Connected on 2010-11-05 08:45:00 from Auburn, AL, US
- 8:03am
- Bugscope Team we are setting up today's presets
- Bugscope Team good morning, Rocket!
- 8:08am
- Bugscope Team be right back...
- 8:23am
- Bugscope Team good morning, BB
- Bugscope Team welcome to Bugscope!
- 8:28am
- Teacher Hi, we're here.
- Bugscope Team cool
- Bugscope Team it's set up now, and bass class has control of the microscope
- Teacher What are we looking at?
- 8:34am
- Bugscope Team these are wing scales of the butterfly
- Bugscope Team this is the 'powder' you loosen from the wings when you touch them
- Teacher cool
- Teacher Is the lump a big clump of powder?
- Bugscope Team wing scales confer color to the wings with both normal pigments and the structural colors that derive from the ridges
- Bugscope Team it's not really powder -- it;'
- Bugscope Team oops
- Bugscope Team it's a whole bunch of these scales, which are kind of like feathers on a bird's wing
- Bugscope Team the presets, if you click on the left arrow, are places you can click on the drive the 'scope to that place
- Bugscope Team you can also change the magnification, the focus, the brightness and contrast...
- Bugscope Team and you can center a feature by clicking within the image on the screen
- Bugscope Team only Bass Class has control of the 'scope right now
- Bugscope Team but let us know if someone else should have control
- Bugscope Team so if you clicked the minus at the top of the screen now, the magnification would lower
- Teacher we wanted to try it out as a class before we let anyone else try it
- Bugscope Team you're at 2408x right now
- Bugscope Team hey no problem
- 8:39am
- Teacher the kids want to know why it is in black and white
- Bugscope Team the images come to us as signal
- Bugscope Team sorry I had a phone call...
- Bugscope Team and I am back now
- Bugscope Team when we use the electron microscope to collect images, we are beaming electrons at the samples, and the electrons that hit the samples knock what are then called 'secondary electrons' out of the surface of the samples
- Bugscope Team the secondary electrons come back to us as signal; if there are a lot of them we get a bright area and if there are few we get darkness
- Bugscope Team this is cool
- Teacher wow!
- Bugscope Team this is a pollen grain on the 'click' mechanism of a click beetle
- 8:44am
- Bugscope Team this is now about 9000x magnified
- Bugscope Team much higher than you can see using a light microscope
- Teacher what are the hair-like things
- Bugscope Team electrons are smaller than the wavelengths of visible light -- much smaller -- so we cannot see color
- Bugscope Team the hair like things are setae
- Bugscope Team setae are sensory structures
- Teacher Jordan says "sweet"!
- Bugscope Team they let the insect feel touch, sense hot/cold, and also, to reflect what Jordan says, they can be used to taste
- Bugscope Team insects do not have an internal skeleton like we do -- they have an external skeleton, called an exoskeleton. Or you could just say they have a shell, like a shrimp shell, for example.
- Bugscope Team so it's kind of like if you had a suit of armor. if you were wearing armor you would not be able to feel things touching your skin.
- Teacher ahhh!
- Bugscope Team but if you had hairs sticking out through the armor you could use them to sense what is touching you
- 8:49am
- Bugscope Team spiders, like this, have lots and lots of very sensitive hairs (setae) that help them feel vibration
- Bugscope Team even though they (mostly) have eight eyes, often they cannot see very well and depend on the setae to help them sense their environment
- Teacher what kind of spider is this and how big is it ?
- Bugscope Team you can see two eyes now, at the top of the head, and in the front are two palps, or pedipalps, that the spider uses as accessory arms
- Bugscope Team I am sorry we do not know what kind of spider this is, and it is less than a centimeter in diameter now
- Teacher very cool
- Bugscope Team spiders have soft bodies and shrivel up quite a bit when they die
- Bugscope Team some spiders have what are called 'urticating hairs' that they release if you get too close
- Bugscope Team the urticating hairs are annoying and make you want to get away
- Teacher we have a few kids at computers now
Bugscope Team cool! they are welcome to ask questions, and if you would like us to let anyone drive the 'scope, one at a time, let me know
- Bugscope Team spiders also have this kind of cool thing they can do if they sense a venom coming into one of their legs -- they can just let that leg fall off!
- Teacher okay, addison can drive first
- 8:54am
- Teacher very cool!
- Teacher armondo wants to know what is a spider's weakest point?
Bugscope Team I think the weakest point is that they are soft and delicate. So they can be hurt easily.
- Guest what is the thing above the spider's head?
Bugscope Team that is one of the legs arching around the head
- Teacher armondo says "that is very cool"
- Guest how many years does the spider live for
Bugscope Team they can live for about a year or even more if they overwinter in our homes
- Bugscope Team addison you can drive if you would like -- you now have control
- Guest how many hairs does the spider have?
- Guest how many legs does it have
Bugscope Team spiders always have eight legs, unless they decide to let any go
- Bugscope Team these are crystals of salt from a Wendy's restaurant
- Bugscope Team they have those cool incised features you do not see on normal salt
- 8:59am
- Guest What are the holes in the salt-crystals?
