Session 2009-147 with Home

Application

The School

The Class

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Live Session Transcript

Connected on 2010-01-22 09:00:00 from , ,

• 7:53am
• Bugscope Team pumping vac now
• Bugscope Team vac good, starting presets now
• 7:59am

• Bugscope Team hi jfl, welcome to bugscope

• Guest Hi Alex. Thanks for inviting me
• 8:06am
• Bugscope Team no problem, we are setting up presets

• Guest So I see... this great!

• Bugscope Team if you have any questions please feel free to ask anytime
• 8:11am

• Guest Should using a webcache like squid help at all, it seems to
  Bugscope Team well, maybe, but only if everyone is using it, otherwise things might be out of sync between the logins

• 8:17am
• Bugscope Team jfl: If a web cache like squid was too aggressive, it could cause trouble because you rely on getting updated information every few seconds. If it caches some of the pages, you'll keep getting the same thing over and over

• Bugscope Team yeah, chas knows better than me
• Bugscope Team i'd say only try it if you have a way to quickly disable it if it causes trouble
• Bugscope Team it's actually one of the things our connection test is checking for, that it gets unique responses for each request it makes and not cached ones
• Bugscope Team the school never ran the compatibility test, that is a test we offer to make sure the bandwidth at the school is good enough for bugscope
• Guest I choose it via foxy proxy and can turn it off pretty quickly

• Guest Initially the big picture was banded and the preset looked better
• Guest now the big picture is sometimes still banded but in general looks better

• Bugscope Team jfl: The banding is not a problem on your end, it's just happening while Cate is controlling directly from the microscope while setting up presets. Once you take over control you should rarely see it

• 8:23am
• Guest ok... I'll reconnect straight on.
• Guest The pictures are really beautiful
• Guest I'll never take over control... I'm just a walk on... I have no connection to anyone associated with this project
• Bugscope Team Yeah, Cate's doing a great job of finding some pretty locations for presets

• Bugscope Team jfl, depending on how long you stick around: If the school finishes a little early we can let you try out the controls for a moment before we shut down
• Bugscope Team ok, we are done with presets, i just gave you control jfl, you can practice driving the scope if you like
• Bugscope Team when using navigation, try click to center first
• Bugscope Team click to drive might have problems if the network has any lag

• Bugscope Team you can click on a preset and it'll take you there
• Guest Wowee Zowee
• 8:29am
• Bugscope Team chas built this website from the ground up, it's a much improved bugscope, version 2.0

• Bugscope Team this is a compound eye
• Bugscope Team those hexagons are the individual facets of the compound eye, they are called ommatidia, ommatidium for a single one
• Guest Yeah... I've never seen one up this close before
• Bugscope Team the spikes are setae (pronounced see-tee), they are sensory in that they help to send wind speed and direction when flying
• Bugscope Team This is on a painted lady butterfly
• Guest I've got to work up an application from our school
• Guest We've got lots of bugs... we eat 'em ... yummy

• Guest wow
• Bugscope Team That'd be great, please do fill out an application
• Bugscope Team jfl, do you know anyone from the school that is doing bugscope today? just curious if they are going to login soon
• 8:34am
• Guest No I don't... I just fell by... googling digital microscpes
• Bugscope Team cool

• Guest I'm thinking about wind speed and direction... from my eyes

• Guest this has got to engage anyone
• Bugscope Team we hope so
• Bugscope Team it does seem
• Bugscope Team to

• Bugscope Team students login and ask questions too, they get a lot out of that interaction as well
• Bugscope Team we have entomologists that login and answer questions
• Guest My kids don't speak English that well... a few do... this kind of thing gives 'em good reason to
• Guest It's those fine little hairs... amazing
• 8:39am
• Guest are these things plated befor illumination... I've got to do some serious homework on this
• Bugscope Team they're coated with a superfine layer of metal before we put them in the microscope, yes
• Guest So that's 604 thousandths of a millimeter?

• Guest unbelievable

• Bugscope Team on a sample like the butterfly scales, it's easy to see features that are smaller than the wavelength of visible light, something you just can't do with a light microscope

• 8:45am

• 8:50am

• 8:55am

• Guest I better make lie a fly on the wall myself
• Bugscope Team Hello all
• Bugscope Team hi annie, no school yet
• Bugscope Team it's a school in the philippines
• Bugscope Team Cool
• Bugscope Team we have a phone number, i will try to call, we are looking up the codes, etc.
• 9:02am
• Bugscope Team i'm unable to make the call, it doesn't like the number
• Bugscope Team sending an email to the teacher now
• 9:07am
• Bugscope Team i sent an email
• Bugscope Team not sure what else to do, the phone number is not working
• Bugscope Team hey jfl, what time is it there? 9PM?
• Bugscope Team or 11PM?
• Bugscope Team sorry it looks like this session isn't going to happen
• Guest Her e in Thailand it;s 10:15 pm
• Bugscope Team ah, cool
• 9:13am
• Guest I think it's 8:15 pm in the pi
• Bugscope Team ok, i'm calling it, session is DOA
• Bugscope Team i've emailed the teacher, maybe they can reschedule
• Guest Or is that 12:15 tomorrow in the am
• Bugscope Team jfl, you are welcome to drive around more if you like?
• Guest OK!

