Connected on 2013-12-04 13:00:00 from Chatham, Georgia, United States
- 7:39am
- Bugscope Team sample placed in the 'scope a few minutes ago
- Bugscope Team this is the CCD camera view
- 7:47am
- Teacher That is really a cool picture!
- Bugscope Team it's an infrared camera image of the inside of the sample chamber
- Bugscope Team from the back of the chamber toward the door
- Bugscope Team the person who was using the 'scope last night did not pump the chamber when he was done, so it will take a bit longer for the sample to pump down this morning. but we should be fine.
- Teacher Are you able to leave this camera image up for the students? Or do you need to continue to prepare the spcimens?
Bugscope Team We can switch to this image anytime during the connection with the students, so you can just ask us to show you the inside of the chamber.
- Teacher Yea, that would be awesome! I think they would really like to see this!
- Bugscope Team once the 'scope is ready, we'll be using the electron beam to set up and collect the presets for today's session
- Bugscope Team then, anytime; sometimes we show this during a session, sometimes not
- Teacher Okay!
- 7:53am
- Bugscope Team I think just a few more minutes before the vacuum is good enough to start setup
- Teacher All righty!
- Bugscope Team almost there...
- Teacher Take your time. :-)
- Bugscope Team we have a hand-drawn map of the sample we use to help us find each specimen
- Teacher Yea, that makes sense. Is prep usually around an hour for most sessions?
- Bugscope Team often we can cruise through and get it done in 35 or 40 minutes, especially if there are two of us working
- Teacher Nice
- 7:59am
- Bugscope Team making the sample itself takes 15 or 20 minutes, unless we need to do critical point drying, which can take 30 or 40 minutes itself
- Teacher How do you do the critical point drying?
- Bugscope Team oops sorry I had started an answer... having problems with the vacuum
- Bugscope Team I'm going to need to restart the SEM software
- Bugscope Team just a minute...
- 8:04am
- Bugscope Team okay we should be back online now
- Teacher Yep, it is back online! I will be back in a few minutes.
- Bugscope Team cool!
- 8:09am
- 8:15am
- 8:21am
- 8:28am
- 8:33am
- 8:38am
- 8:44am
- Bugscope Team we are ready to roll
- Bugscope Team be right back
- Bugscope Team if there's time we may make a couple more presets
- Teacher Students will be in the lab in about 10 minutes.
- 8:50am
- Bugscope Team cool!
- 8:55am
- Teacher we are almost ready...
- 9:07am
- Teacher Give station 1 control, please :-)
Bugscope Team got it!
- Bugscope Team these are butterfly wing scales way up close
- Bugscope Team the first preset we did moved
- Bugscope Team this is awesome
- Bugscope Team rolypolies are not insects, perhaps obviously, because they have more than six legs
- Bugscope Team they're crustaceans, like crabs and lobsters
- Student what are they
- Bugscope Team they're supposed to have gills somewhere here at the end of the body, but we're not sure what they look like
- Student why dont they live in the ocean
Bugscope Team some versions of them do live in the ocean
Bugscope Team good call!
- Bugscope Team this is a single palp -- one of the mouthparts of a beetle, in this case
- 9:12am
- Bugscope Team palps are accessory mouthparts many insects have that help them taste and also maneuver food into their mouths
- Student what is a beetle palp
Bugscope Team there are two sets of them -- often they have chemosensory structures
Bugscope Team they're little feelers, like extra arms just for the mouth, just for feeding
- Teacher Give control to station 2, please :-)
Bugscope Team got it!
- Bugscope Team cool this is the yellowjacket
- Bugscope Team see its serrated mandibles?
- Bugscope Team insect jaws often open left and right like a gate, unlike ours
- Student sir
- Student where are the eyes
Bugscope Team they are top the left and right, the large bulbous things
- Bugscope Team 'to' the left and right
- Student Is it a girl or boy?
