Connected on 2009-11-04 10:00:00
from Skokie, IL, US
- 9:44 am
- Bugscope TeamReady to roll.
- Bugscope Teamhi, welcome to bugscope miss t!
- 9:50 am
- Bugscope TeamGood Morning, Miss T!
- Bugscope TeamYou have control of the microscope. Please let us know if you have any problems or questions. We are here to answer the students' questions.
- Bugscope Teamand yours
- TeacherGood morning to you both
- Bugscope Teamyou can control the scope with the controls on the right side of the image
- Bugscope TeamCate is here too, and Annie may be along later.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the face of a female housefly
- TeacherIt is our first time doing something like this and you'll have to bear with us
- Bugscope Teamlooks like you are doing fine!
- Bugscope Teamyou can also choose from among the presets to the right of the chat box
- Bugscope Teamanother flying insect, and another compound eye
- TeacherCan you tell us what we are looking at on the roly poly head?
- Bugscope Teamroly polies are not so cute
- 9:55 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the bases of the antennae
- Bugscope Teamthe things that seem like their are eyes are broken off antennae
- Bugscope Teamjust below the head are 2 legs, the one on the right is broken at the end
- Bugscope Teamand we are looking at the mouth, but it has moveable plates in front of it so it is hard to see how it works
- Bugscope Teamyou can see one of its compound eyes to the upper left corner of the screen
- Bugscope Teamit has round bumps
- Bugscope Teamyes! As Cate says you can barely see one of the eyes!
- Bugscope Teamthis is so cool
- TeacherWhere is the eye Cate says is there?
Bugscope Teamnow we are on the daddy longlegs
- Bugscope Teamthese are the daddy long legs pinchers
- TeacherDo they have pincher on all their legs
Bugscope Teamnone of the legs have pinchers; these are comparable to crab pincers
- Teacherokay
- Bugscope Teamhowever it is spelled; it can be either way
- TeacherMoses would like to know if we have a picture of their whole body?
- Bugscope Teamwe had to remove the legs of the daddy longlegs so it would fit on the stub.
- 10:00 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can take down the magnification so you can see for yourself if you want
- TeacherShafia wants to know if we have a picture of the part that spins webs?
Bugscope Teampreset 12 shows spider spinnerets responsible for that
- Bugscope Teamthese are live images from the electron microscope -- you are actually driving a $600,000 microscope from your classroom
- Bugscope Teamso when you click on one of the presets, the microscope drives to that place on the stub, and you see the image live
- TeacherShafia wants to know where this is on the spider's body?
Bugscope Teamthe spinnerettes are at the tip of the spider's abdomen
- Bugscope Teamthis is where the spinnerettes are, but it is hard to see them through all of the plumose setae
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the underside of one of the spiders' bodies
- Bugscope Teamthe fangs are to the northeast corner
- 10:05 am
- Bugscope Teamthis spider is on its back
- TeacherKornelia wants to know how far spiders can shoot their webs?
Bugscope Teamwe aren't sure about that. sorry
Bugscope Teami found a website through a google search, they say a spider can cast a web about 4 inches. wow!
- TeacherRoy wants to know if we have any pollen baskets on the bee's legs that we can look at?
- Bugscope Teamthese are the individual facets called ommatidia of the compound eye
- TeacherHow many facets of the eye are there?
Bugscope Teamthe compound eyes of flying insects tend to be very big with many (hundreds to thousands) of ommatidia
- 10:11 am
- Bugscope Teamwe didnt see any pollen baskets, but we didn't look to hard so there might be some
- TeacherZaia wants to know if this stinger is broken or not?
Bugscope Teamyes, it looks to be broken, doesn't it.
- Bugscope Teamwhen the insects die, they often dry out, and get brittle and that makes them more likely to break and crack
- TeacherRachel wants to know if the 'hair' we see on the bee is hair or not?
Bugscope Teamthose hairs are called setae (see-tee), they help insects to sense their environment. insects have TONS of setae
- Bugscope Teaminsects don't have skin like us, instead they have an exoskeleton, which is hard and has no nerves in it. the setae stick through that exoskeleton, to nerves underneath. that's how insects can feel things.
