Connected on 2009-04-24 10:00:00 from , PA, US
- 8:57am
- Bugscope Team vac still high
- Bugscope Team must be some juicy bugs in there
- Bugscope Team vac is fine, starting presets
- Bugscope Team hi scot
- Bugscope Team hey DaddyO
- 9:04am
- 9:09am
- Bugscope Team Cool my favorite bugs lately are these guys.
- 9:16am
- Bugscope Team nice brochs
- 9:21am
- Bugscope Team true bug
- Bugscope Team pigment granules
- Bugscope Team among the ridges
- Bugscope Team ha I guess they are yellow pigment granules
- Bugscope Team prehensile tongue
- Bugscope Team wow nice
- Bugscope Team that is one of the nicest of these we've ever had
- Bugscope Team good job o ta ku
- Bugscope Team spyter
- Bugscope Team this is nice-lookin' as well
- 9:26am
- Bugscope Team I imagine having a bunch of eyes pointed in the same direction is another way of getting quick updates--seeing motion
- Bugscope Team I think this is a girl spyter
- Bugscope Team i could use some of those
- Bugscope Team palps are small
- Bugscope Team Good morning, Mrs G!
- Bugscope Team hello mrs. griffin, welcome to bugscope
- Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!
- Teacher Hi Scot, we are early for our 11:00 session. Do you mind if we watch?
- Bugscope Team Cate and Alex are finishing up the presets.
- Bugscope Team Should be fine!
- Teacher Is there any audio or is it all text?
- Bugscope Team all text
- Bugscope Team it would be super tricky to set up audio since we're not all in the same place
- Bugscope Team if we had audio, and tried to listen to (up to) 25 kids all talking at the same time. that would be, well, yikes! audio just wouldn't work well.
- Bugscope Team same with video; we want the students to be able to concentrate on what they can see from the microscope and not get distracted seeing us, for example
- Bugscope Team we are done with the presets
- Bugscope Team at the same time we do want them to be able (when possible) to type questions for us.
- 9:32am
- Bugscope Team mrs. griffin, i just unlocked the session, so you should see controls now in your browser. feel free to drive around anytime and practice
- Bugscope Team yes Mrs Griffin please let us know if you have any questions, any problems. we expect questions about the samples, how the 'scope works, etc. of course
- Bugscope Team you can click on a preset to move to that location, or you can use click to drive and other microscope controls
- Bugscope Team this is a fruit fly haltere -- a modified hindwing that helps Diptera (flies, with two wings) balance the motion of their wings
- Bugscope Team hi meg, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Team two wings, two halteres that beat opposite the motion of the wings
- Bugscope Team you can take the mag down, for example, to see where you are
- Bugscope Team Mrs G is the only person with control of the microscope on your end.
- Bugscope Team But we can confer control to one person at a time -- whomever you wish to have it
- Student How do we use the controls?
- Bugscope Team now if you wish you can change to a lower mag to see where you are
- Bugscope Team well, only we can transfer the controls, i just gave control to meg
- Bugscope Team Cool!
- Bugscope Team so when you want us to give control to a student, just let us know
- 9:37am
- Bugscope Team you can choose from among the presets on the right; clicking on one will take you to that place
- Student can I select where it goes?
- Bugscope Team and you can also drive freely around the stage. if you use click to drive, put the cursor on the screen and click once; the 'scope will drive the direction you've chosen
- Bugscope Team the trick if you use click to drive is to click to stop
- Bugscope Team yep, try Navigation: click to drive or click to center
- Bugscope Team if you use click to center, it is easier to control
- Bugscope Team when using click to drive, you can click once to start moving, then you MUST click again to stop moving
- Student we are wondering if the wing has little feathers
- Bugscope Team butterfly and moth wings have scales that are like feathers. But other wings like flies do not, they are just thin sheets of chitin (same stuff as your fingernails)
- 9:42am
- Bugscope Team those were the facets of the compound eye of the fruit fly
- Bugscope Team the individual facets are called ommatidia, and on fruit flies they have little bristles at their borders
- Bugscope Team the little bristles, like hairs, are called 'setae'
- Bugscope Team they help the fruit fly determine the wind direction as it flies
- Student Sean wonders if the setae are like eyelashes? to keep dirt etc. out of their eyes.
