Connected on 2011-03-16 10:00:00 from New Haven, Connecticut, United States
- 9:35am
- Teacher Hello Bugscope team! This is Joyce Metger and her second grade team! We are logged in and ready to see some cool insect adaptations!
- 9:40am
- Bugscope Team hi we are almost ready on this end, just a couple more presets
- Bugscope Team ok we are ready for you to take control
- 9:50am
- Teacher Great! We are ready, too! My students have lots of questions for you. Any suggestions before I call the first microscope "driver"? Some parts of this look different to me from before.
- Bugscope Team to get to different presets click on the arror to the left and you will see all the presets presented
- Bugscope Team the controls are above the image
- Bugscope Team and to manually drive click on the image and it will center on where you click
- Bugscope Team other than that everything "should" work. let me know if you do come across any problems
- Bugscope Team so here we see a compound eye
- Bugscope Team of the moth
- Bugscope Team you can see it kind of looks like a honeycomb
- Bugscope Team that is because a hexagon is the best shape to fit the curvature of the eye
- Bugscope Team there is also a small scratch on the eye, not sure if that happened before or after death
- Teacher Emily is our first driver.
- Bugscope Team hi emily!
- 9:56am
- Bugscope Team our eyes each acquire an image, and like our eyes, the moth acquires images from each of its ommatidia, which are the individual components of the compound eye
- Teacher Jaron asks, "How many bugs have you found in this year?"
Bugscope Team not too many. Most of our insects come from schools, but sometimes we do bring in spiders or ladybugs
- Bugscope Team oh and in the stairwell of our building we seem to find a lot of dead wasps
- Bugscope Team the wasp tongue is very cool looking- and very clean
- Bugscope Team there are pollen grains all over this wasp, she must have been doing her job very well
- Bugscope Team Most of the bees, wasps, and ants you see are females. They do most of the work in the colony/hive while the males' jobs are mainly to reproduce
- Teacher Treacy asks, "How long were you in college?"
Bugscope Team I was in college for a little over 4 years. I received my bachelor degree in physics, but I find after doing bugscope for 6 years that I am like a jr entymologist
- Bugscope Team wasps can sting you multiple times but it's a much lower concentration than the honey bee, which can only sting once. They try to make their sting count since their stingers get caught in the skin of mammals.
- Teacher Joseph asks, "How many wasps have you found in this year?"
Bugscope Team about 6 or so.
- 10:01am
- Bugscope Team here is a tiny spider that an entymologist gave to us at some point.
- Bugscope Team This spider would most likely not harm you, too small
- Teacher Ashlyn wants that spider!
Bugscope Team you could have one as a pet I suppose, but I think they would be easy to lose since they are so small
- Teacher We are looking at the hairs on the spider's back. We are thinking that its adaptation is to keep it warm.
Bugscope Team they very well could be, though insects are cold blooded so they tend to not be too trifled with temperature. Some of them also could help the spider to feel around.
- Teacher Adam asks about what the spider is sitting on.
Bugscope Team we have all the insects sitting on double stick carbon tape, which is the bubbly stuff
- Bugscope Team and sometimes we put a little glob of silver paint down to help them stick better
- Teacher Kendal asks, "Have you looked at a praying mantis?"
Bugscope Team yes but we prefer the smaller ones. With the bigger ones, all we can really look at are the heads
- Bugscope Team here is a little millipede, which, like the spider, is not an insect- they don't have 6 legs
- 10:07am
- Teacher Logan asks, "How many bugs have you tested?"
Bugscope Team we have looked at a variety of insects, like the basic ones you find, but in the full scope of things, we have only looked at a small number of species. There are so many that exist in the world!
- Teacher Darcy will be our next driver.
- Teacher Georgia asks, "Why did you get that Science job?"
Bugscope Team I like science, and this job is very exciting because we see so many aspects of science here in the lab. We have many different microscopes that users come in and use to image their samples with. It never gets boring
- Bugscope Team Hi Darcy!
- Teacher Dominick asks, "What kinds of insects do you look at on the microscope?"
Bugscope Team we like to see insects that are specialized. We received some cool ants earlier, sorry they aren't on here. We've seen stick insects (which are kind of boring), cicadas (which are often huge!), grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies, different stages of butterflies (larva, chrysalis), wasps, bees, praying mantids...you name the general familes of insects and we have probably seen it
- Teacher Emily asks, "How much money is the SEM?"
