Connected on 2008-05-15 13:00:00
from Park Ridge, IL, US
- 12:46 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe've got some nice samples for you and your class today, mrs. schaab
- Bugscope Teamplease just let us know if you have any questions or problems
- TeacherI can't wait. We're just switching classes now.
- 12:55 pm
- Studenthi
- Bugscope Teamwelcome students from Park Ridge, IL, welcome to bugscope!
- StudentHey!
- Studenthello
- StudentHello
- StudentHi.
- Studenthi
- Bugscope Teamhey everyone. welcome!
- StudentHello
- Studenthello
- StudentHi!
- Studenthello scientists!!!
- Studenthi
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope, please ask any questions you may have about the images, or the microscope, or our jobs, whatever comes to your mind!
- Bugscope TeamHi guys!
- StudentWhat's The Specimen?
- Bugscope Teamwe have a jumping spider, asian ladybug, a couple of true bugs, fruit flies, salt from wendy's, and a sulfur butterfly in the scope today
- Bugscope Teamcurrently you are looking at a proboscis on a true bug
- Studenthello
- StudentWhat is a proboscis?
Bugscope Teamit is a mouthpart that acts like a straw, like an elephant's trunk. a true bug proboscis usually have a piercing part at the end
- Studentwhat is a ture bug
Bugscope TeamSome examples of true bugs are cicadas, aphids, shield bugs, and leaf hoppers
- Bugscope Teama proboscis is an appendage that comes from the mouth area. like an elephants trunk, that is a proboscis.
- Studentwhat is a true bugs
Bugscope Teamtrue bugs are an "order" of insects, which comprises of about 80,000 different closely related species
- 1:00 pm
- Bugscope Teammrs. schaab, you have control of the scope. we can give any student control as well, please just ask if you want us to switch.
- Studentwhy do youhave salt from wendys
Bugscope Teamit isn't like normal salt. it has some extra component that makes it look a little different. normal salt just looks like cubes, but you will see wendy's doesnt just look like cubes
- Bugscope Teamthe true bug is also know as "Hemiptera"
- Bugscope Teamjalen and jake, lots of things look very different under an electron microscope, so it's nice to just put different things in there and check them out
- Bugscope Teammrs. schaab, click once to start moving, click again to stop moving
- Bugscope Teamfocus is a little off, you can try changing it to get a nicer image
- Studentwhat is that hair like object?
Bugscope Teamjust that-- hairs. except on insects we are supposed to call them setae
- Bugscope Teamyou can try to take down the mag to see where we are
- Bugscope Teamnotice all these little hairs. those hairs are called setae (see-tee)
- Studenti want to know, why are those 3 hairs longer than the rest?
Bugscope Teamthey have a different purpose than the smaller ones. the longer ones are probably more for touching-- or they can sense when they bump into something.
- Bugscope Teamsetae allow the insects to sense the environment around them-- taste, touch, smell, wind movement
- Studentwhat is that hair and what is it used for?
Bugscope Teamthe hairs, or setae (see-tee), are used by the insect to sense it's environment, a lot like a cat uses it's whiskers
- 1:05 pm
- Bugscope Teamsetae stick through the insects exoskeleton, and are connected to nerves
- Studentwhat is behind that long hair it looks like a crack in the ground
- Studentdoes it feel bumpy or soft
- Studentwhy are there bumps on it
- StudentWhat is that black thing on the left side?
Bugscope Teamthat looks like a crack in the exoskeleton. when the bug dries up, it becomes brittle and easy to break
- StudentWhat part of the true bug is it
- Bugscope Teamah, cool, these little balls are called brochosomes, they come from a special bug called a leafhopper.
- Studentwhat are all those little ball things
Bugscope Teambrochosomes
- Bugscope Teamleafhopper produce brochosomes, supposedly to keep their eggs from getting dry. brochosomes look like soccer balls
- StudentWhat is a leafhopper?
