugscope Team they are so small it is hard to prevent them from charging up with electrons
- Teacher These that we're looking at now are what help it stick to walls?
Bugscope Team yes, though i wouldve thought that beetle you sent us was too big for that but here they are!
- Teacher What are tenent setae? We know what setae are, but we don't know about the tenent part...
- Bugscope Team tenent, as Cate said below, comes from the Latin tenere - to hold
- Guest IN THE PRESETS .....THE POLLEN IN THE PROBOSCIS REMINDS ME OF THE DUST SPECK IN "HORTON HEARS A WHO??"
- Bugscope Team it is hard to see everyhing that goes by
- Teacher These spikes are COOL!!!!!!!!!!!
- Bugscope Team the tenent setae need to be able to stick, but they also need to be able to release as the insect walks
- Bugscope Team the horizontal lines we were seeing -- the distortion -- was because the electron beam is getting caught in that small area
- 1:20pm
- Guest Are we looking at the beetle?
- Bugscope Team this is a praying mantis head
- Guest ok, thanks
- Bugscope Team praying mantises are kind of like cockroaches -- they seem to be very streamlined
- Bugscope Team now we are on the tick
- Teacher Now we are looking at a tick
- Teacher What is the scalloped part?
- Bugscope Team the scalloped part is what sticks into your skin
- Guest OUR NEIGHBOR HAD ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED TICK FEVER THIS SUMMER AND BARELY SURVIVED AFTER BEING BITTEN ON THE ANKLE BY A TICK IN INDIANA
Bugscope Team Rocky Mountain spotted fever is caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, a specialized bacteria. Ticks infected with the organism transmit the disease to humans.
- Teacher So are the spikey things piercing mouthparts? Is that what it sucks your blood with?
- Bugscope Team wow
- Guest MAKES ONE THINK OF SHARKS TEETH
- Bugscope Team that's one reason why I never go outside
- Bugscope Team What's cool is this tick has bacteria all over it
- Teacher Is that what all of the dots are?
Bugscope Team the small round things are bacteria
- Bugscope Team the spikey things are the fore portion of the proboscis
- 1:26pm
- Bugscope Team at the top and on the other side of the spikey things we would find something that is similar but less spikey
- Bugscope Team yeah I wonder if these are Rickettsia
- Guest WE ALSO HAD A CLOSE FRIEND BARELY SURVIVE LYME DISEASE THIS SUMMER FROM A TICK BITE...HERE TICKS WERE EXTREMELY NUMEROUS THIS SUMMER IN INDIANA
- Bugscope Team my mom got Lyme disease
- Bugscope Team the bacterium is a little shrunken
- Bugscope Team the electron beam affects it and makes it shrivel a little more
- Bugscope Team look at the micron bar
- Bugscope Team oops not now
- Teacher Sorry - we are trying to get to as much as we can!
- Bugscope Team no problem
- Guest IS THIS STILL THE TICK??
- Bugscope Team after you are done today we have people who are looking at cancer cells
- Bugscope Team no this is a wasp
- Teacher This is a wasp, and the mandibles have HAIR ON THEM!
- Bugscope Team there is the ball and socket part of the antenna
- Bugscope Team the antenna base
- Guest INCREDIBLE
- Bugscope Team the ocelli would be back there between the antennae
- 1:31pm
- Bugscope Team but they may be back further on the head than we can see from this angle
- Teacher They must be back there....
- Bugscope Team yeah I am sorry they must be over the ridge Mrs C
- Guest I am assuming the stinger is missing...right?
- Bugscope Team the stinger is STILL gone!
- Bugscope Team the stinger is probably retracted within the abdomen
- Teacher Different kids...
- Bugscope Team yes Mrs Canada we think it is -- d'oh -- as Cate says
- Teacher BEAUTIFUL POLLEN!
- Bugscope Team I was just joking - I was thinking we could sneak up on the stinger and it might have come out
- 1:36pm
- Bugscope Team see the weevil eyes on either side of the head?
- Teacher We're going to look at the weevil now - you'll never want to eat old flour again!
- Bugscope Team down low
- Bugscope Team extra protein
- Bugscope Team you can tell if an insect is a weevil by looking to see if it has a snout like an anteater
- Teacher What is the circle center thing?
- Bugscope Team it is a mouthpart that has palps attached to it
- Bugscope Team it kind of looks like it can move up and down
- Bugscope Team we are often at a loss to understanding just how it works
- Bugscope Team we need to watch more insects eat
- Bugscope Team tiny taste buds
- Teacher AWESOME!
- Bugscope Team here we had hoped to show you the sponging mouthparts
- 1:41pm
- Teacher Then what is it? We were thinking it was a sponging mouthpart
- Bugscope Team this fruit fly was critical point dried and should have had a nice bulbous sponge here --
- Guest IS THIS THE FRUIT FLY THAT APPEARS IN ONES KITCHEN DRAWN TO SAY OLD BANANAS?
- Bugscope Team yes
- Bugscope Team it is the right place, the right thing, but it is shriveled -- I am sorry
- Bugscope Team fruit fly eyes seem always to have these little setae on them
- Bugscope Team nice job focussing
- Bugscope Team the setae help the fly feel which direction the air currents are moving so it can easily fly
- Bugscope Team it's also one of the reasons why it can get out of the way so easily when a flyswatter or a hand is coming to swat them away
- Teacher Thank you! Look at the ridges on the setae! So cool!
- Teacher Is that just dust next to the setae?
Bugscope Team it looks like a bit of dust and dirt
- Bugscope Team looks like dust of some sort
- Bugscope Team we don't always see it
- Bugscope Team i think it is something that gets on critical point dried samples sometimes
- 1:46pm
- Bugscope Team when we get samples that were fixed in ethanol we can critical point dry them and often keep them from shriveling, as when they air dry
- Bugscope Team see the tenent setae to the left?
- Bugscope Team they are flat like a brush
- Bugscope Team the ant!
- Guest WOW...WHAT AN AMAZING VIEW
- Bugscope Team this one has a fluted jaw and fluted head
- Teacher Are the things on top the mandibles? If so, what is underneath?
- Bugscope Team inside the mouth you can see some plant material. maybe this ant is a leafcutter ant
- Teacher Is that an eye? If so, what kind?
- Bugscope Team that resembles a nose
- Bugscope Team the eye to further down and to the right
- Bugscope Team some ants look like this, and it likely does help identify the species
- 1:51pm
- Bugscope Team ants have many different shapes and sizes even in the same species
- Bugscope Team the ridge we were looking at is where the antennae are missing
- Bugscope Team often the antennae are in -- when we see the ant from the front -- the position we would expect the eyes to be if we were ants
- Bugscope Team if you lower the mag you can see where we are
- Teacher This has been so cool! Thank you so very much for giving us this glimpse into insects! We appreciate your time - especially with the holidays coming up. Thanks, parents and grandparents, for joining us today!
- Bugscope Team Thank you all for connecting today!
- Bugscope Team thank you for all your questions and your great driving
- 1:57pm
- Guest Thank you for including us in these awsome pictures! We love the componund eye pictures!
- Bugscope Team We had fun working with you this afternoon.
- Teacher So, how can they log on to see our homepage again? Can they get to it from the main Bugscope page?
- Bugscope Team anyone can go to http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2008-097/ and there they can view the session transcript and see all the chat and images from today
- Bugscope Team it is all anonymized unless the teacher logs in
- Teacher Great! Thanks so much! I have to log off now to go pick up my other kids, but I look forward to doing this again in the future!
- Bugscope Team We look forward to having you back!
- Bugscope Team ok everyone, we have to go now. thank you for logging in today
