Academy of Accelerated Learning
Session 2009-137

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Transcript

Connected on 2010-01-12 12:30:00 from Milwaukee, WI, US

• 11:37 am
• Bugscope Teamstarting presets

• 11:42 am
• Bugscope Teamhello mr. stout, welcome to bugscope!
• Bugscope Teamwe are currently setting up presets for your session

• TeacherThank you sir! I'm pumped about this. I did it at Marquette last year and now have a fifth grade classroom. Were you able to use the bugs I sent? Sorry it was so late.
• Bugscope Teamhmm, i'm not sure we got any bugs from you, we don't think we did anyway. if we did, we made a mistake
• Bugscope Teambut we've got a nice collection in the scope today

• 11:48 am
• TeacherWoops...sorry about that. I sent them last week Wednesday, but no worries. Looks like we've got some good ones here.
• Bugscope Teamit's okay, i would we should have gotten them from wednesday, maybe we messed up on our end.

• Bugscope Teamwe'll probably get notice of their arrival this afternoon, hope it is not a problem for you. and we'll be able to use them for another session.

• 11:53 am
• Teacherokay...no problem. Are the images going to be rotating like this throughout the session or will we be able to stop and observe a particular part of the bug?
• Bugscope Teamwell, you have control of the scope, so you can do the session however you please. we can always help though, or even drive if you wish

• Bugscope Teamum, you WILL have control of the scope, once we finish the preset, i mean
• Bugscope TeamMr Stout we are just setting up for your session now. Ordinarily you might not even see this part. When we're done, you will have a set of presets along the right side of the chat box to choose from.
• Bugscope TeamWe're making the presets now, doing our own assay of the sample. Of course you are welcome to watch and comment.

• 11:58 am
• Bugscope TeamMr Stout are you going to have students log in on their own computers today, or are you working with a projector or smartboard?

• TeacherJust me on the computer...they will be fielding questions about the slides through me
• 12:03 pm
• Bugscope Teamcool, but make sure to tell them these are not slides, these are live images from an electron microscope, and you will be controlling that microscope as well

• 12:09 pm
• Teacheryou got it!

• Bugscope Teamokay, we are done with presets, i unlocked the session, you should see controls on the right side now
• Bugscope Teamyou can practice driving a bit if you like?
• Bugscope Teamplease ask any questions if you should have them
• Teacherokay bell is ringing and they are coming in from lunch...i'm going to introduce you and this project. Anything I should say to get them going?
• Bugscope Teamyes you now have control of a $600,000 microscope.
• 12:14 pm
• Bugscope Teamthe scope using electrons to gather the image, not light, that's what it's black and white

• Bugscope Teamthat's why it's black and white - because the images we collect are signal, not wavelengths of light
• 12:20 pm

• 12:26 pm
• Teacherwe're here and all at the projector
• Bugscope Teamhello everyone!
• Teachercan you introduce yourselves and what you do?
• Bugscope Teamwelcome to bugscope!
• Bugscope Teamwell, i'm alex, a systems admin with the group, i'm here for tech support and also to chat with the students about insects. i've learned a lot about insects from doing bugscope for the last few years

• Bugscope TeamI'm Cate and I help put together the samples (like what you see today), help with setup, and am here to assist in answering any questions you have. I am a microscope technician and have a degree in physics
• Bugscope Teamthis image you are seeing is a live image from an electron microscope
• Bugscope TeamAlex, Scot, and I are all in the same lab, but not in the same room
• Bugscope TeamYou will see some puncture holes in the insects you see today because they were mounted on a board from a project

• Bugscope TeamI'm Scot, and I am an electron microscopist, with a degree in English and Biology.
• Teacherim trying to center it to see the whole bug
  Bugscope Teamunder navigation, use "click to center", just click in the image, near the bottom of the screen, then it will move to that location

• Bugscope Teamyou may not be able to see the whole dude
• 12:31 pm
• Bugscope Teamthere you go, nice job
• Bugscope Teamthe microscope cannot go lower in mag with this setup. we're at 38x.
• Teacherso what are we looking at, scot?
• Bugscope Teamyes, the microscope can magnify up to 800,000x, but for bugs, 40x - 40,000x is best
• Bugscope Teamthis is an assassin bug on its dorsal side, so we are looking at the ventrum.
• Bugscope Teamwe see its head at the top and one of its eyes, and its piercing proboscis.
• Bugscope Teamthere is also a hole in its thorax where it had once been pinned after it was collected.

