Connected on 2012-01-11 09:30:00 from , Virginia, United States
- 7:53am
- Bugscope Team venting chamber
- 8:00am
- Bugscope Team sample is now pumping down
- 8:14am
- 8:19am
- 8:31am
- 8:37am
- 8:45am
- 8:50am
- Bugscope Team now we are making the presets for today's session
- 8:56am
- 9:10am
- Bugscope Team hello!
- Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Team Please feel free to ask us questions about what you see. Is your teacher on?
- Guest Working on getting our main screen up. The kids are on their machines. Are you ready for questions?
- Bugscope Team yes we are!
- Bugscope Team yes and we can give control to any of the students if you want
- Bugscope Team Mrs Palmer! Yay!
- Bugscope Team Mrs Palmer has control of the 'scope now.
- Guest hello this is chason
- Guest Why do they look so bumpy?
- 9:15am
- Guest Ok so we want to know what the Cells are.
- Guest what bug is that?
Bugscope Team this is stargazer lily pollen we put in because we think it looks cool
- Guest Hi, Madalyn and Ambe rhere
Bugscope Team these are pollen grains
- Guest what are the slits in the pollen
Bugscope Team the slits could be where they collapsed into themselves when they dried, or that could be where they open
- Guest Why are they so powdery?
- Guest what is stargazer lily pollen
- Guest hey this is anthony and ethan.
Bugscope Team Hello Anthony and Ethan!
- Guest But this is BUG scope
- Guest Hey this is Katie
Bugscope Team Hi Katie!
- Guest wHAT ARE THOSE CRATER LOOKING THINGS ON THEM?
- Guest what are those vien type of things on the pollen
- Guest Why does it apear to look like rice particals?
Bugscope Team some pollen is oval like this and does look like rice, in a way
- Guest Hey this Brendan and Mark
- Guest what is in this picture ?
- Guest is the pollen on a bug?
Bugscope Team this is on the anther of a flower
- Guest Hello?
Bugscope Team Hello!
- Guest what are the little bumps
Bugscope Team those bumps could be made of sticky stuff so that they can stick to things more easily for transportation
- Guest what are th dots behind then pollen grains
Bugscope Team That is probably dried nectar -- what attracts insects to flowers
- Guest I never knew pollen really looked like that
- Guest Is that a plant?
Bugscope Team it's part of a plant
- Guest amazing
- Guest Why do they look like coral?
- Guest Cool what plant?
- Guest whay do they look like they are in sections
- Guest Why do they have like dents in them?
Bugscope Team the dents probably help give it a more solid structure
- Guest why is it hairy
- Guest Why does it look furry
- Guest Why is a fuzzy?
- Bugscope Team the part in focus is the stinger. There is also part of a wasp leg in the way
- Guest That is absalutely amazing looking, What are those little monkey looking claw things on the top?
- Guest what part is the stinger
Bugscope Team the stinger is in the middle, pointed down; part of a limb is blocking our view of the tip
- Guest What is the thing in the background?
- Guest why is there hair and two sections ?
- Guest what are those lines in the stinger
- Guest Why does it have hair on it?
Bugscope Team some of the very fine hairs help create a pattern other insects will recognize, and they likely help the insect thermostabilize
- Guest Does it have fur/hair?
Bugscope Team all insects have hair on them. We call the individual bug hairs seta (setae plural). They help the insect to feel what is going on around them. They are connected to nerves underneath their exoskeleton shells
- Guest awesome
- 9:20am
- Guest what is the darker stuff aroud the edges of the stinger
Bugscope Team those are oils of some sort. Could be venom that dried on it
- Guest when did you know you wanted to do this
- Guest why is there an opening in the back?
- Guest What are thoese pointy things?
Bugscope Team they're spines or bristles -- setae -- that help the insect sense its environment
- Guest Do they have joints?
Bugscope Team yes. If they didn't have joints/segments they wouldn't be able to move their body and limbs around very well
- Guest Are any of these our bugs?
- Guest are any of these are bugs?
- Guest How much venom to they have in them
Bugscope Team they have enough that they can sting repeatedly before they have to wait for it to build up again
- Guest are any of these our bugs
- Guest what is the armor looking part
Bugscope Team that is a great way of putting it! insects have an exoskeleton, which is kind of like a shell, like armor.
- Guest Do they die when they sting somebody like bees
Bugscope Team no they don't!
- Guest What is the armor looking things
Bugscope Team insect exoskeletons are like suits of armor. If you were wearing a suit of armor you wouldnt be able to feel anything. That's why they are covered in those hairs
- Guest Are any of these our bugs?
Bugscope Team I'm not sure if we got bugs from you yet.
- Guest why is it a gap in the long pointy thing?
- Guest Is that a cacoon behind it ,or is that a part of its body, and if it is a part of the body, witch one?
Bugscope Team that is a folded wing, or two wings actually. wasps and bees have four wings
- Guest what are the dots on the head
- Guest thank you
- Guest Why do some parts have hair and others don't?
Bugscope Team some parts, like the stinger, may not need hair. But areas around it do so they can still tell if they were able to sting their victims
- Guest Why does there "armor" over lap?
Bugscope Team it helps make them flexible
- Guest why does the arms look like bamboo sticks?
- Guest what kind of room are you guys in while you're putting the bugs under the microscope?
- Guest why does it have all those plates
Bugscope Team the plates allow it to move around.
- Guest We mailed are bugs all the way back in september?!?!?
Bugscope Team oh no! I wonder what I did with them
- Guest why is the head/exoskeleton sectioned in 2?
- Guest What is he leaf shaped thing with the spots
Bugscope Team that is actually two wings
- Guest wouldn't the legs help it move it around instead of the plates?
- Guest how fast can the wasps fly
- Bugscope Team it looks like your teacher is trying to go to another place and the 'scope is stuck -- can we help with that?
- Guest what are the nonfurry overlaping things?
- Bugscope Team here's a gross roach
- Guest why7 is it so flat
- Guest Why does it have bacteria looking things on it?
