Connected on 2009-12-04 11:00:00
from , NJ, US
- 10:16 am
- Bugscope Teambugs in scope, starting vacuum
- 10:36 am
- Bugscope Teamstarting preset
- Bugscope Teampresets
- 10:41 am
- 10:48 am
- Bugscope Teamhi mrs. j, welcome to bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamms j, i'm sorry!
- Bugscope Teamwe are setting up presets right now, we'll be ready soon
- TeacherHi Guys...guess you're still setting up. The 5th graders won't be arriving until 12:05 EST.
- Bugscope Teamok, we will be ready for em
- TeacherThanks
- Bugscope Teamno problemo, if you have any questions in the mean time, please just ask
- Bugscope TeamWelcome back!
- Bugscope TeamLooks like a pretty good sample today.
- TeacherWe've been doing BS for the past 7 years! Lots of fun! Glad you're still around!
- Bugscope Teamwe are glad too. we actually have a local newspaper here today, taking photos for an article
- TeacherGreat!
- 10:53 am
- Bugscope TeamI like that, doing BS.
- Bugscope TeamHI all!
- Bugscope TeamAnnie! Yay!
- Bugscope TeamAnnie is our entomologist, and she is logging on from California.
- Bugscope Teamhi annie, nice to have you logged on today!
- Bugscope TeamMs J did you see preset 12? There's a colony of rod-shaped bacteria living on the pelp.
- Bugscope TeamI am a U of I alum
- Bugscope TeamThat's right -- Annie got her PhD here.
- TeacherCool... How man presets will we work with?
- Bugscope Team15 so far. likely around 20.
- Bugscope Teamthese are placoid sensilla on the antenna
- Bugscope TeamPlacoid sensilla!
- Bugscope Teamheh
- Bugscope Teamwe are almost done with presets, just 1-2 more
- Bugscope Teamstinger with a retention plan
- Bugscope Team1 more preset, and then we'll give you control ms. j
- 10:58 am
- Bugscope Teamthanks for being patient
- TeacherI'm refreshing my memory...click a preset then change magnification?
- Bugscope TeamYay! A flea. I love looking at fleas!
- Bugscope Teamok we are done with presets, i'm unlocking the session now, then you'll see the controls
- Bugscope Teamok, you should see controls now
- Bugscope Teamon the right side of the image
- Bugscope Teammag, nav, focus and adjust
- Bugscope Teamyou may need to expand your browser window to see it?
- TeacherGot it...sounds good.
- Bugscope Teamok, we are ready!
- 11:03 am
- TeacherThe "driving" is a little weird to operate. Not sure if I'm doing it right
Bugscope Teamyou are getting it, try using click to center instead of click to drive
- Bugscope Teamalso, you can always click on a preset to get there
- Bugscope Teamsee the eyespot?
- Bugscope Teamthere might be lag, if that's the case, try to stay away from "click to drive" and "focus"
- Bugscope Teamis it going okay now ms. j? let us know if we can help
- Bugscope TeamMs J you are one of the few people who would remember the original interface -- the way we used to do this.
- Bugscope TeamI think click to center is the best way--you just have to make sure you are patient and let the command complete before you click again
- Teacheryes...I remember the old interface from many years ago.
- Bugscope Teamwell this is supposed to be easier...
- TeacherOK, our students are here. We're going to introduce this to them and then we'll get started.
- Bugscope Teamgreat!
- 11:11 am
- TeacherWe're starting with preset 1....
- Bugscope TeamThis is the head of the caterpillar you sent.
- Bugscope TeamCaterpillar head!
- Bugscope Teamthe little eyes -- in a semicircle -- are called stemmata.
- Bugscope TeamCaterpillars are eating machines
- Teacherwhere are the eyes?
Bugscope Teamthey are the little round bumps on the sides of the head.
- Teacherkids are having a hard time seeing them
Bugscope Teamthey are on the right side of the mouth area. little bumps on the head
- Bugscope TeamI think there are 6 on either side
- Bugscope Teamyou can click to center on them and then magnify them
- Bugscope TeamI can do it for you...