Bugscope Team we didn't see any signs of a stinger, so it might be a boy. Though most ants, bees, and wasps you see are girls
- Bugscope Team now we're way close up on one of the compound eyes
- 9:18am
- Teacher Give control to station 4, please :-)
Bugscope Team they have control
- Bugscope Team you can see a seta across the bottom of the image, out of focus
- Bugscope Team this is totally gnarly
- Bugscope Team the palps we see now have holes in them
- Bugscope Team now you can see the compound eye
- Bugscope Team good job driving!
- Student What are those holes that the setae are coming out of?
Bugscope Team they are little pits, and we are not really sure what they do: there are a number of options for what they can do, including giving the wasp a shiny black appearance, strengthening the cuticle there, and also affecting the sound the wasp makes when it flies
- Bugscope Team this is a small crystal -- some kind of chemical that formed in this area, which is covered with a biofilm
- Bugscope Team bacteria lay down biofilms, which are kind of like thin Jell-O that they swim around in
- 9:23am
- Student what looks like a star
Bugscope Team that is the crystal, some combination of chemicals like calcium carbonate
- Teacher Give control to station 5, please :-)
Bugscope Team station 5 is now the supreme ruler
- Bugscope Team so cool!
- Bugscope Team this is the underside of a daddylonglegs spider
- Bugscope Team they look like crabs much more than they resemble spiders, up close
- Bugscope Team they have these cute little pincers
- Bugscope Team insects and similar arthropods like spiders have lots of sensory setae (see-tee)
- Student Could a pinch from this insect be deadly?
Bugscope Team no not at all. and usually they leave people alone and stick to 'pinching' insects
- Bugscope Team the pincers are so small you would likely not feel them
- Bugscope Team this is part of the thorax of the moth
- Student Are they afraid of water?\
Bugscope Team they seem to avoid water; they don't do well in it
Bugscope Team so I would say Yes
- 9:28am
- Bugscope Team the scales come off easily, like when you rub the wing of a butterfly they are the powder that comes off
- Student What is that?
Bugscope Team we are somewhere on the moth looking at an area where scales have come off
- Bugscope Team when a moth or butterfly flies into a spider web, the scales stick to the web and the insect is more likely to be able to escape
- Teacher Give control to station 6, please :-)
Bugscope Team got it!
- Bugscope Team cute little cucumber beetle
- Bugscope Team it has remnants of food all over its face -- a messy eater
- Student *eat
- Bugscope Team but also, mold has taken over
- Student How did the mold get there?
Bugscope Team it happened some time after it died. if the beetle is moist at all, the water attracts mold
- Student Why is it called a cucumber beetle ?
- Student why is it called the cucumber beetle
Bugscope Team they are found around cucumbers and melons, and they feed on them, so they cause damage to them as crops
- Bugscope Team see the compound eye?>
- Bugscope Team the facets are called ommatidia
- 9:33am
- Bugscope Team insects with compound eyes often have better peripheral vision
- Bugscope Team also, compound eyes update more quickly so the insects can see when something is trying to catch them
- Bugscope Team those are bacteria
- Bugscope Team rod-shaped bacteria are called bacilli, and there are lots of different kinds that look like this
- Teacher Give control to station 7, please :-)
Bugscope Team station 7 has control
- Student What kind of bacteria is this?
Bugscope Team we do not know for sure
Bugscope Team E. coli look like that, but so do Shigella and even anthrax bacteria
- Bugscope Team see the compound eye of the aphid in the center?
- Bugscope Team aphids have soft bodies, so when they die they shrivel quite a lot
- Bugscope Team this is a ladybug larva, kind of a mean-looking little dude
- Bugscope Team ladybugs are predators both as larvae and as adults
- Bugscope Team its head is to the north
- Bugscope Team a caterpillar is a larval insect
- Bugscope Team now you can see where we found the little star-shaped crystal
- 9:38am
- Teacher Give control to station 8, please :-)
Bugscope Team got it!