Bugscope Teama little green insect that hops around, seriously :)
- Bugscope Teamthese brochosomes were unknown to humans until 1952, when scientists first started looking at leafhoppers in electron microscopes, and discovered these tiny little brochosomes
- Studentwhat are those vines
Bugscope Teamthere is some sort of substance on the eye with the brochosomes. the thing in the lower right is a seta with some goop on it
- Bugscope Teammrs. schaab, try lowering the magnification, then you can see the entire eye of the leafhopper, which should look very cool!
- 1:11 pm
- StudentWhy are all these parts so small? Wouldnt they be more effective that way?
- StudentWhat do the brochosomes do?
- StudentAre those scales
- Bugscope Teamthe bumps are the individual ommatidia, as Cate says -- the facets of the compound eye you can see now
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the whole compound eye
- Bugscope Teamthe brochosomes probably stick to each other via static electricity
- StudentWhat's That Branchy Thing?
Bugscope Teamif you mean the thing next to the eye that is coming around the edge of the image-- it is an antenna
- Bugscope Teamcompound eyes on insects are very interesting. each bump (ommatidia) has a lens in it, so the bug actually sees multiple images, and the bug brain assembled all those images into one coherent image that the bug can "see"
- Studentwhat is that brancy thingy? Is a nose?
Bugscope Teamthere was also a proboscis that was coming down in the middle of its head
- Bugscope Teamit also looks like some scales are stuck to it
- StudentDoes it only have one eye?
Bugscope Teamno, insects often have at least two compound eyes, and spiders have even more eyes, simple eyes, called ocelli
- Studentin real life is that how big that bug is?
- Studentwhat is that
- 1:16 pm
- Studentdoes it see well
Bugscope Teamyes, flying insects usually have excellent sight, that's why they can maneuver so well when flying, and escape from your hand when you are trying to slap them in mid air
- Bugscope TeamWe're seeing the sticky tape that holds the bugs right now.
- Bugscope Teampreset #2 has an image of some simple eyes (eyes that are NOT compound)
- Studenthow big is the eye
Bugscope Teama few millimeters big
- StudentWhat are we looking at now?
- StudentWhat part of the speciman are we looking at?
- Bugscope Teamthis is a butterfly antenna. we are seeing some mechanosensory setae that have brochosomes on them
- Studentwhy do they look like sea weed
- StudentWhat part of the specimen is this?
Bugscope Teaman antenna of a sulfur butterfly. it is a sulfur butterfly because it is yellow
- Studentare those little balls eggs
Bugscope TeamThe balls are brochosomes. Tiny waxy balls produced by leaf hoppers that some how got onto this bug
- Bugscope Teambutterflies do not produce brochosomes, so it seems it has been associating with some leafhoppers
- Studentwhat is that???? Hair possibly????
Bugscope Teamyes i don't know what they do, they probably smell and feel
- Studentwhere does it mostly live
Bugscope Teambutterflies live in a lot of places. a lot of butterflies migrate as well, so they'll fly great distances during their life span
- Student?
- Studenthow come it has difrent shaped hair things
Bugscope Teamthere are lots and lots of different setae. like how we have eyelashes and hairs on our arms. some setae are responsible for smelling, some are responsible for tasting, etc
- StudentAre the lines in spikes veins
Bugscope Teamthe setae (spikes) are attached to nerves. the lines might be some sort of structural support
- StudentWhat Are Those Holes????
Bugscope TeamI'm not sure what the holes are for
- StudentWhy isn't it in color?
Bugscope Teamgreat questions! these images are taken inside an electron microscope. instead of using light to gather the images, electrons are beamed at the bugs, and lots of electrons bounce off, and are collected by a special detector. so these images are made up of tiny electrons hitting a detector, and so the images are shades of black and white, no color
- Studentwhy is there a circle that looks different?
- StudentIs this a big arm or leg or antena? Then y is it sperated
Bugscope Teamantenna. it fell off the butterfly when i was picking up the butterfly
- 1:21 pm
- StudentWhy are they in sections?
Bugscope TeamBecause the hard exoskeleton cannot flex, it has to be made in pieces that are hinged so that the bug can move, very much like a knight's metal armor
- StudentHow many of those scale-things are there?
