Connected on 2011-02-23 14:30:00 from Cook, Illinois, United States
- 1:15pm
- Bugscope Team sample is pumping down, almost ready to start making presets
- 1:20pm
- 1:27pm
- Bugscope Team hello Mrs N!
- Teacher Hi, there! This is amazing!
- Bugscope Team this is Scot, on the ESEM. I am making today's presets. It is pretty cool, isn't it?
- Teacher Nice to meet you, Scot! I'm glad I can have a peek before our session.
- Bugscope Team Welcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Team You will be able to select from what I am making now, and you will also be able to drive around, change mag, go to places I have not already found for you.
- Bugscope Team if you will have students logging in from their own computers, they will be able to chat, and if you permit it, we can let them 'drive' as well
- Teacher Great! We are interesting in survival adaptations that are special to each arthropod.
- 1:32pm
- Teacher Is the black beetle mouth the large ground beetle that we sent to you?
- Bugscope Team yes it is, and we are looking at its antenna right now
- Teacher What kind of beetle is the ultra tiny beetle?
- Bugscope Team Cate put the sample stub together from what you sent, and she may log in once we start.
- Bugscope Team I am not sure about the tiny beetle. It was so small she did not know what it was. Only now that we can see it magnified do we know it is a beetle.
- Teacher I will have about 20 students watching on a large screen. Do you recommend that some have laptops too?
- 1:37pm
- Bugscope Team they could share laptops, for example; it is up to you. you can do this a variety of ways
- Bugscope Team they could take turns asking questions. it sounds like you have a nice setup
- Guest Hi Mrs. Nelson! Hi Bugscope Team!
- Bugscope Team Hello Mrs Range! Welcome to Bugscope!
- Teacher We are very fortunate with our access to technology. I'll set up a few laptops for "chatting". Hi, Mrs. Range! Thanks for joining us! Isn't this cool?
- Guest This is amazing! Can't wait to do it with my groups on Friday!
- 1:43pm
- Teacher What's the highest magnification we can get today?
- Bugscope Team we can go higher than we can see things; this will go well over 200,000x but today we will likely not go higher than 20,000x. the limit of a light microscope is about 1200x.
- Bugscope Team I should've said we can go higher than we can see things clearly
- Bugscope Team because we want to be able to see a low mag, we hobble our ability to go to super high mag
- Bugscope Team if we were closer to the sample -- if the sample was closer to where the electrons come out of the column -- we would get better resolution at high mag. but we would not be able to show you the whole ultra tiny beetle, for example, because we would be so close to it
- 1:48pm
- 1:53pm
- Teacher Sounds good. Can I practice driving?
- Bugscope Team yes I think we have enough presets to let you go ahead and start
- Bugscope Team please let me know if you have any problems
- Bugscope Team you should be able to, for example, move to the lefthand screen briefly and click on one of those thumbnails to have the 'scope drive you to that place on the stub
- Bugscope Team you can also use the controls above the central screen here
- Teacher I'm back. I just set up student computers and now I'm going to drive.
- Bugscope Team and you can click within the image using your mouse to get the sample to center on that position
- Bugscope Team the wasp's stinger...
- Bugscope Team you can see that it is serrated so it can cut well, but not so badly that it will stay stuck in your skin -- the wasp can sting again
- 1:59pm
- Bugscope Team I did that to ensure that control works...
- Teacher Okay.
- Bugscope Team you are the only person at the school who has control of the 'scope, unless you want us to confer it to someone else
- Bugscope Team the background is silver paint on top of carbon tape
- Bugscope Team to the left is one of the legs of the black beetle
- Bugscope Team you can see the bases of the antennae of this millipede, and you can now see its compound eye fairly clearly]
- Teacher What's in front of the eye?
Bugscope Team that is one of the antennae; the end is broken off
- 2:04pm
- Bugscope Team insects and other comparable arthropods use their antennae sometimes more than they use their eyes. the antennae are lined with hundreds of chemoreceptors/mechanoreceptors/thermoreceptors that allow the 'bug' to sense its environment
- Teacher How much more can I zoom in?
Bugscope Team you will see that at a certain point there is little more to be seen
- Bugscope Team the fruit fly claw -- the very last preset, which I made first -- has nanoparticles on it
- Teacher Interesting! I would love to show the students what the SEM is capable of doing. You'll have to guide me to the nanoparticles.
- Bugscope Team the nanoparticles are brochosomes, which are produced solely by leafhoppers. they are usually a few hundred nanometers in diameter
- Bugscope Team when we get too close sometimes, the images will distort because the sample charges up with electrons
- Bugscope Team this looks good, however
- Bugscope Team ha you can see it moved since I first made it
- Bugscope Team cool!
