Connected on 2009-05-06 10:45:00 from , SC, US
- 9:48am
- Bugscope Team hi michelle, welcome to bugscope
- Bugscope Team we are just starting to setup for a 10
- Bugscope Team 10:45AM (central) session
- Guest Thanks! I'm a doctoral student in education at OSU and heard about your program. Just thought I'd check it out.
- Bugscope Team cool
- Guest What sort of bugs are those?
- Bugscope Team you are welcome to watch the entire session, and before or after the class is done, we can let you control the scope as well
- Guest Thanks!
- Bugscope Team right now, it's just a CCD image of the inside of the electron microscope, soon we'll turn on the electron sensor
- Guest How many schools do this each year. Any idea?
- Bugscope Team we keep all that detail on our website: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/
- Bugscope Team we do about 2-3 sessions a week, so that's 2-3 times however many weeks we've had so far this year? i'm not sure
- Bugscope Team we only do 2-3 sessions a week because we all also have full time jobs in the labs here
- Guest Wow! 2 to 3 a week is a lot of work!
- Bugscope Team yeah, but we've got a lot of the technical aspects automated, it's really just the time of the session, which is an hour, so maybe 3-5 hours a week on it. not too much. :)
- 9:53am
- Guest Really great of you folks to take the time. I'm sure the kids really dig it! I'm just going to hang in the background and see how the session unfolds.
Bugscope Team ok, we are still about 50 minutes away from the session start. feel free to come and go as you need to. and if you have a question, just ask us
- Bugscope Team you should sign up for a session if you want. we also do sessions for teachers who are considering using bugscope in their classrooms, if you've got a group of interested teachers, go ahead and apply: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/participation
- Guest I'm trying to get a group together to do that. I'm doing some reading while I wait.
- 10:09am
- Bugscope Team vacuum is taking its own sweet time... almost there
- Bugscope Team removing a juicy bug now. trying the vac again in a few moments...
- 10:15am
- Guest Sorry guys - I've got to run. I was just reminded of a meeting I have in 15 minutes. Darn it. I'll get the teachers together and try again another day! Thanks so much!
- Bugscope Team no problem, hope to see you another time
- 10:27am
- Bugscope Team hi Ms. Gardner, welcome to bugscope, we are setting up presets for you
- Teacher great- thanks- just setting up computers.
- 10:34am
- Teacher Did you see email that I sent this am about what bugs we have looked at w/our school computer microscopes?
- Bugscope Team we did get that, but not in time for today's sample. however, for friday, we will do our best
- Bugscope Team we have been having trouble with the vacuum in the scope this morning, we will be a little behind
- 10:40am
- Teacher ok- thanks! that works out great too - will have different sessions to share. I have my teacher computer and seven student computers for this session. Student computers are ready for student sign-in. will diff students sign in and out or assign computers #1student , #1 student
- Teacher take your time. I have 2 classes on the way- that will take time too.
- Bugscope Team yep, students can login as any name they choose, and we can give control of the scope to any student upon your command
- 10:46am
- Teacher Students re here and watching- let us know when you are ready.
- 10:51am
- Bugscope Team we are almost ready, just another couple of presets
- Teacher ok-
- Bugscope Team a couple more presets of different insects
- Bugscope Team MsGardner we thought we had a too-juicy assassin bug, or spider, but then it turned out there was juju on the stage door as well -- so the 'scope took its time pumping down. It's good we have Cate whipping through the presets.
- Bugscope Team we are ready, presets are done
- Bugscope Team this is the head of a fly
- Bugscope Team i just unlocked the controls, so you should see magnify, mav, focus and adjust
- Bugscope Team we can also give control to any other student that is logged in as well
- Teacher we are ready too time for students to sign in?
- Bugscope Team you can see its tongue, in the middle, and its eyes
- Bugscope Team yep, go ahead and log in please
- Bugscope Team Oh yes.
- Bugscope Team hi students, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Team Hello! Welcome to Bugscope!
- Student Hi
- Student what am i lokking at?
Bugscope Team this is the head of a housefly
- Bugscope Team this is a housefly, and you can see the antennae, the compound eyes, the tongue
- Student Hello
- Student Hi
- Bugscope Team a female
- Student Hello!!
