Connected on 2010-08-23 08:30:00
from Nebo, KY, US
- 7:42 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning!
- Bugscope TeamI am still sputter coating the sample.
- 7:49 am
- Bugscope Teamokay sample is in the 'scope and pumping down...
- 7:56 am
- Bugscope TeamGood morning!
- TeacherGood morning!
- Bugscope TeamThe samples are almost pumped down.
- Bugscope TeamOnce the vacuum is good I will start making presets for your session. We start at 8:30, correct?
- TeacherCorrect!
- Bugscope Teamcool
- Bugscope TeamI should have everything ready by/before then.
- TeacherThank you!
- TeacherWe were not able to load Firefox. It would say "Page Not Found".
- 8:01 am
- Bugscope Teamyou mean you were using firefox and bugscope would not come up?
- Bugscope Teamreally I think IE7 is fine if you can see the whole screen -- the controls and chat, etc.
- TeacherWe were trying for the portable Firefox. We are using IE7 and can see everything though.
- Bugscope Teamgot it. not sure why it won't work, though
- Bugscope Teambut I hope it is not a problem for you today
- 8:08 am
- 8:14 am
- 8:20 am
- Bugscope Teamhello Mom!
- Guesthi
- 8:25 am
- 8:30 am
- Bugscope TeamWe are ready to roll.
- Bugscope TeamMs Ray you now have control of the microscope...
- Bugscope Teamthis is a tiny mold spore on the thorax of a smashed housefly
- TeacherMold spore on housefly?
Bugscope Teamyes anything that dies and lies out for even a short amount of time will start to decay, and mold spores started to gather on that fly
- Bugscope Teaminsects have a head, thorax, and abdomen as major body parts
- Bugscope Teamthis is pretty cool
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the claws of another fly
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the tiny hairs -- the tenent setae -- that help it stick to walls and ceilings
- Bugscope Teamyou can also see two claws
- Bugscope Teamthe furry things are the tenent setae, which stick like tiny suction cups. sometimes they have a sticky fluid on them
- Bugscope Teambelow the claw/leg, we see the abdomen
- Bugscope Teamand also, the wings to either side
- 8:36 am
- Bugscope Teammold spores look much like pollen but usually have smaller little bumps on their surfaces, and they are softer
- Bugscope Teamthis is about where the wings connect to the thorax
- Bugscope Teamthe thorax is the trunk region -- the main part of the body, like the chest
- Bugscope Teamyou will always see lots of tiny hairs, called setae
- Bugscope Teamthe hairs are sensory: some are for touch, some can sense hot/cold, and some can pick up smells/scents from the air
- Bugscope Teamthis is a fruit fly
- Bugscope Teamvery small
- Bugscope Teamthey live on the mold that grows on the surfaces of fruit
- Bugscope Teamthe background is silver paint and doublestick carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamthis is the eye of that same fly
- TeacherWhat is sticking out of the eye?
- Bugscope Teamthe little spikes are rigid setae that help the fruit fly sense wind speed and direction
- Bugscope Teamsometimes you will see that they are broken off, but there are lots of them
- TeacherThat's cool!
- Bugscope Teamthe eye facets are called 'ommatidia.'
- Bugscope Teameach is an individual lens
- TeacherDo all insects that fly have those?
Bugscope Teamthey all have compound eyes, to some extent, but they do not all have little setae like that
- 8:41 am
- Bugscope Teama huge portion of the fruit fly brain is dedicated to processing the images from the eye facets
- Bugscope Teammany flies, wasps, and bees have five eyes: two compound eyes like this and three simple eyes, on top of the head, called ocelli
- Bugscope Teamnow we are looking at the ladybug's mouthparts
- Bugscope Teamthe pointy things are palps
- Bugscope Teampalps are like extra limbs that the insect uses to manipulate and also taste its food
- Bugscope Teamladybugs eat other bugs; they are said to be partial to aphids
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the palps
- Bugscope Teamon the end you see little dots that are the sensory -- smell in this case -- features
- Bugscope Teamthe eyes are streamlined into the head, and you can see them on either side
- Bugscope Teamdome-like compound eyes
- Bugscope Teamsee how the head is protected? it is like a littleturret
- Bugscope Teamlittle turret
- Bugscope Teamyou can see one of the antennae
- Bugscope Teamkind of draped down
- 8:46 am
- Bugscope Teaminsects and other arthropods like them have an exoskeleton, like a shell
- Bugscope Teamhi all!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the compound eye of the ladybug
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that it is different from that of the fruit fly
- Bugscope TeamHi Cate!
- Bugscope Teamthis is a big green fly, kind of scary-looking
- Bugscope Teamsome of the ommatidia are square, but many are hexagonal
- Bugscope Teamits eye was scratched there
- Bugscope Teamand you can see setae, but very few compared to the fruit fly
- Bugscope Teamit's like a tiny hair
- 8:51 am
- Bugscope Teambecause they have an exoskeleton -- like wearing a suit of armor -- insects need to have sensors that stick through that armor and help them feel/taste their environment
- Bugscope Teamthese are wing scales from a butterfly
- TeacherHow many scales in one wing?