Bugscope Team No they are not like eyelashes. The dirt will get on there whether they like it or not, but it doesn't bother them too much. If they need to, sometimes they will rub their eyes with their legs to get off any big dirt
- Bugscope Team you can see that the eye is sort of caved in 'cause it is a little dry
- Student Thanks Scot & Cate. We will be back at 11:00
- 9:48am
- Bugscope Team Some insects, like ants, have a comb-like apparatus on their forelimbs that they use to clean their antennae.
- 9:58am
- Teacher Hi, we are back. Can we et control on this computer? It is our presentation one.
- Bugscope Team you've got control again
- Teacher We will have a few student computers for questions as well
- Bugscope Team welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Team no problemo
- Bugscope Team Cool!
- Bugscope Team we can have up to 20-25 logins if you want
- Teacher once we get the laptops up we will probably have 6 or so
- Bugscope Team that sounds great!
- Bugscope Team Hi Annie!
- Bugscope Team Annie is our entomologist.
- Bugscope Team Hi everyone
- Teacher Hi everyone, we (Mrs. Griffin and Mr. Merrill classes 4th grade are here)
- Teacher What will we be seeing?
- Bugscope Team hello, welcome to bugscope
- 10:04am
- Bugscope Team there's a spider, a yellow butterfly, a stink bug, some aphids...
- Bugscope Team we've got a fruit fly, spider, moth, stink bug, wasp, mosquito, leafcutter, ladybug and an aphid
- Bugscope Team we have some ants, a couple flies, a spider, a stink bug, a couple beetles...
- Student hi!
- Student my real name is nicole
- Teacher what is ut?
- Bugscope Team Hi! Welcome to Bugscope, Nicole!
- Bugscope Team hi student2, nice to meet you nicole
- Teacher sorry, what is up first?
- Bugscope Team this is a compound eye
- Bugscope Team on a fruit fly i believe
- Bugscope Team the compound eye is a very cool thing: it's made up of hundred of individual facets, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team the eye is a little caved in since the fruit fly dried out a bit after it died
- Student this is so cool!
- Bugscope Team those hairs are called setae, they help the fly to sense wind while it's flying, so it know to avoid things
- Student THANK YOU
- Bugscope Team fly's have good eyesight, that's why they are hard to catch while flying
- Bugscope Team now you can see more of the stub the bugs are mounted on for today's session
- Student I can't belive that wasthe eye
- Student you think?
- Bugscope Team the background is silver paint, around the fly, and carbon doublestick tape
- Bugscope Team yeah, compound eyes are really cool. each facet (ommatidia) has a lens in it, so the fly brain is processing hundreds of images into a single one
- Student that eye is pretty deflated
Bugscope Team yeah, when the insects dry out, they can deflate like that
- Bugscope Team if you had compound eyes you would be able to register movement much more quickly
- Bugscope Team wait 'til you see the mosquito eye
- Student 1
- Bugscope Team you will notice the same thing with the mosquito eye-- it's a bit deflated
- Bugscope Team if we let insects air-dry, the softer parts will often shrivel a little
- Student yes
- Student are those all eyes
Bugscope Team yep, each one of those bumps is called an ommatidium, part of the whole compound eye
- Student yes
- 10:09am
- Bugscope Team human eyes can move around in the socket, so we only have two lens's. but fly ommatidia lens's don't move around, so they have hundreds of them shaped as hexagons to form this curved surface, that's how the fly has peripheral vision
- Student maby
- Bugscope Team They shrivel because the water that is naturally part of their cuticle evaporates
- Student I am very interested in Insects and particuarly these ones
- Student thats pretty amazing that they can't move their eyes
- Bugscope Team cool, insects are awesome student2
- Bugscope Team when water leaves tissue and evaporates, changes into a gas, it causes the damage we see
- Student no wunder they have somany eyes
- Student they can't move their eyes/
- Student so many eyes
- Student its even more amazing they have so many eyes
- Student How many eyelashes do they have?