- Bugscope Team welcome
- Bugscope Team you can see one of its forelimbs as well, at the bottom of the screen
- Bugscope Team these are all live images from an electron microscope
- Student How do you know its a female
Bugscope Team flies are usually female when its eyes are spaced really far apart, males have eyes closer together usually
- Bugscope Team the middle of the head is the tongue, the two orbs on the side are the compound eyes, and the parts on top of the heads that are sticking out are antennae
- Bugscope Team and ms. gardner is controlling the scope now
- Student wow
- 10:56am
- Bugscope Team right into the mouth
- Student how do you know its a female
- Student cool
- Student What else can you tell us?
Bugscope Team What would you like to know? We have a whole cast of characters here. I am an entomologist, Scot and Cate are microscopists, and Alex is our awesome Systems Administrator
- Student is it alive
Bugscope Team Nope, it is quite dead. We couldn't want it crawling around inside the microscope
- Student What do the eat?
- Bugscope Team here are the antennae
- Bugscope Team all those hairs are called setae (see-tee), they help the insects sense their environment, all insects have setae
- Student his eyes are big
- Student what is that thing in the middle?
- Bugscope Team they have two parts to them- a furry pad and a branch, I'm not sure of the technical names to them though
- Student Where is his eyes?
- Student What do they eat
Bugscope Team Houseflies eat almost anything that is sort of rotten and squishy...rotten fruit, sticky ice cream, mayonaise, animal dung
- Student oh
- Student what is a branch
Bugscope Team it is the part connected to the furry pad part of the antennae
- Bugscope Team to the left is the compound eye, made of TONS of facets called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team notice the scale bar in the lower left of the image, that tells you size. 1 um is one micron = one millionth of a meter
- Student they look a lot diffrent up close
- Student this is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!
- Student thats really hairy!
Bugscope Team insects are a LOT hairier than they seem, which will probably make you think they are more gross than before
- Student Neat!
- Bugscope Team some setae (hairs) are chemosensory and some are mechanosensory
- Bugscope Team totally, insects are very hairy
- Student Do you ever put live bugs under this?
Bugscope Team not on purpose
Bugscope Team we try not to, because live bugs usually move around, and we need them to be still for good imaging
- Student Why does it look white
Bugscope Team the colors are black and white because we are NOT using light (frequency of light) to get the image. the scope is shooting and gathering electrons inside the scope chamber, and those electrons made up the image
- Student do you think mrs.gardener is awesome,I do
Bugscope Team Mrs. Gardner is awesome because she is running Bugscope with you all ;)
- Student No
- Student what other insects do you put under it?
- Student thats a hairy bug
- Student when a mosquito lands on me it doesnt feal hairy
Bugscope Team The hairs are usually too small for humans to sense
- Student What bugs do you like looking at?
- Bugscope Team plus live bugs are really juicy, and that makes it hard for the vacuum to pump to where it needs to be. That is one of the reasons we were a little behind today-- we had a couple freshly dead insects
- Student do you ever put live bugs under the michrosoft
Bugscope Team nope, won't get good images if your bugs are moving around
- 11:01am
- Student is it true that flies see in lots of little octagons
Bugscope Team we think that they see lots of images and have to assemble them into a coherent whole in order to comprehend what they are seeing
- Student what is that
- Student what other insects do you put under this??
Bugscope Team all kinds, as long as they fit into the stub (1.5 inches biggest), other non-living things too
- Student i think beetles are cool
Bugscope Team beetles can be even cooler than you think because they can sometimes have mites living on them. Those are always fun to find when we see them under the microscope
Bugscope Team Me too...I did my PhD on beetles
- Student I love learning about bugs
- Student Thanks for your answers!!!!! -Ally Kat
- Student is that a leg
Bugscope Team I think this is an antenna....but I am not super sure
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag down a little we can see just where we are
- Student do the bugs have to be dead
- Student Why is it that we cant see or feel the hairs on the flies body?
Bugscope Team The hairs are just too small to feel.
- Student What is this part?
Bugscope Team we are looking at the side of the thorax- where all the legs are attached, and a couple legs
- Student Thats Hairy!
- Teacher mag down more?