Bugscope Team Lauren we think it is due to the addition of some sort of anti-caking agent -- some other chemical that keeps the salt from clumping
- Teacher the kids want to know what you mean by incised features
Bugscope Team we think the salt looks like Aztecs carved patterns into it
- Guest Wouldn't they be clear or transparent?
Bugscope Team the sem wouldn't be able to see through something. The electrons scan across the surface of structures. They might look transparent in a light microscope because light can pass through
- Bugscope Team normal table salt is smooth; it does not have those cool features
- Teacher they just studied Aztecs so they are loving that you said that
- Bugscope Team Awesome!
- Teacher can we give lauren control?
Bugscope Team lauren has control!
- Teacher we may have to leave in just a minute for our group yearbook pic. sorry, it was a reschedule b/c of rain the other dya
- Teacher oops...day
- Bugscope Team ask them to come in an photograph you running Bugscope! ;)
- Guest How did the spider get mold on it`s joint?
- 9:05am
- Guest Did you put the mold on it?
- Guest what is this
Bugscope Team this is a place where the spider's leg joint broke open, almost certainly after it died, and mold started to form there
- Guest how did the mold form on the spider
Bugscope Team if they are kept enclosed with some water mold can form. This was probably sent by another school in a baggy. And the baggy had a little moisture in it
- Bugscope Team it's an example of how mold and bacteria start to decompose things soon after they die; it's like recycling
- Guest thats neat
- Guest how much mold covers the spider
Bugscope Team we noticed it in a few areas like this, where the leg joints were broken open
- Teacher they are calling us...we will be back in a few minutes I think we have some parents on with us, they can join in while we are gone :)
- Bugscope Team often we do not see the sort of film we see on the mold now
- Bugscope Team sounds good!
- Guest what is the magnification level?
Bugscope Team this is 134x right now
- Bugscope Team No! It is 2713x! I just checked at the microscope itself
- Bugscope Team our software is not reading properly
- Guest could we see the click beetle face up close and personal?
- Bugscope Team so this is about twice what you can see with a light microscope
- Bugscope Team Ali I just gave you control.
- Guest cool
- Bugscope Team this is a small click beetle
- 9:10am
- Bugscope Team we are looking right at its face, right at the mouth
- Bugscope Team you can see that the mandibles open left and right, like a gate
- Bugscope Team and you can see the palps that help the beetle manipulate its food, and taste it
- Guest are those tiny hairs sensory in nature?
Bugscope Team not all of them are
- Bugscope Team some are mechanosensory, some are chemosensory, and some are thermosensory
- Guest how many eyes does a beetle have?
- Bugscope Team I don'
- Bugscope Team oops
- Bugscope Team They have two compound eyes, usually, with a variable number of facets, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Team you can see the eyes to the left or right if you drive slightly over in either direction
- Bugscope Team some beetles have four eyes or split eyes, for example if they swim and need eyes for above and below the water
- Bugscope Team some flies, and wasps and bees, will have five eyes: two compound eyes like these and three simple eyes called ocelli, on top of the head
- 9:15am
- Bugscope Team you can see the individual facets of the compound eye here
- Bugscope Team and now you can see the nanocomponents of the butterfly eye
- Bugscope Team features that are submicron in diameter
- Bugscope Team please let us know if someone else would like to drive the 'scope
- Bugscope Team some insects, like some moths and butterflies, can see UV light, which we cannot
- Bugscope Team now you can see the dome-like shape of the butterfly eye
- 9:20am
- Bugscope Team if you had compound eyes you would have very good peripheral vision
- Teacher we're back but we are changing classes now a new class will be here in a minute
- Bugscope Team also, with all of those individual lenses, you would be able to register motion, like someone trying to smack you with a fly swatter, very quickly
- Bugscope Team one of the drawbacks of having compound eyes is that people would likely be afraid of you, and you would not be able to find sunglasses that fit
- Bugscope Team ok sounds good
- Bugscope Team Bass Class has control of the 'scope now
- 9:26am
- Bugscope Team this is a male mosquito
- Bugscope Team males do not suck blood
- Bugscope Team and they have cool-looking antennae
- Teacher we're back! the kids want to know why they don't suck blood
- Bugscope Team you can see the compound eyes, which are so close they touch each other, and you can see the antennae, and you can also see the base of the proboscis
- Bugscope Team males do not need the extra protein from blood to lay eggs like females do
- Bugscope Team the males might live on nectar -- on the sugar from flowers. or they might not eat at all
- 9:31am
- Bugscope Team there is a species of mosquito in which the female does not need blood
- Teacher so they still have a proboscis
- Bugscope Team yes they do
- Bugscope Team I am not sure if the proboscis has a fascicle in it - the part with the cutting and sucking components
- Teacher the kids say this is so cool
- Bugscope Team Yay!
- Teacher cole : how big are the claws?
Bugscope Team they are maybe 0.4 mm -- four tenths of a millimeter -- long
- Teacher charles: what do they use them for?