Bugscope Teamlots! too many to count!!
- StudentAre we looking at cells that produce the color of the wing?
- StudentWhat are those two white dots?
Bugscope Teamthey are bubbles in the carbon tape
- Studentcool
- Studentwhy was there a different pattern?
Bugscope Teamit probably has some use, but we don't know. sometimes we have an expert on insects join in the session and she would know
- StudentWhy is one half darker than the other half?
Bugscope TeamThat's due to a phenomenon we call "charging". We're using electrons to image the sample, and the flow of electrons is what we call electricity. What you're seeing is that the bright part isn't electrically conductive, and the electrons are building up more and increasing the brightness
- Studenthow many different sections are there
- Bugscope Teamkate&pat, different sections of what?
Bugscope Teamantenna i think
- StudentHow come there are holes in each section of the antena?
- Studentwhat are those barnch like things for
Bugscope Teamthose are setae and they have different jobs like smelling/tasting
- Studentwhere the little holes their so the bug could hear or smell things?
Bugscope Teamsome holes are for breathing, they are called spiracles, you'll see some insects with spiracles on the body segments
- Studentwas there pressure on that last clip we saw guys?
- Bugscope Teamthese are tenent setae on an asian ladybug
- 1:26 pm
- Studentwhat are those little long things?
Bugscope Teamthose are tenent setae
- Bugscope Teamthese setae are special in that they let the bugs walk on walls
- Studentumm....... is this move
Bugscope Teamthe electron beam can sometimes manipulate the specimens
Bugscope TeamHave you ever felt static electricity seem to be pulling on your hair? The same thing is happening here: the electron beam is depositing static charge on the setae and the repulsive force is causing them to flex
- Studenting
- Bugscope Teamtenent setae are special kinds of setae, they help the insect to stick to walls and such, that way they can climb out of all sorts of trouble
- StudentWhere di you get this bug?
Bugscope Teamit is a ladybug. they are pretty easy to find in the springs and late summers
- Studentwhy are the intena- things shaped like spoons
Bugscope Teamthese are tenent setae, so the spoon like shape helps to create the sticky nature of these setae, which help the insect to adhere to walls and such
- Studentwow
- Studentare those spoon parts sticky
- Studentdoes those (sprouts) on the top grow any more
- Studentor did they
- Studento ok
- StudentCool
- Studentwhy are they curvy
- Studentare those gills
- Studentis that hair
Bugscope Teamyes in a way, they are bug hair or setae (seta for singular)
- Studentwhat is that leaf thing?
Bugscope Teamthat is a scale from another insect, maybe a mosquito
Bugscope Teamthat looks like a wing scale
- Bugscope Teampat&pete, no these are setae, which look like hair, but have different functionality that hair does.
- Bugscope Teamthe leaflike thing is a scale
- Studentis it still growing?
- StudentWhy does it look like hair.
- Studenta wing scale?
- Studentcool
- StudentDo the satae eventually fall off
Bugscope Teamwell, the setae are attached to nerves underneath the exoskeleton, so i don't think they come off easily, but that doesn't mean some don't break off or fall off when the bug dies or is hurt in some way
- 1:32 pm
- Studentis that a leg
- Studentare those claws on the end?
- StudentWhy isn't there any setae in some places?
Bugscope Teaminsects dont need setae everywhere on their bodies, but the point is--they are a lot hairier than they seem!
- Studentis that aleg?
- StudentThat whole thing was a leg?
Bugscope Teamyes it sure was, there is a claw at the end too
- Student????
- Studentwhy is it spikey?
- Bugscope Teamthe tenent setae do not fall off -- they stick and unstick
- Studentcan we feel the setae
Bugscope Teamit is usually too small to feel
- Studentif that is a wing is that hair on it
- Studentalso is that a ladybug
Bugscope Teamyes
- StudentThats the ladybugs belly
- Bugscope Teamyes, this is a ladybug
- StudentWhen bugs die, why do they cross they're legs?