- Guest why does it have spikes on its head and legs
- Guest where are the eyes?
Bugscope Team the eyes are right behind the antennae
- 9:25am
- Guest does it have a nose
- Guest what are the long things coming from his head?
Bugscope Team antennae!
- Guest Is his "shell" really rough?
- Guest What are all the spots on theface?
- Guest what are the lines and bumps on its face?
Bugscope Team there's some dirt and other debris like scales from other insects on it
- Guest Is the antennaes sticking out the head the eyes?
Bugscope Team the eyes are behind the antennae and hard to see -- they are streamlined into the head
- Guest why are there spikes on there legs?
Bugscope Team those are like cat whiskers, allowing it to feel what's around it
- Guest why does it have a bunch of lines on it's antenae.
- Guest what are the spikes on its legs
- Guest Why does it have bacteria looking things on it?
Bugscope Team it has dirt on it for sure. we can see bacteria but not at this low mag
- Guest what are the spuikes on the l.egs
- Guest Have you been interested in bugs sense fifth grade
Bugscope Team more and more
- Guest How long did you go to college for your job?
- Guest Is he spikey?
- Guest what classes did you have to take to get your degree
Bugscope Team biology and English were both helpful for me
- Guest how long have you been intested in bugs?
- Guest So, how many years were you in college studying this subject?
Bugscope Team i went to college for 4 years, and I studied physics actually. I have been learning about insects since I joined Bugscope.
- Guest why does the head look like a triangle?
- Guest Is the bugs skin smooth or slimy
Bugscope Team smooth, but it doesn't look that way under the microscope does it
- Guest oh ok
- Guest How was english helpful
Bugscope Team it helps you understand etymology -- how words are put together, and thus what they mean
- Guest How big is he?
- Guest Are you happy with your job, is it fun?
Bugscope Team it is very fun. And we don't always look at bugs, but when we do there are so many different insects to see and learn about, that it never gets boring
- Guest cate how long have you be part of bugscope?
- Guest what is your favorite type of bug
- Guest What classes did you study for bugs in college?
- Guest what are those things that look like scratches on it's face?
- Guest how many are replying
- Guest is that the shell in the background?
Bugscope Team the roach 'shell' is the part that runs around the head towards the bottom of the screen. The stuff behind that is carbon tape, which we use to stick the insects on
- Guest what is the most interesting bug you have had
- Guest What are the blobs on the eye
- Guest what is the black thing sitting on it?
- Guest what are the pokey things sticking out?
- Guest What is the most interesting bug you have seen?
Bugscope Team lately it has been springtails, which are tiny and very cool to look at
- Guest sweet. why does it have like legs coming out of it's mouth?
Bugscope Team those are mouth parts. Palps are mouth parts that allow the insect to taste or move around food
- Guest What are the pointy things on it's eye?
- Guest Re the clumps germs
- Guest why are the hairs poking out?
Bugscope Team those help the earwig sense when something might be touching its eye
- 9:31am
- Guest why does it look like cloth weaving in and out
- Guest did you study latin for the bugs names
Bugscope Team I did study latin and some greek, but not for bugscope. It is useful to know some of both though
- Guest cate how long have you be part of bugscope?
Bugscope Team Since 2005!
- Guest What are the sticks like things poking out of the white bulges, and why is there dirt looking stuff on them?
Bugscope Team insects are often dirty, and once they die they cannot clean themselves, so it is not all the earwig's fault
- Guest what is the spot on the top right corner
- Guest Is that crust on it?
- Guest What are the spikes?
- Guest what are those bumps and spikes on its eye?
Bugscope Team the spikes are little hairs and the bumps are individual facets of the compound eye. They can each see an image
- Guest Why does it have all those bumps on it?
Bugscope Team those are the individual lenses of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- Guest Why are there so many sections of the eye
- Guest what is the lump on the top?
Bugscope Team that is a piece of dirt or dust
- Guest why does the eyes look like bumps
Bugscope Team those are eye facets, called ommatidia, individual lenses
- Guest what are those things that look like rocks sitting on the eye
- Guest is that crust on it?
- Guest is IT SOFT AND GOOY
Bugscope Team no not like ours. They are hard like the rest of its body
- Guest what are the spikes on the eye
Bugscope Team those are mechanosensory setae like cat or rat whiskers
- Guest What is the black thing on it's eye?
- Guest what is that chunk on it's eye?
Bugscope Team it's some random dirt
- Guest is that bacteria on it's eye
Bugscope Team there may be, but we would have to go to higher mag to see it
- Guest when was this picture taken?
- Guest are its eyes cracked in spaces
- Guest Is that bacteria siting on it?
Bugscope Team no Bacteria usually look like little rods about the size of the smaller pieces of dirt. And they aren't all over insects as tv commercials would have us believe
- Guest How many individual bumps are on his eye?
- Guest Ok, do you have any springtails, or any parts of ones that our class can see?
Bugscope Team we did not put any springtails on the stub today; the ones we saw came from an entomologist, and we didn'
- Guest how many of you are replying?
Bugscope Team today there are only 2 of us-- Me and Scot
- Bugscope Team oops we did not get extra springtails...
- Guest it looks like a fly eye
Bugscope Team it does for sure
- Guest oh ok.
- Guest WHY DOESN'T IT LOOK LIKE AN EYE?
Bugscope Team it looks like a compound eye, quite different from ours
- Guest Why are they alot and how many eyes do they have?
Bugscope Team Insects have 2 compound eyes. Some of the flying insects will also have a set of three simple eyes (similar to spider eyes) that can detect light and help orientate the insect
- Guest why are there whiskers on the eye?
Bugscope Team they have a function like that of cat or rat whiskers, so you could say that
- Guest ARE those Legs are something?
- Guest what is that big bump
- Guest got*
- Guest what is it doing
- Guest what is the thing that looks like a brian on the bottom?
- Guest why does it look like another bug on it?
- Guest Are those things it's legs all pulled down? And what ear is it on, don't they go on dogs and stuff?