Bugscope Team they are used to grab onto things like other insects or food
- 9:37am
- Teacher charles says COOL
- Bugscope Team many insects also have features between or slightly down the leg/arm from the claw that help them hold onto surfaces
- Teacher max : butterflies taste with their feet, so do they have a mouth on their feet?
Bugscope Team no they just have special hairs that can taste when they land on their food
- Guest are buterflies mouths on there feet
Bugscope Team their mouths are at the end of the long, coiled proboscis we usually see on the head -- they drink their food
- Teacher you can give Harmon control
Bugscope Team harmon has control
- Guest why do lady bugs have dots on them
Bugscope Team they dots and the fact that they are red/orange make them a warning to other insects. They eat other small insects like aphids and they taste/smell bad
- Bugscope Team so when people say that Monarch butterflies taste with their feet, it is because when they land on a leaf or flower they can scrape it with one of the bristles, and the scent that is released is picked up by one of the special chemosensory setae (hairs) Cate mentioned.
- 9:42am
- Guest Is it possible to see the claw of a butterfly without a microscope
Bugscope Team I think you can barely see them. We can see mites that may be a few hundred microns in diameter, which is close to the size of small claws.
- Guest Hey! why do some bugs have tiny little hiars.
Bugscope Team some of the tiny hairs are sensory, since insects do not have skin and need to be able to use those hairs to feel and taste their environment
- Guest About how many hairs are there on 1 mosquito antenae
Bugscope Team too many for us to count!
- Teacher connor: do they have any type of parasites that live in their antenna?
Bugscope Team we have not seen any yet, but there could be. people have tiny mites that live on their eyelashes, for example
- Teacher cole: can you feel the hairs if you are holding one
- Guest How long do each antenna get?
- Guest how long can the antenna get
Bugscope Team I think they can get to be more than a millimeter in some cases.
- Teacher pretty long for such a little insect
- 9:48am
- Teacher class: are the hairs really wavy or is it because of how close we are
Bugscope Team the hairs do curl a bit. But sometimes when we get really magnified on something the beam can distort the image a little as well
- Guest What are the tiny hairs on the antenae for?
Bugscope Team Harmon that is a good question with regard to the mosquito antennae; they have something called a Johnston's Organ on the antennae that helps them amplify the sound of other mosquitoes so they can locate mates, for example.'
- Guest What are those little things on the compound eye
Bugscope Team those are little dust or dirt particles most likely
- Teacher kyra: what is on the eye? the hair like thing
Bugscope Team there are little hairs found in between the ommatidia (individual lenses) of the eye
- Teacher lora: are those plates on the eye and how many are there?
Bugscope Team those are called ommatidia, and they are individual lenses
- Teacher jackson r can have control
Bugscope Team jackson r has control
- Teacher lora: how many lenses
- Guest Why do they have so many little plates on the eye
Bugscope Team the more ommatidia there are usually means the eyes are bigger, and if the eyes are bigger than they can see more area around them. Flies have such huge eyes that they can see close to 360 degrees around them!
- Teacher creepy!
- Teacher class: what is behind it?
- Bugscope Team there can be as many as 5000 facets in the eye of a wasp, and there can be eight or twelve in an ant eye
- Bugscope Team some ants do not have eyes at all
- Bugscope Team they use their antennae to get the information they need, and it is mostly relayed as chemical messages
- Teacher roly oops
- 9:53am
- Teacher how many legs are on the rolly poly?
Bugscope Team a roly poly has 7 pairs of legs
- Teacher jackson d can have control
Bugscope Team jackson di has control
- Guest what are the little things?
- Guest why are these on their abdomen
Bugscope Team maybe they help catch pollen for pollination purposes. I'm not sure
- Teacher lora can have control
- 9:58am
- Bugscope Team these areas on the abdomen also reflect light differently and may aid in identification of species; I think Cate's idea re pollination is also good
- Teacher aaahhhh!
- Bugscope Team ha
- Teacher class: what is this?
Bugscope Team looks like a june bug maybe
- Bugscope Team this was busy when it was alive
- Teacher what are the claw like things?
- Guest why is the head have so much stuff
Bugscope Team there seems to be scales belonging to another insect- maybe a butterfly or moth- all over the face
- Guest What is the bug eating?
- Bugscope Team you can see the lobed antennae -- those are the clawlike things
- Bugscope Team and you can see the palps, two different sets
- Bugscope Team there are also a lot of mouthparts sticking up- those are the palps- there are 2 pairs of them
- Guest what are those things coming out of its head?
Bugscope Team those are the palps, which the beetle uses to help manipulate and taste its food
- Teacher dirk: what are palps
Bugscope Team they help the insect move or taste food
- Bugscope Team kind of like tastebuds
- Bugscope Team there's little special hairs on the ends of the palps for tasting
Bugscope Team kind of like tastebuds
- Teacher charles: what do junebugs eat?
Bugscope Team they are said to eat the foliage of trees, which means they likely eat baby leaves and buds
- Teacher cool
- 10:04am
- Guest What are the plate things on his nose?
- Teacher bree: what are the little dots?
Bugscope Team those are the ommatidia, or facets, of the compound eyes on the male mosquito
- Bugscope Team as adults they eat foliage, and as larvae they eat roots; they are kind of bad plant pests
- Teacher will s can have control
Bugscope Team he's got control
- Teacher grace: what is the long thing?
