Connected on 2012-04-19 08:45:00 from Travis, Texas, United States
- 7:34am
- Bugscope Team Hello!
- Bugscope Team Sample is pumping down.
- Bugscope Team Starting setup a bit early for today's session.
- 8:14am
- 8:19am
- Bugscope Team we are making presets now
- 8:26am
- 8:31am
- Bugscope Team Vanessa!
- Bugscope Team I see of course that you had to log in as a student.
- Student we just logged in! We have a parent here giving some information regarding electron microscopes. He works with computers and microscopes
- Bugscope Team That is no problem for us -- I gave you control of the microscope for when you need it.
- Bugscope Team tell him this is a field emission SEM.
- Student Thanks! Can I use my mouse
Bugscope Team yes you can
- Student Great! Do I click on the arrows?
- 8:36am
- Bugscope Team I have a couple more presets to make, though.
- Student No problem! Just let me know when you're ready!
- Bugscope Team if you click on the lefthand arrow, that will take you to the screen that shows the presets. You can do that now. When you click on the thumbnail for a preset, the 'scope will drive to that position on the stub.
- Student Great!
- Student Is this the ant?
Bugscope Team this right now is a female housefly
- Student The kids want to know how you know this is a female?
Bugscope Team male housefly eyes are close together, like Mikhail Baryshnikov's eyes
- Bugscope Team female housefly eyes are far apart like Uma Thurman's eyes
- Student Thanks!
- 8:42am
- Student Are you ready?
Bugscope Team sure we can start now!
- Student Great! Should I begin with the first slide to the left?
Bugscope Team whichever you would like
- Bugscope Team these are live images from the electron microscope, so what shows up in the thumbnail may have moved since we set it
- Bugscope Team we are looking at the fly's face
- Bugscope Team and now its claw
- Bugscope Team it has six claws, one for each leg
- Bugscope Team you have the ability to change the magnification and also drive around, as well as change focus, etc.
- Bugscope Team the claw has a pad next to it called a pulvillus which has lots of sticky hairs on it called tenent setae
- Student What is this thing hanging off the claw?
- Bugscope Team that tenent setae are what help the fly cling to vertical surfaces
- Bugscope Team maybe a tiny piece of a plant fiber
- Bugscope Team insects have a head; a thorax, which all of the limbs are attached to; an abdomen; six legs; and two antennae
- 8:48am
- Bugscope Team this is the opening to the stinkbug's stink gland
- Bugscope Team stinkbugs don't like their smell any more than anything else
- Bugscope Team so pretty
- Bugscope Team it is like a built-in filter
- Bugscope Team insects breath using large pores on either side of the body segments called spiracles, and they have similar filters
- Student a filter for what?
Bugscope Team a filter to keep dust and dirt out of the stinkbug's body
- Bugscope Team 10 microns, on the scalebar, is about 5 bacteria long
- Bugscope Team so if we find bacteria, the rod-shaped bacilli, for example, we can easily see them
- Student How do they make their stink stuff?
Bugscope Team oh that is in two glands on the inside of the body, on either side; the openings are between the first and 2nd pairs of legs on the ventral side of the body -- the underside
- Student What are the hair-like structures on the scorpion claw?
Bugscope Team those are sensory bristles or setae that let the scorpion know when something is touching it
- 8:53am
- Bugscope Team insects and similar arthropods like scorpions and spiders do not have skin; instead they have an exoskeleton, which is like a shell protecting them
- Bugscope Team the setae stick through that shell and connect to nerves beneath
- Bugscope Team setae can sense hot/cold, chemical odors, and also touch
- Bugscope Team yay!
- Bugscope Team we can see at least five of the spider's eyes here, plus the chelicerae, which hold the fangs
- Bugscope Team see how 'hairy' the spider is? It has lots of setae that help it sense vibration
- Bugscope Team often spider eyes are not very good. but some spiders can see quite well
- Student What are the specks on the eyeball?
Bugscope Team looks like some dust and random debris
- Bugscope Team insects and spiders cannot close their eyes -- they don't have eyelids. but they can wipe their eyes off to clean them
- Bugscope Team some spiders, like tarantulas, also have hairs that they can release that make you itch
- Student Do they have a compound eye like a fly?
Bugscope Team no they have simple eyes, like this
- 8:58am
- Bugscope Team actually, many flying insects like flies, wasps, bees, moths, butterflies also have simple eyes called 'ocelli' on the tops of their head
- Bugscope Team sometimes we see mold spores at higher mag like this, but often it is stuff we do not recognize
- Bugscope Team I am at the SEM now and can focus more quickly for you
- Bugscope Team this really looks like a bunch of very small rocks
- Bugscope Team now the scalebar reads two microns, which is the length of a single bacillus
- Bugscope Team now 5 microns, or 2.5 bacteria long
- Student In your opinion, which is the most interesting sample you have?
Bugscope Team I think the scorpion is pretty cool today
- Bugscope Team Cate made the sample, and I thought she'd put a part of a centipede on the stub
- Bugscope Team these are the chewing mandibles
- Bugscope Team now we can see at least 5 eyes
- 9:03am
- Bugscope Team this is much like the face of the spider, with its split chelicerae
- Student Where are the eyes?
Bugscope Team now they are to the left and right, on the upper carapace
- Bugscope Team good job!
- Student Why is the surface so rough?
Bugscope Team it protects the scorpion and makes it less bendy
- Bugscope Team there is a lot of fungus here that grew after the scorpion died
- Student Why is this area cracked?