- Teacher can we look at the mosquito
Bugscope Team go ahead and click on the preset
- Bugscope Team well, each bump isn't really called an eye (i think), rather the entire set of bumps (ommatidia) is called a compound eye
- Student How many eye lenses do they have?
- Student awesome a misquito!
- Bugscope Team Well, please, ask all the questions you want. I spent the last 6 years studying insects in graduate school, so I hope I can answer your questions
- Student anotherstudent is going to use student one
- Bugscope Team it is preset 5, you should be able to scroll through the list
- Bugscope Team Each bump is a facet of the eye--the entire thing is the compound eye--all the bumps together
- Bugscope Team the mosquito is preset 5, as Cate says
- Student cool, a misquitos eye!!
- Student what is the scientific word for a fly.
Bugscope Team the house fly is: Musca domestica
- Student what are the stuff in the eyes
- Bugscope Team now we see what happens when the eyes get seriously dried out
- Student It kind of looks like a pattern in the eyes
- Student i'm back:)
- Student they look like wrinkled candy
- Bugscope Team normally these eyes would be much rounder, now they look like beanbags because they are so deflated
- Student wow that is cool
- Student They look like bones
- Student does a mosquitos eye react like the flies eye
Bugscope Team Mosquitoes are generally not as strong fliers as a regular housefly. They also do not seem to react as quickly when you try to swat them. So, while the eyes probably see similar things, perhaps the images are not as sharp or perhaps the mosquito's brain is not able to process the images as rapidly.
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag down you can see where you are on the head
- Student how do fruit flies see straight if there eyes are on the side of their head
Bugscope Team well, if you notice, some of the ommatidia are actually pointing near the front of view of the insect, so they can see a bit in front. not as well as the side though, that is trye. interesting question!
- Student Wow! The mosquito's eye looks so cool!
- Bugscope Team The entire order of flies is Diptera
- Student thats a weird name for a house ly
- Student my bad "fly"
- Bugscope Team di-meaning two, and ptera-meaning wing
- Student why are bugs eyes on the side of the heads and not on the front of their head?
Bugscope Team Insects typically need to see all around them, in back as well as in front in order to avoid predators. If their eyes were facing forward, like ours do, they wouldn't be able to see behind them, and they could get gobbled up!
- 10:14am
- Bugscope Team and mosquitos are also flies; they're also in Diptera
- Student cool name!
- Student The misquito's eye looks like a de-flated balloon, and looks like there's veins in it!
- Student yah
- Student Oh those things are veins?
- Student yeah i agree with you student 5
- Bugscope Team yeah, these ommatidia are really deflated for some reason, i don't know why
Bugscope Team They are deflated because insect cuticle contains quite a bit of water. When we prepared the specimens for SEM, the water evaporates and the cuticle collapses a bit
- Student so do I
- Bugscope Team musca is Latin for fly, and you can figure out what domestica means
- Student can this bug look around?
- Bugscope Team That is a very good question.
- Student can eacn eye see out of its own eye
Bugscope Team yep, each ommatidia has an individual lens in it
- Student are all of those little circles eyes?
Bugscope Team in a way, they are all components of a compound eye on the mosquito. Each one is called an ommatidium, plural would be ommatidia
- Student Inside of the eye it looks like a ballon made i nto a animal
- Student Wow, there is a huge difference between the fruit fly's eye and the mosquito's eye!!!
- Student I thin they are eyes.
- Student Annie, the things in the eyes are veins?
Bugscope Team no, the sculpturing you see is just wrinkles that result from the deflation of the cuticle
- Student Wait, so those circles are deflated?
Bugscope Team yep, these used to be spheres
- Student how many different types of flies are there?
- Student thanks for the answer
- Student or should i say eyes?