Bugscope Team the long thing in the middle that goes up out of our view is the proboscis -- the tube-like mouthpart of the mosquito
- Guest What are the plate things on its nose?
Bugscope Team those are scales.
- Guest wat r those hairs?
Bugscope Team those are hairs, or setae (see-tee) coming off the antennae
- Teacher ryan: how are mosquitos born?
Bugscope Team the female mosquito, after her blood meal, lays her eggs in the water, and they hatch in the water and become predatory larvae underwater
- Bugscope Team these are kind of primitive tenent setae on the arm of the ladybug larva
- Teacher ryan: so cool
- Bugscope Team they are the sticky little hairs -- another purpose of hairs, or 'setae' -- that help the insect cling to surffaces
- Bugscope Team 'surfaces,' sorry
- Guest What are thoes tentecals?
Bugscope Team those are the setae that help the larva stick to things and not fall off
- 10:09am
- Guest so wat r those little things sticking on the tenticles?
- Teacher kyra: can adult mosquitos breathe under water?
Bugscope Team they can't breathe the water like fish. What some insects do is they trap a little bubble of air on their ventral side and they breathe that
- Teacher class: what is this?
Bugscope Team if you take the mag down slightly you will see that this is at the tip of one of the six legs of the ladybug larva
- Teacher connor: why does a mosquito bite itch?
Bugscope Team when they bite you they also inject an anticoagulant into the area so your blood won't clot so easily. That is the itchy part
- Guest What are those dots?
- Bugscope Team this shows that same antennae we had seen earlier, and you can see that it has tiny sensory 'buttons' on it that may be chemosensors or may sense motion
- Teacher cole can have control
Bugscope Team cole has control
- Guest what are those scratches
Bugscope Team the things that looked like scratches were the scale-like surface of the antennal shaft -- part of the exoskeleton
- Guest why is one sticking out
- Guest cool
- Guest What is a proboscis.
Bugscope Team it's a tube that some insects have like mosquitos and butterflies. It's a mouthpart that they drink liquid though
- Guest Why are there holes
Bugscope Team we are not sure whether they are chemosensory -- whether they sense chemicals in the air; or whether they might be pressure sensory
- Bugscope Team through*
- Teacher ansley: it looks a lot like a cactus
Bugscope Team yes it does!
- 10:15am
- Guest It looks like a mushroom.
- Bugscope Team if you have scales that come off easily, like butterflies and moths and silverfish and some beetles and weevils, and mosquitoes --- those scales can help you get away when you get caught in a spider's web
- Guest It looks like a mushroom
- Guest Why do they get thinner and longer on the way up
Bugscope Team that is a good observation; it may be that it is helpful to have them that way for flying
- Guest wi does that look like a mushroom
Bugscope Team it has different segments (like a ball and socket joint) so that it can move around. If it didn't have any segments then it would be stiff and not able to move because the exoskeleton is too tough
- Teacher dirk can have control
Bugscope Team he has control!
- Bugscope Team if we only had one long bone in our leg we wouldn't be able to bend it to walk around
- Bugscope Team it's the same principle
- Guest what is that brown thing :)
- Guest Okaaaayyyyy that looks weird
- Teacher lora: are some of the hairs missing?
Bugscope Team if you see little holes, which are the pores for the hairs, then that is where hair would be missing.
- Guest What is that?
- Bugscope Team looks like there is a patch of gunk on this spider
- 10:20am
- Guest what is the white
Bugscope Team things that look really white in the electron microscope may be poorly grounded and thus charging up with electrons
- Guest it looks like blocks :)
Bugscope Team they are little salt crystals
- Bugscope Team so like Cate says; if that is a patch of gunk it may be poorly grounded and attracting electrons that cannot get away
- Bugscope Team this is something we don't see very often
- Bugscope Team you can see one of the ball and socket joints Cate had mentioned earlier on the beetle
- Guest Why is the face cracked?
- Guest is that a anntenna
Bugscope Team yes we can see the base of the antenna too
- Guest Why is the face crushed?
Bugscope Team when insects die they dry out making themselves very brittle. They can break easily (limbs can fall of when picked up). The face probably got crushed just as easily, maybe even when I picked it up
- Teacher ansley can have control
Bugscope Team got it!
- Guest what is the crack
Bugscope Team um Cate smashed it
- Bugscope Team here we can see where those little furry places are on the abdomen
- Teacher the kids are cracking up at that
- Bugscope Team they do reflect light differently
- Guest it looks like it has hair at the top
- Guest why is the abdomen scaled
- Bugscope Team she is usually so careful, too
- 10:25am
- Guest Wht does the stinger have so many layers on it?
Bugscope Team this isn't the stinger. It's the abdomen. It has segments as well so it bend it's abdomen and sting more easily
- Guest Thats really cool
- Bugscope Team we can barely see the stinger, at the tip of the abdomen
- Bugscope Team to the lower right
- Guest is the abdomen fuzzy or hard
Bugscope Team it's hard for the most part
- Guest The tip is at the bottom, SJ
Bugscope Team yes, sorry ;)
- Bugscope Team the abdomen is part of the exoskeleton, so it is kind of like a shell
- Guest I wasn't trying to be mean! ;)
Bugscope Team no problem!