• Bugscope Teamall insects have six legs, and they often have claws, at least two of which we can see

• Bugscope Teamnotice all those hairs. well, those are not hairs, they are called setae (pronounced see-tee), and they help the insect sense its environment

• Bugscope Teamit looked like there was a dustmite of something further down on the thorax
• Bugscope Teamhi Michele!
• Bugscope Teamthis is the compound eye, one of them
• Bugscope Teamyou can just start to see the facets of the eye, called ommatidia
• GuestWell done Mr. Stout!! Hi everyone!

• Teacherwe want to see the eye!

• Bugscope Teaminsects have a hard exoskeleton, and so they need those setae in order to feel their way around. setae are sensory, and can sense chemicals (chemosensory setae) or movement (mechanosensory setae), etc.

• Bugscope Teamone of the entomologists we worked with yesterday, Rob, said that each ommatidium collects a single photon of light. I am not sure how that works.
• Bugscope Teamwelcome ms. korb!
• Bugscope Teamkind of looks like bacteria there, but it's hard to tell.
• Bugscope Teamsometimes the individual facets are very distinct; here they are a little difficult to see
• Teacherwhy are the eyes bumpy?
  Bugscope Teamsome of the bumps are the ommatidia themselves, and some are dirt or juju that is stuck to the surface
• 12:36 pm
• Bugscope Teamyeah, each one of those bumps (ommatidia - single one is called an ommatidium) has a lens in it
• Bugscope Teamwe'll be able to compare them with others, from other insects today

• Bugscope Teamin the background we see silver paint

• GuestYou guys are fast microscope drivers! Cool shots!
• Bugscope Teamthis is the base of the proboscis
• Teacherdo they have teeth?
  Bugscope TeamThey don't have teeth no. They have a pair of hinged jaws they use to cut into things. Sometimes these jaws will have serrations on them that look like teeth though
• Bugscope Teamyou can see a bit of a scale to the right
• Bugscope Teaminsects have tons of setae all over, they are really necessary for the insect to sense it's way around
• TeacherJaden wants to know how long its takes to get a degree in Physics?
  Bugscope Teamwell I have a bachelor degree in physics, but it took me 4 1/2 years college to get it
• TeacherChristian wants to know how why its called an assassin bug?
  Bugscope Teamassassin bugs prey on other bugs. they attack them with that sharp proboscis
• Bugscope Teamyou must like science and math to get one :)
• 12:42 pm
• Bugscope Teaminsects like this, which is a true bug, have a single piercing mouthpart that may inject venom into its prey, and whether it does that or not it sucks the juice out of its prey. some true bugs do not eat other insects. they use their proboscises to penetrate plant stems, or leaves, or fruits

• Bugscope Teamnormally it takes 4 years to get a degree, but you can continue onto graduate school for another 2-6 years, sometimes longer. i know a dude who's still going to graduate school in his 50's!

• GuestYour wasp claw setting looks really cool and scary!!
• Bugscope Teamso it is an assassin because it kills other insects
• Bugscope Teammr. stouut, don't forget to click on any other preset, it'll move to that location
• Teacherhow do i get to a different preset?
  Bugscope Teamclick on it
• Bugscope Teamstout, my mistake

• GuestWhoah! Cool!!!!

• Bugscope Teamyou can scroll down through the list to get to the claw, when you are ready. it is preset 7

• Bugscope Teamyou can see the lamellated antennae there

• Bugscope Teamand you can see two sets of palps
• GuestMr. Stout - you can ask the Bugscope people to "drive the microscope" for you if you want to see anything specific :) I just learned that!

