Connected on 2009-11-25 08:30:00 from Ludlow, MA, US
- 7:31am
- Bugscope Team rxl started, sample is coating...
- Bugscope Team school is Tri-County RVTHS, in Ludlow, MA, south of Boston
- Bugscope Team teacher is Nancy Sibilia
- 7:40am
- Bugscope Team hi, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Team 'scope is pumping down
- Teacher Our school is in Franklin, Ma (not Ludlow)...no big deal, just clarifying.
- Bugscope Team ah, okay, thanks for the clarification
- Bugscope Team starting presets soon
- 7:46am
- Bugscope Team Ms. S the microscope chamber is almost at vacuum. As soon as it reaches vacuum we will turn on the electron beam and start making presets for your session. Sample looks good today.
- Bugscope Team do you have any questions for us ms. sibilia?
- Teacher What are we looking at....bug?
- Bugscope Team that was the inside of the scope, now we are looking at the sample under the electron gun, this is a fruit fly i think?
- Bugscope Team or wait, a wasp
- Bugscope Team a small parasitic wasp
- Bugscope Team whoa, brochosomes on a wasp!
- Bugscope Team this wasp has been partying with a leafhopper
- Teacher bronchosome? what is that?
- Bugscope Team brochosomes are those little balls, they come from a leafhopper
- Teacher WOW!!!
- Teacher Can we see its "eyes"?
Bugscope Team oh yeah, we'll make presets for its compound eyes, we always do. the compound eyes are like way cool
- 7:51am
- Bugscope Team we are making these presets for you, and when your session starts you can click on any one of the presets and it will take you to that location
- Bugscope Team so this is a preview for you
- Teacher Ohhhh, I see! Thanks!
- Bugscope Team right now the session is still locked because we are making presets, but once we are done, i'll unlock it and you can start practicing controlling the scope
- Bugscope Team you don't have students yet, do you?
- Teacher Yes....many students are watching as we get set ip!!
- Bugscope Team hey no problem
- 7:57am
- Bugscope Team we make a lot of preset, so you can see all the interesting parts on the sample very quickly
- Bugscope Team and sometimes when you drive around with the scope, it's easy to get lost. if that happens, just click on any preset
- Teacher looks like bubble wrap...what is that?
Bugscope Team that was the fly compound eye, the facets were shrunken because the bug dried out when it died
- 8:03am
- Bugscope Team there's a lot of weird looking stuff on bugs when you look at them in an electron microscope at 1000's of x mag...
- 8:09am
- 8:15am
- 8:21am
- Bugscope Team ok, we are done with presets!
- Bugscope Team i just unlocked the session, you should see controls on your right
- Bugscope Team we are ready to start the session anytime now
- Bugscope Team please go ahead and have your students login, or just start asking questions
- 8:26am
- Bugscope Team We are done. You are the supreme rulers. Please let us know when you have questions. You might want to use click to center rather than click to drive.
- Teacher Can you remind us what exact part of wasp we are now looking at?
- Bugscope Team oh, well, this is a spider
- Bugscope Team the fangs of a spider
- Teacher Ahhhh!
- Bugscope Team you can lower the magnification to see the whole spider
- Bugscope Team give it a try, click on the - to lower the mag
- Bugscope Team there ya go, nice!
- Bugscope Team see the spider form now?
- Bugscope Team Good morning from California!
- Bugscope Team Sometimes critters do not look so good when we bring the mag up on them, which is why we put a lot of insects on the stub.
- Teacher So the spider is upside down, right?
Bugscope Team yep, the more interesting parts of insects are on the underside, so we usually put them on their backs
- Bugscope Team Good Morning, Annie!
- Bugscope Team Annie is our entomologist, up early today to help and because she is totally wired all of the time.
- Teacher what is the proper term for the hairs?
Bugscope Team setae (pronounced see-tee)
- Bugscope Team setae
- 8:31am
- Bugscope Team seta singular, setae plural
- Bugscope Team bristles, trichae
- Bugscope Team on a spider you see, often, what are termed plumose setae -- they resemble very long pine trees
- Bugscope Team this is the tip of the proboscis of a true bug (Hemiptera)
- Bugscope Team The setae can serve many different functions. Some are just for looks, some are for defense, and many of them help the spider to sense the environment
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag down from here you can see where you are
- Bugscope Team the head is to the NE
- Bugscope Team let us know if you have any trouble driving, and we are certainly here to answer any questions about what you're seeing, or how things work, or why Annie is not here in Illinois in the cold rain
- 8:37am
- Bugscope Team back to the spider fangs
- Bugscope Team the things they are attached to are chelicers, or chelicerae; they move sideways to bite
- Teacher do all spiders have fangs?