• Bugscope Team No problem people

• Bugscope Team I am going to check out. Email me if anyone from the scheduled session shows up. ;)
• Bugscope Team thanks annie

• Bugscope Team this is a simple eye on the ant
• Bugscope Team there are 3 bumps- or eyes

• Bugscope Team they are usually found on flying insects to help navigate using light
• Bugscope Team like a built in gps
• 9:18am
• Bugscope Team they dont see images, only changes in light
• Guest some sort of differential function between the bumps
• Guest I just read that some birds can see markings in the uv... sexually attractive ones

• Bugscope Team that's interesting
• Bugscope Team Some insects, especially ones responsible for pollination, are known to see UV as well. Many flowers have patterns visible in the UV which attract the pollinators
• Guest is that little twif an artifact or organic?
• Guest "twig" I mean
• Bugscope Team it's probably dirt or dust most likely
• Guest Yeah I thought so

• Guest this one is really nice
• 9:24am

• Guest the ant is smiling

• Guest ah that's so nice

• 9:29am

• Guest Wow... this ihas to do with breathing... eh?

• Bugscope Team Yes, this is where air comes into their tracheal system
• Bugscope Team there are tiny hairs here that help keep unwanted things out, much like how our noses work
• Bugscope Team All of the branching structures in there are likely to increase the surface area and increase diffusion of oxygen into their bodies
• Guest and the gaseous exchange takes place on all thei branching apparatus
• Bugscope Team Yes, they don't have lungs to actively draw air in, instead they rely on it passively diffusing through their airways

• Bugscope Team Most of them do not have hemoglobin in their "blood" to carry around oxygen either, so it has to travel through these airways all the way to the cells that need it
• 9:34am
• Bugscope Team their equivalent to blood is called hemolymph
• Guest Yeah... they don't have this and they don't have that... but do they ever have organization!
• Guest they must communicat chemically
• Bugscope Team yes, many (if not most?) do

• Guest It seems as though there are moe insects in thailand than in the states
• Guest its warmer, never freezes

• Bugscope Team probably true, although this year the asian beetles have been so bad I keep finding more of them in my house even after the temperature has gone below freezing!
• Guest Now that's pretty beautiful
• 9:40am
• Guest we have kwang beetles... the kids catch them... they're big
• Guest the put a female underneath two males on a bamboo and watch them fight
• Guest the grownups bet on 'em
• Bugscope Team if the insects are really big we usually use parts of the insect to use. The stage is about 50mm big in diameter
• Guest the kwangs are so big we don't need a microscope to see 'em
• Guest there are others, smaller ones, more interesting maybe
• Bugscope Team yeah if there's cool small ones
• Guest there's a worm tht grows in bamboo that we all love to toast and eat
• Guest I'll have to do some research, there's lots of butterflys
• Guest how about pollen
• Bugscope Team pollen is definitely fun to find on insects. we don't get too many people that send us pollen by itself. but it could still be fun to look at
• 9:45am
• Guest I guess you're all entemologists
• Guest mosquitoes are interesting
• Guest there's lots of dengue
• Guest seems to be on the increase
• Guest some say due to global warming
• Guest putting the vectors into closer proximity to victims
• Guest termites too
• Bugscope Team Some of us are arm-chair entomologists, we've picked up a lot in the many years running this. Others like Annie and Rob (annie was on earlier) are true entomologists
• Guest silkworms
• Bugscope Team termites are great, but they are a little softer, so it's best if they are stored in alcohol, until we get them, and then we can critical point dry them so they stay in better form
• Bugscope Team pollen is very pretty under the electron microscope, definitely worth sending in
• Bugscope Team same with silkworms
• Guest critters that eat rice
• 9:50am
• Guest I really appreciate the chance to talk to you all
• Guest I have your email
• Bugscope Team yes and you can also fill out an application when you get a chance
• Bugscope Team thanks for hanging out, I'm glad you got a chance to control
• Guest give the site a little bit better inspection
• Guest and investigate what we might send in
• Guest and talk to the official natural scientists at school
• Bugscope Team if/when you do send some things in, be sure you do it quite early in case there are hangups with the international mail
• Bugscope Team and also be sure to use especially sturdy containers, otherwise they'll almost certainly get crushed
• Guest but I love natural science... my undergraduate degree was in earthscience/biology and chmistry
• Guest maybe we could packe them in bamboo
• Guest bamboo is really strong
• Guest so the specimens come with the application
• Guest the mail is pretty good... about 10 days in either direction
• Bugscope Team the application can be done online. if you want to make sure the specimens get here with plenty of time, you can send them first and then you can fill out an qapplication. whichever way works best for you
• Bugscope Team that's pretty good mail time
• 9:55am
• Bugscope Team The application is online. Once you get accepted we will discuss dates and you can send samples in at that point
• Guest Ok... but I cannot commit by myself, I have to talk to the others at school
• Guest will these pictures be online?
• Guest Or I can find others to direct them to?
• Bugscope Team The ones from today? Yes, at http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-147
• Bugscope Team then click on "View Session Transcript"
• Guest wow... it's there already
• Bugscope Team Yep!
• Guest you know it's really great to connect with some competent people from the US who are doing good things
• 10:01am
• Bugscope Team thank you for trying out bugscope, even though our session kind of fell through
• Bugscope Team Glad we can set a good example
• Guest I'd be proud to present you guys to my friends here
• Bugscope Team cool!
• Guest unfortunately we are in need of good examples from America at this particular point in time
• Bugscope Team ha!
• Bugscope Team well, there are good people everywhere, and bad too.... :)
• Bugscope Team this is the inside of the microscope where we put the insects
• Guest not so much personally, but for our country
• Bugscope Team oh okay
• Guest I can't see it too well my mnonitor is pretty old
• Bugscope Team ok, so we need to bail, close out the session
• Guest made in china
• Bugscope Team This image is quite dark even on our end
• Guest great thanks a million... I'll talk to my partners and come back and apply!
• Bugscope Team cool
• Bugscope Team Great, bye jfl
• Guest bye bye alex, cate, chas... Annie
• Bugscope Team good bye!
• 10:07am
• Bugscope Team okay, good bye