Heights Elementary School
Session 2009-084

Application

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Class

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Miscellaneous

Transcript

Connected on 2009-11-05 11:30:00 from , MA, US

• 11:16 am
• Bugscope Teamdone with presets, we are ready!
• Bugscope Teamhello ms. shapiro!
• TeacherHi- just setting up the computers- the kids are still at lunch
• Bugscope Teamif you have any questions or need help, let us know
• Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope :)
• 11:22 am
• TeacherThe presets look awesome
• Bugscope Teamcate is a preset master
• Teacherany tracheal mites in that spiracle?
  Bugscope TeamI didn't see any. No mites on this sample that I could see at all sadly
• TeacherMaybe that's a good thing!
• Bugscope Team:)

• Teacheri'm not sure i underatand the focus control
  Bugscope Teamwell, it's tricky, but it does work, you may need to reverse direction if a few clicks make it less focused
• 11:27 am
• Bugscope Teamnow those are some really long eye "lashes"...
• Bugscope Teamif something is out of focus and you want us to focus for you, we can do that for ya
• Bugscope Teamthe compound eye is in the middle and to the left (it's really big) and the simple eye is the little round bump to to the right
• Teacherokay great
• Bugscope Teamms. shapiro, right now your login has control. if you want mrs. hanley login to have control, or any of the other computers, just let us know

• 11:32 am
• Studenthi the class has arrived
• Bugscope Teamhello everyone!
• Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope!

• Bugscope Teamthose hairs are called setae (see-tee) and they are all overs every insect, it's like their skin, that's how the feel their environment
• Guestwow thats interesting
• Studentwhat are all those dot's on it
  Bugscope Teamthose are the individual facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
• 11:38 am
• Studenthow many lenses are there
  Bugscope Teamit varies, but flying insects have lots, thousands of facets per eye.

• Bugscope Teamnow you can see another kind of eye as well; one of the ocelli, or simple eyes
• Bugscope Teamants have very few lenses on their eyes because they don't need them very much spending most of their time underground and relying on their antennae. Flying insects usually have huge compound eyes with many many lenses
• Studentwhere is it
  Bugscope Teamthe ocellus is to the right edge of the head. It looks like a small bump

• Bugscope Teamif we could see the head from the back, from the top, we would find that there are three ocelli.
• Studentis this it
• Bugscope Teamit is in the middle left of the screen on the back of the head
• Bugscope Teamit is in about the middle-left of the screen now

• Studentwhy do they need three eyes
  Bugscope Teamactually they have five eyes: two compound eyes with multiple lenses, and three ocelli. The compound eyes help them see pretty much the way we do but better in some ways. They can see ultraviolet wavelengths of light, which we cannot, and they can register motion more quickly than we can. Which is why you cannot grab them easily. The ocelli let the insect know where it is with respect to the sun; they are helpful in keeping its orientation, not getting lost.

• 11:47 am
• Bugscope Teamthe ocelli look very similar to spider eyes. some spiders see well, but many of them rely more on vibration to sense things in their immediate environment.

• Bugscope Teampretty cool
• Bugscope Teamyou can see that this stinger cuts into your skin with a side by side sliding action, and you can also see that the edges of the stinger are serrated like a steak knife
• Studentis there any other weapon besides the stinger
  Bugscope TeamNot that I can think of. The bee could bite you, perhaps.
• Bugscope Teamhoney bees have barbs on their stingers helping the stingr wedge into you to leave it behind
• Studentwhat does stinger inject?
  Bugscope Teamit does inject some venom that, if you are allergic to bees, could be fatal, otherwise it just hurts
• Bugscope TeamSerrations help cut, but Cate pointed out that what we see here are barbs that help the stinger stay in.
• Studenthow can you tell a female bee from a male bee
  Bugscope Teammale bees have much larger eyes and their size in general is bigger than a female
• Bugscope Teamalso males can't sting you because they have no stinger
• 11:53 am
• Studentwhat happens if you dont take the stinger out
  Bugscope Teamif you don't take the stinger out, all of the venom will pump into your skin, and the sting could hurt worse or last longer. Eventually, if you left it in, the stinger would fall out as your skin rejected it.