- Bugscope Teamlooks like you're there...
- Bugscope Teamnice, there they are
- Bugscope Teamthey're simple eyes, like spider eyes
- Teacherwhere is the mouth?
- Bugscope Teamthe mouth is south
- Bugscope Teamthere it is!
- Bugscope Teamsee the 'toothed' jaw?
- Bugscope Teamthe jaws open sideways, like a gate
- Bugscope Teamand you can see palps, down below, that are used to taste and manipulate food into the mouth
- 11:16 am
- Teacherare these arms?
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its tiny forelimbs now, on either sside
- Bugscope Teamyes!
- Teacherwe're moving onto #2
- Bugscope Teamawesome
- Teacherwhat's a damselfly is it like a dragonfly?
Bugscope Teamyes very similar
- Bugscope Teamcaterpillars have six legs like insects do, of course, and they also have prolegs
- Bugscope Teamthis damselfly has HUGE compound eyes
- Bugscope TeamNear the middle of the head you can see its skinny jaws
- Bugscope Teamsee the giant eyes on either side of the head?
- Bugscope Teamquite a contrast to the caterpillar
- Bugscope Teamit looks like it is putting its hand into its mouth
- Bugscope TeamDamselflies and dragonflies are both in the order Odonata. Dragonflies have eyes that meet, and damselflies have eyes on either side of their heads. Damselflies are more delicate than dragonflies.
- Bugscope Teamthe eyes are hexagons
- Bugscope Teamwow -- those hexagons are the ommatidia, the individual facets of the compound eye
- TeacherThanks for the information. Why do bugs have eyes that look like this image?
Bugscope TeamWell, this is a compound eye, insects often have them. they are made up of thousands of individual facets, called ommatidia
- 11:22 am
- Bugscope Teamcompound eyes provide GREAT eyesight to flying insects, they can see things moving while flying very well
- Bugscope Teamif you had to pack thousands of eyes into a sphere -- a round shape like this -- it would work best if the eyes were hexagonal
- Bugscope Teamand if your compound eyes were spherical, you would be able to see more of what is around you without moving your head
- Bugscope Teamhuman eyes are different. we have a complex socket that allows the lens to move around. compound eyes don't have that. they have single static lenses in each ommatidium, and it is pointed in one direction. that is why the eye has so many facets that curve around, giving the insect a 180 degree view of the world
- Bugscope Teamalso, you would be able to register motion much more quickly than we do --- you would get better updates if someone was trying to smack you out of the air
- TeacherWe're checking out the #3
- TeacherWhat are the spikes for?
Bugscope TeamThey are mostly for the insect to feel things I think
- TeacherAre they soft?
Bugscope Teamno they are stiff, but very small, atleast to us
- Bugscope Teamthe spikes are fairly rigid
- TeacherDo these spikes help them "stick" to things
Bugscope Teamthey probably serve a lot of purposes: they may be sensory, letting the insect feel what is touching it; they may help it to stick to the things it wants to settle on; they may help keep other insects from biting it.
- Bugscope TeamThis is a claw on the end of the leg
- 11:27 am
- TeacherWe're headed to #4
- Bugscope TeamThis is the wing of the damselfly. There are even spikes on it to help it fight
- Teacherwhat happened to the wing?
Bugscope Teamsorry about that...
- TeacherWe're onto #5
- Bugscope TeamThe wings of dragonflies are fairly delicate. They often get shredded over time
- Bugscope Teamthis is a spiracle, a breathing hole for insects
- Bugscope TeamThey are attached to a trachea that runs along the body.
- Bugscope TeamSince they have a hard shell around them, they cant expand really when they breath so their size is limited to the amount of oxygen in the air
- Bugscope Teamwings break easily
- Bugscope TeamThat's why in prehistoric times there were really huge insects-- there was more oxygen in the air at the time
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the spiracles on each segment of the abdomen here
- Teacherwhat's the sword looking thing?