- Guest Thats really cool
- Teacher grace can have control
Bugscope Team grace is now the supreme ruler
- Bugscope Team the abdomen is flexible; if you ever try to pick up and earwig you can see it maneuver its abdomen around so it can pinch you with its cercopods
Bugscope Team that's because of the segments it has
Bugscope Team it's much like armor that way
- 10:31am
- Guest I always though I was the supreme ruler
- Teacher take it easy Grace, don't let it go to your head
- Bugscope Team awesome, like Queen for a Day!
- Bugscope Team this shows, barely, the hamuli that connect the two halves of the wing
- Teacher class: what are we looking at?
- Bugscope Team oops gone now
- Bugscope Team when wasps and bees fly they connect the fore- and hindwing on each side together using those clips, called hamuli
- Guest cool
- Guest cool
- Guest Thomya :why dose it have tiny needles ?
Bugscope Team sometimes the setae look just like tiny needles, and they are often sensory, like cat or rat whiskers
- Teacher lora: why is it moldy?
Bugscope Team this is a place where the spider leg broke, at a joint, and mold from the air landed on the fluid and started to grow. there must have been nutrients in the fluid that fed the mold
- 10:36am
- Guest how does the spider get mold on the face
Bugscope Team sometimes it is because they throw up when they die, and that fluid there attracts mold
- Teacher lora: cool but gross
Bugscope Team a good description for Bugscope
- Guest do beetles and wasps have the same sort of wings?
Bugscope Team no. Wasps, bees, and ants (when they have wings) have 2 pairs of wings that they can link together with little hooks called hamuli so that the wings act as one pair instead of 2.
- Guest How did the spider get moldy?
Bugscope Team everything that dies will eventually decay, and mold and bacteria help make that happen. it's like recycling
- Guest My bad
- Teacher charles can have control
Bugscope Team Charles is now the Overlord
- Guest haha
- Guest where is the spider moldy
Bugscope Team presently just at some of the leg joints and at the mouth
- Guest gotta go
- Guest next class coming
- Guest What type of spider is this??
Bugscope Team we aren't sure. We aren't very good at identifying spiders
- Bugscope Team spiders, when we get them, are often already a little shriveled. they have soft bodies like aphids
- Guest see ya got to switch classes
Bugscope Team Thank You!
- 10:41am
- Teacher we're back!
- Bugscope Team Yay!
- Bugscope Team You can see only two of the spider's eyes.
- Bugscope Team and those long limbs we see now are palps, like extra legs
- Bugscope Team you can see that the spider has lots of hairs, called setae, on her legs
- Bugscope Team the setae help her sense vibration, such as when something lands in her web
- Teacher lora can have control
- Teacher oops, emily
- Bugscope Team spiders feed by using their fangs to inject venom into their prey. the venom dissolves the inner organs of the prey, and the spider sucks all of that up like a milkshake
- Teacher class: eeewww
- Teacher emily can have control
Bugscope Team ok Emily is the boss now
- 10:47am
- Teacher Mr. Clausell, are you pirating our session?
- Teacher new class so some of the same questions
Bugscope Team im sure teachers experience that way more than we do :)
- Bugscope Team spiders are not immune to all venoms, though, and if they sense venom coursing into one of their legs they can do this thing called autotomy and just leg that leg fall off
- Guest Hello all
Bugscope Team Hello!
- Guest Mrs. Bass we are pirating your session
Bugscope Team But Mrs Bass decides who drives...
- Teacher that is okay george, come on in
- Guest Thanks and I have Mrs. Tyson's Tigers with me viewing everything
- Teacher zarion: why do they have all of that hair?
Bugscope Team I know that this is a spider, but it falls in the same category kind of. Insects are very hairy and they need that hair to feel what's going on around them. Like we do through our skin. The hairs on this spider can do that as well as sense vibrations or cause itching to predators that come near them
- Teacher we will be sure to not talk about yout hen
- Teacher *then
- Guest Thanks :O)
- Bugscope Team spiders are very fragile and can be hurt easily, so they have various defenses against being touched
- Bugscope Team including those urticating hairs Cate mentioned
- Bugscope Team you can see the faint rectangles where the microscope has been before, earlier today
- Guest Question from Karley Stewart: What are the little specs on the eyes?
Bugscope Team the big pieces are dirt or dust particles
- 10:52am
- Bugscope Team I am sitting at the 'scope now -- this is Scot -- so I could tweak the focus a bit.
- Bugscope Team if there were bacteria here we could see them
- Guest what is that things
- Bugscope Team that little particle is a little shorter than a bacillus
- Teacher yes scot
- Guest why does it have stuff sicking out
- Guest Oh!!!!!
- Bugscope Team we don't know what all of the stuff is, and if we don't know we call it juju
- Guest Question from Olivia Flaherty: Would any type of spiders have different types of eyes?