• Studentdo all bees die when they sting
  Bugscope Teamno only honey bees do. Bumble bees could sting you multiple times (but they aren't very agressive so they won't usually sting at all)

• Studentis the stinger soft
  Bugscope Teamthe stinger is hard; it is made of chitin, kind of like your fingernails
• Studentwhat is the stinger nmade of ?
• Studentwhat kind of venom is it
  Bugscope Teamthe venom is called apitoxin, which kind of makes sense because bees are called Apis, and hives are sometimes called .apiaries

• Student is that the tong
  Bugscope Teamyep that forked part in the middle is its tongue
• 11:59 am
• Bugscope Teamthere are lots of chemicals in bee toxin, or venom; one of them is histamine, which results in the itching swelling response.
• Studentwhy do they have fork tounges
  Bugscope Teamthat is the hard outside shell, and the tongue is inside, more flexible like ours
• Studentit looks like a snakes tongue
• Bugscope Teamapitoxin is comprised of a neurotoxin, an analgesic, anticoagulant, histamine, and dopamine
• Bugscope Teampeople are allergic to the histamine. about 1% of the population is allergic to bee stings

• Bugscope Teamso where the fork is, the tip of the tongue comes out.

• Bugscope Teamthat part of the mouthparts is folded back a little now; it can be moved forward
• Bugscope Teamhere we see the antennae, pretty nice
• Studentit looks like a worm
  Bugscope Teamyes it does! it has segments and is flexible
• StudentWhy does the anntenna have
• Studentwhat do bees eat
  Bugscope Teammostly honey and nectar, which is a sugary fluid produced by flowers

• 12:05 pm

• Studenthow much larger is a queen bee than a worker bee?
  Bugscope TeamI think I remember that they can be twice the size, but I am sure it varies with species

• Studentdo they have bees that guard the hive
  Bugscope Teamyes worker bees (the females) guard the hive

• Studentif they do have guards, how do they know who to let in
  Bugscope TeamI am not sure. It may be that they communicate using their antennae, as ants do, and some of those communications are chemical.
• Studentwhat's the difference between a bee aand a wasp
  Bugscope TeamThe main differences are bees are more stout, while wasps have a "skinny waist". Wasps are more aggressive and therefore, more likely to sting you. Bees are more interested in flowers, while wasps can be more interested in your garbage
• StudentIt looks like a lobster claw
  Bugscope Teamooh yeah
• Bugscope TeamWorker bees clean the hive, care for young bees, make honeycomb for storing honey, guard the hive, and forage for nectar and pollen.
• 12:10 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe antennae have receptors for chemicals, both those that touch the surface of the antenna and those that are carried as odors in the air

• Bugscope Teamwasps can sting multiple times, so their stingers are not barbed to stay in your skin, and they don't lose the little pumping station that bees have that continues to pump venom after it's left the bee.
• Bugscope Teamspiracle! this is like a tiny nose that lets air into the tracheal system inside of the body
• Bugscope Teaminsects can close their spiracles to hold their breath, if they want
• 12:16 pm
• Studentis the spiraclelike ablow hole on a whale ?
  Bugscope Teamhey, that's an interesting thought, and i think a good analogy. the difference is whales have lungs, whereas insects don't have lungs
• Studenthow do the spiricals work
  Bugscope Teamthey are the openings through which air is delivered to the internal organs of the body. they are connected to a system of tubes called tracheae.
• Studentare all bees in the hiverealated to the clean
  Bugscope Teamthe queen is usually the mother of all the bees
• Studentthes hairs look fethery
  Bugscope Teamthey are called plumose setae. They are probably really good at catching pollen grains
• Student what are the bees enimys
  Bugscope Teamsome birds, bats, some mites, bears...
• Bugscope Teamsome other rodents as well