- Bugscope Teaman exoskeleton would be like a human wearing a suit of armor.. like a knight...
- TeacherWhat is a bee comb?
Bugscope Teamit is a part on their leg that has little teeth-like projects, like a comb, and it rubs them along their antennae or eyes to clean them
- 10:16 am
- Bugscope Teamcool, this is an ant head
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the two large compound eyes on either side of the head, the antenne (left one is hanging down over the head), and the pincers in front of the mouth
- Bugscope Teamoops, this is a bee or wasp, not an ant. silly me
- TeacherKornelia wants to know do bees have teeth?
Bugscope Teamthey don't have teeth, they have a pair of hinged jaws that open outward instead of like how our jaw works where it moves up and down
- TeacherWhat is this bee hamuli?
Bugscope Teamflying insects often have hamuli on the edge of their wings, the hamuli can allow wing segments to connect together, i think
- Bugscope Teamthere are three kinds of bee combs: the antenna comb we just saw, the honey comb, and the set of spines on one set of legs that the bee uses to pack pollen into the pollen baskets
- Bugscope Teamthe hamuli are used to connect the hind- and forewings on bees and wasps so that they fly with essentially two, rather than four, wings.
- 10:21 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool -- one of the weevil's claws
- Bugscope TeamI like weevils
- Bugscope Teamsome of them have long pointy snouts, but this one has a short little snout
- TeacherI am having trouble seeing the whole slide. do I have it at max or min control?
Bugscope Teammiss t is is as low as it will go
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see that the weevil has a kind of furry pad called a pulvillus that has sticky setae on it. Those sticky setae are what help insects cling to walls or ceilings.
- Bugscope Teamthe microscope will go only as low as 37X at this working distance
- Bugscope Teamthis is a scanning electron microscope, and you are using electrons to image the samples
- TeacherI guess I am still on the claw and I want to be at the weevil head
- Bugscope Teamthe samples are in a vacuum chamber, and you are controlling where the electron beam goes in that chamber
- Bugscope Teamwe are close up on the claw
- TeacherAbdulmalik wants to know if weevils fight?
Bugscope Teamsome insects will compete with each other for mates; I am not sure about weevils. it is likely some of them might do that, in some way
- Bugscope TeamIf you take the magnification down low, you can drive to the NE
- 10:26 am
- Bugscope TeamMiss T can we help by moving the microscope stage to the weevil head?
- TeacherDo weevils have anything to protect themselves? Francis would like to know.
Bugscope Teammany insects have to work to protect themselves from ants. often they give off chemicals that the ants do not like. they also disguise themselves and stay away from ants when possible
- TeacherYes. the weevil head would be great
- TeacherFrancis wants to know if the ants like to eat the weevils?
Bugscope TeamAnts will eat anything that gets in their way, although they are partial to sweet liquids.
- Bugscope Teamsee the head?
- Teacherthank you for moving the scope to the weevil head!
- TeacherRoy thinks it looks like a teddy bear!
- TeacherAlyssa would like to know if weevils have stingers?
Bugscope Teamno they dont have stingers. I'm not even sure if they are likely to bite you either
- Bugscope Teammany weevils are distinguished by having a very long pointy snout, so this is not as common. but it is cool. and it does look like a teddy bear!
- 10:32 am
- TeacherWe submitted a cicada that was smashed. Do we have any part of that we can see?
Bugscope Teamno we dont have the cicada on here at all. sorry
- Bugscope Teamsometimes what looks like a stinger on a female insect is actually the ovipositor
- Bugscope Teamwe got so many nice insects from you that we filled up the whole stage
- TeacherWhat do weevils eat?
Bugscope Teamweevils eat mostly grains, and they are pests that way
- TeacherShafia wants to know if weevils have hair?
Bugscope Teamwell not hair, but they do have setae (see-tee) which look a lot like hair. setae help weevil's to sense their environment
- Bugscope Teamoften you'll find weevil's in your dry pancake mix...:(
- Teacherroy wants to know if we can see any of the holes on the fly leg that help them hear?