• Bugscope Teamsure, we can drive while you ask question, if you want. whatever you prefer
• 12:47 pm
• TeacherZac asks what the importance of antenna are?
  Bugscope Teamthey are used to communicate with other insects and also to smell things or feel things. They can collect chemical information
• Bugscope Teampalps are accessory mouthparts, like extra limbs, that help the insect taste (because they have "tastebuds," or chemoreceptors, on them) and manipulate its food.
• TeacherDo bugs or insects see in black and white, or color?
  Bugscope Teamthey see in color, often, although not all of the colors we see, sometimes. they can (some of them) also see in the ultraviolet (UV), which we cannot. some flowers reflect UV light to attract insects.
• TeacherCan I ask you, Scot or Alex or Cate to drive the microscope? I am having trouble getting to other presets. I can control the questions on this side if you control.
  Bugscope Teamno problem

• Bugscope Teami think alex likes to drive
• Bugscope Teamokay, i'll start driving

• Bugscope Teamthis is the wasp claw, but actually Mr S you can ask us to go wherever you would like

• TeacherIt looks like the legs are broken? Are they joints?
  Bugscope Teamoften some of the legs are broken because Cate is a savage when she makes the sample
• 12:52 pm

• Bugscope Teamif you click on the scalebar in the lower left portion of the screen you can get the 'scope parameters to show up on the screen

• GuestNice image!

• Bugscope Teamactually I am joking, and I made this sample, anyway

• TeacherHow long does a bug live?
  Bugscope Teamsome live one season, some live only a few days, some can live for years
• GuestThis makes for a great image for creative writing :)
• TeacherWhat is the difference between a bug and an insect?
  Bugscope Teambugs are insects, they are just more specialized. They have a piercing mouthpart- proboscis\

• Bugscope Teamthere's the extension limb
• Bugscope Teamnow going to the scales
• Bugscope Teamyou can also see a scale there from another insect

• Bugscope Teambutterflies, moths, silverfish, mosquitos, and some (very few) beetles and weevils have scales

• TeacherNow to the adaptations that insects have to help them survive? What on an insect helps it breath?

• GuestGreat question - there is a preset on trachea huh?
• TeacherSo is a mosquito a bug?
  Bugscope Teama mosquito is an insect, and we call it a bug informally, but it is not a true bug

• Bugscope Teamif you had scales and flew into a spider's web, you might be able to slip out by leaving the scales stuck to the web while you got away
• GuestOr spiracles...
• Bugscope Teamshall i go to the teachea?
• Bugscope Teamstink bugs, milkweed bugs, assassin bugs, cicadas, leafhoppers, and aphids are true bugs
• Bugscope Teamgoing to the trachea

• 12:57 pm
• GuestNice!
• Bugscope Teamthose are the tubes in the middle of the image
• TeacherThis is what an insect uses to breath?

• Bugscope Teamthe mouth part of a mosquito is a bit different. It has many different parts that pierce and cut
• TeacherCan you see these from the outside? Or did you cut the sample?
  Bugscope Teamyou cannot normally see tracheae -- the tubes inside the exoskeleton that distribute air to the organs -- but this critter was busted open here.
• Bugscope Teamit is true that mosquitos have piercing mouthparts, though, but another criterion for being a true bug (Hemiptera) is a particular configuration of the elytra -- the shell that cover the wings. of the

• TeacherHow can you tell if a bug is a male or female? Or is there a difference?
  Bugscope Teamsometimes you cannot tell, at alll, from the outside. sometimes females are quite a bit larger. sometimes the males have frilly antennae and the females do not. in some flies, the male's eyes are close together, like Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the female's eyes are far apart, like Uma Thurman.

• GuestThat is truly awesome!

• Bugscope Teamnotice the scale bar in the lower left, 22 um, that's 22 microns. one micron = one millionth of one meter
• GuestThese structures are usually shown drawn in a textbook. It is great to see them for real!
• TeacherHow do bugs withstand cold in this very cold winter!??
  Bugscope Teamusually they freeze. Sometimes they wake up when their bodies thaw, sometimes they don't. Other times, they will hole up somewhere warm like our homes
• Bugscope Teamso we are at 2496x magnification here
• Bugscope Teamokay, i'm moving to the brochosomes now, something else very very small!
• GuestGreat answer to the gender question!