Bugscope Team well, the proper term is ommatidia, or singular: ommatidium
- Student I agree with you student #5
- Bugscope Team sometimes we see compound eyes that are broken open, and we can see, in some insects, what appear to be crystalline lenses
- Student what are those lines in their eyes
Bugscope Team the creases are natural folds of the deflated eye, but there are also point- or dotlike substructures to the eye
- Bugscope Team pollen!
- Bugscope Team these are some pollen grains on some plant material
- Student kind of looks like peanuts
- Student How fast does a mosquito fly?
- Teacher since so many of us suffer from allergies, we are going to the pollen
- Student Wow, thats a grain of pollen? It looks so weird.
- Student it looks like a peanut half way poened
- Student what is that
- Student ok, thanks for answering my questions
- Student grains of pollen
- Student what are those balls or circuler stuff in the picture?
- Student It almost looks like the fruit fly's and mosquito's eyes!
- Student it also looks like lint
- Bugscope Team here you can see there are a lot
- Student they looike little peanuts
- Bugscope Team check out the scale bar in the lower left of the image: 1 um = one micron = one millionth of a meter
- Student cool
- Teacher Ian wants to know what the pollen is on
Bugscope Team this is some plant material that we received from someone, i don't remember what it is anymore though
- Student There are a lot of them
- Student pollen looks really fuzzy
- Student I do not commonly suffer from alergies
Bugscope Team me neither, we are very lucky (high five)
- Student that is very interesting
- Student so that is pollen?
- 10:19am
- Student i think thats on a leaf.
- Student poo
- Student thats a lot!
- Bugscope Team Pollen is often a little fuzzy; that helps it stick to things.
- Student some of the bals look like they have lips.
Bugscope Team yes pollen has a seam in it if you look close enough
- Student It looks like a pile of peanuts!
- Student What is pollen
Bugscope Team Pollen is a multicellular ball of genetic material release by the anthers (male organs) of the plant. Pollen is what fertilizes pistils on a plant, and what eventually leads to fruits and seeds.
- Student well i do suffer from allergies
Bugscope Team sorry! hope they aren't too bad
- Student how muchpollen is in one grain?
- Student I agree student 5, they do look like a pile of peanuts
- Student not too bad
- Student looks like penuts
- Bugscope Team these are also a little deflated
- Student I know
- Student i never thought of pollen being so small
- Student It kind of looks like peanuts with lips
- Student If you squished pollen would it turn in to pollen dust?
Bugscope Team Yes. Pollen are very small, you would need an ultra smusher
- Student yeah
- Student It still looks like peanuts
- Student the bottom thing looks like its going to talk to you
- Student Wow , I'm glad I'm looking at the polen on the computer rather than actually being there because I have allergies
Bugscope Team that is what is cool about bugscope -- you don't have to touch the things in the 'scope
- Bugscope Team if you look at the micron bar you can get an idea of their size. bacteria are often -- the bacilli -- about 2 microns long.
- Student heh, eye eye mouth!
Bugscope Team yeah it looks like a face
- Student It looks like a face
- Student the 2 top are the eyes, the bottom are the lips!!
- Student it looks like they have mouths
- Student i see
- Student :)
- Bugscope Team kind of googly eyed
- Student maggie says they look like lirs
- Teacher how can you get the picture to zoom in to 4,000s?
- Student it looks like a face if you look at all the things togetrher.
- Student my bad i mean lips
- Bugscope Team we can set it exactly to 4000 if you want
- Bugscope Team Alex can do it.
- Student what is the scientificword for polen
Bugscope Team It is just pollen
- Student how many pollen is there?
- Student it looks like peanuts
- Student How much pollen is in a grain?
- Student what does pollen look like when its smushed
Bugscope Team Probably not like much...like pieces of the pollen that we have seen today
- Student if my dog stepped on that, wouls it break open and would stuff comes uot?
Bugscope Team it is so small that your dog would probably not burst it
- Student what is inside pollen
- Student finally i kno whwat causes my allergies
- Teacher How much pollen is in one grain?
Bugscope Team One grain= one pollen...pollen is made of grains and it can be singular or plural. You usually don't say one pollen. Does that make sense?