- Student what is that?
Bugscope Team these are on the wasp's antenna. they are special pits that sense chemicals for communication
- Bugscope Team insects pay much more attention to chemical scents than we do
- Student What kind of chemicals do they sense?
Bugscope Team some of them are pheromones, which the males used to attract the females or the females use to attract the males; some represent commands or information, as with ants
- Teacher This will be the end of this session. :-)
- Student Thank You!
- Student thanks!!!!!!!
- Student THANK YOU !
- Bugscope Team thank you
- Student Thank you both once again!!! Goodbye :)
- Bugscope Team if you smear a live ant with the smell of a dead ant, for example, the ants that do the cleanup will carry the live ants away, even if they are obviously alive
- Bugscope Team Thank You!
- Bugscope Team Bye!
- 9:43am
- Bugscope Team Thank You, Everyone!
- Teacher I will see you again at 1:30. :-)
- Bugscope Team see you! thank you!
- 12:11pm
- Teacher Session Two Marker
- Bugscope Team hello!
- Teacher Hey Scot! Students will be in the lab in 15ish minutes.
- Bugscope Team super cool
- Bugscope Team the Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Teacher Haha!
- 12:18pm
- Bugscope Team poor thing even has a cracked head
- Teacher Aw, poor thing!
- 12:27pm
- Teacher We will start in about 5 minutes.
- Student that's really digusting
Bugscope Team haha
- Bugscope Team it's a baby ladybug
- Bugscope Team yeah it's a baby!
- Teacher Give control to group one
Bugscope Team they have control...
- Student Do you guy's know what happened to its head
Bugscope Team Cate mashed it with some forceps.
Bugscope Team after it died
- Bugscope Team after insects die, they dry out and tend to break easily
- Student That's actually pretty cool
- 12:33pm
- Bugscope Team this is a rolypoly, which is not an insect but a crustacean, like a crab or lobster
- Student Is that the anus
Bugscope Team no it is actually the head
- Student Do they have eyes?
Bugscope Team yes they have compound eyes that are being partially obscured by the antennae and the back shell
- Student what is it
Bugscope Team it's a rolypoly, pillbug, woodlouse...
- Student why does it look flat..
Bugscope Team it really does look flat across the front of the head, not sure why
- Student who is answering the questions?
Bugscope Team Cate and me, here at the University of Illinois, at the Beckman Institute
- Student what exactly is this?
- Bugscope Team this is a crystal, likely calcium carbonate, something like that
- Bugscope Team the surrounding dried material appears to be a biofilm, produced by bacteria, and now dry
- Teacher Give control to station 2
Bugscope Team got it!
Bugscope Team they have it
- Student where are the ladybug larva generally located?
Bugscope Team I believe they are found on plants, about the same places as ladybugs, but they cannot fly
- 12:38pm
- Student spikes on
- Bugscope Team if you take the mag down lower I think you'll be able to see where you are
- Student what part of the yellow jacket is that?
Bugscope Team this is on one of the tarsi, which are the final five or so segments of one of the limbs
- Student what are the spikeson it
Bugscope Team they are little sticky hairs (setae), and sensory setae
- Bugscope Team now you can see that we were at pretty high mag before
- Bugscope Team cool you know you are driving a $600,000 scanning electron microscope from your classroom
- Teacher Give control to station 3
Bugscope Team they have it
- Bugscope Team this is a true bug -- a Hemipteran
- Student what is it
- Student What Is That ?
- Bugscope Team this is a palp. they help the bug to taste and move around food
- Bugscope Team ambush bugs, assassin bugs, and bedbugs, as well as stinkbugs, are true bugs
- Student What is a true bug?
Bugscope Team they have piercing/sucking mouthparts (also, cicadas), and their wings are partly hardened
- 12:43pm
- Student Is It Missing A Leg ?
Bugscope Team yes
- Student what is a hemipteran?