- Guest How big is the mite?
Bugscope Team you can see from the scalebar that it is about 200 -- 250 microns long, about a fourth of a millimeter
- Guest it looks kinda like a jellyfish
- 9:36am
- Guest DOES IT LOOK LIKE A HORSESHOE CRAB
Bugscope Team yes it does a little!
- Guest what is the heart looking thing?
Bugscope Team that is a mite that lives on the earwig's cuticle
- Guest is it a skin cell eater or a blood sucker
Bugscope Team we are not sure. it may actually suck the hemolymph through the earwig's exoskeleton
- Guest Is that an exoskeleton?
- Guest are you using our bugs?
Bugscope Team no sorry
- Guest Is it on like a dog or something? Where do you find a mite?
- Guest Are those legs?
Bugscope Team those are legs sticking out that help it move around on the host
- Guest what is the mite on?
Bugscope Team this one is on the arm of an earwig -- ask your teacher to take the mag lower so you can see where it is
- Guest Is a mite more simalar to a flea or a tick
- Guest what is that stuff on it's gbody
Bugscope Team more debris that doesn't belong
- Guest why does it look like a jellyfish
Bugscope Team it's funny -- just a coincidence
- Guest what are the tentacale things
Bugscope Team those are its limb
- Guest What are those spikes around it
Bugscope Team those are on the surface of the earwig
- Guest iS A MITE SIMALAR TO A FLEA
Bugscope Team not much are known about these mites. If they suck the host's blood than I suppose they are similar to fleas. But they don't hop around
- Guest Do they have teeth?
Bugscope Team no, not that we've seen
- Guest does it have a hard outer shell ish
Bugscope Team ish is exactly right, it is a bit soft
- Guest How do mites move
Bugscope Team they have little legs. we see some of them
- Guest cool. is it on its leg or the stinger in the back
- Guest what is the wrinkly thing at the bottom?
- Guest How small is the mite
- Guest is that the leg
- Bugscope Team I made those changes in the mag so you could see where the mite is
- Guest why is the leg look square
- Guest how big is a mite?
Bugscope Team it's about 250 micrometers, 250 microns, or 1/4 of a millimeter
- Guest is the earwig dead
Bugscope Team yes it is
- Guest What is is sitting on?
Bugscope Team the mite is on the earwig leg. The earwig is sitting on carbon tape (the stuff that looks like there are bubbles on it)
- Guest Do mites cause disceaces?
Bugscope Team dustmites are sometimes responsible for allergies
- Guest is that the only mite on it
Bugscope Team no there are a couple other mites we found on this one
- 9:41am
- Guest That is a small mite!
Bugscope Team ha yes it is!
- Guest what bug is that on?
- Guest oh, are dust mites dust?
Bugscope Team they are found in dust, often
- Guest is the mite dead
Bugscope Team yes all the insects are dead in the microscope. Not only do we put them in a vacuum when we put them in a microscope, but before we put them in we coated them with a thin layer of metal to help make them conductive
- Bugscope Team here is another compound eye
- Guest Why does it look like a big furry ball?
- Guest Is there hair around the eye?
- Guest What are the thins on the eye?
- Guest do the golf ball looking bumps help the bug see better?
- Guest why is it so poped out
Bugscope Team that helps it see all around -- it gives it very good peripheral vision
- Guest what is the eye belong to
- Guest is that dust or bacteria?
Bugscope Team there may be some bacteria there
- Guest are the dirt more debris
- Guest are those all abunch of eyes
- Guest why is it called a true bug eye
Bugscope Team this is a type of insect called a true bug. All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs :) True bugs are insects that look similar to beetles but they have a proboscis like a butterfly, that they use to drink liquids like bug blood or plant sap
- Guest What bug is it on? A TRUE bug?
Bugscope Team True bugs are from a family called Hemiptera. it's an entomology thing...
- Guest it looks like a rat with antenae
Bugscope Team haha
- Guest what is that big stick ?
- Guest why is the eyes spread so far apart?
- Guest what is the long stick in the middle?
Bugscope Team that is its proboscis, part of what makes it a true bug
- Guest what is the tube running down the middle
- Guest He looks creepy! i would not like to wake up to that in life size in my house!
- Guest Is that like a really long mouth or what?
Bugscope Team yes it goes all the down to about midway it's body
- Guest how many images can it see at one time
Bugscope Team it combines them into a view of a large area, but an advantage of having so many lenses is that it can sense changes in the visual field very quickly, like something attacking it
- Guest is the long thing the nose?
- 9:46am
- Guest Do their eyes work different than ours?How?
Bugscope Team they see what we think is a mosaic of images, and they can respond very quickly to what they see because they're sensitive to small changes in the visual field, more than we are
- Guest OH COOL
- Guest Why is there a hole in the middle?
- Guest does it suck pollen?
Bugscope Team probably sap and plant juices that are in leaves
- Guest what is the thing in the middle
- Guest What is the hole??????
- Guest What is the giant hole in the middle?
- Guest where does the web get stored
- Guest what is that hole????????
- Guest what are those veins on the base
- Guest oops, sorry, hole not holle
- Guest how does it defend itself from getting squashed
Bugscope Team one thing it does is remain camouflaged -- its legs resemble leaves, for example
- Guest So does web come out of the hole
- Guest What is the stuff in the backround?
- Guest what bug is it
Bugscope Team that type of true bug was a seed bug, I believe. They feed on seeds and other plants
- Guest what are the bubbles on its stem thing
Bugscope Team they are likely web that did not turn into a filament
- Guest what is thhat holle?
Bugscope Team that's where the spider silk comes out
- Guest what is that stuff around it
- Guest how long does it take for it to shoot out a web and does it depend on how long it is?
- Guest what is arond the hole?
- Guest why does it look wet?
Bugscope Team it has a lot of fluid around it that is dry but looks weet
- Guest Where is that main thing?
- Guest so thats how it makes it webd?
- Bugscope Team Spider webs are made of protein, so if the spider has been unlucky in getting food, it can eat its own web as a last resort
- Guest weet?