Bugscope Team some spiders can see very well but many cannot, so some will have better eyes
- Guest what are these lines on it
Bugscope Team that is the surface of the eye -- we think it has a kind of thin membrane on it -- at least this one does
- Guest Mrs. Bass you got an e-mail you need to check
- Teacher NO, Mr. C. I'm good with paper now.
- Guest How many types of bugs are there
Bugscope Team there are hundreds of thousands of species of insects, maybe 900,000 from what I have read
- 10:57am
- Teacher Mrs. B: that makes my skin crawl
- Guest what is this strange looking thing.
Bugscope Team we aren't sure but it's most likely some sort of dust or dirt
- Guest what is the pattern on it?
Bugscope Team we think the pattern reflects the underlying shape of the crystal beneath, if there is a crystalline lens. sometimes there is, apparently
- Guest is this an rock on this thing .
- Guest what is the smallest bug ever
- Guest Eww that looks NASTY!
- Guest how long is the average fly's lifespan?
Bugscope Team usually, in the wild, 2 to 4 weeks
- Guest what is the biggest bug ever
Bugscope Team there's a giant walking stick from Malaysia
Bugscope Team about 21 inches long
- Bugscope Team there is a rock on this spiracle
- Teacher clausepillillar can have control
Bugscope Team got it!
- Teacher Mr. C just look at the top of the image to magnify more or less or click the arrow to the left to choose a different insect
- Guest im with clausellipillar it looks nasty .
- Guest what is this
- Bugscope Team now we are looking at the abdomen of the wasp
- Bugscope Team it is right at the edge of the world
- Guest what is this thing?
Bugscope Team this is a spiracle, which is a breathing hole for insects (like our nostrils). It's connected to a long tube that runs through the body
- Bugscope Team it has setae that help filter things like tiny rocks out
- 11:03am
- Guest Question from Addy: What is that at the end of the abdomen?
- Guest how many bug are on the earth now
Bugscope Team trillions
- Bugscope Team not to be flip about it, but that is a lot of biomass -- all of the insects alive on earth now
- Teacher class: where is the stinger?
Bugscope Team it's located in the bottom right of the image at the tip of the abdomen
- Guest why do it have looking patch on it.
Bugscope Team the patches may help move pollen from flower to flower, and they reflect light differently, so they may help wasps recognize each other
- Guest how long is the average fly's lifespan?
Bugscope Team about 2 to 4 weeks, and longer in a lab.
- Guest What is the little knot looking thing at the end?
Bugscope Team that was the kind of stubby tip of the stinger; it had fluid on it and did not look good for a closeup
- Guest was there more bugs when the dinosaurs lived or now?
Bugscope Team I'm not sure if there were more, but they were bigger because the oxygen content was greater
- Guest Where are his eyes?
Bugscope Team they are on either side of the head under the things sticking out which are the antennae
- Guest sory type
- Guest is there only 1 tipe of fly
Bugscope Team there are thousands of species of fly
- Teacher 4th must not have had spelling tests
- Bugscope Team these are the mandibles, in the middle
- Guest thats alot
- Bugscope Team below you can see palps, which help manipulate and also taste food
- 11:08am
- Guest What type of bug is this????
Bugscope Team this is a beetle, Tessa
- Guest oh.....
- Bugscope Team It's the click beetle.
- Guest What is the hair- like fuzz used for?
- Bugscope Team click beetles sometimes have large false eyes on the dorsum -- on the elytra or wing shell
- Guest Oh Thats A Cool Type Of Bug.
- Guest Mrs. Bass thanks for the invite and Thanks Scot, Cate, Esem and SJ we have a test to take now how do I give up control?
Bugscope Team Thank You! We can take care of it.
- Teacher sure mr. c
- Guest That is a cool looking thing.
- Guest I wish I had a pet bug
- Guest oh, cool. It looks like a crab.
Bugscope Team Tessa good call! It is a crustacean.
- Guest good bye
- Teacher rotating one last time, back in a minute
- Bugscope Team bye!
- Bugscope Team you can see the roly poly's compound eyes now. if his/her antennae were still there they would likely be covered up.
- Guest Billy- you probably have a lot more "pet" bugs than you realize. Check your yard!
Bugscope Team i know my house as this one spider (among others) that I've left alone for a while now
- 11:14am
- Teacher my kiddos are all leaving me but some are going to our computer lab for Fantastic Friday so I am giving control to Ms. Glover and I will join her in the lab. Thank you so much Scot, ESEM, Cate, and SJ
- Bugscope Team ok thanks and have a great weekend!
- Guest this is really neat.
- Bugscope Team Yes Thank You!
- Teacher they absolutely love this and so do I. they will be on in a minute
- Bugscope Team Let us know if you would like to drive, Mr Floyd.
- Guest they are coming in and are really excited about it. \
- Bugscope Team we just gave you control
- Bugscope Team this is fun for us as well
- Bugscope Team although we are sitting in basement rooms with very few people around
- Guest Here we are in Venture...excited to join the session once again and learn some more about bigs.
- Guest or big bugs.
- Bugscope Team Cool!
- Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!
- Guest how Cool!