• Bugscope Teamthis is cool
• Bugscope Teambees and wasps each have four wings -- two forewings and two hindwings.
• Studentwhat is it
  Bugscope Teamthese are hooks that hook the fore- and hind-wings together to make it so that when the bees fly, it's like having one pair of wings
• 12:22 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe hooks are called hamuli
• Bugscope Teamit is more efficient for some insects to fly with two wings compared to four

• Studentwhat is this
• Bugscope Teamah this is cool, those little balls are called brochosomes, and they are sitting inside the holes of a wing scale
• Studentwhat are those balls
  Bugscope Teamthose are called brochosomes, they come from a leafhopper
• Studentwhat is the purpose of the balls
  Bugscope Teamthey are thought to help make the leafhopper eggs less likely to break, they provide a lubrication of some sorts, i think
• Bugscope Teamflies have only two wings to start with, and that is why flies are called Diptera. Di- means two, and ptera- means wing. Like the flying dinosaur pteranodon. Which would then mean winged tooth.
• Bugscope Teambrochosomes (those little balls) were discovered in 1952, when someone looked under an electron microscope at leafhoppers. brochosomes are very very small
• Studentdo bees have brochosomes
  Bugscope Teamnope, only the leafhopper produces brochosomes
• Bugscope Teamyes as Alex says we are looking at something that is in the nano realm. Brochosomes are often 200 to 400 nm in diameter.

• 12:27 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe pollen grain is the one with the pointy parts

• Bugscope Teamsee the micron bar in the lower left of the image?
• Bugscope Teama bee might "collect" brochosomes if it were to fly around a leafhopper though, we often do see brochosomes on other insects that hang out with leafhoppers
• Bugscope Teamif it says 6 microns, that is three bacteria end-to-end long
• Bugscope Teamif there were bacteria in these samples we would be able to see them
• Studentits time to go
• StudentThis is as a cool session
• Bugscope TeamOh. Are you coming back?
• Studentbye
• Bugscope TeamThank You for working with us!
• Student clap clap clap clap
  Bugscope Teamyou are totally welcome
• Studentthank you for letting us see the bee
• Teacheryes the next class will be here shortly
• Studentclap
• Teacherclap
• Bugscope TeamCool.
• 12:33 pm

• Bugscope TeamHey it's a bee head!

• Studenthi we are Mrs.geiger class

• Bugscope Teamhello, welcome to bugscope!

• 12:39 pm
• Studentwhy is the bees eye harry
• Bugscope Teamthose hairs help the bee to fly, by providing the bee with wind speed info and direction
• Bugscope Teamthose hairs are called setae (see-tee), and they are all over the insect, not just on the eye
• Studenthow many lenses on a eye?
  Bugscope Teamthis bee compound eye has thousands of lens's, as do most flying insects. the lens's are called ommatidia.

• Bugscope Teamthere may be three to five thousand or more individual ommatidia in one compound eye

• StudentIs the eye hair used to catch pollen?
  Bugscope Teaminteresting idea! but i don't think that is so. we think the eye setae are there to help the bee fly, by sensing wind speed and direction
• Bugscope Teamif you had compound eyes like this you would be able to see ultraviolet wavelengths of light, and you would also be able to send motion and react more quickly than most people. but it would be very difficult to buy glasses.
• StudentWhat is a simple eye
  Bugscope Teama simple eye is also called an ocellus, and many flying insects have them on the back of their heads, in threes. three ocelli. they help the insect maintain its orientation with respect to the sun, so it does not get lost easily.
• 12:44 pm
• Bugscope Teamalthough, if a bee could capture nectar with it's eye setae, and then use its comb to collect that nectar, that would be pretty cool!

