Connected on 2010-05-12 11:00:00
from Hayward, CA, US
- 8:46 am
- Bugscope Teammaking presets for National Lab Day
- 8:57 am
- 9:02 am
- Bugscope TeamAlex! Yay!
- 9:07 am
- 9:13 am
- 9:18 am
- 9:23 am
- 9:29 am
- 9:39 am
- 9:45 am
- Bugscope TeamWe are ready. Session is unlocked...
- 10:07 am
- 10:23 am
- 10:38 am
- Bugscope TeamHello Umesh!
- Bugscope TeamBye!
- 10:48 am
- TeacherHello folks! Michele Korb here!
- Bugscope Teamhey there
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- TeacherI have invited a few people - hope it turns out well!
- Bugscope Teamplease feel free to drive around.
- TeacherHi Cate!
- Bugscope Teamwe are working with lowered expectations...
- Bugscope TeamBut Cate assembled a fantastic sample
- Bugscope Teamthis is the antenna of a male mosquito
- TeacherThis is a beautiful sample! What is it?
- TeacherOh...
- Teacherp.s. I have to log off at 10 minutes before the next hour.
- TeacherNice eyes!
- Bugscope TeamYeah, very clean sample
- 10:53 am
- GuestHi all. Chas, are you joining via an iPad (wifi or 3G)? Does it work well?
- GuestHi Michele! Thanks.
- TeacherTell me about this view - what parts are we seeing now?
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a male mosquito
- TeacherHi there!
- Bugscope Teamwe are seeing it from below
- Bugscope Teamthe rest of the body should be to the south i think
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eyes, and below them is the throat
- Bugscope TeamNot currently on the iPad, but am testing a revised interface that will be even better on iPhone/iPad
- Bugscope TeamMale mosquitoes do not bite -- do not take a blood meal.
- GuestTerrific Chas. I would liek to help you test it. I just got an iPad (wifi). The mosquito is from IL (not CA), right? Is Cate our guest entomologist? Yeah.
- Bugscope Teamthe male does have a proboscis that looks just like that of the female but does not have the internal cutting/siphoning components.
- Bugscope Teamno im here helping out not as an entomologist
- GuestBut, you are, Cate, but you are an expert!
- Bugscope TeamThis is one of a number of mosquitoes we got from a filmmaker. I']
- TeacherIt would be cool to see a female beside this one.
- Bugscope Teamnot sure where they came from
- Bugscope Teamwe had to use the females, I'm sorry
- Bugscope Teamthe big differences are the mouthparts and the antennae
- TeacherSo, why do you think only the females bite and take blood?
Bugscope Teamthey do that when they are getting ready to lay their eggs. Some extra energy and protein is needed
- 10:58 am
- TeacherI am playing with your controls a little. Fun! Thanks for the answer, Cate!
- Bugscope Teamfemales cannot successfully lay their eggs until they have a blood meal
- TeacherInteresting. Do they die after they lay eggs?
Bugscope Teamyes they do
- Bugscope Teamthere are some species of mosquitoes in which the female does not take a blood meal -- both sexes live on nectar
- TeacherWelcome E!!
- TeacherI am going to a new preset - is that OK?
- TeacherI am going to the flea. Did I send this?
- TeacherThis is a flea. Might have come from my cat :)
Bugscope Teamit came from out entomologist Annie's dog actually!
- GuestWhy do they die after laying eggs?
- Bugscope Teami think I squished it a little picking it up
- TeacherOh. Thanks Annie!
- TeacherSo why do mosquitoes die after laying eggs?
Bugscope Teamthey have successfully started the next generation and really have no purpose anymore, since they do not do this repeatedly
- 11:03 am
- Bugscope Teammany insects are like this. some mayflies may live in the adult state for only a few hours
- TeacherInteresting!
- Bugscope Teamit is safe to say that the great majority of insects, especially in temperate zones, compared to the Tropics, live for only weeks or months. or less
- TeacherNo wonder animals scratch and bite at fleas. Look at the legs on this one!
- TeacherWhat are the long, sword like projections?
Bugscope Teamthose are part of the head, and they may help the flea embed itself in fur
- Bugscope Teamthe reason they scratch and bite is here -- you can see the laciniae to the right
- TeacherScot - can you center and drive to the laciniae?
- 11:09 am
- Bugscope Teamthese are the cutting mouthparts
- TeacherOh....ouch.
- Bugscope Teamsee the ridges
- Bugscope Teamthey're like little chainsaw blades
- TeacherPoor animals!!
- Bugscope Teamlike a steak knife
- Teacherthis is more reason for me to put flea meds on my cat now....
- Bugscope Teamthey work back and forth in a side-by-side sliding motion
- TeacherCan you drive to the legs and show why it is that they can jump so far?
- Bugscope Teamcan't really see its hindlegs here but they are big and meaty like a rabbit's legs
- TeacherThat is an interesting analogy, Cate!
- Bugscope Teamlet's go to the other flea
- TeacherOk - take us there!