- Bugscope Team this is mostly the ventral side (the bottom) of the thorax of the fly
- Bugscope Team GAH! I was wrong. Not an antenna...a LEG!
- Bugscope Team MsG this is great.
- Student What are the hairs on it's body for
Bugscope Team well, they are used for feeling things smelling things, sensing wind direction, etc.
- Student what is this
Bugscope Team this is the thorax of the fly
- Student can u go to the eyes
Bugscope Team ms. gardner has control of the scope, ask her to move to compound eyes, they are very cool looking
- Student leg
- Student Is it hard to operate the micorsope?
Bugscope Team you could probably learn to operate it well enough in 5 minutes if you wanted
- Bugscope Team to the top of the screen we can still see part of the head and tongue
- Teacher I'll try
- Student i did alex
- Student How many people operate the telescope?
Bugscope Team it takes only one person to drive, but there are several of us on line to help when we do a Bugscope session.
- Student are those the eyes
- Bugscope Team ms. g, try click to center for easier control
- Student where are the eys
- Student Do u have a picture of a Beetle?
Bugscope Team we do have a beetle in the microscope that you might be able to look at today
- Student where r we
Bugscope Team the backgound is double stick carbon tape. It will often look bubbly like this. We mount all the insects on it
- 11:06am
- Teacher whoooooo!
- Bugscope Team click on preset #4 for a mosquito compound eye
- Student Why is it that flies have eyes with such an intresting texture on their eyes?
Bugscope Team The eyes are made of hundreds of individual facets which gives them that interesting texture
- Student do u have a dead snake
Bugscope Team Nope, a dead snake would be too big and too squishy
- Teacher hopw about taking control for a bit?
Bugscope Team sure!
- Student OK
- Student How many different kinds of bugs do you usually examine a day?
- Student hi kole
- Student Does these bugs have vains
Bugscope Team Insects have an open circulatory system, which means that their blood is just freely flowing inside its body. It doesn't have veins like mammals do.
- Bugscope Team this is where the troublesome insects were that we had to take off
- Student It looks as if craters hit the flie like it does on the moon.
Bugscope Team yes they do resemble moon craters!
- Student do you have wasp picturesa
Bugscope Team we do have a wasp in the microscope today as well
- Student is this a leg?
Bugscope Team yes i think this is the leg of a fly
- Student where is this at
- Student what part is that
- Bugscope Team this is a claw
- Bugscope Team a claw on the house fly
- Student is this a beattle
- Bugscope Team here we can see special hairs on the fly claw called tenent setae, which allow the fly to cling to walls
- Student is that hair
- Teacher is it the end of fly leg?
Bugscope Team yes, there will almost always be a claw at the end of every leg of an insect, unless we were mishandling them!
- Student Could you show us the mouth of the flie?
- Student what part of the fly is that
- Bugscope Team we are looking at the head of a flay now
- Bugscope Team and now the mouth area, awith the proboscis
- Student How tick is fiy's skin
Bugscope Team well, it doesn't have skin, it has an exoskeleton that is very hard for it's size
- Student r flies really dirty and fat
- Student What is that
- 11:11am
- Student why does the fly havem hairs on its tung
Bugscope Team those are probably chemosensory setae, helping the fly to taste/smell its food
- Bugscope Team these are kind of like lips, for the fly
- Student What are the two dots on top of the head if they are not eyes?
- Teacher wow- the maginification is really awesome
Bugscope Team electron microscopes can go to MUCH high magnification than light microscopes, which is what makes them so cool
- Student can they kill u when your outside
- Bugscope Team the ESEM can magnify up to 800,000 times, but for insects like this we only mag up to 40,000 or so
- Student About how long do flies live for?
- Student Why do flies make a little buzzing noise?
Bugscope Team I think that is just the noise that their wings make when they fly around. Some flies communicate with other flies by buzzing.
- Student what is that
- Student What IS THAT!!!????
- Student What is in a insects eye
- Bugscope Team this is the base of one of the antennae
- Student what is that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thing
- Student What part of the body is this, the tounge correct?
- Teacher is th is an eye?