• Bugscope Teamso a bee has five eyes: two compound eyes with many many ommatidia, and three simple eyes, like the little dome we see here
• Studentis this the simple eye
• Bugscope Teamyes it is!
• Bugscope Teamit looks a lot like a spider'
• Bugscope Teams eye
• StudentIt looks like a giant pimple!
  Bugscope Teamooh
• Bugscope Teama zit
• Bugscope Teamor eeuwww

• StudentDoes the bees hair have ticks or flees in it?
  Bugscope Teamticks and fleas are rather large compared to the size of the bee, but bees can have mites that live on them, and in the hair, or setae, on their bodies
• Studentare there hairs on the singer
  Bugscope Teamwell, i don't think there are, they are surrounding the stinger

• Studentwhat happens after the bee stings
  Bugscope Teamthe bee dies because it has lost an essential part of its body; the stinger is attached to the venom glands, which go with it and leave a big hole in the bee

• Studentstinger

• Studentwhy does a bee sting ???
• 12:50 pm
• Studentwhat is the stinger made out of
• Studentis the stinger used for anything except stinging
  Bugscope Teamin a worker bee the stinger is only used for stinging
• Bugscope Teamthe stinger is made of chitin, like the exoskeleton of the bee. it is kind of like your fingernails
• Studenthow long is the stinger
  Bugscope Teamhere the stinger is only a tenth of a millimeter or so, but we cannot see all of it
• StudentWHat is the difference between a bee and a wasp?
  Bugscope Teamthey both have four wings, but bees are generally fatter -- they don't have that skinny wasp waist. and wasps can sting repeatedly. wasps also do not produce honey.
• Bugscope Teamin some insects -- some wasps in particular -- the stinger is also used to deliver eggs into the host, maybe a caterpillar. so the stinger is used as an ovipositor.
• Studentis the stinger the bees only weapon?
  Bugscope Teampretty much. it could bite you.

• Studentwhat color is the stinger
  Bugscope TeamI think it is black or brown
• Studentdoes the bee intentionlly sting people
  Bugscope Teamwell, yes, i think so, but probably wouldn't unless it was provoked. bees are probably thinking more about collecting nectar and protecting the hive, more than anything else
• Studentwhich hurts more a wasps sting or a bee sting
  Bugscope TeamI think that depends on the bee or wasp and whether you are allergic. wasps can sting repeatedly.
• 12:55 pm
• Studentdoes the bee ever run out of poison?
  Bugscope Teamit does because -- if it is a honeybee -- it stings once and dies and that is it

• TeacherAre those teeth
  Bugscope Teamthe jaws are crossed at the top of the head as we see it now. the part coming down is the outside of the proboscis, and the tongue is inside of that
• Guestwe are just joining you -- could you tell us what this is a picture of?
  Bugscope Teamthis is the underside of the head of a bee
• Studentor a toung
• Bugscope Teami think wasps are generally more painful though, assuming one isn't allergic to bees, right? i learned as a kid, stay away from wasps, big time.
• Studentis there hair on the teeth
  Bugscope Teamthey aren't really teeth - insects do not have teeth but they do have hardened chitin in some places where a mammal might have teeth. and there are probably a few setae on the proboscis but we do not see them yet

• Guestwhat is the object that looks like a tongue?
  Bugscope Teamthat was the proboscis and the tongue was inside
• Bugscope Teamtiger, this isn't really a "picture", it's a live video still from an electron microscope. ms. shapiro is controlling that scope over the internet. the video coming from the scope is live!