- TeacherYou are a great tour guide, Scot!
- Bugscope Teamnow I think you can see more clearly how big the legs are
- Bugscope Teamthey're like jackrabbit legs, as Cate says
- TeacherYes, they are quite meaty :)
- Bugscope Teamthey can jump, as you know, many times the length of their bodies
- TeacherWhat is the life cycle of a flea like?
- 11:15 am
- Bugscope Teamthey can go through very long stages of dormancy if the eggs are not disturbed.
- TeacherI think this dormancy phase lasts a long time and the fleas survive all year here in CA. Sort of annoying!
- Bugscope Teamfleas live 30-90 days on average
- Bugscope Teambut like you said with good conditions they can live for around a year
- Bugscope Teamyou can walk into an abandoned house and suddenly awaken adult fleas that have been resting in their cocoons, waiting for you
- TeacherSounds like a horror movie!
- TeacherWhat great material for teachers and students - good material for creative writing!
- Bugscope Teamthat is tough about California -- it is so warm year-round that insects such as fleas do not die in the wintertime
- Bugscope Teamthe flea life cycle runs from the adults, which lay eggs, to the larval stage, to the pupae, and then to adults again
- TeacherAnd the spiders get HUGE! I am going to try to find a tarantula soon. They are supposed to be hatching soon and they close roads so they don't get smashed while crossing.
- Bugscope Teamwhen you disturb them and they suddenly awaken, they are coming from the pupa
- TeacherThat is a scary thought. On to the butterfly!
- 11:20 am
- Bugscope Teamtarantulas do not like to be bothered, and they have special 'urticating hairs' that they release to deter the curious
- TeacherI have heard that about tarantulas.
- Bugscope Teamthey break easily
- TeacherThey break for ESEM prep easily?
Bugscope Teamthey break in real life easily. if you drop a tarantula it can break open and die
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a butterfly, and I am not sure what happened to its mouthparts
- TeacherHmmm...
- Bugscope Teamwe have to be careful when handling them even when they are dead
- TeacherOh -I had no idea they were so fragile. Sort of bebunks the myth of their scariness.
- Bugscope Teamthat is a desiccated insect of some sort caught in the 'hair'
- Bugscope Teamit may be a mite, hard to tell
- Teacherfree loading insect on a butterfly?
- Bugscope Teamdustmites are softbodied, like spiders
- Bugscope Teamnot sure what it is
- Bugscope Teamso when they die they shrivel terribly
- TeacherCan you show us the wings on this butterfly?
- Bugscope Teamdustmites are not insects, however -- they are arachnids
- Bugscope Teampreset no. 8 shows part of one of the wings
- Bugscope Teami removed the wings from it but I put a small patch of the wing by the butterfly
- TeacherI learned something new today then! Arachnids encompass a group of organisms that I was not aware of.
- Bugscope Teamwe have only 1.75 inches to work with, so there would not be much room if we put the whole butterfly on the stub
- 11:25 am
- Bugscope Teamif you look at spider mites it is clear that they are tiny spiders
- TeacherGotcha - so I am going to preset 8 to look at the butterfly wing. VERY cool!
- Bugscope Teamthis is way up close on one of the scales
- Guestwhat are the perforations?
- TeacherLooks like a beautiful fabric!
- Bugscope Teammany wing scales like this produce both structural colors and colors that come from pigment
- Teachere: what are the perforations?
Bugscope Teamyes as Cate says the latticework makes the scales that much lighter
- Bugscope Teamstructural colors derive from the shapes of the scales at this microscopic level
- Bugscope Teamthere are little spaces in the wings to make them lughter
- Bugscope Teamthe structure of those spaces also gives the wings color
- Bugscope Teamby refracting light a different way
- GuestAre earwigs from the Forficulidae family?
- Bugscope Teamum they are dermaptera -- let me look it up
- TeacherWow - great question!
- TeacherI am going to the earwig preset now.
- TeacherHere is its claw....nice.
- Bugscope Teamsome earwigs are indeed Forficulidae
- 11:30 am
- Bugscope Teamthere are at least six families
- Bugscope Teamyou can tell the females from the males by the shape of the cercopods -- the cerci
- Bugscope Teamdid you see the mites, there?
- TeacherWhat is the cerci again? the feet? Show us the cerci and the mites :)
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head, of course; sometimes the eyes are like this, and sometimes they fill out the whole orb shape there
- Bugscope Teamthe cerci are the pincers
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the mites on the way down...
- Bugscope Teamthere they are!
- Bugscope Teamthis is a female.
- TeacherWhy do earwigs have the pinchers?
Bugscope Teamthey are defensive, as you will find if you try to pick one up
- Bugscope Teamin male earwigs the cercopods are more bowed
- TeacherWe read a book in my education class called "the Icky Bug" and the earwig brought up questions. We don't think they are icky at all.
- Bugscope Teamthey will bend their whole body around to try and pinch you
- TeacherI have never been pinched.