Bugscope Teamthey don't always do it, but most of the time they do. I think it is a reflex they do as they die
- Studentcool a spioder
- Bugscope Teamnow we moved to another image: this is a spider eye
- Studentis that an eye in the back
- Studentis tihs hair?
- StudentWhat is that grass stuff?
Bugscope Teambug hair
- Bugscope Teamyep, it's an eye behind the setae (hairs)
- StudentHow many eyes do jumping spiders have?
Bugscope Teamthey should have 8, we just cant see them all
- Bugscope Teamthe grass stuff are setae
- Bugscope Teaminsects have TONS of setae
- StudentHow come there is hair all around the eye? Is it to protect the eye?
- Studentwhat is that big ball
- Studentwhy are there so many hairs
Bugscope Teamwell, insects have a hard exoskeleton, which can't feel anything, so they developed these setae (hairs) that stick through the exoskeleton and are attached to nerves, and that's how they sense their environment. so it helps to have tons of them.
- StudentIt looks like an egg behind the hair.
- Studentwhy is the hair in a weird way
- Bugscope Teamin fact, if you see things that look like hairs, a pretty safe guess is: setae
- Studentis there really hair in the eye?
- Studentare those grass-like things are they eye lashes
- Studentwhy?
- Bugscope Teamthe eye is behind the setae (hair) here
- StudentDo spiders have an eye for each leg
- Studentwhats under the eye
- Studenthow come some of the hair is standing up but others arent
- Studenthow big is this spider in inches
Bugscope Teamit is small, the entire sample is less than an inch and a half, so i'm guessing the spider is a few centimeters or so? cate will know better.
- Bugscope Teamthey do have an eye for each leg, as it turns out
- Studentare all spiders like that with 8 eyes and legs
Bugscope Teamyes, there are a few spiders known to have 6 or 7 eyes tho. they are usually the ones that dont use their eyes much
- Studentor mm
- Studenthow big is the eye
- StudentThat is all hairy!
- Bugscope Teamunless they lose a leg -- and they can choose to lose legs if they wish -- they will have eight legs and eight eyes
- Studentwhat is that
- Studentwhats that.
- Studentare the huge bumps there eyes?
- 1:37 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is where the web comes from -- one of the spinnerets
- Student what is that
- StudentAre those the fangs of the spider?
Bugscope Teamthese are spineretts which manipulate the webbing. it is alsowhere the webbing comes out
- StudentHow big is the real spider?
- Studentcool
- Studentwhats in that
- Studentwhat are those sticks or vines
- Studentwhat are those vine like things?
Bugscope Teamspider silk
- Bugscope Teamso you can see there are some threads hanging off a few of them
- Bugscope Teamthese are the spider spinneretes, this is where the web comes from
- Studenthow big can they the web
Bugscope Teamwell, big enough to capture prey, like other small insects. don't worry, it can't web you!
- Bugscope Teamspiders can produce sticky and nonsticky web, and they recycle the web by eating it
- Studentmake the web
- Studenthow thick is the web?
- Studenthow many webs can a spider spin?
- Studentdo spiders also have suction cups things?
- Studentok
- Studentis that where it holds its eggs
Bugscope Teamspiders usually make a sack for the eggs and either carry them around or leave them in a safe place
- Bugscope Teamspiders do seem to have the equivalent of tenent setae
- Bugscope Teamthat allow them to stick to the ceiling, for example
- StudentThat is cool.
- Bugscope Teamwhen the silk is inside the spider it is a liquid that hardens when it gets into them air
- Studentis that a tooth
- Bugscope Teaminto the air...
- Bugscope Teamheh, no not a tooth, this is a rear-end of the spider
- StudentIf the spider has to make such big webs coudnt it make a bigger web faster if it wasnt so small?