Bugscope Team hemi- means 'half,' and pteran means 'winged.' like a pterodactyl is winged fingers
- Teacher Give control to station 4
Bugscope Team got it
- Student Are true bugs deadly?
Bugscope Team usually not
Bugscope Team some eat plant juices and some eat other insects, so some are deadly to other insects
- Student Are all spiders harmful to humans
Bugscope Team no, but they all produce venom
- Bugscope Team these are in the spider family but seem more like crabs themselves
- Bugscope Team so cool they have these super tiny pincers
- Student what is thiss....
- Bugscope Team here we see the face of the hemipteran. with both of its antennae missing
- Bugscope Team the compound eyes are on either side
- Teacher Give control to station 5
Bugscope Team got it!
- Bugscope Team when hemipterans have triple jointed probosces, they are usually predators of other insects
- Student are some insects hermaphrodites
Bugscope Team I believe that is true.
Bugscope Team yes there are some. the scale insect is one
- 12:49pm
- Student How do most insects feed.
Bugscope Team some flies have sponging mouthparts, and some have slashing/cutting mouthparts
Bugscope Team some insects have piercing/sucking mouthparts like the true bugs
Bugscope Team some have chewing mouthparts
Bugscope Team some do not feed at all as adults
Bugscope Team butterflies and moths often have long tubes, like straws, they use to suck up nectar
- Student no
- Student have you guys ever looked at human skin cells
Bugscope Team we have looked at huiman epithelial breast cells, which form ducts; I don't believ we've looked at skin cells
- Teacher Give control to station 6
Bugscope Team got it!
- Student About how much bacteria is on the beetle?
Bugscope Team hard to tell; they form those biofilms and then live within them, sort of like swimming through thin Jell-O
- Student what are the humps called?
Bugscope Team those were facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- Student what are epithelial breast cells
Bugscope Team they are human cells that produce milk
Bugscope Team they form the ducts that produce milk
- 12:55pm
- Bugscope Team this is a cute little cucumber beetle with lots of leftover food and fungus on its face
- Teacher Give control to station 7
- Student What are the eyes made of?
Bugscope Team they are made of chitin- the same as the rest of the exoskeleton
- Student what kind of mold is that
Bugscope Team I really don't know; I'm sure it has some kind of name, some kind of mycelium-like name
- Student alright
- Bugscope Team now you can see the ommatidia that make up the beetle's compound eye
- Bugscope Team the strands of fungus are called hyphae
- Teacher Give control to station 7 :-)
Bugscope Team ice station 7 has control
- Bugscope Team this is awesome
- Bugscope Team see the mandibles?
- Bugscope Team they're like opposed forks, or sporks
- Bugscope Team the antennae are covered with chemosensory features called sensillae
- 1:00pm
- Student Are they in the wasp family and do they have stingers that they can sting multiple time?s
Bugscope Team yes they are, and yes they do, but we did not see a stinger on that one; it might have been a male
- Bugscope Team in the middle here you can see an aphid's eye
- Teacher Give control to station 8
Bugscope Team 8 are the rulers
- Bugscope Team gnarly
- Bugscope Team this is the abdomen of the baby ladybug, so cute
- Bugscope Team you can see that it is lying next to a beetle
- Bugscope Team pincers!
- Bugscope Team I did this move...
- Bugscope Team see the spider's eyes?
- Bugscope Team they're at the top
- Teacher This will end our session.
- Bugscope Team there they are
- Bugscope Team thanks!
- Student Thank you Scot and Cate, you were just as much of a help today as from yesterday.
- Bugscope Team Thank You
- Student Thanks
- Student thank yiy
- Student Thank you so much for this opportunity! :) We really enjoyed this experience , and hope to do it again one day.
- Student Thank you guys!!
- Student thank you very much
- Student thanks cate and scot
- Bugscope Team Thank You, Everyone!
- 1:05pm
- Bugscope Team super fun for us
- Bugscope Team good bye!