Bugscope Teama lot. they can also stand to lose a few for defensive purposes (like getting out of a spider web) and still fly away
- TeacherCan they live if the scales fall off?
Bugscope Teamyes, if they don't lose too many
- Bugscope Teamthey feel like powder, kind of silky, when you touch them
- TeacherIs there any other purposes other than defensive?
- Bugscope Teamthe scales are responsible for some of the colors we see in the wings
- Bugscope Teamso they can be used for identification by other insects
- Bugscope Teamalso, if a bird can recognize a Monarch butterfly from its coloration, it will realize that it does not want to eat it. Monarchs do not taste good.
- Bugscope Teamthe magnification can sometimes be too high for us to see well.
- TeacherHow long does a butterfly live?
Bugscope Teamthat depends on what kind of butterfly it is. Monarchs can live to almost a year long depending on if they are the migratory. Others live for maybe around a month
- 8:56 am
- Bugscope TeamMonarch butterflies eat milkweed, which is toxic to many other animals
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see that a whole butterfly would have been too big to put on the stub today -- it would have covered the whole 1.75-in. stub
- TeacherIf you touch their wings, will they die?
Bugscope Teamif you touch their wings they will lose scales but not necessarily die
- Bugscope Teamyou can see someone else's wing in the lower left
- Bugscope Teamthis is a tiny beetle
- Bugscope Teamit has little club-like antennae
- TeacherWhy are they hanging down?
- Bugscope Teamthey are protected that way, and they are also, perhaps, where they can be more useful in picking up odors from the air
- 9:02 am
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae can be moved around, of course
- Bugscope Teamin the foreground here we see one of the claws
- TeacherIs that mold on his mouthparts?
Bugscope TeamI think there is mold there, yes.
- Bugscope Teamsometimes insects spit up when they die
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its jaws, as well
- Bugscope Teamwith insects, unlike people, the jaws open and close from the sides, more like a gate
- Bugscope Teamthis is the thorax, which is what all six legs of an insect are attached to
- Bugscope Teamthis is very dirty!
- TeacherWhat are the grooves?
Bugscope Teamthat's where it can flex
- Bugscope Teambut it is not the beetle's fault
- 9:07 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that this spider claw shifted a little since we made the preset this morning
- Bugscope Teamspider claws often have little combs like that
- Bugscope Teamsome of the spider silk -- the web -- is not sticky
- Bugscope Teambut even if a spider got stuck, it could eat the web to get out
- TeacherWhat kind of spider is this?
Bugscope Teamthe most common ones we get are household spiders like wolf spiders. We aren't very good at identifying what kind they were though
- Bugscope Teamspiders are good recyclers, and they often eat their web
- Bugscope Teamyou can see several more legs
- Bugscope Teamspiders have the ability to make a leg fall off instantly if they sense it has poison -- venom -- entering it
- Bugscope Teamthe head is to the top
- Bugscope TeamI am sorry but it is difficult to make out all of the parts
- Bugscope Teamspiders have palps like insects, but they are longer, and there are only two
- 9:13 am
- Bugscope Teamin the center here is the head, and the two curved things, like short legs, are the palps
- Bugscope Teamthis is probably a female, because males have larger, wider palps
- Bugscope Teamthe fangs, which run horizontally, are in about the center of where we are now
- Bugscope Teamthe smoother things under the palps are called chelicers, or chelicerae
- Bugscope Teamthe fangs are at the bottom of the chelicers
- Bugscope Teamthere you are!
- Teacher.Sorry, our computer kicked us offline.
- Bugscope Teamsorry it looks like that happened twice at least. we are glad to see you back!
- Bugscope TeamI would like to drive for a sec and see if I can find a mosquito
- Teacherokay
- 9:18 am
- Bugscope Teamoh I am so sorry -- it's head fell off@!
- Bugscope Teamthis is part of its wing
- Bugscope Teamvery sad
- Bugscope Teamyou can drive again if you'd like
- TeacherAre we able to see the head? They would like to see the part that bites us.
- Bugscope TeamI am sorry -- it is gone. But you can find one on the Bugscope website if you search, later.
- Bugscope Teamthis is part of a fly's claw -- part of the pulvillus, which is a sticky pad
- 9:23 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that the setae are sensitive to the electron beam, which is very powerful when it is focused in a small area
- Bugscope Teamthe electron beam kind of blows the sample around at high mag like this
- Bugscope Team this is so cool looking
- Bugscope Teamthis is just a tiny part of the claw of a housefly
- Bugscope Teamthe actual claws you can see now
- Bugscope Teamthey open and close like pincers
- Bugscope Teamand those long thin hairs help them feel what they are touching
- Bugscope Teamthe compound eye is to the left
- Bugscope Teamthese are salt granules from a Wendy's restaurant
- 9:29 am
- TeacherCool!
- Bugscope Teamthey look incised
- TeacherI think that's the end of our time. Thank you so much. This was incredible!
Bugscope Teamthanks for trying out bugscope this morning!
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