Bugscope Team yes this is the eye! You can see the bumps- they are each call an ommatidium
- Student is that the eye
- Bugscope Team now these are cool, yes this is an eye, a compound eye
- Student What is this
- Bugscope Team these are the many facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia, each one has a lens in it
- Student what is that
- Teacher !!!! over 32, 000
Bugscope Team this microscope can get to around 200,000x before we start losing a lot of the image quality, but for bugscope we often dont go above 40,000x
- Student are those deep holes the scratches of the fly
- Student what is the life span of flies
Bugscope Team well, i'm not sure, but i think it's just a season or thereabouts
- Student is this the eye
- Bugscope Team Tick head
- Student what is this
Bugscope Team This is a tick
- Bugscope Team this is one of the palps on the side of the tick's head
- 11:16am
- Student put it to 200000
- Guest What am I looking at?
Bugscope Team this is a palp on a tick
- Bugscope Team it's just going to be a blur above 40K or so...
- Student Put it to900000
- Student that loooks so coool
- Student is this a head or leg
Bugscope Team We are looking at part of the mouth
- Student is this the head
- Bugscope Team this is the capitulum, in the middle
- Bugscope Team thisn is the part that sticks into your skin
- Bugscope Team for today, we probably wouldnt see too much of interest at 200,000x-- there just isn't that many small features on insects
- Student this looks like a closeup of the moon
- Student can you show the hole bug
Bugscope Team yes, if you lower the mag, ask ms. G to lower the mag
- Teacher how do they get in your skin?
- Student is that dirt over the head
Bugscope Team yes there looks to be some dirt or other type of extra stuff that doesn't belong
- Student what are those things cpming out of the mouth
- Student what do they eat
Bugscope Team Blood! They feed only on blood.
- Bugscope Team oh, scott is driving, sorry, my bad
- Teacher ok
- Student how do ticks suck your blood and streach out so big
Bugscope Team They have very flexible stretchy skin in their abdomen. When they fill up with blood, their cuticle can stretch.
- Teacher ok again;0
- Student are insects always this bumpy
- Bugscope Team this is where the tick cuts into your skin
- Bugscope Team now this is the mouth area of the tick
- Student How come they dont hurt when they bite you
Bugscope Team well, probably because if they did hurt, we'd smack the tick and it would die, so the smaller ones that don't hurt seem to survive. it probably wants to get its food source without bothering the host
- Student how do ticks go through skin so easily
- Student this is so amazing !
- Guest I never thought ticks were THIS disgusting
- Student how big can a tick get
- Bugscope Team this side has recurved spines that keep the capitulum secured in your skin, and on the other side it has a rasping surface
- Student how much blood can they eat
- Student show the legs
- Student how big can a tick get
Bugscope Team Some of the soft ticks are about the size of a pencil eraser when they are full of blood.
- Student does the tick feed off your skin
Bugscope Team It actually digs its mouth into the skin and feeds from your capillaries
- Student oh, THAT is how they hold on Thank you
- Student what do the feet look like
- 11:21am
- Student those are long legs
- Guest What are those circular things around the mouth
Bugscope Team Those are palps
- Student this is so cool
- Student is that like a finger print
- Student what is that
Bugscope Team they are pollen grains!
- Student how come the microscope does not have any color?
Bugscope Team the microscope uses electrons to get the image, not light. since color is based on the frequency of LIGHT, and since we aren't using light to get the image, there is no color
- Student what are these
- Student thats scary
- Bugscope Team this is pollen; the part that looked like a finger print was the surface of the body, which can swell to a much larger size when the tick easts
- Bugscope Team eats
- Teacher nicholas asks - where is the nose?
Bugscope Team it does not really have a nose, but it has sensory pits on the other side of the head where we cannot see them
- Student hello! anna in the house!
- Student what are those?
- Student Hi
- Student hello
- Student Hi
- Student hi greace has joined the party
- Student I had a tick in my head it took 20 mins to get it out.....
Bugscope Team yeah it can be creepy when you find a tick on you. I found 2 on me once- no fun at all
- Student hello
- Student whatsthat
- Student how bad do you think it hurts when they bite you
Bugscope Team it doesn't really hurt at all when they bite. You can't really feel it. It hurts when you have to pull them out. Sometimes the bites get infected or really itchy
- Student Awsome!!
- Student what is that
- Student how much blood do they drink each minyte?
Bugscope Team Not very much. I believe they feed very slowly
- Student is it a female?
