Connected on 2011-05-25 09:00:00 from Denver, Colorado, United States
- 9:33am
- Bugscope Team we are ready!
- 9:39am
- Bugscope Team hi patrick there is a problem finding your exact session log in.
- Bugscope Team Will be this ok for now?
- Bugscope Team the password should be jessica
- Guest I am in!
- Guest Can you guys see me?
- Bugscope Team yes i can see you sorry
- 9:44am
- Bugscope Team i also gave you control of the microscope if you want to try cruising around
- Bugscope Team you should be able to click with a single click for the area you want to center, change the mag, focus, or click on the left arrow to jump to another preset
- Guest Awesome. My brother used to run a SEM so he wanted to know how you guys dehydrate your samples, and how you coat them.
Bugscope Team some of them have been critical point dried, and others were air dried. We coat them with a thin layer of gold/palladium using a sputter coater.
- Guest Should I instruct my teachers just to login as Guest like me?
Bugscope Team they can, or they might have the option of logging in as a student. It doesnt't matter either way
- 9:50am
- 9:55am
- Guest We have a student who wants to know what wasps eat?
Bugscope Team that depends, but the common wasp likes to eat garbage, which is why you usually see them buzzing around picnic tables.
Bugscope Team there are others that eat spiders and other insects
- Guest Alondra wants to know why they don't have eyelids?
Bugscope Team they also don't have eyeballs. Our eyelids help keep out dust/dirt, and help close out light. With insects, if they got dust on their eye, they can usually clean them with their legs. As for light, they don't have anything to block it out. They also don't sleep like us, but they do enter a period of inactivity that lets them rest
- 10:00am
- Guest What happens when a wasp stings you?
Bugscope Team they don't die, that is just in the case of a honeybee. When a wasp stings you, they can sting you multiple times and inject you with a little of their venom each time. The histamine component in their venom is what people are allergic to
- Bugscope Team the stinger also acts as an ovipositor, which is where they lay eggs. So most of the bees, wasps, and ants you see are females
- Guest How much does a wasp eat in a day?
- 10:06am
- Guest I just brought in 2 classes of 5th grade and we are going to choose images here . . .
Bugscope Team ok sounds great
- Bugscope Team Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images you might see in movies or tv shows are usually false colored, which is done later after they were acquired
- 10:13am
- Guest Is the ladybug dead?
Bugscope Team yes all the insects you will see today are dead, and that is important. If they were alive they wouldn't sit still for very long. Another thing is these samples are kept in a vacuum as we look at them, so they wouldn't be able to breathe. I also don't think they would like the electrons hitting.
- Bugscope Team this is the antenna on the ladybug
- Bugscope Team antennae are very important to insects, some rely on them more than their eyesight. They help them with gathering signals from other insects
- Guest Where do the insects secrete chemicals to communicate?
Bugscope Team I believe most do it out of the tip of their abdomen. Stink bugs have special glands for their stink by their front pair of legs
- Guest Dr. Brown wants to know why these are so hairy?
Bugscope Team insects are hairy because they rely on those hairs to help them sense what is going on around it in its environment. They have that tough exoskeleton which isn't sensitive like our skin, so those hairs which are attached to nerves underneath their 'shell' allow them to feel, taste/smell, feel vibrations, or sense temperature changes
- Bugscope Team this fruit fly eye is hairy because the hairs help them feel changes in the wind currents and also when things come close to their eyes, like cat whiskers
- 10:18am
- Guest Is there a way to know what their vision looks like? And how may parts do they have in thier compound eye?
Bugscope Team the fruit fly has thousands. All those facets make it so they can see movement really quickly. So when we are trying to swat them, it just looks like our hand is coming at them in slow motion.
- Guest What's that stuff in the eye? Are there hairs on their eye when they are born?
Bugscope Team this stuff is mostly broken off hairs, which are called setae (pronounced see-tee). When they are maggots they don't have hairs on their eyes, but they do once they emerge as adults.
- 10:23am
- Guest We are getting lots of questions - sorry for the pace - why are they shaped like hexagons?
Bugscope Team good question (they all are really). Hexagons are the best shape to fit the curvature of the eye. They allow there to be as many facets as there can be in a spherical shape. that is why honey combs have hexagons
- Guest What the heck are these?