Bugscope Team Yes, they do
- Bugscope Team yes I think that is true
- Bugscope Team they inject venom into their prey, the venom dissolves the internal organs of the prey, and the spider sucks it all back out like a milkshake
- Bugscope Team a bugshake
- Bugscope Team not all spiders use webs, though. some sneak up on their prey and grab and bite them that way
- Bugscope Team Ms S be sure to scroll through the presets to the right of the chat box and bring up other insects you'd like to see
- 8:42am
- Bugscope Team are you seeing the full screen -- all of the chat, the presets, the questions answered on the left?
- Bugscope Team Yay!
- Bugscope Team ah cool, this is a moth head
- Bugscope Team this is a butterfly
- Teacher Sorry, we are having technical difficulties (on the part of the school)
Bugscope Team that's okay, we are here, anything i can help with?
- Bugscope Team ack, sorry, a butterfly
- Bugscope Team this is an Orange Sulfur butterfly, Colias eurytheme
- Bugscope Team from this view it would be hard to tell whether we were looking at a butterfly or a moth
- Bugscope Team if you zoom in on one of the compound eyes you can see more detail, the compound eyes are very interesting
- Bugscope Team yes, a moth kinda looks like this too, although is the moth head wider?
- Bugscope Team see the eyes, on either side of the face? the proboscis is coiled up, but you can see it next to the left eye, which is on the right
- 8:48am
- Bugscope Team Butterflies have clubbed antennae and moths have other kinds of antennae--plumose or plain-o straight antennae. Butterflies fly during the day, and moths (typically) fly at night.
- Bugscope Team ms. sibilia, do you mind if i drive around a bit? take us to some more locations?
- 8:53am
- Bugscope Team These are some different types of setae
- 8:58am
- Bugscope Team tenent setae are what help insects to climb walls and such
- Bugscope Team this is one of the claws of a fly we found that we do not recognize
- Bugscope Team tenent comes from the spanish tener, meaning to hold
- Bugscope Team those little pads use a force called the van der waals force, which is very small force, but when you have thousands of those pads, it adds up to a force that can help keep the bug on the wall
- Bugscope Team this is a wasp now
- Bugscope Team standard old dude, just chilling out
- 9:03am
- Bugscope Team brochosome!!!
- Bugscope Team that little ball is a brochosome,
- Bugscope Team there are boatloads of brochosomes on the thorax
- Bugscope Team you can see the scalebar says 819 nanometers
- Bugscope Team in the lower left
- Bugscope Team Ms S brochosomes are produced by leafhoppers, only, but we find them on other insects
- Bugscope Team the brochsome is produced by the leafgopper
- Bugscope Team leafgopper being my own species of course...
- Bugscope Team all those little white spots are brochosomex
- Bugscope Team see how small those brochosomes are? can't even see them now
- Bugscope Team and now, here is a wasp compound eye
- 9:09am
- Bugscope Team umm, trying to get to the eye
- Bugscope Team the preset moved, looks like
- Bugscope Team scope drifted
- Bugscope Team also, remember, all the chat and images from this session are saved to your member page, so you can access it after this session: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-086
- Bugscope Team these are wing scales, which have those holes in them to help keep the weight down, and allow flying to be easier
- 9:14am
- Bugscope Team i'm looking for a spiracle
- Bugscope Team here's a silver fish thorax
- Bugscope Team kinda looks like art from jean dubuffet
- 9:19am
- Bugscope Team here's the little dudes head
- Bugscope Team notice how many setae are all over insects
- Bugscope Team you find setae all over. that's because insects have exoskeletons, and those exoskeletons don't have nerves in them like our skin does. so these setae stick through the exoskeleton to nerves underneath, and that's how insects feel things
- Bugscope Team setae can feel, taste, hear vibrations, etc.
- Bugscope Team setae can be mechanosensory for touch, and chemosensory for smelling chemicals and stuff
- Bugscope Team each ommatidia has a lens in it
- Bugscope Team so, yeah, that's a lot of lens's, in just this one compound eye
- Bugscope Team ommatidium is singular for ommatidia
- Bugscope Team wow, this dude has a crazy haircut
- Bugscope Team kinda like don king, but more crazy
- Bugscope Team isn't there a sesame street character that looks like this?
- Bugscope Team here's a small fly
- Bugscope Team cate thinks this is an aphid
- 9:24am
- Bugscope Team what is this???
- Bugscope Team this is some kind of mite
- Bugscope Team usually these are ON bugs, not hanging out by themselves
- Bugscope Team ok, we are at the end of our session time.
- Bugscope Team please remember your member page: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-086
- Bugscope Team that page will have all the chat and images from this session, so you can review it anytime
- 9:31am
- 9:38am
- Bugscope Team over and out!