• Studentwhat is at the top of the bee

• TeacherWhat are we looking at
  Bugscope Teamthese are the antennae

• Bugscope Teamthe antennae of a bee
• 1:00 pm
• Studentwhat are the lines
  Bugscope Teamthe lines on the antennae? well, those are breaks in the exoskeleton. since the exoskeleton is hard, those breaks in it allow the antennae to have some kind of flexibility so they won't break when the bee tries to sense things
• Bugscope Teamthe antennae have lots of setae and sensilla on them that collect information from the environment
• Studentthe antennae looks like a worm!!!
  Bugscope Teamyes it does!
• Studentdoes it have a sence of smell?
  Bugscope Teamyes, and some of the sensilla and some of the setae collect chemical odors, which is what smelling is
• Studentwhat does it eat
  Bugscope Teambees eat mostly nectar and honey. nectar is the sweet liquid that flowers produce to attract insects like bees
• Studentdoes it have all 5 sences?????
  Bugscope Teamyes, i think it does. however, it does not smell with a nose. it uses those hairs (setae) to smell. the setae that can smell things are called chemosensory setae.
• Studenthow much is the bees life span?
  Bugscope Teamworker bees, 1 to 4 months, drones, 40 to 50 days, queens, usually 2 to 5 years
• Bugscope Teamtouch, smell/taste, hearing, hot/cold, seeing
• Studenthow do the antenna feel
  Bugscope Teamthe antennae would need to have setae (hairs) on it in order to feel things in the environment

• Studentit looks like a lobster claw
• 1:06 pm
• Studenthow big is the claw???????
  Bugscope Teamlook at the micron bar on the lower left. 100 microns is a tenth of a millimeter, so we can see that this is not very long.
• Studentdo the claws hurt?
• Studentwhat is the claw made of???????
• Studentwhy does the bee have claws
• Studenthow much bigger is a queen bee compar to a regular bee?
  Bugscope TeamI think they are often twice to three times the size, but it depends on the species. they do not get super huge because they need to be able to fly sometimes
• Bugscope Teammaybe two tenths of a millimeter. it is made of chitin, and it has claws to help it grasp things, sort of like the way we use our hands. but bees do not type, obviously
• Studentdoes the bee have long arms?
  Bugscope Teamthey are pretty much proportionate to its size, not extra long
• Studentdose it have hair on its claw
  Bugscope Teamit looks like there might be a seta or two on the base of the claw, but in general no, the claw is just exoskeleton
• Studentwhy is one long and one short?
• Studentwhat color is the claw??????
  Bugscope Teamit is brown or black
• Studentdoes the size of the stingers differ?
  Bugscope Teamdrones are males and do not have stingers. bees of different sizes may have stingers of different lengths
• Bugscope Teamwe don't see color because we are using electrons rather than light to collect our images
• Studentdoes the queen bee have biger claws?
  Bugscope TeamI think it does, a bit.

• 1:11 pm
• Studentwhat is the differnce between a bee and a killer bee?
  Bugscope Teamkiller bees is what African honeybees are/were called. now they are called Africanized honeybees because they interbred with local bees. they are much more aggressive, and they started to show up in countries closer to the equator and then worked their way up into the US. people thought they would be stopped by the cold weather and they may be true to some extent
• Studentwhere do you find killer bees?
  Bugscope Teammore commonly in countries south of us, like Costa Rica
• Studenthow do bees breath?
  Bugscope Teamsee this hole there, that's how the bee breaths, air goes into that hole (called a spiracle) and provides air nutrients to the bee body
• Studentis the bees skin rough?
• Studenthow do bees make a hives?
  Bugscope TeamWhen they move to make a new hive, they use honey left in their systems to make wax. They chew up this wax and shape it into a new comb with hexagonal cells.
• Studenthow many bees does it take to pollenet a flower?
  Bugscope Teami'm not positive, but i think one bee can pollinate a flower
• Studenthow many spiracle are there?
  Bugscope Teamthere can be a few spiracles, probably more, they are found on the abdomen usually, and sometimes the legs
• 1:16 pm
• Studentdoes the bee control its breathing?
  Bugscope Teamwell, not really. they don't have lungs so air is not forced in/out. more so the air just goes into the spiracle and is then circulated to the body
• Studentwher are the spiracles?
  Bugscope Teamthe spiracles are on the thorax and the abdomen, two to a segment, and on the sides

• Studentis each the spiracle large?
  Bugscope Teamspiracles are pretty small. If they were very big, they would be breathing in things that could get stuck more easily. If we had our mouths hanging open all day, im sure we would get stuff stuck down our throats more often
• Bugscope Teamthese are hamuli, which are wing hooks.