• Bugscope Teambrochosomes are tiny waxy pellets, sometimes round and sometimes oval, that are produced only by leafhoppers

• 1:02 pm
• Bugscope Teamcan't really get any better focus now, working distance is too far for these brochosomes
• Bugscope Teamthe leafhoppers spread them over their cuticle in what is called an 'anointing behavior'
• Bugscope Teambut you can kinda see the cool shape

• Bugscope Teamthey are nanoparticles -- they are less than a micron in diameter

• Bugscope Teamyeah, these brochosomes are about .5 microns, or 500 nanometers each
• Bugscope Teambrochosomes are thought, by some people, to help keep eggs -- leafhopper eggs -- from drying out

• GuestThe stinger looks cool.
• Bugscope Teamso this is on a leafhopper
• Bugscope Teamwe can take the mag way down to show you
• Bugscope Teambrochosomes were first discovered in 1952 when someone looked at insects under an electron microscope!
• Teacherits looks like brains behind the brochosomes. What is it?
  Bugscope Teamthat is the surface of the chitin
• Bugscope Teamon a leafhopper we think
• Bugscope Teamit looks kind of shriveled and may be on a wing
• Bugscope Teamyes it is a leafhopper
• Bugscope Teama leafhopper or planthopper are both true bugs

• Bugscope Teamoh wait, someone else is driving now

• Guestgreat zoom in and out to see perspective!

• Bugscope Teamwe could see that the brochosomes were on the surface of the elytra, which is the hard shell covering the wings

• TeacherWhat are some differenes between bugs in the midwest and other regions of the country?
  Bugscope Teamthere is more diversity where it is warmer, and insects live longer in warmer climates

• 1:07 pm

• TeacherOne of the students is asking if you have a dragonfly?
  Bugscope Teamnot on the stub today, sorry

• GuestThe bugs in California are HUGE and they don't last in the freezer very long. The spiders I caught in WI would revive after freezing, The spiders in San Francisco do not.

• Bugscope TeamI am sorry I did not answer the 'differences' question well. Some spiders revive easily, as do many ants, and some do not.

• TeacherWhat is the primary differences between electron microscope and a light microscope?
  Bugscope Teama light microscope uses light or photons to image and an electron microscope uses electrons. Since light microscopes use light, their images are in color, but the electron microscopes have better resolution because the electrons are way smaller.
• Bugscope TeamBut what Dr Korb says is pretty interesting; the insects/arthropods from places where it does not freeze do not have any built-in antifreeze

• Bugscope Teamfly face

• Bugscope Teamthis is a boy, probably, because its eyes are close together

• Bugscope Teamthese are the antennae

• Bugscope Teamthey have this component, sort of pillowlike, and also a branchlike component

• Bugscope Teamthe antennae have lots of chemoreceptors on them

• TeacherDo flies have ears?
  Bugscope Teamno but they can sense vibration, which is what noise is

• Bugscope Teamelectron microscopes use electromagnetic lenses, whereas light microscopes use glass lenses
• 1:12 pm

• Guestside note: Mr. Stout - you can get all this chat dialogue later and it matches up with the images found during your questions. Be sure to ask them how to get to that. It is a great feature that I just learned!

• Bugscope Teamthey sense vibration through the setae (the hair things)

• Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-137/

• TeacherDanna asks if bugs have setae all over their body or just some parts?
  Bugscope Teamsome insects seem to have setae all over, and some in certain places and not others, but they all have setae

• TeacherDo bugs get diseases like we do?
  Bugscope Teamyes they do get diseases, although fortunately they are not usually the same diseases as humans

• Bugscope Teamthe setae may be mechanosensory, chemosensory, and/or thermosensory

• Bugscope Teamthis is a spiracle, a breathing hole on a fly

• Bugscope Teamthis is a really cool view inside the spiracle, quite rare to see this

• Bugscope Teamwe see now, however, that the spiracle is charging up with electrons
• 1:17 pm