Bugscope Teamwell, but think about why a spider makes a web, to catch prey so it can eat. so why would it need to capture a really huge thing when it can survive by eating lots of smaller thigns
- Bugscope Teamthis is the abdomen of the spider
- Bugscope Teamsome spiders do not make webs, but I think all of them can produce silk
- Bugscope TeamI think a lot of the bigger spiders dont rely on webs so much
- 1:42 pm
- Bugscope Teamthey make trapdoors and catch the food, or bite them to paralyze them
- TeacherCan you please give Caroline and Noah the driving power?
- Bugscope Teamthese are setae on a fruit fly compound eye
- Bugscope Teamokay mrs. schaab, done
- Studentwhat is that
- Bugscope Teamok caroline and noah have control
- Bugscope Teamcaroline and noah, you have control!
- Bugscope Teamthe spikes are setae
- Studentit lookz like little knives
- Studentis that hair
Bugscope Teamthey are responsible for letting the fruit fly know the changes in the wind currents
- Bugscope Teamthe bumps are the individual facets of a compound eye
- Bugscope Teamyeah, little daggers
- Studentare those sharp?
- StudentWhat part of the spider is this?
- Bugscope Teamthis is the eye
- Studentwhat kind of bug is this
- Bugscope Teamthis is an eye of a fruit fly
- Bugscope Teamso for example if a fly swatter is coming at them, they will be able to feel it and fly away in time
- Bugscope Teamthose are rigid setae that the fly uses, as Cate says, to feel changes in the wind
- StudentWhere can you find this bug?
- Bugscope Teamcaroline and noah, if you lower the magnification, you'll see the whole fly
- Studenthow big is the fly?
- Bugscope Teamthese flies are often associated with fruit
- Bugscope Teamfruits fly's are all over the place. they love fruit and such, or rather love the bacteria that grow on fruit
- Studentdoes a fruit fly eat fruit
Bugscope Teamthey eat the enzymes and fungi that are produced from rotting fruit
- Studentwow
- Bugscope Teamthey are very small
- Studentwhat are the little pointy things?
- Bugscope Teamthe pointy things allow the fly to feel changes in the air, in the wind
- StudentIs it harder to see as a fly then a frute fly then a real fly.
- Studentwhats the little bump on the top of the eye
Bugscope Teamon the right side, there was a bump that was a pollen grain
- StudentWhy do the eyes have so many bumps?
Bugscope Teamwell, sight is important to a flying insect, so these compound eyes have lots of individual facets, and all those facets see an image, so the more images it sees, the better able it is to fly and feed and survive
- Studentare the pointy things on the head the antena
Bugscope Teamthe antennae come in 2 parts for flies. the first set are the little pads in between the eyes, and the second part are branches that are around the pads. one of the branches is gone (n the left side) but the right side had a branch coming own into a part of its eye
- Studentwhat do the hares on the eye do
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae are the pad-like things in the middle of the head
- Studentcan they only see side to side?
- Bugscope Teamdanny & aaron, notice that because of the shape of the eye, the fly can also see almost a complete 180 degrees, that's pretty cool peripheral vision
- Bugscope Teamthey have very good peripheral vision
- Studentcould the fly see good because of so many bumps?
Bugscope Teamyes, each bump has an eye lens in it
- Studentwhat part is this
- 1:47 pm
- Studentwhat are the hills there for
- Bugscope Teamthe many bumps help the fly update images very quickly, so flies can sense movement much more quickly, for example, than we can
- Bugscope Teami think this is its sponging mouthpart
- Bugscope Teamthis is a little dried up compared to what it is like when the fly is alive
- Bugscope Teamthe proboscis is soft and shrivels when it dries
- TeacherCan I have driving power back?
- Bugscope Teamso when it eats, they spit up a little juice that liquifies its food. then it sponges it all back up
- Bugscope Teamok done
- Bugscope Teammrs. schaab, you have control again
- TeacherThanks!
- TeacherMy specimin choices are gone
- Bugscope TeamNow you can see the body of the fly, facing you.
- StudentWHY ARE THE LEG TOGETHER
Bugscope Teamjust like the ladybug, i think it is a reflex that happens when they are dying
- 1:52 pm
- Bugscope Teamtry refreshing the browser
- Bugscope TeamCan you get them to return by refreshing the browser?