- Guest where is the spinneret located
Bugscope Team at the end of its abdomen
- Guest are those her legs
Bugscope Team no they are setae, like insects have as well
- Guest what are those bubble like things above it
- Guest what are the sticks?
Bugscope Team those are setae that probably protect the softer spinnerets from getting mashed
- Guest why does look like it has nails in it
Bugscope Team those help manipulate the strands of silk to make a web
- Guest Are those all the legs around it?
- Guest how large is the spinneret
- Guest what are the spinnerets
- Guest how long can a spider last without food
- Guest waht is setae
- Guest Is it a single head or attached to the body?
- Guest why does it not look like a spider
Bugscope Team we were only looking at a small part- the end of its abdomen
- Guest why is it so hairy
- Guest Why does it have suck a big head?
- Guest what is the line in the back ground
- 9:51am
- Guest such
- Guest It's mouth is nasty!
Bugscope Team haha
- Guest are all the lines hair?
- Guest what is that patch of bubbles
Bugscope Team the compound eye
- Guest YAY
- Guest where is it's eye?
Bugscope Team to the top and left a bit
- Guest is that a whole bug or just a bug's face?
Bugscope Team this is the head of the ant, or part of it
- Guest are those compounds on it's eyes and is it laying on it's side?
- Guest are thoses hairs
- Guest why does it have little hairs?
Bugscope Team the little hairs give it a recognizable pattern
- Guest why is so hairy?
- Guest Where the eyes?
- Guest what is the little fuzzy thing
- Guest Why do you guys interest in such nasty bugs?
- Guest why is there all these antenae infront of the jaw
- Guest Does that mean it has multiple eyes?
Bugscope Team it has two compound eyes like many larger insects but uses its antennae more for chemical signalling
- Guest what are the black lines at the top of the picture??
Bugscope Team that is the carbon tape again
- Guest YAY!!
- Guest what is the spike looking thing above the pincirs
- Guest where is it's mouth?
Bugscope Team we are centered on the mouth right now.
- Guest why is the head so big and the body so small?
- Bugscope Team The things that look like legs are the palps- the parts that taste or move around food
- Guest why does it look like hair is surrounding it?
- Guest Why do you guys interest in such nasty bugs?
- Guest ooo! the spider fangs
- Guest sorry I typed it so much, i could not think of anything else
- Guest what is the mud looking stuff
- Guest Why do you guys interest in such nasty bugs?
Bugscope Team they, most often, have a lot of very cool features on them
- Guest Is that spider teeth?
- Guest what type of spider is it?
- Bugscope Team not we are looking into the spiders mouth
- Guest Those are long fangs!
- Guest why do you zoom up so close on the
- Guest can the fangs inject venom strong enough to kill you
Bugscope Team not this spider. Most spiders found in North America are relatively harmless to humans.
- Guest why is it so dirty iside
- Guest What is the nastiest thing you have ever came apon in your career dealing with bugs?
- Guest inside
- 9:56am
- Guest what type of spider is it
- Guest why is there hair on the fangs
Bugscope Team the fangs themselves do not have hair on them; it is hard to see right now
- Guest what does the things that look like legs do?
- Guest this looks so cool
- Guest like what cool features?
Bugscope Team like special sensory pits on a wasp antenna that allows it to sense the pheromones other wasps have given off. Or the mouthparts of a tick that it uses to cut into a human
- Guest has anyone ever sent you guys a bug like a black widow or something else that was venomous?
- Guest What are the things around it?
- Guest ew!
- Guest what is that in the middle
- Guest ew
- Guest ew?
- Guest were are the eyes
Bugscope Team they are on the other side of the head -- we have to make a choice
- Guest why does it have fangs?
Bugscope Team spiders will bite into an insects to disable them and inject the venom that liquifies the insect's insides. Then the spider can drink the liquified remains like a protein shake
- Guest is it waving to us?
- Guest this looks like something from a horror movie
- Guest It looks kind of cute like its waving
- Guest Why does it have long antennas?
Bugscope Team antennae are very important to wasps, bees, and ants. They rely on them to communicate with others
- Guest weres its mouth
- Guest awesomw
- Guest why does the eyes look like bubbles?
- Guest why does the mouth look like it has a claw overit
- Guest What is the most nasty encounter you guys have ever had in your bug career?
Bugscope Team for me it was a large dead centipede that really scared me; Cate was there...
- Guest how big was it?????? :D
- Guest what is his mouth overlaped / cracked
Bugscope Team their mouths open side to side like a gate, and they have tooth like elements
- Guest how big was the centipede?
- Guest alrighty now peace out!
- Teacher To prepare for the nexct class, should we have these students log out and then log back in or will we lose our connection?
Bugscope Team they can lot out, so the next students can pick their own names. you wont lose your connection.
- Guest what is that zig zag beard thing
Bugscope Team those are the mandibles
- Guest This is very neat and I'll love to do this again!
- Guest g2g thank you so much it was really fun, see you later bye
- Guest bye and thank you for showing us the bug
- Guest if i was very small could this .kill me:(
Bugscope Team maybe. It could also have a chance of that if you were allergic to the venom
- Guest how big was the centipede?
- Guest this was really neat.thankyou. i hope to get to do it again
- 10:01am
- Guest Thank you, we really enjoyed this! It was cool learning about bugs! Bye!
- Guest thank you for helping us out, this was very wierd and awesome.
Bugscope Team Totally cool.
- Guest thanks this was so cool byeserz
Bugscope Team Sweet. Thank You!
- Guest thank you this was so cool, i cant wait to talk to you again bye:).
- Guest thank YOU for showing us these bugs.
- Guest thank you for talking to us, We loved it. I love looking at all of the cool bugs!
Bugscope Team Awesome. We had fun too!
- Guest This was a learning experience...Wonderful!
Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Guest :) lol
- Guest to scott
- Guest scot you is so awesomeness
Bugscope Team haha. Thanks!