Bugscope Team we purchased this microscope about 12 years ago for $600,000
- Bugscope Team This microscope can see things as small as 2 nanometers when the microscope is set up well and the sample is good
- Bugscope Team that is much smaller than any visible light wave
- 10:12am
- Bugscope Team here are some small scales on the moth
- Bugscope Team you can see they are ridged, and if you zoom in you will see little holes
- Bugscope Team they are ridged like ruffle potato chips
- Teacher Vincent asks, "What was the first bug you looked at?"
Bugscope Team to tell you the truth I have no idea. That was 6 years ago for me, and I knew almost nothing about insects at the time!
- Teacher Look at the little holes!
- Bugscope Team The ridges give the scales structure and also bend the light and give the scales structural color
- Bugscope Team The holes help make the scales lighter and also sometimes contain pigment granules, but I didn't see any earlier
- Bugscope Team the scales can also act as a defensive mechanism. If a moth or butterfly gets caught in a spider web, they can sometimes shake a few loose and get away!
- Bugscope Team it doesn't hurt the butterfly or moth to lose a few scales since they have so many.
- Teacher Adam asks, "Are the scales hard or soft?"
Bugscope Team they are hard to other insects but to us, they are the same powder soft stuff that comes off when you touch their wings
- 10:17am
- Teacher Claire asks, "Have you looked at a praying mantis egg sac?"
Bugscope Team no, but we have looked at spider sacs, which are kind of cool sometimes
- Teacher Adam is also our new driver.
Bugscope Team Hi Adam!
- Teacher Logan says, "It looks like something is inside the roly poly."
- Teacher Seth-Michael asks, "How does the roly poly get on its back?"
Bugscope Team for bugscope we put them all on their backs, because their backs aren't usually interesting to look at. All their faces and legs are on the ventral side. The roly poly can usually roll to it's front if it accidentally flips over
- Teacher Adam is trying to find the mouth.
- Teacher Ashlyn asks, "Is it nasty sometimes looking at the insects?
Bugscope Team yes, but I usually have problems with the live ones. Every now and then a school will send a live insect. We usually throw them in the freezer- allows them to go to sleep and die, without any pain
- Bugscope Team the mouth is right in the middle of the screen- you found it!
- Teacher Treacy asks, "How many years have you been studying insects?"
Bugscope Team for me- 6 years. Scot, who is usually on to help but is sick today, has been doing it for longer- since bugscope started 12 years ago!
- 10:23am
- Teacher Jaron is the driver now. What critter will he choose?
- Bugscope Team Hi Jaron!
- Bugscope Team oo here is a green lacewing
- Bugscope Team they have wings that to the naked eye looks like lace
- Teacher Darcy asks, "How long did it take to make the SEM?"
Bugscope Team a company in the US made it and shipped it here in a couple parts. I'm not sure how long it would take to make, but there are a lot of components that have to be careful with, so I'm sure it wasn't easy
- Teacher Jaron wants to get closer to the eye...he sees little holes.
- Bugscope Team lacewings have giant round eyes that allow them to see almost 360 degrees around itself- it's helpful when they can't really turn their heads too much
- Bugscope Team you will see they are just round ommatidia- hexagons again! There also looks like there was some liquid that got on top of the eye
- Teacher Ashlyn says the top of the eye looks like sand. Emily says dust.
Bugscope Team it looks like dried liquid
- Bugscope Team here is a true bug- maybe an assassin bug- unfortunately it has a leg right in front of its face. Maybe it's camera shy!
- Teacher Wyatt asks, "Do other planets have insects?"
Bugscope Team not that we know of, but it's very possible!
- 10:29am
- Teacher Sarah asks, "Is it hard being a scientist?"
Bugscope Team I think that it is more fun than hard. Sometimes there are challenges that you come across, but it makes it all the better when you overcome them and learn from them
- Teacher Kaitlynn asks, "How old were you started this stuff?"
Bugscope Team I started working here when I was still in college when I was 20
- Bugscope Team I like this claw. It is very clean. A lot of the insects we come across are dirty, like they were collected from a garage or dusty corner. Insects like to keep themselves clean, especially their antennae
- Teacher We are trying to figure out what the special body feature is on this critter.