Bugscope Team there is a film of some sort there that dried and cracked
- Bugscope Team lots of fungus here
- 9:09am
- Bugscope Team it is hard with the 'scope set up this way to get good high-mag images
- Student Do you know of any parasites to view?
Bugscope Team we don't always see parasites
- Bugscope Team sometimes we see mites, and we always watch for them
- Student No problem!
- Student What are the circles surrounding the head?
- Bugscope Team see how the mandibles open side to side like a gate?
- Bugscope Team insect mandible don't work like ours, which go up and down
- Bugscope Team mandibles...
- Student yes!
- Student Where is that?
Bugscope Team this is one mandible, and you can see that it has a kind of hinge right next to the eye
- 9:14am
- Bugscope Team it's not the bee's fault that its eyes are dirty
- Bugscope Team if we look at the moth we may be able to see finer features in the individual ommatidia
- Bugscope Team compared to the bee's eye
- Bugscope Team moths can see ultraviolet light
- Bugscope Team some butterflies and other insects can as well
- Bugscope Team these are just two wing scales from a moth
- Bugscope Team the ridges bend light into various colors, just from their size and shape
- Bugscope Team sometimes there are also pigment granules in the cross latticework we see now
- Bugscope Team when you stroke the wing of a moth and powder comes off, it is actually scales like this one
- Student What is the purpose of the latticework?
Bugscope Team scales have many purposes, and one is to function like feathers; so they need to be lightweight and also strong
- 9:19am
- Bugscope Team scales also help insects that have them regulate their temperature; they provide color, both structural and from pigments; and perhaps most importantly they come off easily when a moth, for example, flies into a spiderweb. thus allowing the moth to escape
- Bugscope Team this is the head of an ant -- you can see that it looks much like a wasp or bee
- Bugscope Team this is where the tip of the antenna is broken off
- Student What's inside?
Bugscope Team that is the broken core of the antenna; there are lots of nerves inside
- Bugscope Team almost every ant you see is a female
- Bugscope Team the males have wings, and they don't stick around long; the female ants often will not let them back into their nests
- Student Are they the workers?
Bugscope Team the workers and the drones and the queens are female
- Student Interesting!
- Bugscope Team and the soldiers
- Bugscope Team as well
- 9:24am
- Student Why don't they let the males back in?
Bugscope Team the males have wings so they can fly out and possibly breed with a queen from a faraway colony, while she still has wings; when the males come back the other ants don't want them there because they don't have jobs anymore; if they can't help they are not let back in
- Bugscope Team it probably also helps keep bacteria and viruses out of the nest
- Student Thanks! What has happened to the eye here?
Bugscope Team let's see!
- Bugscope Team looks like the eye has a plant fiber or a section of fungal hyphae on it
- Student It looks like there may just be something in front of the eye!
Bugscope Team yes I think you are right!
- Bugscope Team when insect and other animals die, fungus and bacteria and larger scavengers come along quickly to help them decompose; its recycling
- Student Are these scales?
Bugscope Team the surface of the the ant's cuticle -- the chitin -- looks like scales
- 9:30am
- Bugscope Team it is a platey form of armor that makes the cuticle stronger
- Student Are those hairs coming out?
Bugscope Team yes the hairs are connected to nerves under the cuticle. The hairs help tell the ant when it touches something
- Bugscope Team good job driving!
- Bugscope Team there are two pits in the front of the ant's face that go inside but don't actually open to the inside of the head
- Student Are you referring to the black holes?
- Bugscope Team those are places where the cuticle on the outside forms a tube on the inside that supports the muscle
- Student What is that small black hole above the mouth and on either side?
Bugscope Team they are called 'anterior tentorial pits,' and they form structural supports on the inside of the head
- 9:35am
- Student How big is the ant's brain?
Bugscope Team in this ant it is likely only 200 or 300 micrometers (0.2 - 0.3 millimeters) in diameter. the rest of the inside of the head has muscles in it that control the mandibles and also help the antennae move
- Student Very interesting! Thanks!
- Bugscope Team beneath the jaws are accessory 'feelers' called palps that help the ant manipulate and also taste its food
- Bugscope Team the bee's tongue is in a sheath that I think is called the labrum; the tongue itself is called a 'glossa.'
- Student This almost looks like a tongue. Is it?
Bugscope Team yes the fibrous part in the middle is the tongue
- Bugscope Team this is different from the ant, of course; ants that we know, at least so far, do not have a labrum or glossa
- Student What are the two large circles globs near the mouth on the right?
Bugscope Team most likely it's just dirt
- 9:40am
- Bugscope Team some of the setae may also help hold nectar, which the bee collects from flowers
- Bugscope Team we can see some sort of dried fluid here on this seta
- Bugscope Team now we are looking further into the mouth area
- Student is this dust or bacteria?
- Bugscope Team this appears to be nectar that has dried and is forming tiny imperfect crystals
- Bugscope Team looks like crystal
- 9:45am
- Bugscope Team thanks for joining us today! Hope you all had fun!
- Student This has been great. Thank you for the opportunity to see some bugs
- Student Scott and Cate. Thank you so much. we need to wrap up.
Bugscope Team Thank you!
- Student We look forward to another bugscope session in the future.
- Bugscope Team when we use the 'scope for research we operate at a different working distance and get better resolution at high mag. but the tradeoff is that we cannot see whole insects at lower mag
- Student If the kids want to see the images, when will they be uploaded online?
Bugscope Team https://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-136
- Bugscope Team the images and chat text are available at the site I just sent. that is your member page
- Student Thanks again. We are logging off.
Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Bugscope Team EI are you still there?
- Bugscope Team okay we are going to shut down...
- Bugscope Team very nice