- Guest Thank you for showing us the bugs
- Guest thank all of you guys/girls
- Guest :) ;) ;) :0
- Guest Thanks for being very intelligent and helping us
- Guest you welcomez
- Guest :)
- Guest You are wonderful people...bye
- Guest thank's cate. you were awesome
- Bugscope Team haha thanks
- Guest how big was the nasty centipede?!?!?
Bugscope Team About 3 inches long and about half the thickness of someone's fingers.
- Guest cate,your cool
Bugscope Team yeah Cate is cool.
- Guest Thank you all it was soooooooo much fun bye
Bugscope Team Bye!
- 10:10am
- Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Team Please let us know when you have questions.
- Teacher Next class is ready to begin! :)
- Bugscope Team This is the head of a wasp, and you can see that its head has an apparent crack in it so that fluid has come out onto one eye
- Student are those the antenaes bent?
Bugscope Team yes they are. that is one of the differences between ants and wasps
- Student Why are the eyes so big?
Bugscope Team flying insects like wasps have huge eyes go around the head allowing them to see almost 360 degrees around them
- Student Why are the anteneas bent down?
Bugscope Team they have their antennae out in front so they can use them to collect chemical signals
- Student why is its arm up and the other isnt
Bugscope Team that's just the way it was when it died
- Student is there a crack in the left eye?
Bugscope Team yes!
- Student Why is there little hairs on it?
Bugscope Team there are hairs all over them to help them sense what is going on around themselves
- Student why is one part of the mouth over the other?
Bugscope Team the mandibles fold open, side to side, like a gate
- Student How big would you say the bug is?
Bugscope Team it's about 2 cm long
- Student What is the stub on the left near the antennae?
Bugscope Team that is one of the legs with a claw on the end
- Student oh so that is what happened to the wasp.
- Student Do you have any idea why the head cracked open?
Bugscope Team might have been when it was caught
- Student how would the wasp have gotten the crack in his or her eye
Bugscope Team we might've crushed the head somehow -- part of the body is also crushed
- Student hi whats the thing that on the right of the right antennas
- Student Why does its mouth look weird
- Student Why are there segments on the wasps antennas?
Bugscope Team it makes them more flexible because they are hardened, kind of like a coat of armor
- Student why are the arms connected to each other at the end?
- Student it looks like it has fingers:)
Bugscope Team those are its claws
- 10:15am
- Student why are there rings around the antennes
Bugscope Team those are the joints at the intersections of the segments
- Student COOL
- Student Does it see in Black and white or Color?
Bugscope Team they see color and ultraviolet
- Student what are the overlaping spiky plate like things at the bottom of the head.
Bugscope Team the mandibles -- the jaws -- which open like a gate, from side to side
- Student I didn't know that...
- Student Wasps have claws?
Bugscope Team all insects have claws at the end of their legs they use to grab onto things
- Student what are the 2 things under the mouth
- Student is the thing left of the left eye a arm and why dosent the right side have one
- Student What is under the mouth?
- Student Why does it look sort of hairy?
Bugscope Team the hairs, many of them, help the insect sense touch, hot/cold, and smell as well as vibration (sound)
- Student Why does the wasps mouth have jagged edges?
Bugscope Team it's kind of like a fork, or one of those spork things
- Student is the left eye cut or somthing?
- Student is its mouth cracked or just missing a piece
Bugscope Team that is what it looks like -- it has those jagged elements
- Student Why does it have a jagged mouth?
Bugscope Team likely it helps it scrape things into its mouth
- Student why does the antena look like different seg
- Student what are the bummpy things on its face
Bugscope Team a lot of those are hairs that are mechanosensory-- allows them to feel what comes near its face. Like cat whiskers
- Student what kind of wasp is this
- Student Oh is that what it is supposed to look like?
- Student What is the hole?
- Student is there a purpose for the lines in the anntena?
Bugscope Team the ring-like features make them flexible; is that what you mean?
- Student How does the spider make a web?
- Student what is the fat tunnel like thing? what is it for?
- Student Yes!
- Student What is the hole for?
Bugscope Team that is where silk -- the web -- comes out as a liquid and instantly becomes a thread
- Student does the web come out of the hole
Bugscope Team yes it does!
- Student I thought that near the tip of the spinneret, it was spikey.
- Student What are all of the tubes for?
- Student what are the things behind it
Bugscope Team they're setae that probably serve to protect the spinnerets
- Student how big would that hole actully be
Bugscope Team around a couple bacteria long
- Student What type of spider is this?
Bugscope Team we are not sure. often they are dried and hard to recognize, and we are not good at identifying spiders
- Student Are the white lines veins?
- 10:20am
- Student cool
- Student What is the web made out of?
Bugscope Team protein
- Student why does it have thing that look like waves near the hole?
Bugscope Team not sure -- there are dried fluids there
- Student What is the stuff around it
- Student What is all the extra stuff around it?
Bugscope Team there is some dried 'bug blood' around it from someone smooshing the spider
- Student what are the things around it
- Student cool
- Student What are the little dots
Bugscope Team some of those are droplets of fluid that just dried like that
- Student What are the spikey things next to it?
- Student what are the spikes
Bugscope Team the spikes are setae that may serve to protect the spinnerets from being smashed flat
- Student What is the papery stuff on the right side?
Bugscope Team a lot of what we see here is dried fluids from when the spider was mooshed
- Student What is the spike-like stuff near the left of the screen?
- Student What type of spider?
Bugscope Team sorry we are not sure of that
- Student what are the things that look like toothpicks in the back?
Bugscope Team those help manipulate where the silk strands go
- Student 0h
- Student What are they stick-like things?
Bugscope Team some of those are setae, and some are likely smaller spinneret tips
- Student What are the "bunched up things"? Are they the legs?
- Student What type of spider is it
Bugscope Team we are not very good at identifying spiders, but it was probably a common house spider
- Student Exactly what type of bug is it? What part of the bug is it?
Bugscope Team this is a spider, and the spinnerets are at the tip of the abdomen
- Student what is the setae
- Student what are the hairs
- Student What is that?!?