- Bugscope Team I will drive for a sec using the microscope controls if you wish
- Teacher Yes, please!
- 2:11pm
- Bugscope Team they are still a little hard to see because we are more than an inch away from the column exit - from the pole piece
- Bugscope Team but those tiny wiffle-ball-like spheres are brochosomes, and they are maybe 250 to 300 nm in diameter
- Bugscope Team they are the same diameter as the wavelengths of far-UV light
- Bugscope Team they're on the fruit fly's claw
- Teacher I've never seen anything like it before. Thanks! The students will love it. Is there anything else I need to try before the students arrive?
- Bugscope Team no I think you are doing a good job
- Bugscope Team I will kill the original preset and make a new one
- Bugscope Team done
- Bugscope Team we are ready to roll when you are
- Teacher Well, thanks. I'm going to get ready and will be back in a few minutes.
- Bugscope Team good deal
- Bugscope Team Mrs N I will be right back as well.
- 2:18pm
- Bugscope Team and I am back
- Bugscope Team ha me too
- Bugscope Team yo
- 2:28pm
- 2:34pm
- Teacher We are all set!
- Bugscope Team great you are in control
- Bugscope Team please let me know if you have any problems
- Bugscope Team this is a super tiny beetle, and it is on its back -- we are looking at the ventral side, as opposed to the dorsal side
- Bugscope Team here you can see one of the compound eyes -- the globelike thing with all of the facets
- Bugscope Team the facets of the compound eye are called 'ommatidia.'
- Student How long have you been interested in bugs ?
Bugscope Team seriously, for about 12 years, since we started Bugscope
- Bugscope Team this (Bugscope) is only part of what we do
- Student How many eyes are in the bugs compound eye
- Student How does the microscope zoom in close enough to catch all the electrons in the bug?
- Bugscope Team it depends on the insect or arthropod, but I bet there are a hundred facets per eye on this beetle
- Guest What are the things that look like strings?
Bugscope Team I am not sure.
- Teacher Do I need to zoom out to move to another part?
- 2:39pm
- Bugscope Team Mrs Range we see a lot of things we do not recognize. Sometimes those string-like things are fungal hyphae, but I do not thing that is what those are.
- Student How did you first get interested in bugs?
Bugscope Team I got interested when we started to do this.
- Student hi im max. tell me about studying insects.
Bugscope Team the people who do this all of the time are called entomologists, maybe you know...
- Bugscope Team we help entomologists collect images of their samples, and we learn from them
- Bugscope Team this is the stinger of a waps
- Bugscope Team d'oh
- Bugscope Team a wasp!
- Bugscope Team you can see that it is serrated so that it can cut into your skin, or whatever it stings
- Bugscope Team but the little barbs, or serrations, do not keep it from being able to pull the stinger out again
- Bugscope Team bees get their stingers caught in people's skin, and the bee has to leave the stinger there, along with the pump (like a little outboard motor) that keeps the bee venom pumping into your skin.
- Student why is it rounded on one side and pointy on the other.
- Student Are those pieces on the hair the venom?
Bugscope Team that stuff that is dried to the left top may be dried venom
- Teacher What's the "blob" on the stinger?
Bugscope Team that may be venoom, to the top left
- Bugscope Team venom not venoom, sorry
- Bugscope Team stingers are modified ovipositors, which insects (some insects) use to lay eggs
- 2:45pm
- Bugscope Team some insects sting and lay eggs with the same utensil
- Student What is the stinger made out of?
Bugscope Team it is made of chitin, which is also what the exoskeleton is made of.
- Bugscope Team we have found that some insects have hardened jaws, for example, that may have zinc in them, or other minerals
- Student how many legs does this milipede have?
- Bugscope Team it is possible that stingers also have minerals in them
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag down you may be able to get a good estimate
- Bugscope Team I was thinking around 100
- Student hi im Ben what is on the legs
- Student why isn't the stinger sharp on the wasp?
Bugscope Team I was thinking it was pretty sharp, but it does have to be a little wide and thick so it is sturdy
- Student are those thorns on the legs?
Bugscope Team those are the claws, which are little points
- Bugscope Team these look much like rolypoly legs
- Student Hi, what is the biggest bug you have ever seen?
- Bugscope Team rolypolies are actually crustaceans, and they have gills
- Bugscope Team but centipedes are not related to rolypolies
- Student if you wernt a scientist what would you be
- 2:50pm
- Student how much time does it take to set up the SEM for one "scan"
Bugscope Team once we get it set up, which takes a few minutes, then all you have to do is focus, check the astigmatism (correct it if it is bad) and then the image takes maybe a minute to collect
- Student wouldn't the leg sections break apart?