- Student when are we going to see the butterfly?
- Student my bad "know
- Student some of the looks more like circles.
- Student It looks like a face,and the right eye has an eyepatch!
- 10:24am
- Teacher we are moving to the stink bug
- Bugscope Team Alex set it at 5000.
- Student it kind of looks harry up close. IS it harry
- Student Do bees have to break that open
Bugscope Team They chew it up!!
- Student i never knew pollen was the size of grains
- Student thats so cool! why are people ewwwing?
- Student what the?
- Student are those intenas
Bugscope Team The antennae are very close to the eyes
- Student how does the stink bug see infront of itself
Bugscope Team well, those compound eyes have ommatidia that are actually pointing forward, so it can see in front
- Student I think the stink bug looks neat but alittle disgusting
Bugscope Team you are right!
- Student how many eyes do they
- Student since the eyes on the side, how will it see in front of itself?
Bugscope Team Stink bugs don't really need to see very well. They probably find their food and other stink bugs by smell and by sound
- Student stink bugs look disgusting to use but not for them
- Student Where are the eyes and how many eyes do they have???
- Student what is the stuff in the middle of the face, over the mouth?
- Student the eyes are kind of like the mosquitos
Bugscope Team A little less deflated, aren't they?
- Student thats really neat
- Student the eyes look like a bee's hive
- Student how many eyes does it have? is that's tounge.
Bugscope Team It has two compound eyes
- Student it looks like styrofoam
- Student it kind of looks like the fruit fly
- Teacher what is the thing in the middle of the eye?
Bugscope Team that looks like a piece of juju-- someone like dirt that doesn't belong
- Student I wonder why the eyes are on the sides of the stink bug?
Bugscope Team they need to be able to see above and below their head, and the head is not mobile like ours
- Student yes i guess they are
- Student the head looks like a caret.
- Student Is the thing in the middle the pupil of the eye?
Bugscope Team There is a tiny piece of goo or dirt in the middle of the eye
- Student it looks like a piece of squished gum!
- Student the thing in the middle look like a very small piece of dirt
- Teacher Sean said that it reminds him of a golf ball
- Student what is that thing on its eye?
- Student how do they clean it off?
Bugscope Team Most insects have spines and setae on their legs that they use to clean themselves
- 10:30am
- Student the eye looks like fish scales
- Student the eyes have an outline
- Student a stink bug's eye looks like a golf ball!
- Student it look a bee hive
Bugscope Team that is because like a beehive, compound eyes are usually made up of hexagon-shaped ommatidia because they fit the curvature of the eye the best
- Student do all stinkbugs have that big thing in the middle?
Bugscope Team they all have a piercing proboscis in the middle of their head that they use to suck plant juices
- Student i wonder what the lineing in between the eyes is
- Student bravicimo for the stinkbug
- Teacher Far off it looked round, but now you can see its bumpy
- Student what are we seeing next?
- Student it looks like gew
Bugscope Team It IS goo!!
- Student yes i agree with Mrs. Griffin
- Student There looks like there is pieces of dust on the compond eyes, do you know what they are?
- Student really
- Student if you go out it looks like the stinkbug is sticking its tongue out
Bugscope Team that is a good idea now
- Student is it hard to see with the dirt in the middle do you think
Bugscope Team it's good it has so many eye facets
- Student It looks like clay
- Student what shape is that speck of dust
- Teacher How many peices of the eye does it have?
Bugscope Team this one someone could likely count and get an average, probably a few hundred. some flies/moths/bees/wasps could have a few thousand ommatidia
- Student can't wait to see the butterfly!
- Student im interested to see what it will look like
- Student Could a Stink Bug stink up a whole room?
Bugscope Team Maybe...they can stink up a whole car, that is for sure!!
- Student what are those little holes on it
- Student it kind of looks like teeth
- Student loks like a leaf
- Student the scales looks like potato chips!