Bugscope Teamheh
- Bugscope Teamhere this is cool
- 11:35 am
- Teacherwhat is this?
- Bugscope Teamsee the scale now?
- Bugscope Teamby the way to the right we see silver paint
- TeacherSo the scale is from.....
Bugscope Teamthe scale is from another insect: likely a butterfly or moth or silverfish
- TeacherDid it pinch something before it died for Bugscope?
Bugscope Teamnot sure, it was in a vial someone had collected for us a while ago. It's possible they got pinched though
- TeacherWhat are all the spores?
- Bugscope Teamthose are brochosomes, from yet another insect
- TeacherRight - remind us what brochosomes are again?
- Bugscope Teambrochosomes are produced in the Malpighian tubules of leafhoppers, and they are said to be used to prevent eggs from drying out.
- Bugscope Teamor thought to be...
- TeacherInteresting! Insects really get into each other's lives alot huh?
- Bugscope Teamsometimes they are ovoid, but we almost always see them as spheres
- Bugscope Teamthey hang around in the same places
- TeacherLet's try the millipede....
- Bugscope Teamand sometimes they eat each other, of course
- TeacherIt's an insect eat insect world out there!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its head there, and you can make out the compound eye
- 11:40 am
- Bugscope Teamstreamlined into the head
- Bugscope Teamthese are not insects, of course
- Bugscope Teamthey're isopods -- meaning that their feet are all the same shape
- TeacherThat is very cool! So, the eye is almost continuous with the body? Isopods!!
Bugscope Teamthat's right!
- GuestWhat specimens/things (other than bugs) has Bugscope used in the last 10 years?
Bugscope Teamwe have some salt from a Wendy's restaurant in the 'scope now. We have also looked at worms, which we had to critical point dry; and clock parts; bacteria; other kinds of crystals; plants; rocks; fossils...
- GuestWow what an image - cover for a magazine for sure.
- TeacherI would like to know that too, Policy Fellow.
- 11:46 am
- Bugscope Teaminsects and other arthropods are the most fun because kids can readily relate to them and they are full of surprises.
- TeacherInsects are great to use and compare to children's literature. We will be doing this alot next week in my sessions on May 19 and 20 with the Cal State students!
- Bugscope Teammillipedes are not actually in the Isopoda -- they are in Diplopoda. But they do have iso- feet.
- Bugscope Teamthat sounds really interesting
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool -- a little backswimmer
- Bugscope Teamthis is a waterboatman actually
- TeacherI have also talked to friends in the fashion industry (some of them are online now looking) about ways to use insects and these images to inspire fashion design!
- Bugscope Teamand you can see its eyes as well, streamlined into the shape of the head
- Bugscope Teamit's a type of true bug that lives in/on water
- Bugscope Teamthey resemble leafhoppers
- TeacherSo is this backswimmer a diplopod too?
- TeacherIt looks shy!
- Bugscope Teamsome insects -- some beetles -- are used for the color (carmine) that comes from squishing them
- TeacherHide and seek back swimmer? I am thinking like a 5th grader now of course...
- Bugscope Teaminsects are segmented, much like the way clothes often go onto your body
- Bugscope Teamand insects have an exoskeleton, which we think of like armor, but it could also be like clothing
- GuestAlso, is there a limit to number of participants that can join in on a given session? I am wondering what would happen if a session information was released on Twitter which as a big base?
Bugscope Teamwe can work with about 30 logins at a time
- 11:51 am
- TeacherVery good analogy! There are lots of great ways to parallel human activity and clothing to insects. Armor, layers of clothes, scarves.
- TeacherI have to leave....I am sorry I have to go to a meeting now at a local school. I will see you all on Bugscope next week on Wed and Thursday. I sent my bugs :) Talk to you later!
- GuestThanks, Scott, what an impressive type of specimens.
- Bugscope Teamsee you next week Michele!
- TeacherBye!
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- TeacherThank you!!
- GuestThanks, Scott.
- Bugscope Teamsure!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the most fun thing we do.
- Bugscope Teamwhen we work with students, and when they log in on their own computers, that is the best
- Bugscope Teamwe are using insects and scanning electron microscopy as a Trojan horse to get students interested in science -- to get them to consider seriously the possibility of science as a career.
- Bugscope TeamPolicy Fellow we gave yoiu control if you would like to drive...
- 11:56 am
- GuestI must go now. Thanks, Scott!
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope Teame you are the only person left...
- Bugscope Teamlet us know if you would like to drive
- GuestThis is the best NLD project demonstration.
- Bugscope TeamThank You. If we don
- Bugscope Team't have any more takers, though...
- Bugscope Teamwe will go ahead and bow out
- 12:03 pm
- GuestHow often do you have sessions?
Bugscope Teamwe do them about 3 times a week
- Bugscope TeamE, we usually have between 1-3 sessions a week. It varies with the school year
- Bugscope Teamwe try not to have any more than 3 a week so that other people can use the microscope
- 12:11 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe are going to shut down the session now