- Teacher Jaron thinks it is the muzzle.
- Teacher Chloe asks, "What was the first bug made?"
Bugscope Team I'm not sure, but roaches have been around- same species, since prehistoric times. They haven't changed for millenia! Other insects changed since prehistoric times- they got smaller
- Teacher Jaron thinks the face is at the top.
Bugscope Team yes that's right
- Bugscope Team this is a hide beetle that museums sometimes use to clean off the bits of leftover flesh from skeletons for their collections
- 10:34am
- Bugscope Team they've used them a couple times in the show Bones
- Teacher Ashlyn asks, "Do you use tools to help you?"
Bugscope Team I mostly use a pair of tweezers/forceps to pick up insects and put them on stubs
- Teacher Kendal asks, "What kind of bugs do you look at?"
Bugscope Team we like to look at the insects that aren't very big for bugscope. We try not to use cicadas or those big grasshoppers because then we wouldn't be able to fit many other insects for you to see. We do bugscope about twice a week, and the other times the microscope is used for research purposes.
- Bugscope Team we like looking at insects, but we only really look at them a small portion of the week
- Teacher Kaitlynn is our next driver.
- Bugscope Team Hi Kaitlynn!
- Bugscope Team here is a palp that is used for tasting and moving around food
- Bugscope Team in this palp there are little tastebuds
- Teacher Treacy asks, "How wide is the SEM?
Bugscope Team the main component is as big as a fridge. There is also the computer component that is about the size of a large desk
- Teacher That doesn't look "clean".
Bugscope Team nope, there's little fluff all over it. This was dried a special way that sometimes get extra stuff dried on it
- Teacher We want to know what it is. Ashlyn says it looks like a spider egg case.
Bugscope Team it is a palp- a mouthpart, used for tasting and manipulating food
- 10:39am
- Teacher The children are wondering if this is hair or fur.
- Teacher Adam asks, "What is the most dangerous insect you have ever had?"
Bugscope Team we've received a black widow and some scorpions in the past. They were dead
- Bugscope Team scorpions in the united states aren't very deadly to adults. The most they do is numb the area of the sting for up to 12 hours, I think
- Bugscope Team black widows are pretty dangerous, and so are brown recluses. I believe those are the deadliest in the US
- Teacher Emily asks, "Do you look at egg cases?"
Bugscope Team we have looked at a few. It is fun to see the little eggs
- Bugscope Team these are fly compound eyes, but they are a little dried out so they look crinkly
- Teacher It would be cool to see the Black Widow.
Bugscope Team yes but it was sadly smooshed and wasn't very good to look at. A nice preserved specimen would be ideal
- Teacher Someone else says this is a compound eye.
- Teacher Kaitlynn says, "Those are a lot of eyes."
Bugscope Team yes there are hundreds on just one compound eye here
- 10:44am
- Teacher Georgia asks, "What was the first bug that you did Science with?"
Bugscope Team I'm really not sure. It might have been a fruit fly or mosquito. When I first started out I knew little about insects, so I probably didn't even know what i was looking at
- Teacher Derek wants to know, "Does Alaska have bugs?"
Bugscope Team yes they do, it gets to be very beautiful in the summer. It's not cold all year round
- Teacher Jaron asks, "Why do you look at bugs?"
Bugscope Team we look at bugs because they are the most interesting for students too look at. They like looking at the things they see on a day to day basis.
- Teacher Wyatt is the next driver.
Bugscope Team Hi Wyatt!
- Teacher Darcy asks, "How many scientists do you know?"
Bugscope Team I know a bunch! We have a lot that uses this scanning electron microscope for imaging their research. We also have lots of other instruments in the lab they use
- Teacher Claire asks, "How many bugs have you found?"
Bugscope Team I tend to squish them, so only of the ones I don't squish I bring in
- Teacher Wyatt also asks, "Why do flies have red eyes?"
Bugscope Team Not all flies do, but it is just a trait they have, I don't think it means anything. Some have black.
- 10:49am
- Teacher Adam asks, "What kinds of bugs do you like?"
Bugscope Team I like ants and wasps. They both can have stingers and they often have cool heads to look at
- Teacher Sarah asks, "Are there over one million insects?"
Bugscope Team yes I would say there are billions if not more!