Bugscope Teamthat is one of the tarsi -- the end of one of the legs
- 11:32 am
- Bugscope Teamwings break easily but they do not decay easily -- insect wings are often spit out by birds that eat the rest of the insect; the wings are also often well-preserved in fossils
- TeacherWe're on to #6
- Teacheris this the tarsi?
Bugscope Teamyes it is
- Bugscope Teamsee the claw? in the center and closer to us is a pad that we think helps the cricket stick down on leaves and branches
- Bugscope TeamExcellent driving here!!
- Teacherhow many claws do they have?
Bugscope Teaminsects will have a claw per leg
- Bugscope Teamthe tarsi are the last several segments of the limb
- Bugscope Teamoh so cute
- Teacheris the eye on the right?
Bugscope Teamyes!
- 11:37 am
- Bugscope Teamit is a compound eye, but we have noticed that they are very smooth in grasshoppers, crickets, and praying mantises; it is more difficult to see the indvidual facets of the eye -- the ommatidia
- TeacherAre legs coming out of it's mouth?
Bugscope Teamthey are palps, but they do often look like an insect is climbing out of its mouth
- Bugscope Teamthe antenna have been lost, somewhere -- they are broken off
- Teacherwhat are palps for?
Bugscope Teamthey are used to help taste or move food around in its mouth
- Bugscope Teamthey are very much like legs that were specialized long long ago to work as accessory mouthparts
- Teacherwhy do insects have random hairs?
Bugscope TeamThe hairs help the insect to sense its environment...it needs so many hairs because otherwise they won't know what is going on around them. Their exoskeletons are like a suit of armor.
- Teacherwe have a debate going on...do insect eyes tend be hexagonal?
Bugscope Teamyes. If they have compound eye they are almost always hexagonal. There are some exceptions like mosquitos will have round ommatidia.
- Bugscope Teamwe can see the ommatidia but they are a little harder to make out in these insects
- 11:43 am
- Teacherwhat is this?
Bugscope TeamWE were looking at the head of a true bug...you can see the straight tube that the bug uses to suck juices
- Bugscope Teamif you took a bunch of oranges, and you wanted to stack them, you would likely come up with a pattern that looks hexagonal
- Teacherwhat is a true bug?
Bugscope TeamA true bug is an insect in the order Heteroptera. They have sucking mouthparts and incomplete metamorphosis.
- Bugscope Teamthat is, the best way to stack oranges would be in a pattern that creates a hexagonal shape
- Bugscope Teamthe best shape for lenses that will form into a spherical shape is hexagonal -- like Buckminster Fuller's domes. Which also may have pentagons in them...
- Bugscope Teamohhh
- Bugscope Teamit's a tick!
- Bugscope TeamUGH!
- Bugscope Teamthis one was swollen with blood
- Teacherwow. was this your tick? I don't think we sent this one.
Bugscope TeamNo I added this in there along with the flea
- Bugscope Teamwhen they are empty they have little ridges that let them expand to this size
- 11:48 am
- Bugscope Teamso yes it was ours
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the head -- the capitulum
- Bugscope Teamthe center part sticks into your skin, and the palps, on either side, fold away
- Teachercould a tick explode?
Bugscope TeamI think it COULD explode, but it probably has some stretch receptors in the gut that will tell it when it is getting too full
- Bugscope TeamAll those little scales are backward facing, which makes it difficult to remove a tick
- Bugscope Teamthis is the rasping part that cuts into your skin and gets the blood flowing
- Bugscope Teamthe other side, which we don't see, has longer backward-facing spines that help the head stick into your skin
- Bugscope Teampeople could use stretch receptors at Thanksgiving...
- Teacherthat's what the kids said
- Bugscope Teamthis is a pretty nice-looking ladybug
- Bugscope Teamsee the palps?
- Teacherare those the worm-like things
Bugscope Teampalps once more!
- Bugscope Teamthey have little tastebuds at the ends
- Bugscope Teamhere -- this is cool -- we can see bacteria!
- Teacheris it the clump?
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny rod-shaped things among the sensory setae are bacteria
- Teachercan the ladybug's head be retracted?
Bugscope TeamI don't think so, not much. It is protected by the little hood, called a pronotum.