- Student what are the things that look like bits of water on the stinger
- Bugscope Team when we made this preset you could see the whole stinger, but inside the 'scope the sample dried a bit more and you cannot see the tip now
- Student What are the claw/hand like things?
- Student is the fuzzy stuff hair?
Bugscope Team yes there are lots of hairs, or setae, on insects- wasps and bees especially
- Student What is that?
Bugscope Team the vertical element is the stinger
- Bugscope Team the leg is a little bit in the way of the stinger so we can't see the end
- Student Is the stinger hairy?
Bugscope Team no that is what is blocking our view a bit -- it's one of the arms of the wasp
- Student What is the actuall part that they sting with
Bugscope Team the vertical thing that looks like a blade
- Student Wky is it hairy?
Bugscope Team the hairs allow the insect to feel what is going on around it. The hairs on bees and wasps are also good for pollen grains to stick to for easy transportation
- Student wat is the thing with no hair behind it
- Student I can't tell which part is the stinger! :'(
Bugscope Team it's the thing that is running up and down, and we cannot see the tip now
- Bugscope Team the part in focus is the stinger. It has what looks like lines going down it
- 10:26am
- Student whats in the stinger
Bugscope Team it injects venom into the wasp's antagonist
- Student What is that spike behind it?
- Student What are the lines on the stinger?
- Student are there vains going through the stinger?
Bugscope Team there is something like a vein that the venom runs through
- Student whats on the stinger it looks like paper
- Student what is that on the stinger
Bugscope Team it has some dried fluid, likely venom that seeped out
- Student what are the ovals?
- Student how big is the stinger
- Student It looks very weird, do you think so?
Bugscope Team yes it does. this morning when I saved the preset area you could see the whole stinger
- Student What are the hairs in the top left corner?
- Student Where is the stinger?
- Student AWESOME!!!!!!!!!1
- Student what is the thing on the left upper corner
Bugscope Team those are parts of the tip of the abdomen, and also the limb that is running in the foreground
- Student how long do wasps normaly live?
Bugscope Team they usually live for around a month. Queens can live for a year
- Student When wasps sting, doesn't it tear the bug when they try to leave? Or is that only with bees?
- Student wHAT IS THE THING WITH NO HAIR BEHIND IT?
- Student does the stinger grow as they live?
Bugscope Team no. Wasps don't grow as they get older either. They do go from a larval stage to an adult stage but once they grow to adult they don't grow anymore
- Student what bug is this
- Student What are the plates?
- Student wwhat is the thing that looks like a rock
- Student What is that bump?
- Student What is the crusty stuff on the bumps?
- Student whats the thing in the back?
Bugscope Team that to the right was a folded wing
- Student Is that MUD on the eye?!
Bugscope Team yeah or something like it, exactically
- Student they look like egg pouches r they ?????????????
Bugscope Team those are the individual facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- Student what are the things that look like tooth picks
- Student What are the occasional hairs on the eye for?
- Student what are the things stick up out of the eye
Bugscope Team those are little hairs. They work similarly to cat or mouse whiskers
- Student Why does the eye have diamonds???
Bugscope Team they are hexagonal, if we could see them from another angle, and that is the best way to close-pack something that is essentially round
- Student So it is an EyE?
Bugscope Team yes it is!
- 10:31am
- Student what is sticking up out of the eye
Bugscope Team there are a few setae -- spines or hairs -- that sense touch or wind
- Student Why are there hairs in it?
Bugscope Team those help it tell when something is touching it
- Student Sorry I was not yelling at you i clicked caps lock by mistake.
- Student What is the brown stuff on the eyes
Bugscope Team the darker colored stuff is debris like dust or dirt
- Student what are the crumbly things on the eye
- Student Why is the eye shaped like that?
Bugscope Team the dome-like shape gives the insect very good peripheral vision -- it can see around it without moving its head much
- Student What does the hairs do
- Student What are the crumb like things?
Bugscope Team there is some dirt of the surface of the compound eye
- Student Earwigs climb into poeple's ears, right?
Bugscope Team it's really more of a myth than true. they could but they are not particularly disposed to do that
- Student are those hairs one the eye?
Bugscope Team yes!
- Student if this wasen't in black and white what color would it be
Bugscope Team browns, blacks, yellow brown
- Student is the giant thing on the top a leg?
- Student ++++++++++++++
- Student why does it have so many bumps on the 1 eye
Bugscope Team all of those are individual components of the compound eye. They can each see an image
- Student is it biting something?
- Student what are the spikey things
Bugscope Team those are setae that help the insect sense its surroundings since it does not have skin with nerve endings in it
- Student What is inside of the spider fangs
- Student What is the grass-like stuff?
- Student how big are the fangs?
Bugscope Team looks like they may be a half millimeter (500 micrometers, or microns) long
- Student What are those tube things>
Bugscope Team those are the fangs, which are turned in toward the center
- Student What type of spider is this?
Bugscope Team it is some kind of house spider, we are not sure
- Student what are all the spikey things around the fangs
Bugscope Team those are what help the spider hold its prey close while it injects venom
- Student What is the thing that looks like a spinneret tip above the left claw?
- 10:36am
- Student What are the tree like shoots on coming out?
Bugscope Team those are all hairs
- Student What around the spider fangs
Bugscope Team we see mostly the legs, and close up are the spines that help it hold its prey close
- Student where did you go to college\
- Student What is the dirt-like stuff on the bottom?
Bugscope Team just that- dust or dirt or some other sort of debris
- Student what are the spikey/hairy thing's.
- Student That is disturbingly cool!!
- Student Why are there so many hairs
Bugscope Team spiders are very sensitive to vibration (sound, often), and the hairs function like antennae to pick that up
- Student do the hairs do something important
Bugscope Team sometimes, but these ones we see are mostly for sense of touch. Others can taste or smell or sense temperature changes
- Student What are the hairy things, antenae?
Bugscope Team those are spider legs i think
- Student Is this WHOLE picture the MOUTH?!