- Bugscope Teamthe legs close together, fold together when the fly dies
- Studentthats copol
- Bugscope Teamthe soft parts dry and the legs move (usually) closer together
- Bugscope Teamthe little sacks you see on either side of the fruit fly are halteres that are modified wings
- StudentWhat are those hole like things?
- Bugscope Teampaper!
- Studentwhy does it look wrapped
- Studentwhy is it on top of each other?
- Bugscope Teamthese are paper fibers.
- Studentwhy is every thing over laping
- StudentWhat are the spongy things on the parts that are overlaping
- Bugscope Teamthose are cellulose fibers -- paper fibers
- Studentwhy are they long lines?
- Bugscope Teamthe paper fibers look like little strips that are all interlaced together
- Studentwhy does that look like a pretzal from the bakery?? yum
- Studentand what is that hole
- StudentIs this fresh paper or used paper?
Bugscope Teamit is probably recycled
- Bugscope Teamthat hole is where a pin went through it
- Studentis the paper cut?
- Studentwhy does it look like a leaf????
Bugscope Teamthats just the way the person cut it to make it a tab.
- Bugscope Teamit is a little strip that was cut into a tab and was stuck to an insect because the insect was too small for the pin to go through
- TeacherThey are going ask you questions about your job for the last few minutes if that's okay
- 1:57 pm
- Bugscope Teamsure
- Studenthow long have you been a scientist
Bugscope Teami've been working here for a couple years now. I graduated with a degree in physics from the university of illinois
- StudentWhat is your favorite part of being a scientist?
- Studentdo you only study bugs?
Bugscope Teamwe look at lots of different things in the microscope. bugs are just usually the most interesting
- StudentDo you do anything else besides looking at bugs?
- StudentHow old were you when you first became a scientist?
- StudentWhats your favorite thing to look at?
Bugscope Teamthere are a lot of cool looking bacteria to look at. sadly we hardly ever see them on insects, even tho everyone says they carry germs
- Studentwhat inspired you to be a scientist
- Bugscope Teamscott has a degree in english and biology
- StudentDo you like wearing a lab coat?
- Studentwhat kind of fun things do you do?
- Studenthave you ever had a acident in the lab
Bugscope Teamno and that is a good thing. we have a lot of nasty chemicals around here that would be very bad if they were handled badly
- StudentWhat else do you do if you arent lookink through a microscope?
Bugscope Teamwhat we do here is we train other people to use the microscopes when we arent using them, or we help them if they need help on them
- Studentif any of u could have a different job in the hole wide world which job woud it be
Bugscope Teami like science, so it would still be in the science field. maybe it would be fun (atleast for me) to look at different viruses
- Studentbye bye
- StudentThank u
- Studentbye
- Bugscope Teamother users on campus, when trained, can use the microscopes for their own studies like looking at carbon nanotubes or nano structures
- StudentBye- my friends!
- Studentbuy buy thanks
- TeacherThank you for all of your help today! We're about finished. The specimins were awesome! :)
Bugscope TeamI hope we see you again next semester
- Bugscope Teambye I hope you all had fun, and thank you for all your great questions
- StudentAdios
- StudentC Y
- Studentbye whole bugscope bugs rock
- StudentGood-bye Bye Buy
- Studentthank you! And goodbye!
- Student:}
- Studentthank you
- Studentthank you, See Ya Later!
- Student:)
- Bugscope Teambye everyone!
- Studentsee yah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Studentby by thank you for sowing us bug's and answering all of our guestions
- StudentBuh bye
- 2:02 pm
- Bugscope Teamthank you!
- StudentC ya and thanks for answering my questions
- TeacherThanks again! See you next year!
- Bugscope Teambye Mrs. Schaab. See you in a future session!
- Bugscope TeamHellow susansp. Do you have any questions? Would you like to try controlling the scope?
- Bugscope Teammeeting starting...
- Bugscope Teamwell if there are no questions. I am going to shut down this session