- 11:53 am
- Bugscope Teamthe bacteria are small 2um long
- Bugscope Teamthat is a better view of bacilli
- Teacherwhat is in preset 13
- Bugscope Teamthe small bright round things are called brochosomes
- Bugscope Teamrod-shaped bacteria like E. coli pr anthrax
- Bugscope Teamthe presets shifted a little but you can still see some here
- Teachergreat! Nice to see from a distance.
Bugscope Teamheh
- Teacherlife span of a ladybug?
Bugscope TeamIt depends on the place where they live. In warm places, lady bugs can have two generations a year. Typically though, adults hibernate in the winter, the eggs are laid in the summer and the larvae pupate and turn into adults in the late summer. So, most live one year.
- Bugscope Teambrochosomes are produced only on leafhoppers but sometimes they will travel to other insects
- TeacherWhat is preset 16
Bugscope Teamthose are called placoid sensilla -- it means they are plate-like
- TeacherWe're going to be signing off in 3-4 minutes...so I'll be rushing through.
- Bugscope Teamthey are sensory structures on the antennae
- Bugscope Teamthis is the stinger
- Bugscope Teamit has little barbs on it
- Bugscope Teamit's also broken and has some stuff on it, it looks like
- Bugscope Teamif you look closely you can see the barbs Cate mentioned.
- Bugscope Teamha what is this?
- Bugscope Teamthis is the other thing I put on that was ours- a flea
- Bugscope Teamthe head is to the north
- Bugscope Teameyespot
- Bugscope TeamFleas are some of my favorite things too look at during Bugscope
- Bugscope Teamthe round spot is the eye
- 11:58 am
- Bugscope Teamit's much better to look at them in Bugscope than in person
Bugscope Teamyeh, you got that right!!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the part that the flea bites with
- Teacherwhat is in preset 19?
Bugscope Teamthis is the main mouth part of the flea
- Bugscope Teamit has sharp edges that slide against each other to cut into your skin
- Bugscope Teamlaciniae are the cutting mouthparts
- TeacherOK, our students are preparing to leave.. they thank you! Can I still look around?
- Bugscope TeamYes you may.
- Bugscope TeamAs usual where you go will be saved to your member page.
- Bugscope Teamwe are a little disappointed that some of our presets moved a bit since we made them; sometimes that happens
- TeacherEverything was fine and the kids reall enjoyed it!
- Bugscope Teamgreat!
- Bugscope Teamtenent setae!
- Bugscope TeamWe hope the kids had fun
- Bugscope Teamthese are on the lady bug tarsi
- Bugscope Teamthey are on a pad called a pulvillus
- TeacherThis is reall cool...so delicate-looking.
- Bugscope Teamthey will move at high mag when the electron beam heats them up
- 12:03 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is how ladybugs stick to things so well
- Bugscope Teamthe bacteria are all over but a little hard to resolve
- Bugscope Teambacteria -- the rod-shaped bacilli -- are usually about 2 microns long
- Bugscope Teamyou are doing a good job driving
- TeacherI don't think we've ever seen bacteria in the past. This is reall great.
- Bugscope Teamthey don't show up nearly as much as you might expect, being told to wash your hands all of the time...
- 12:08 pm
- Bugscope Teamtrue bug!
- Bugscope Teamthis is an assassin bug
- TeacherIs it like a fly?
Bugscope Teamit's more closely related to a beetle
- Bugscope Teamit pokes its proboscis into other insects and sucks the juice out
- Bugscope Teamthey can fly, or some of them can
- Bugscope Teamthey can be kind of big and scary, and they fly slowly, from what I have seen
- Bugscope TeamIt is actually more closely related to neither! It is more closely related to an aphid ;)
- Bugscope Teamstemmata
- Bugscope Teamif you drive south you will find the prolegs, but they are a little hard to make out
- Bugscope Teamthey have little hooks called crochets
- TeacherVery cool.
- TeacherOK, everone. I think I'm done. Thanks so much for a great session. See you again next year!
- Bugscope TeamThank You.
- 12:13 pm
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
- Bugscope Team;)