Bugscope Team these are special hairs that some insects have by their feet. They allow them to walk on vertical surfaces. Like how you see flies walk on your windows. They act like suction cups or velcro
- Guest So the tips are like suction cups? is that why they are a little larger?
Bugscope Team yes that's right
- Bugscope Team micro suction cups
- 10:28am
- Guest How many seate do insects have on their feet?
Bugscope Team that depends. In the case of this ladybug, each leg could have hundreds. The fruit fly has much fewer
- Guest What do fruit flies have claws for? A student yesterday asked if fruit flies eat things that aren't fruit?
Bugscope Team all insects have claws at the ends of their legs. They may not all look the same. Insects use them to grab onto things for balance or for eating. Fruit flies actually don't eat fruit, they eat an enzyme found on overripe fruit. But that is all they eat yes.
- 10:33am
- Guest Kids are taking turns driving
Bugscope Team that is great
- Guest What are the lines in the back?
Bugscope Team those are from the carbon tape the insects are sitting on. It helps ground the charge from the electrons as well as help the insects stick down
- Bugscope Team an ambush bug hangs out on plants and flowers mostly and waits for an unsuspecting insect to come by and snatches them for a meal
- Guest It looks like his senior picture.
- Bugscope Team they have those big meaty arms to grab onto the insects, kind of like a praying mantis
- Bugscope Team it kind of has a toady appearance with all its bumps
- Guest Is that thing in the middle the sucker that they eat bug juice from?
Bugscope Team that's right!
- 10:39am
- Guest Leslie wants to know what the hollow area is there by the leg?
Bugscope Team ah. that is where a pin was stuck through the insect. It used to be part of an entomologist's collection
- Guest What are the bumps for?
Bugscope Team not sure how the bumps help this insect. Maybe they help it blend into whatever plant it likes to hang around
- Guest What is the line down the middle?
Bugscope Team that is another mystery to me
- Guest Do they live in moist areas or dry areas?
Bugscope Team i think they mostly live in moist areas
- 10:44am
- Guest We know that females are the only ones that suck blodd, so what do the males eat?
Bugscope Team some males don't eat anything, and others will drink plant sap
- Guest Do insects have different seate for different things, or do they perform all of the sensory information at the same time?
Bugscope Team they have different setae for different things. Most are for the sense of touch.
- Bugscope Team these are all great questions everyone
- Guest What are the donut looking things? Are they eyes, or is the surrounding area the eye?
Bugscope Team those are not the eyes, but are often mistaken for them. The eyes are the bumpy areas that cover most the head. The donut things are called pestils, where the antennae come out. One of the antenna broke off, so we only see one
- Guest Is this one missing an antena?
Bugscope Team yes one of them broke off
- Guest Why does it itch when they bite you?
Bugscope Team that is because of the anticoagulant they inject you with when their pierce your skin
- Bugscope Team mosquitoes see in infrared
- Bugscope Team as do moths
- Bugscope Team their eye facets look a little lumpy and that is because they lost some of their shape when they dried out
- 10:51am
- Guest Why is blood better for females to lay eggs? Is it to feed the larvae?
Bugscope Team The blood gives the female enough energy to lay the eggs.
- Guest Where do the eggs come from, and how many do mosquitos lay at a time?
Bugscope Team they come out from the tip of the abdomen and they can lay 100 to 250 eggs.
- Guest When they lay their eggs are the larvae sticky?
Bugscope Team The larvae live in the water and come to the surface to breathe. I am not sure if they are sticky. They could be
Bugscope Team The larva feed on micro-organisms and organic matter in the water.
- Bugscope Team the eggs are sticky
- 10:56am
- Guest What is the thing directly in the middle?
Bugscope Team we are seeing the beetle head from the underside. Like if you were looking up All of those near the top are mouth parts. The thing nearest the middle could be something to help the food stay in the mouth. The "feelers" are palps, which help move around food or taste
- Guest Also, what are the circular things in the background?
Bugscope Team those are more artifacts from the carbon tape
- Guest Where are the eyes?
Bugscope Team they are found near the very bottom of the image, They are the bulging things on either side by the antennae
- Guest I have a huge list comeing now: What is the smallest insect?
Bugscope Team that would be the fairyfly. It's a very small wasp that packs a powerful sting
- Guest How large can beetles grow?