• Studentdo bees just live in hives?
  Bugscope Teamthey live in natural hives, in holes in the ground sometimes that are also natural hives, in cavities in trees, in logs, and in artificial hives
• Studenthow do these work
  Bugscope Teamthe hamuli work like clips that hook over the leading edge of the hind wing so that the fore and hindwing are connected in flight
• Studentcan bees be different colors?
  Bugscope Teamoh yeah, there are brown bees, yellow bees, greenish bees, black bees...
• Studentare bees prey?
  Bugscope Teamtotally. some birds LOVE to eat bees, they chow down on them big time
• Studentwhat are bees enemies?
  Bugscope Teambears, some rodents, some bats, some birds, ants
• 1:22 pm

• Studentwhat are those
  Bugscope Teamsome of what we see are mold spores, and the pointy one is a pollen grain

• Bugscope Teamthere is a wasp called a beewolf, which primarily diets on bees, it hunts them and kills them and eats them. yummy!

• Studentcan bees be allergic to pollen?

• Studentwhat do bees like?
  Bugscope Teamthey like nectar and honey, mostly
• Bugscope Teamoh there is another point one
• Studenthow small are pollen grains?
  Bugscope Teamcheck out the scale bar in the lower left of the image, that's 27 um, and um is a micro, one millionth of a meter

• Bugscope Teamnectar is the sweet liquid produced by some flowers to attract insects such as bees
• Studentis there anythig in the environment that makes bees sick?
  Bugscope Teampollution and pesticides are the main things that make them sick. There is also a virus that is killing off some of them
• Bugscope Teammicron, sorry
• Studentwhere is the pollen?
  Bugscope Teammiddle left
• Studenthow do honey bees make honey
  Bugscope Teambees make honey through a complicated process in which the nectar they have gathered is stored in one of the two stomachs they have, this one called a honey stomach (this is from the web). Worker bees at the hive suck the nectar out of the honey stomachs of the bees that bring it in, and they chew and process it. it gets spit out onto the walls of the hive, after having been processed, and it loses water, becoming honey
• Bugscope Teamand behind the mold spore on the right
• Bugscope Teamthe pollen has the spikier spikes, right?
  Bugscope Teamright-o!
• Studentis pollen just yellow
  Bugscope TeamI don't think all pollen is yellow, but it often is yellow. bees are said not to be able to see red, by the way
• Bugscope Teamthe spikier balls are the pollen and the ones that have little spikes are the mold
• Studentis pollen sharp?
• 1:28 pm
• Studentwhy does the pollen have spikes
  Bugscope Teamthey are like that so they can get stuck in their hair easily
• Studentwhat does the inside of hive look like?

• Studentcan pollen ever age for too long
• Bugscope Teambees are attracted to blue colors
• Bugscope Teamgaps i should say, not holes
• Studentthank you!!!!!!!!
• Studentgoodbye
• Studentyou guys are so smart!!!!!
• Bugscope Teamthank you for all your great questions and doing bugscope with us
• 1:33 pm
• Bugscope Teamscott says thank you, he had to logoff quick
• Bugscope Teamyou all did a great job!
• Studentthank you again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• Studentwe learned alot
• Studentbye
• Bugscope Teamms. shapiro, make sure to check out your member page, all the chat and images are saved there: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-084
• TeacherThanks for all your hard work and accommodating all of our classes. We look forward to working with your again. Can we ever voice conference to hear your answers?
  Bugscope Teamwell, we don't have voice, no. think about it. 10-20 kids all asking questions at the same time...
• TeacherI will check a out the page and make a web site with images and chat excerpts
  Bugscope Teamcool, here's your member page again: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-084
• TeacherMaybe we'll see you in the spring! bye
• Bugscope Teamyou did great ms. shapiro, thank you!
• Bugscope Teamok, nice session everyone, over and out