Bugscope Team the mouth is kind of in the center -- they actually feed through their fangs
- Student how long did you go to college
Bugscope Team i studied in college for 4 years
- Student What part of the bug is this?
- Student Ah, okay...
- Student It looks like there dirt in there
- Student That's....Disturbing...
- Student Is it pulling the food to its mouth/
- Student when did you become intterestid in bugs
Bugscope Team I think we've always been naturally interested, but when we started Bugscope it become more compelling
- Student This is really cool to me because my dad is also an
- Student What college did you go 2?
Bugscope Team I went to Southern Illinois University and then later transferred to here at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Student did you enjoy bugs your whole life
Bugscope Team no just the past several years
- Student so r they like extra arms//
- Student have you always been interested in bugs
Bugscope Team no I kind of just 'fell into it'
- Student Are those eyes on the bottom?
Bugscope Team the eyes are on the other side of the head we cannot see
- Student My dad is also an Entomoligest
- Student but to push the food down\
- Student what did you study
Bugscope Team English and biology for me, Physics for Cate
- Student what are all those wrinkels?
- Student Why does the head look like a pumpkin?
- Student Is it sucking on it?
- Student Do all spiders have fangs
Bugscope Team yes they do, and they suck their food up through them like a milkshake
- Student what are the wrinkles?
- Student do ant smell,taste,or tell tempature changes in a interesting way?
- Student I only see one eye. Is the other one covered, or on the other side?
Bugscope Team it's on the other side
- Student is the head detached from the body
Bugscope Team no; it's to the lower left
- Student How do ants smell
Bugscope Team they use their antennae and their mouth parts
- 10:41am
- Student does it haAVE HAIORS?
Bugscope Team yes. fine ones called microsetae and larger ones called setae
- Bugscope Team mite!
- Student is the bumpy circle the eye?
Bugscope Team those are the individual components that can each see an image
- Student how big is a mite?
- Student how small is the mite?
- Student I can't see the mite's eye...Do they have any?
Bugscope Team sometimes they have eyes, these do not
- Student How big is it
- Student Why does it look like it has wrinkles?
Bugscope Team some of those really are wrinkles that strengthen the head, and some are what look like wrinkles from the microsetae
- Student What is the bumpy thing on top?
Bugscope Team the bump is the mite
- Student Where is the head?
- Student That earwig looks huge compared to the mite!!!!
- Student How big is the mite?
Bugscope Team it is about 250 microns long -- about 1/4 of a millimeter
- Student How does it see
- Student Does it have a some sort of a shell?
- Student how small are mites compared to earwigs
Bugscope Team you can see that mites are about 1/4 of a millimeter, and this earwig is about 2 mm long
Bugscope Team oops I mean 2 cm!
- Student Do you know how long the mite has been on the earwig?
- Student why is the earwig on the other bug?
- Student Whats around it
Bugscope Team silver paint, carbon tape, and the whole thing is coated with gold-palladium
- Student how does it attach to earwigs?
- Student what does a mite eat
- Student What does the mite do to the earwigs leg?
- Student what are the things in the backround?
Bugscope Team the insects are all sitting on carbon tape, which is the bumpy surface in the background
- Student how big is earwig limb?
Bugscope Team if you look at the scalebar to the lower left you can see that the femur is more than a millimeter long
- Student what can the mite do to the earwig
Bugscope Team it might help eat the dirty stuff on the earwig or it might feed off the earwig
- Student Did you get all of these pictures from other students?
Bugscope Team these are live images from the electron microscope that you are driving from your classroom right now
- Student about how big is the mite?
- Student How big is the earwig
Bugscope Team around an inch or 2 big
- Student Does the mite eventually kill the earwig?
Bugscope Team we think that they survive living with mites, for the most part
- Student when did you become interestid in bugs?
- Student Is the background a earwig
- Student do you think the mite will get crushed by the earwig
- 10:46am
- Student cool
- Student This is a live video?!?!
Bugscope Team yes it is! it is a live feed from a $600,000 scanning electron microscope that your teacher is driving
- Student what is it going to grab
- Student wat is it holding on to
- Student how big is a earwig claw
- Student what do it eat
- Student is it fighting another earwig or is it doing something else?
- Student What does a Mite eat?
Bugscope Team we are not sure -- either hemolymph from the interior of the earwig
Bugscope Team or stuff that lands on the earwig
- Student what i8s ythe earwig grabbing
Bugscope Team one of its other legs
- Student what is in the hole?
- Student Why does the arm have hairs?
Bugscope Team so it can feel when it touches something or something comes close to it
- Student Do the mites only attack spesific species?
Bugscope Team we see them on many insects, but we are not sure what attracts them. it may be that they come from the dirt that earwigs are often in or near
- Student Do all bugs have hair on their limbs/bodies?
Bugscope Team yes, some more than others
- Student how can you tell thier gendar
- Student what do they use the pincher for?
- Student What is the claw useful for
- Student How big is the earwig claw?
Bugscope Team it's actually about the length of the mite, about 250 micrometers, or microns, 1/4 of a mm.
Bugscope Team a grain of beach sand can be about that big
- Student is the claw hanging onto somthing?
- Student will the mite ever leave the earwigh
Bugscope Team if it was in a container with a bunch of other insects it might migrate, but generally they seem to 'go down with the ship'
- Student what are things sticking down
Bugscope Team there is a claw facing away from us and a lot of hairs around it
- Student what are the things that are hanging down from the claw?
- Student are the tiny bits on the claw that look like dirt
Bugscope Team looks like mold spores mostly
- Student What is an earwig?
Bugscope Team they are pincer bugs you find if you lift up a rock
- Student Cate, you use great analogies...
- Student This claw lookke a crain. Why does it look like that?
Bugscope Team I think it is because they have a similar function
- Student what are the things surrounding it and what does it do
- Student OHHH
- Student How big is the claw
Bugscope Team this is about 200 microns long
- Student Cool!!!!!!!!!
- Student a similer function to wat
- Student what are the clumps on then spikes?