Bugscope Team Tht depends on the species. The world's largest beetle: Titanus giganteus, a member of the Cerambycidae native to South America. These large beetles can measure up to 170 mm (over 6 inches in length).
- 11:02am
- Guest Are there flies that can kill people?
Bugscope Team not that I know of, but there are bot fly larvae that can burrow into your skin
- Guest Where do beetles lay eggs?
Bugscope Team usually in dark moist places. Like dead tree branches
- Bugscope Team here is a caddisfly larva. In the larval stage they are aquatic
- Guest What do these larvae eat?
Bugscope Team they eat algae mostly
Bugscope Team some will cast nets to capture and eat other insects
- Guest What are those things? Are they saete?
Bugscope Team those are gills
- Guest How long do these flies live?
Bugscope Team adults can live up to several months, but sometimes as little as a few weeks
- Guest How large are these larvae?
Bugscope Team only a couple centimeters big
- 11:07am
- Guest Do all insects have compound eyes?
Bugscope Team yes all insects do. Spiders, which aren't really insects just have compound eyes
- Guest Is this the mouth? And someone wanted to know if these larvae have eyes?
Bugscope Team yes this is the mouth. It is kind of dirty but it has a hunged jaw that opens out like a gate
Bugscope Team they might have eyes, but they are hard to pick out
- Bugscope Team these are found in the palp of a ladybug. They are the setae responsible for tasting
- Guest Where are these located on the ladybug?
Bugscope Team sorry I kind of answered that, but this is part of the palp (a mouthpart) of the ladybug
- Bugscope Team there's a little piece of dirt/dust hanging off the side
- Bugscope Team the ladybug is dirty probably because it was found already dead in someone's home. In life, they usually like to keep themselves cleaner
- Guest What insects do they eat in our garden?
Bugscope Team they eat other insects, mostly aphids. They are helpful to gardens. Not so helpful when they overwinter in our homes
- 11:12am
- Guest The students wanted to thank you! We have to switch classes! This was GREAT!
Bugscope Team Thank you for using bugscope today. Sorry about the confusion with the log in in the beginning
- Bugscope Team Glad you all had a great time
- Guest Do you guys have a couple of more minutes for first grade questions?
- Bugscope Team yes we have a few minutes
- 11:17am
- Guest Is our info ready immediately? And will it be on our site - I think it thought we were a different school.
Bugscope Team this will be available on this school's member page. We will try to figure out if we can move it over for your member page.
- Bugscope Team but for now you can see images and chat on https://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-030
- Bugscope Team I will email someone on staff that actually made the software for bugscope. I think it is relatively easy to move the data over to your member page
- Bugscope Team to the right is a scale on the eye
- 11:22am
- Guest First and second grade want to know what we are looking at here?
Bugscope Team the is part of the moth compound eye. It has a bunch of scales all over it, which most likely happened after it died.
- Guest What is the stuff sitting on top?
Bugscope Team Those are all scales, most likely shed from either this moth or other moths that it was captured with
- Bugscope Team scales can be used as a defensive measure. Say the moth is caught in a spider net, it can simple shed a few scales and possible get away
- Guest Why are these called "Backswimmers"
Bugscope Team they swim upsidedown. They are predatory- attacking other insects and drinking their liquids out from the tube they have as a mouthpart
- 11:28am
- Guest What is the dark space where we centered the image?
Bugscope Team that is a segment of their thorax that allows them to bend like your knee
Bugscope Team it is dark because it seems to overhand the other segment a little
Bugscope Team overhang*
- Guest These are the saete for walking?
Bugscope Team they are the suction cup setae. The hairs that help the insect walk on walls
- Guest Kids want to know what the stuff in the middle of the saetee is?
Bugscope Team dust, dirt, and other debris. Stuff that doesn't belong. It can get caught up in the hairs easily
- Bugscope Team the round ball near the lower middle might be a mold spore
- Guest Okay - we are done on this side. Where can we email some drawings we make to you?
- Guest THANK YOU SO MUCH!
- 11:34am
- Bugscope Team you can email bugscope@bugscope.itg.uiuc.edu.
Bugscope Team i'm sorry it's bugscope@beckman.illinois.edu. It changed a little
- Bugscope Team thank you all for joining today
- Bugscope Team it is kind of dark but this is the view from inside the chamber
- Bugscope Team you can see all the insects