- Teacher yeah, we want to see the end of the leg - yes...
- Student one time when I got 200 ticks in my head it did not hut until 30 minuetes later how come
- Student WOWWWWWW
- Student Uuch!!!
- Student woww
- Student cool
- Student cool
- Student do ticks need that stringy texture for a reason
- 11:26am
- Bugscope Team ocellus, one of three
- Student why are there hairs
Bugscope Team just about anything that looks like a hair on an insect is called a seta (setae plural), and those are to help the insect sense its environment
- Student what are we looking at?
- Student what part ove this is it
- Student bye
- Student hey
- Student hi
- Student is that a leg
- Student Hello!!
- Student pease
- Student what is that
- Student what is this
- Student hi
- Student what in the world is that
- Bugscope Team this is the antenna of the wasp up close
- Student what do they eat
Bugscope Team Most wasps eat other insects. They will also feed on nectar and sticky stuff.
- Student ewww what is sticking out of the holes
- Student what is that is this still the waps
- Student light them on firer
- Student what are those spikes
Bugscope Team those are all setae (insect hairs)
- Student EWWWWWWWWWW
- Student what is in that hole
- Student what is this
- Student what is thiss
- Bugscope Team they are on the wasp
- Student do they live in the groung?
- Bugscope Team antennae it hink
- Bugscope Team think*
- Teacher Bj asks what was that
Bugscope Team they were special setae on the wasp antennae
- Student Do these setae fall out and grow back in?
Bugscope Team No, if they lose a setae or a wing or a leg, they will not grow it back
- Bugscope Team that was a wasp antenna, very close up
- Student what do they eat
Bugscope Team stink bugs feed either on plant juices or other insects
- Student what in the world is that
- Bugscope Team ah cool, this is a stink bug
- Student can you show a spider
- Student this is so awesome
- Bugscope Team those round objects on the side of its head were it's compound eyes
- Student nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
- Student coooollllll
- Student show the eyes
- Student what is that white paper
- Teacher ok - hate to stop, but time for classes to go now....
- Student what is that
- Student what is that
- 11:31am
- Bugscope Team thanks you, you all asked great questions!
- Student how do stink bugs make that bad smell
Bugscope Team they have glands at the base of their legs that secrete the smelly juice
- Student see ya
- Student thank you
- Bugscope Team See ya!
- Student bye and thanks
- Student bye and thec
- Student this is sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Student are thoes vanies
- Student ccoll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Student there are little bumps
- Student what are thous
- Student this that a eye
Bugscope Team yes it is
- Student whats that
- Bugscope Team these are compound eye facets (ommatidia) on a mosquito, they are deflated a bit
- Bugscope Team that is the substructure of the mosquito eye
- Student how many eyes do bees have
Bugscope Team they have a total of 5- 2 compound eyes, and 3 simple eyes called ocelli
- Student i know
- Student cccoooollll
- Student by
- Student is that hare
Bugscope Team these are mosquito scales
- Bugscope Team not hair, setae (see-tee)
- Student cool
- Student cool
- Student is that a wing
- Student wow
- Student is that a wing
Bugscope Team these are scales on the mosquito's leg
- Student what is that
- Bugscope Team this is part of a wing
- Student wiy are they poyt
- Student ok
- Student go to 200000
- Bugscope Team scales are similar to the feathers on abird
- Student my cool teacher is here gtg
- Bugscope Team oops Cate is right this is not part of the wing
- Student What is this
- Bugscope Team scales can be found on butterflies, moths, mosquitos, and some beetles
- Student my teacher is here
- Student whom im i spike to
- 11:36am
- Student What do they eat
- Student why are there little flakes on the bug
- Student what is that
- Student i am go ing bye
- Student peas out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Student please go to 200,001
- Student whats is up
- Student my awsome teacher is here, mr awsome is out
- Bugscope Team later mr awesome
- Teacher the teacher is really here. sorry for wayward comments. my computer is very slow now.
- Bugscope Team ok, bye bye, we are closing down the session
- Bugscope Team we will see you on Friday
- Bugscope Team hey no problem at all
- Bugscope Team see you Friday!
- Bugscope Team over and out
- Teacher great! see you friday!
- Bugscope Team bye bye