- Student Is it dirt?
- 10:51am
- Student What is this partrt?
Bugscope Team this is the tip of one of the spider's eight legs, and you can see the claws amid the setae (hairs)
- Student what is the aproximate amount of hairs on this spider
- Student is that hair?
- Student what part is it
- Student it is very hairy
- Student is that dirt
- Student Are those the legs?
- Student Why is there so much hair? is it defence?
Bugscope Team hair on spiders is often sensory -- transmitting vibration. sometimes spiders also have hairs that they let loose and are irritating to things that sniff them or get too close\
- Student What are the things branching out?
- Student what are the flat things?
Bugscope Team those are part of the spider body. We are looking at the underside (ventral) of it
- Student how long did u have to go to school to do this
Bugscope Team it's pretty easy to control the 'scope, but it helps to have a college degree and have studied physics, like Cate, or biology/english, like me
- Student how big is a spider claw?
Bugscope Team this one is about a fifth of a mm
- Student is it craked
- Student is that a mite?
- Student can spiders tell what there walking on?
Bugscope Team pretty much; they can sense with those setae
- Student is there a mite on that
Bugscope Team yes there is. Good eye!
- Student what are the holes?
Bugscope Team that is the carbon tape background. We stick all the insects on that
- Student Whats in the backgrounds
- Student cool
- Student What is a "cercopod?"
Bugscope Team those are the actual pincher part of the insect
- Student do they fight with that?
Bugscope Team they protect themselves with the cercopods and they could fight if they wanted to
- Student ok
- Student thats cool!
- Student what is it made of?
- Student Is that the mouth or the leg?
- Student why would the might be on the claw?
- Student ????? wat body part is it /???
Bugscope Team earwigs have large pinchers opposite their heads
- Student A lot of these pictures are creepily awesome...
- Student Scott how long have u worked with bugs
Bugscope Team Bugscope started 13 years ago, so since at least then. we always ask the entomologists lots of questions
- Student what are all the bumps
- Student Is that dust on it?
Bugscope Team yes, dust and dirt
- Student do wasp have toes or toe nails?
Bugscope Team just claws
- 10:56am
- Student ThanksLearned something new today!!
- Student Does it have eyes?
- Student what are the spikes for?
- Student why does the annteane look like it is made of a ton of little circles?
- Student What r the spikes near the antennae
- Student whats on its head and where are the eyes
Bugscope Team the eyes are behind the long stalks, which are the antennae. The eyes don't really stand out from the head. It is very streamlined
- Student were are the eyes?
Bugscope Team they are above and behind the bases of the antennae, hard to see because they are smooth and follow the shape of the head
- Student where r the eyes
- Student weard
- Student Why are there thorns all over it?
- Student What are thoes spikey things?
- Bugscope Team Roaches have not changed in millions of years. Insects used to be bigger during prehistoric times, and scientists are trying to look into why roaches never changed size
- Student is the head flat or curved?
- Student Why is it curled up in the feetle position?
Bugscope Team that happends often when insects die and the internal tendons shrink and tighten
- Student what is the stuff on it
- Student where is its eyes
- Student Cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Student Where are the eyes
Bugscope Team they're hard to see -- we can try driving there
- Student thats awsome!
- Student Heh.
- Bugscope Team the eye is in the middle. You can just now see some of the facets of it
- Student is that bark?
- Student are those wood chips
- Student is that the eye
- Student cool!!!!!!! interesting hey is that a leaf
- Bugscope Team there is some dried fluid, looks like, on the surface of the eye, but as Cate said, you can see some of the facets now
- Student What is the leaf looking like thing
Bugscope Team that is a scale from another insect, like a moth or butterfly
- Student that is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Student What r the bumps
- Student It looks like striped malch
Bugscope Team it's what makes a butterfly's wings feel so silky
- Student what does it eat?
Bugscope Team they pretty much eat anything
- Student where is the eye
Bugscope Team we are looking at it!
- Student I've always been interested in bugs!
- Student thanks this is really cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!bye
- Student why does it have mini humps on the head?
Bugscope Team some of that is globs of juju, and the finer things are the eye facets
- 11:01am
- Student Thank you so much!
Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Student your job looks like fun
- Student This was cool. thanks.
Bugscope Team We enjoyed working with you!
- Student Thank you so much!!!!!!!! That was so cool!! We loved it!
Bugscope Team Sweet!
- Student BYE!thanks we learnd alot
Bugscope Team Thank You! Bye!
- Student Thank you sooooo much!!!! This was sooooo cool!!! It must take so much time to set this up!:)
- Student bye thank you for showing us all the cool bugs!!!!!!
Bugscope Team Thank You! See you next year!
- Student Thanks we would love to do this again liked we liked the spider claw.
Bugscope Team totally cool
- Bugscope Team thanks for joining us today, hope you all had fun
- Student We liked the cockroach eye
- Student yup
- Student Thanks me and ashley learned AloT today, We hope to do it again,scott and cate are cool!
Bugscope Team You are very kind. Thank You!
- Student It was nice to meet yall
Bugscope Team nice to meet you as well. see you next time!
- Student no problem scott!
- Student have a good day cate and scott
- Student Thank you!!!
- Student teehee
- Student Thanks, I know it must have been hard to talk to so many people at once.
Bugscope Team We do our best. and we are sorry we cannot answer everyone.
- Student I love bugs! Thank you! :) Byeeeeeeeee.
Bugscope Team Byeee!
Bugscope Team Thank You, Ryan!
- Student thank you soooooo much! it was really fun and we learned a lot. I loved the spiders!
Bugscope Team Totally cool.
- Bugscope Team we will look forward to it
- Teacher Many thanks once again for a wonderful learning opportunity! I hope to work with you all next year!
Bugscope Team That would be great. Please apply soon -- we have been swamped with applications.
- Student bye!
Bugscope Team Bye!
- Teacher Wow! Good ideas catch on quickly! Will do!
Bugscope Team cool!
- Bugscope Team over and out!