- 10:37 am
- TeacherWhat is this at the end of the claw we are looking at?
- Bugscope Teamthe fly antennae on the head pick up sounds
- TeacherRoy thinks he heard that there are holes on the fly legs. Are there? What do they do?
Bugscope Teamyes, i'm not sure these are the same holes roy heard about, but many insects have holes on them, their abdomens or their legs, and those holes are called spiracles, they are used for breathing! insects don't breath through their mouths like humans do, instead air goes into these spiracles and circulates into the body that way
- TeacherShafia wants to know if flies use their claws to eat other bugs?
Bugscope Teamflies use their claws to grasp things, but houseflies like these do not eat other bugs
- TeacherPrachi wants to know if house flies are bigger or smaller than other flies?
Bugscope Teamhouseflies are all different sizes. but they are larger than fruit flies and generally smaller than horseflies, for example.
- Bugscope TeamI think I remember the cicada. But we got so many other good samples that we used up all of the space on the microscope stub today. It is 1.75 inches in diameter.
- 10:42 am
- TeacherIs there any way to figure out if our fly is a male or female? From Francis
Bugscope Teamoften, with flies, the males have eyes that are very close together, and those of the females are spaced further apart. so we believe this is a female
- TeacherMindy wants to know if females have their eyes that way to protect their babies?
Bugscope Teamhaving more widely spaced eyes may give the females an advantage in seeing three-dimensional space, and it may help them avoid predators when they lay eggs. I don't believe they stay around to protect the larvae -- the little maggots
- TeacherDo flies eat ants?
Bugscope Teamthere are some flies that have piercing mouthparts (instead of sponging) that eat other insects by piercing them and drinking out their insides
- TeacherThat was a question from Abdulmalik.
- TeacherRachel wants to know if the legs are at the bottom of our view on the left side?
Bugscope Teamyep, those look like leg segments
- 10:48 am
- TeacherNoah wants to know what the dots are around the ant?
Bugscope Teamthose are dents in the carbon tape that we stick the insects too in the microscope
- TeacherLisa wants to know what is an ant comb?
Bugscope Teamantennae are very important to many insects, and the combs are used to help keep them clean. insects often get a lot of helpful information -- in the form of sounds, or smells, or touch -- that they use their antennae for. So the comb is a good thing to have.
- Bugscope Teamisn't that cool-looking?
- TeacherJeremy says yes!
- Bugscope Teamalex said it looks like a wing to him
- 10:53 am
- Bugscope Teamants and other insects don't have pockets for things like that, so they are built in. like Edward Scissorhands.
- Bugscope Teamthose were called plumose setae because they are like elongated Christmas trees -- very good at picking up vibrations from the air or from a web
- Bugscope Teamand here the pincers are. Daddy Longlegs aren't the kind of spiders called Arachnids. They are more closely related to crabs.
- TeacherThe first graders are pretty much finished. Attention span is waning. Thank you all for the cool information and for letting us participate in this activity. Is there anything else you need from me before we sign off?
- TeacherCan we get pictures from these slides?
Bugscope Teamall these images are saved to your member page
- Bugscope Teammiss t, remember your member page, it contains all the chat and images from today's session: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-099
- Bugscope Teamoops I was wrong Daddylonglegs are Arachnids but not spiders.
- Bugscope Teamthis is perfect. we had a good time working with you.
- Bugscope Teamfor all chat and images from today's session, visit your bugscope member page: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-099
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- TeacherThanks. It was fun.
- Bugscope Teamyou can review all the chat and images anytime with your students, we'll keep that page up forever...
- 10:58 am
- Bugscope Teamnice samples, and we had a good time. see you next year!
- TeacherI'll book you early! And let my colleagues know :)
- Bugscope Teamthanks miss T, you did a great job today
- TeacherFor someone who isn't swift with technology, I enjoyed it.
- Bugscope Teamglad to hear that, we try to make bugscope usable by all