- Bugscope Team there are tons of insect species that have yet to be discovered
- Teacher We are interested in how the leg looks to be little pieces connected. Wyatt wanted to look inside.
Bugscope Team we can't see inside too far but they are segmented so that they can move their leg around. If it weren't segmented, it would be like if we didnt have joints
- Teacher Ashlyn wants to know what the pointy things are.
Bugscope Team those are hairs, big hairs!
- Bugscope Team here are some pollen grains
- Teacher Joseph asks, "Have you seen the black widow that was alive?"
Bugscope Team no we aren't in a region with them :(
- Bugscope Team we are more likely to see brown recluses
- 10:55am
- Teacher Logan asks, "Do bees have poison?" Some say no and some say yes.
Bugscope Team they have venom, which is different than poison. The allergy response we get is from the histamine in the venom
- Teacher Chloe is our next driver, and Wyatt wants to know why the Black Widow has the hour glass shape on its back.
Bugscope Team you know I'm not entirely sure. Maybe they show as a marker to other insects to stay away. Though it's not bright red or orange, so I doubt it
- Teacher Vincent asks, "Where do Black Widows usually live?"
Bugscope Team In the US they can be found in florida, and the SW
- Teacher ...oops...ties
- Teacher They look like pokey hairs or little bow times.
Bugscope Team yeah they reminded me of pasta as well
- Bugscope Team I'm not sure what the crystals are from
- Teacher Chloe wants to investigate the hole and the crack.
- Teacher Chloe sees a hole.
Bugscope Team yes that could be where a hair was. A pore for the hair
- Bugscope Team and yes there is a small crack
- Teacher Jaron asks, "Are tarantulas dangerous?"
Bugscope Team the bite of a tarantula is generally not dangerous to humans
- 11:01am
- Bugscope Team venom is injected from a spider or other animal. poison means that they are toxic to be consumed or touched
- Teacher And our next driver is Derek.
- Teacher Adam asks, "How does pollen stick on wasps?" Chloe thinks they have sticky feet.
Bugscope Team they kind of do. They usually have spikes that make them easy to attach to hairs. Some are easy to get stuck in hairs, especially bee hairs which are forked
- Teacher Georgia asks, "Where did you get the dead bugs?"
Bugscope Team we usually find them around the house or the lab
- Teacher Here are our last questions. I know that we are about at the end of our time. Here we go!
- Teacher Emily asks, "What is you favorite thing to do as a scientist?"
Bugscope Team I like looking at all the different samples that come through and imaging them. It is fun to see new technology before most of the public has yet to see them. We have seen flexible silicon that could be used as a cell phone so you can roll it up and put it in your pocket
- Teacher Why do you find dead bugs? Why can't you just look at them alive?
Bugscope Team we put the insects in a vacuum and beam electrons at them. If they were to somehow survive that process than to image them would be difficult because they would be moving around
- Teacher What is your name and the other scientist names?
Bugscope Team My name is Cate and Scot is usually on but it sick today. Sometimes we get a guy, Alex that helps, and Annie sometimes logs in and she is an entymologist
- 11:06am
- Teacher Thank you for letting us talk to you today.
- Teacher How do you use the SEM?
Bugscope Team We put the samples on double stick carbon tape that is attached to an aluminum disk. The disk gets mounted into the chamber that can then be pumped to a vacuum. We beam electrons at the sample and image from there!
- Teacher We like how you can put the bugs so you can see them.
Bugscope Team yes they are fun to look at most often
- Bugscope Team Thanks for using bugscope this morning. It's always fun to do bugscope
- Teacher What is the SEM made of?
Bugscope Team mostly metals and plastics. Since xrays can be produced too, we have lead shielding around the chamber so we won't be exposed to them
- Teacher We'll be back when we get home and go online.
- Bugscope Team sure thanks for joining us today!
- Teacher See you next time when we get home. Hope you have a good day.
- Teacher We really liked how you got the bugs to zoom in and zoom out.
- Teacher Well, Cate. Another great Bugscope lesson. Thank you so much for offering this experience to my students. You all are "da bomb"!
- Teacher We like to be like the Founding Fathers by saying, "Huzahhhhhhhh!" Bye.
- Bugscope Team thanks!
- Bugscope Team here is inside the chamber
- Bugscope Team the electrons come from the top