• TeacherDo bugs or insects have bones? Or just exoskeleton?
  Bugscope Teamno bones at all, they are invertebrates, just the exoskeleton that keeps the guts and stuff inside
• TeacherIs there only one spirracle? Do flies get all their air through this little hole?
  Bugscope Teamthere are often two spiracles per segment, one on each side
• Bugscope Teamwhen the samples are prepared for use in the scanning electron microscope we coat them with gold-palladium to make them conductive, but sometimes the coat does not cover everything

• Bugscope Teamhere are two mites, hanging out on a beetle
• Bugscope Teama little hideout for mites

• GuestCool shot!
• TeacherAre mites bad?
  Bugscope Teamsome mites are bad, but others we dont know to much about

• Bugscope Teamthis is a click beetle, which has this hinged body

• Bugscope Teamvarroa mites are a big bad mite group found on homey bees

• Bugscope Teamif you lie on it, it will click and make you aware of what you're doing, ask you to move, essentially
• 1:22 pm

• TeacherWhat is the difference between a fruit fly and a "regular fly"
  Bugscope Teamfruit flies usually feed on fungus that occurs in association with fruits; we can feed them things like babyfood in the lab; houseflies like sweet liquids and have sponging mouthparts like fruit flies; horseflies and deerflies have slashing/cutting mouthparts and feed on blood; and there are many other kinds of flies

• Guestnice claw.
• Bugscope Teamand this is a beetle claw
• TeacherZac asks if there is a difference between mites on a bug and mites on a person?
  Bugscope TeamI don't think this kind of mite is found on people; ours are different. but I have not see the mites that are said to live in one's eyelashes. dustmites are different as well, and they are softbodied, meaning they shrivel like aphids if we do not dry them properly

• 1:28 pm
• Bugscope Teamthese are tenent setae, they help the beetle to stick to surfaces when it walks on them

• Bugscope Teamcheck out the individual facets of the compound eye here, they are called ommatidia
• TeacherCool eyes?
• Bugscope Teamnotice the hexagonal shape
• Bugscope Teamyep, compound eye
• Teachernice
• Bugscope Teameach hexagon has a lens in it
• Bugscope Teamthe hexagonal shape helps to allow the surface of the compound eye to be curved
• Bugscope Teamif the ommatidia were squares, having a curved surface to the eye would not be so possible

• Bugscope Teamugh I am sorry I am having trouble finding wing speed estimates
• Bugscope Teampretty cool how curved the eye really is
• GuestAwesome perspective "driving"!
• Teacherwe were just talking about that. amazing!
• Bugscope Teamsee the thing in between the eyes? that's the proboscis
• Bugscope Teamthe proboscis is a type of protrusion from the head/mouth area
• Bugscope Teamthe furry things on either side of the proboscis, which is rolled up right now, are palps
• Bugscope Teamelephants also have a proboscis, but we normally call it a trunk
• Teacherdo insects have all five senses like we do?
  Bugscope Teamno i dont think so. Some insects dont have eyes
• 1:33 pm
• GuestOohhh....great question!
• Bugscope Teami'm not sure why we call it a trunk, because the trunk of a car is in the back of the car, but the trunk of an elephant is in the front
• Bugscope Teamwhen the moth or butterfly wants to extend its proboscis, it fills its internal chamber with hemolymph and forces it to unroll like a party favor
• Bugscope Teamget this: insects smell using those setae (hairs)!
• Bugscope Teamsome of the setae are chemosensory, so they help the insects sense chemicals which can be certain smells
• Bugscope Teamants, especially, do much of their communication using the antennae

• GuestHuman chemosensory consists of smell and taste
• Teacherthis is not a bug?
• Bugscope Teamah yes, taste too, thanks michelle!
• Bugscope Teamnope, this is salt, from wendy's restaurant...
• Bugscope Teamsalt from wendy's has this cool structure to it, so we sometimes put it on the sample
• Bugscope Teamif you take the smell of a dead ant and put it onto a live ant, the worker ants that normally clean the nest will take the live ant away, even if it is clearly struggling and thus alive.
• Teachermore zoom!
  Bugscope Teamokay!
• Bugscope Teamjust shows that we can look at a lot of different stuff in the electron microscope, not just bugs

• GuestThat ant fact was really interesting....sort of funny in a way!