- Bugscope Team this is a pollen grain we found on the click beetle, right about where its body has the joint that makes it click
- Guest This is 5th Grade Fantastic Friday media group
- Bugscope Team hey Welcome to Bugscope!
- 11:20am
- Guest what are the holes for?
Bugscope Team they may help it stuck to wet surfaces, and they likely confer strength to the pollen grain, making it less crushable
- Guest What is that?
- Guest Hello
- Guest hello
- Guest what is this???
- Bugscope Team stargazer lily pollen has similar pores but is much larger
- Guest hello
- Guest Who has the control
- Guest What are the little hairs
Bugscope Team the hairs are setae that help the beetle sense its surroundings
- Guest its a pollen grain on a click beetle
- Guest hey this is willg.
- Guest Aaaahhhh! Giant sponge!
- Guest Why it is has lot of holes
- Guest oh...ok
- Guest hello
- Guest hi yall
- Guest hello
- Guest so where was this at?
- Guest were did that hole come from
- Bugscope Team insects have exoskeletons, like if you were wearing a suit of armor, and the setae that stick through the exoskeleton help the insect feel, smell, and measure the temperature or their environment
- Guest what is this of
- Guest hay everyone whats this
- Guest I think those are hairs
- Guest what are those holes on 9thing0
- Bugscope Team who wants to drive?
- Guest click on the spider face....its coool
- Guest sorry i had a typing error
- Guest Can we do the salt from Wendy's?
- Guest Why is there a dent on this?
- Guest it looks like its on grass
- Guest The spiber MOLD is cool!
- Guest scot whos in control
- Guest It is look like a rock
- Guest what is this
- Guest you mean spider...Kyra
- Teacher Ms. Glover can have control
Bugscope Team Ms Glover is now the Supreme Ruler
- Guest What kind of insect hairs?
Bugscope Team most likely the kind that help them feel what's going on around it. Sense of touch, like we do through our skin. The hairs are connected to nerves underneath their hard exoskeleton.
- Guest Mrs.Glover are you on?
- Guest thats so cool:)
- Guest is those a tree
- Guest this looks like grass on a tree
- 11:25am
- Guest What's this
- Guest Wich one is that
- Guest is that a pickle?
- Guest That so cool!!!!!!!!
- Guest what are we looking at?
- Guest they might be spikey
- Guest How many bugs hach every year?
Bugscope Team trillions all over the world
- Guest a lot
- Guest what is that in the middle
- Guest are the hairs spikey? so do the hairs just jiggle around??
Bugscope Team some are more rigid than others, and some have chemosensory pores at their tips; some are sticky
- Guest is that a close up spider
- Guest why are there hairs poking out?
Bugscope Team the hairs are connected to nerves underneath the exoskeleton so that the insects can feel what is going on around it
- Guest What section of the beetle are we looking at
- Guest wow... whats this?
- Guest what is giong on
- Guest what am i looking at
- Bugscope Team I'm going to the 'scope to tweak the focus...
- Guest How many types of bugs are there?
- Guest oh my bad
- Guest whats that
- Guest in what part of the body is this located?
- Guest so what is this?
- Guest Lady bug
- Guest what is that fluffy stuff?
- Guest is that a bug or a bug colony?
- Guest is that a bug
- Bugscope Team these are special hairs that act as taste buds on a palp
- Guest interisting
- Guest what is that thing sticking out?
- Bugscope Team palps are mouthparts that help move or taste food
- Guest nice zoom in scott
- Guest what is that long roundend thing
- Guest Why is poke up
- Guest What are the spikes on the sides?
- Teacher remember to read the other questions so that you don't ask the same thing over and over
- Bugscope Team that is the tip of the palp on a larval ladybug
- Guest click on the "cracked wasp head" thats cool but weird at the same time!!!
- Guest what is that whole thing in the picture?
- Guest what is the stuff on top of its head
- Guest what are the short tentacle-like things?
- Guest what does ESEM stand for
- Bugscope Team palps are accessory mouthparts that help insects pre-taste and manipulate their food into their mouths
- Guest what are the giant circles
- Guest What is that ?
- Guest are those white things that are sticking out larva
Bugscope Team those are like tastebuds on your tongue
- Guest it look like a Wasp
- Guest what are the "pokey" things
Bugscope Team the pokey things coming from the palp are chemosensory setae that help the insect taste. the other hairs are for the sense of touch
- 11:30am
- Bugscope Team ha here you go
- Guest whats that hole with the thing sticking out
- Guest what is that!!??
- Guest What is that
- Guest what is that
- Guest what are the hairy things in it
- Bugscope Team environmental scanning electron microscope
- Guest on it
- Guest daaaaaaaaaaa laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa {]
- Bugscope Team this is a ladybug larva
- Guest What is that ?
- Bugscope Team you can see a stray salt crystal to the left of its head
- Bugscope Team ladybug larvae arent nearly as cute as their adult counterparts
- Guest sorry another typing error
- Guest can it bite?
- Guest Can it bite?????
Bugscope Team it can- it does have a pair of jaws. it might hurt about as much as an adult. I'm not sure
- Guest woowww that is amazing,tell me some facts
- Guest How many arms does it have?