Bugscope Team they are pretty sturdy
- Teacher We are noticing that the wing looks like it has scales. What are they?
Bugscope Team those are scales, in a way like feathers on a bird
- Bugscope Team scales are an adaptation that allows the insect to fly into a web, for example, and slip out, leaving its scales behind
- Student It looks like the things that look like feet are attached by a "stem". Does the stem ever break?
Bugscope Team yes it could break, but they have lots of legs
- Teacher Very interesting! Thank you for your responses! We have so many questions!
- Bugscope Team spiders have the ability to 'autotomize,' which means they can jettison a leg if they want to
- Student why are there ridges on the "scales"
- Bugscope Team we coat the samples with gold-palladium, using a sputter coater, to make them conductive so they do not charge up
- Bugscope Team but scales, especially, charge up easily, anyway
- Teacher Do the scales grow back?
Bugscope Team they do not, usually
- Student what are the lines suposed to do
- Student what are the tips on the pieces?
Bugscope Team the tips are just the way those particular scales are formed
- Bugscope Team scales are also responsible for the colors we see on butterfly and moth wings
- Bugscope Team the scales feel like powder to us, when we stroke a butterfly's wing
- Student why are there ridges on the scales
- 2:55pm
- Teacher We think it looks like a potato chip or carboard.
Bugscope Team yes it does -- like a potato chip, the ridges make the scales more rigid
- Student how far can the bugscope zoom in
Bugscope Team we can go to super high mag, but normally we would have the sample closer to the polepiece, where the electrons come from
- Bugscope Team so we can get publishable images at 200,000x on very good samples
- Student Why are there so many ridges?
Bugscope Team the ridges -- this is Cool! -- are responsible for some of the colors we see in a wing
- Student is the mouth open
Bugscope Team about as open as we see them -- we often cannot really look inside
- Student What is the black thing in the middle that looks like a tornado?
Bugscope Team in the very middle we are looking through to the doublestick carbon tape
- Bugscope Team the tiny dots we see in the mandibles we are looking at now are likely chemoreceptors
- Student hi
Bugscope Team Hi!
- Student what are the hairlike things
- Guest What are the long, hornlike things on either side?
- Bugscope Team being an insect is kind of like wearing armor all of the time, because they have an exoskeleton -- no bones
- Bugscope Team if their skeleton is on the outside, it is much like armor, and if you were wearing armor you would not be able to feel things touching you
- 3:00pm
- Bugscope Team so -- the hairs, which we call 'setae,' are what insects and similar arthropods use to help sense their environment
- Student what r the dots
Bugscope Team the dots are tiny pores in the surface of the exoskeleton
- Student Is there any known la
- Bugscope Team in some cases, tiny dots may be where venom leaves the jaw and enters the prey of the insect or centipede -- you can see that in one of the presets
- Student The things that look like bent needles? What are they?
Bugscope Team sorry I missed some of those messages -- I think those are sensory hairs that help the beetle tell if it is eating something
- Student How do bugs communicate?
Bugscope Team they communicate with chemical scents, quite often; also with color, and with sound
- Student The eyes don't look like eyes.
Bugscope Team they are not very good eyes compared to those of some flying insects
- Student why is the skin so smooth
Bugscope Team it's not really skin, although it looks like it. it is more like a shell -- like the shell of a shrimp, for example
- 3:06pm
- Student The millipede looks like a cobra. Is that the angle of the camera?
Bugscope Team it is curved and Cate mounted it so it is indeed angled toward us
- Student why is there a line around its head
Bugscope Team not sure I will have to look again when I can see it as you saw it
- Teacher What is the "hair" used for?
Bugscope Team so the hair is sensory: mechano- touch sensory; chemo- smell or taste sensory; and thermo- hot/cold sensory
- Student Are the compound eyes engraved into the head of it?
Bugscope Team yes in a way; they are streamlined into the head so they don't stick out much
- Student What are the hair like things on the antennae
Bugscope Team those are more sensory setae -- they are likely mechanosensory there, so the centipede can feel the position of its antenna
- Teacher Sounds like they use the hair like we use our tongue
Bugscope Team yes they do, and their antennae are often loaded with chemosensory setae. so also -- like our noses, for smelling the air
- Student yo im Michael.How many bugs are there exactly?
Bugscope Team there are millions of species, many we have not discovered yet
- Student what are the points on the antannae made of
Bugscope Team they are made of a protein called chitin
- Bugscope Team Michael I am sorry that was not an exact answer. But I think no one knows for sure
- Student is it possible for the antennae to fall out
Bugscope Team yes it is
- Student If you are always finding bugs, how do you?What is the process?