- Bugscope Team Stink bug stink usually smells like rotten fruit to me
- 10:35am
- Bugscope Team the smooth parts are where I put silver paint to help ground the charging from the electron beam
- Student a buterfly is beautiful not close up
- Student wow!
- Student there like strings
- Student It looks like a a roof of a house with bricks
- Student what are the thing looks like a cucumber
- Student webbed togehter string from far away
- Student it kind of looks like kroshay
- Student it looks like it has been knitted
- Bugscope Team the ridges we see also refract other colors of light
- Student it looks like somone was weaving through its wings
- Teacher the scales looked stitched together
- Student can we go closer?
- Student I agree with ou
- Bugscope Team yes, it looks very crafty from here, doesn't it?
- Bugscope Team in those interstices we see what we know are yellow pigment granules
- Student are thoes holes on the wing?
- Student is it pourus
- Student Do you think the holes help the butterfly fly steadily?
- Student i mean i agree with you
- Student it kind of looks like lots of trees with little branchs
- Bugscope Team yes those are holes; it is indeed porous
- Bugscope Team scales can act as a defense mechanism as well. If a butterfly gets caught in a spider web loosely enough, then they can just shed a few scales and be free
- Student what are those string things
Bugscope Team All of the structure we are seeing are made of chitin+protein+water. All parts of insect bodies are made of that combination in various proportions
- Bugscope Team scales are kind of like feathers are to birds, but note also what Cate says
- Student I think this is so cool
- Student That is awesome
- Student if you look very closley it looks like lon gtriangles
- Student what does mechanism mean?
Bugscope Team mechanism in this context means 'a way of dealing with something'
- Student my bad "triangles"
- Student what is that powder that you get on your hand if you touch a butterfly's wings
- Teacher It kind of reminds me of vegtables, because I bet if you magnifie it it would kind of look it
- Student How many scales does a butterfly have
Bugscope Team Thousands. It would be too boring to count!
- Student I never knew that a butterfly wing looks like that upclose
- Student it kind of looks like zuchinni
- Student what happens when one threads break
Bugscope Team Butterflies can lose many of their scales and still be completely OK
- Student I agree with student23
- Student I think more than thousands!
- Student Do butterflies shed when they come out of their cacoon?
- Student are those viens in the wings
Bugscope Team The wings do have veins, but at this magnification, we are seeing a single scale on the wing.
- 10:40am
- Student How many eyes do butterflies have
Bugscope Team they have two compound eyes, and they are usually pretty big on their heads
- Student what is the rarest kind of butterflyy
- Bugscope Team when you touch a butterfly or moth wing and it feels silky, you are feeling the scales, which seem to us like fine powder
- Teacher Unfortunately we need to finish our session. THANK YOU so much!! We loved it and hope to send in our own specimens next year!!
- Student what does a butterfly wing feel like when it just comes out of a cocoon?
Bugscope Team Kind of leathery and squishy
- Student Monarche's are very common!
- Student is a butterfly's wing like a moths?
Bugscope Team Yes they are identical. The different types of butterflies and moths vary in their coloration and the shape of the wing. The basic structure is identical.
- Student bi
- Bugscope Team thank you for all your great questions, and please do bugscope with us again!
- Student bye everyone!
- Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Student what happens when one of those threads get clogged
Bugscope Team there are so many scales it would not be a problem
- Student Is it the diffrent angles that the ridges are dose it change the coloir
Bugscope Team yes!
- Student i think the wings look like a wooden table.
- Student How many microns are in the thing
- Bugscope Team color shows up as the pigment color but also the refracted light color
- Bugscope Team OK--I have to run. Got stuff to do before I go out in the field today.
- Bugscope Team oop
- Teacher does the moth have ridges on its scales too?
- Bugscope Team yes they will be so similar we could not likely tell you what the scale came from
- Bugscope Team silverfish, some weevils/beetles, and mosquitos also have scales
- Bugscope Team mrs. griffin, all the images and chat for today's session are saved to your bugscope member page
- 10:45am
- Bugscope Team http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2008-148
- Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Bugscope Team over and out!
- Bugscope Team later