• 1:38 pm
• Bugscope Teamlot's of dirt and stuff on this salt, huh?
• Bugscope Teamthe ants use the chemoreceptors on their antennae to make those 'judgments.'
• Bugscope Teamnot sure what all this stuff is, so we just call it juju
  Bugscope Teamprobably another sodium salt that prevents clumping

• Bugscope Teamnormal salt is not this interesting-looking

• Teacherawesome!

• Bugscope Teamif we were to look at sugar we would find that it does not form cubes like this
• Teachervery interesting
• Bugscope Teamthe sodium chloride forms cubes, as you know

• Bugscope Teamthese are moth scales
• Bugscope Teamsugar cubes are sugar crystals artificially stuck together in that shape
• Bugscope Teama moth can shed some of these scales when it gets trapped in a spider web, and escape!
• Bugscope Teamlet's zoom in on the scales, so you can see that they have holes in them!
• Guestmoths are like power rangers and escape artists!

• Bugscope Teamthose holes keep the weight of the overall scale down, helping it to fly better
• Bugscope Teambut still keep the scale solid and tough

• Teacherback to the ants...do they eat the dead ones?
  Bugscope Teamno I don't think they do, although they will eat almost anything else, including other ant species
• 1:43 pm

• Bugscope Teamthe shapes of the scales make different colors -- different structural colors as opposed to colors that come from pigments

• Bugscope Teamthey eat recently dead insects, but I'm not sure if that includes their own kind

• Bugscope Teamnot sure, really. it is a good idea not to eat your own species. and we know, espeically, not the brains.

• Bugscope Teamespecially (sp.)
• Teachera couple more questions then we'll let you go...how much food does an insect need to survive? Do they have the insticts of "hungry"?
  Bugscope Teamyou can always say it depends on the insect -- some adult insects do not eat at all. and some feed other of their own species

• Bugscope Teamthey can starve. Spiders will eat their own webbing for protein if they start going hungry

• Bugscope Teambut insects do not seem to get fat like people

• TeacherDoes climate effect the speed at which an insect moves?
  Bugscope Teamwell they slow down in colder climates; they grow larger in warmer climates
• Bugscope Teamspiders can also eat their own web if they get caught in it
• 1:49 pm
• TeacherHow big is the biggest insect you have in the lab?
  Bugscope Teamscott has a prehistoric beetle encased in glass that he stole from a museum... ;) it's big, like 1.5 inches
• Bugscope Teamwe have a hissing cockroach someone sent us, and some pretty big cicadas, but scott has a really big beetle as well
• GuestScientists steal things?
• Bugscope Teamwell, i was kidding
• Guest:)
• Bugscope Teamheh no that was a present!
• Bugscope Teamhe was kidding me about it earlier so i thought i'd get him back
• Bugscope Teamour biggest bug is over 6 feet tall and in the 'scope room right now
  Bugscope Teamha!!! i wish i had a compound eye
• Bugscope Teamwe are about out of time, we have researchers that need to use this scope soon
• GuestGreat session! I am proud of Mr. Stout! Good job 5th graders!!
• Bugscope TeamThank you for working with us today! This was fun! And it was great to see Dr Korb!
• Bugscope Teamgreat job mr. stout, remember your member page, http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-137, you can view it anytime after your session, it contains all the chat and images from todays session
• TeacherAlright! Thanks so much! This was fantastic!
• TeacherLove ya Dr. Korb!
• Bugscope Teamover and out!
• Bugscope Teamyour member page was also emailed to you when you first applied for bugscope
• Bugscope Teamyou can also email us with any questions as well: bugscope@beckman.illinois.edu
• GuestTalk to you all later!
• Bugscope Teamsee you michelle!
• Bugscope Teambye michelle
• TeacherBye all
• Bugscope Teambye mr. stout
• GuestBye guys and gal! You were awesome!
• 1:55 pm
• Bugscope Teamokay, closing the session now, nice job everyone!
• Bugscope Teamgoodbye mr. stout, great job!
• Bugscope Teamdon't forget your member page: http://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2009-137