Bugscope Team people collect them and look at them and write and publish descriptions
- 3:11pm
- Teacher Are the white things the eyes.
Bugscope Team those are palps we see, mostly
- Bugscope Team this is a really nice-looking ladybug
- Bugscope Team you can see loose scales on it
- Bugscope Team the scales are from another insect, perhaps the moth
- Bugscope Team now you can see one of the eyes, to the far left and down
- Teacher We were just saying that it looks like the moth scales. Neat!
- Bugscope Team a compound eye, streamlined into the shape of the head
- Student what are the hairs?
Bugscope Team some are loose hairs from the moth, probably, and the attached ones are sensory
- Student what is that thing sticking out?
Bugscope Team I'm sorry - hard to tell -- you can see the antenna to the left now, with the segmented shape
- Student Why are the eyes smoothed in?
Bugscope Team the ladybug does not want its eyes to stick out -- they fit into the shape of the head and can swivel a bit, with the head, to protect the head; also it is better for flying to have smooth features that will not catch the wind
- Teacher Would you please show us the nano particles? You can drive. :)
Bugscope Team let me try!
- Bugscope Team I will go to the microscope instead of using this computer at my desk
- Bugscope Team now I am on the SEM
- Teacher Thanks!
- 3:16pm
- Bugscope Team it is hard to get them to stand still, but you can see those tiny wiffleball-like things
- Student What are those little white ball
- Bugscope Team they are called brochosomes, and they are said to be produced only by leafhoppers
- Bugscope Team they are about 250 to 300 nanometers in diameter
- Student what bug is this?
Bugscope Team okay, now you see more of the claw...
- Bugscope Team now you see the claw, barely, and you can see the head of the fruit fly
- Student how can these particles be on a fruit fly
- Student oops.sorry about last question.
- Bugscope Team and now -- the fruit fly's whole head
- Student Are those perfect hexagons on the eyes -John
Bugscope Team sometimes they are perfect, yes
- Student awesome!
- Student How many legs does a fruit fly have-Alex
Bugscope Team six
- Bugscope Team all insects have six legs as adults
- Teacher Since we only have a few minutes left, would you please show us anything else that we missed? Thanks!
- Student what are the points coming out of the eyes
Bugscope Team those are tiny bristles that the fruit fly uses to sense the wind speed and direction
- 3:21pm
- Student why are the legs like that
- Bugscope Team hey there is a pollen grain too
- Student I have the fear of bugs. How could I get over it?
Bugscope Team I think you get over things like that by slowly exposing yourself to them until you get used to it.
- Student why are there hairs on the slide
Bugscope Team I am not sure where that one hair came from -- a real hair!
- Student How many eyes are on a bugs compound eye?
Bugscope Team a wasp or moth or butterfly may have 5000 or more
- Bugscope Team per eye!
- Student why are there holes in the eye
Bugscope Team the holes extend to nerves beneath, and the setae, or in this case we are calling them bristles, go through those holes
- Teacher I have a request to see the salt crystal.
- Teacher What is to the right of the eye?
Bugscope Team salt!
Bugscope Team SEM cannot take back that reply...
Bugscope Team oh yeah, now it can
- Bugscope Team i want to see if I can find the mosquito
- Student If the hexagon eye is perfect can it see better-sam
- 3:26pm
- Student wouldnt the pollen itch?
Bugscope Team yeah!
Bugscope Team maybe the fruit fly was itching from that
Bugscope Team its eye off
- Student What is north of the eye? There's two things.-Carter
Bugscope Team sorry I missed that, but one was a salt crystal
- Bugscope Team I just moved us to the mosquito, which I had forgotten about earlier
- Bugscope Team this is a male mosquito
- Student THANK YOU! (:
- Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Teacher Our students need to be going. We really appreciate your time and effort answering all of our questions. The students had a blast!!!
- Bugscope Team http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-140
- Bugscope Team that is your member page
- Guest Thank you!!
- Bugscope Team if for some reason it does not link you to the page, use your number 2010-140
- Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Bugscope Team See you Friday?
- Bugscope Team Cate will be here to help then, I think.
- Teacher THANK YOU!!!!!
- Bugscope Team Oops. Thank You!
- 3:32pm
- Bugscope Team okay I am shutting down. I appreciate getting to work with you. That was fun!
- Guest Yes, my groups will do their session on Friday. I know they'll be excited after their friends tell them how cool this was!
- Bugscope Team great!
- Bugscope Team I am closing down the computers now but look forward to seeing you Friday!