- Guest Where did u find these thing?
- Guest what is in the background
- Bugscope Team it has six legs
- Guest what are the circle parts on it
Bugscope Team the circles are the double stick carbon tape the insects are lying on.
- Guest Can you show us a molded spider
- Bugscope Team this is the inside of the microscope -- the vacuum chamber
- Guest what is that
- Guest what is that thingy!!!?
- Guest what is that
- Guest WHAT IS THAT??????
- Bugscope Team okay who wants to drive?
- Guest me
- Guest this is awesome
- Guest can you show us the butter fly claw
- Guest what is in the middle
- Guest What is this??
Bugscope Team this is the head of the ladybug larva
- Guest we do
Bugscope Team you now have control
- Guest weird clausellipillar
- Guest wow
- Guest weird and gross
- Guest What is the spickes on it?????????????
Bugscope Team sensory setae so it can feel its environment as well as smell it
- Guest in some countries they eat bugs , would this be one that is edible?
Bugscope Team no ladybugs in general aren't edible. They smell/taste bad. You might notice it if you vacuum a bunch of them
- 11:35am
- Guest well if you could eat bugs...would all bugs be healthy?
- Guest how can a spider get mold on its joint??
- Bugscope Team if it goes out of focus go the other way
- Guest Mold on spider
- Guest OH!!!!
- Guest broken leg with mold cool:)
- Guest why
- Guest If this is mold on a spider leg, where is the leg?
- Guest How does the mold get on to the spider leg
- Guest What type of spider did this come from
- Guest Mr. c you are the sience teacher so shouldn't you know this stuff
- Guest is this pic. zoomed in really close
- Guest i want to have control:(
- Bugscope Team 2532x
- Guest Thanks for showing me the moldy spider!!!
- Guest do spiders shed their skin
- Guest These are students on here Andrew but thanks for checking :O)
- Guest why does it look like that?
- Bugscope Team now you can see where we were
- Guest awesome
- Guest Is thise like leg
- Bugscope Team the spider!
- Guest esem where was this taken
- Guest is that dirt or mold
- Guest so is that the spider's joint?
- Guest It a spider
- Guest Is this a spider leg?
Bugscope Team yes it is!
- Guest this is so cool
- Guest Is that crusty stuff dirt
- Guest what does the hairs help them do?
- Guest how did it get so moldy
Bugscope Team it was probably kept in a moist place. Sometimes when schools send us insects they send them in baggies, and when the insect dry out in them, the moisture sticks around in the bag creating a nice place for mold to form
- Guest What kind of spider is that
- Guest How many leg the spider
- Guest I like this website
- Guest Me too
- Guest What type of spider is this
Bugscope Team sorry we are not good at recognizing spider species
- Guest Why does it have so many legs???????
- Guest this is a great website
- Guest what is juj?
- Guest what are the stringy thingies?
- Guest I don't like a spider
- Guest Is stanley on
- Guest YAY SJ's on
- Guest whats juju is it mold
Bugscope Team juju is what we call things like dried fluid when we don't know just what they are
- Guest Was the spider dead when you took the picture of it?
Bugscope Team yes all the things you may see today are dead
- Guest Bye!
- Guest i know that there are a lot of spiders on the earth and people in other contries eat them but are there spiders that are extinct???
- Guest what is the weak point in a spider?
Bugscope Team the thing that makes spiders most vulnerable is that they are so fragile
Bugscope Team i'd say the legs. They can pop off very easily
- 11:40am
- Guest adios
- Guest Where did you find the spider?
- Bugscope Team this is live imaging
- Guest What part of the spider is this?
Bugscope Team this is the ventral side (looking from underneath the spider). We can see the legs and the head and part of the abdomen
- Guest Daddy long legs are not spiders, right.
Bugscope Team I think they are arachnids but not spiders
- Guest cool
- Guest Do you have a black widows picture? If you do can you show it??
Bugscope Team these are live images from an electron microscope. so we have only what is in the 'scope now, sorry
- Guest d
- Guest but do daddy long legs spin webs
Bugscope Team I don't think they do. They prey on other spiders and insects
- Guest When was this picture taken?
Bugscope Team now.
- Guest Thats so cool!!!!!
- Guest why does it have hairs on its face
- Guest It's okay you don't have to say sorry.
- Bugscope Team Lora you are controlling, from your classroom, a scanning electron microscope, so the images that are coming to you are live images.
- Guest what is this thing
- Guest What is this thing. Is it a head of some sort?
Bugscope Team this is a click beetle head
- Bugscope Team see the compound eyes on either side of the head?
- Guest how old is it
- Guest Why are some things cracked? did someone crack it???
Bugscope Team maybe me. They can be easy to break once they've been dry for a while
- Guest Dady long legs are grouped with scorpions I think
- Bugscope Team and the mandibles, and palps, and the bases of the antennae?
- 11:45am
- Bugscope Team we have to go!
- Bugscope Team Thank You for connecting with us today!
- Bugscope Team we share this microscope with other researchers and have to let them use it.
- Bugscope Team Good Bye!
