Connected on 2010-05-17 10:30:00
from Brattleboro, VT, US
- 9:17 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is almost ready; then we will be pumping down, then making presets
- 9:25 am
- Bugscope Teampumping down
- Bugscope Team3.0 x 10-4
- Bugscope Team2.7
- Bugscope TeamSome big bugs on the stub today
- Bugscope Teamroach moth true bug beetle damselfly
- 9:30 am
- Bugscope Team1.9
- Bugscope Team1.8
- Bugscope Team1.7
- Bugscope Team1.6
- Bugscope Teamtwo Chas's
- Bugscope Team1.5
- Bugscope TeamChas the sequel greyed out
- Bugscope Team1.5...
- Bugscope Team1.4
- Bugscope Teamthis is suspenseful
- 9:35 am
- Bugscope Teamheh 1.4
- Bugscope Teamstarting presets
- 9:41 am
- 9:47 am
- 9:52 am
- 9:57 am
- Bugscope Teamsee if this is a three-jointed proboscis
- 10:02 am
- Bugscope Teamdone with presets
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready
- Bugscope Teamcool
- 10:07 am
- 10:13 am
- 10:26 am
- Bugscope Teamdiatoms
- 10:32 am
- Bugscope Teamhello, welcome to bugscope!
- TeacherHi there - we
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamhi braden!
- Teacherwe'll be on in about 15 minutes. Thanks for your patience - looks great!
- Bugscope Teamcool
- 10:48 am
- 10:54 am
- Bugscope Teamlarval butterfly -- a caterpillar
- 11:03 am
- TeacherHello!
- Bugscope Teamhi there, welcome to buscope
- Bugscope Teamare we ready to roll?
- TeacherYeah man
- Bugscope Teamexcellent
- Bugscope Teamright now we are looking at a larva
- Bugscope Teamthe magnification of the scope is 159x, but you can change that anytime
- Bugscope Teamyou have control of the scope
- Teacherlarva of what?
- Bugscope Teamit's not a caterpillar and we dont know what type of larva it is
- Bugscope Teamon the right side of the image you can find the controls: magnify, navigation, focus and adjust
- 11:08 am
- Bugscope Teamgo ahead and ask any questions you may have
- Bugscope Teamcheck out all the hairs on the bug. those hairs are actually sensory organs, called setae (pronounced see-tee)
- Teacheris that its eye?
- Teacherinteresting
- Bugscope Teamthere is an eye in the upper right, barely
- Bugscope Teamsetae stick through the exoskeleton, to nerves underneath, that's how they feel things. without the setae, the exoskeleton wouldn't be able to feel anything
- Bugscope Teamthat is an antenna - the stublike thing
- Bugscope Teamantennas can break off and leave the stub there
- Bugscope Teamthe eyes are called stemmata in caterpillars, and although we are not sure what this larva is, it is likely the eyes are also called stemmata. there are usually five or six, and they are simple
- Bugscope Teamwhen a bug dies it can dry out, thus making things like antennas more likely to break off. entropy, i guess...
- Bugscope Teamunfortunately the eyes are flattened here -- usually they are domelike
- Teacherand what would this be?
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the eyes -- they resemble ocellli, and also spider eyes
- Bugscope Teamthis is still the larve, a close-up of it's head area i think?
- Bugscope Teamit's collapsed, sorry
- 11:13 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the claws of the fruit fly
- TeacherWhat is this?
Bugscope Teamthis is a claw, lots of bugs have claws for feeding, defense, climbing things, etc.
- TeacherRather, what are those hairs at the bottom?
Bugscope Teamthose hairs are setae. almost anything that looks like thin hairs, that's going to be setae, sensory organs that stick through the exoskeleton to nerves underneath
- Bugscope Teamthis claw is on a fruit fly
- Bugscope Teamthe hairs to the left are tenent setae
- Bugscope Teamthey're sticky hairs that help the fruit fly cling to surfaces
- Bugscope Teamsetae can be mechanosensory for feeling touch, or chemosensory for sensing smells and tastes, or some can sense temperature. setae are way cool
- TeacherCan we see cells?
Bugscope Teamyou cannot always distinguish cells at this level, but the bacteria, when you get to see them, are individual cells.
- Bugscope Teamnow we see what are more likely, as Alex says, to be mechanosensory setae
- Bugscope Teamwe can see blood cells but we can't see those here. We do have bacteria to see today
- Bugscope TeamThe other type of electron microscopy, Transmission EM, is more commonly used to see cells. It can operate at higher magnification and see through samples, but they must be cut extremely thin
- 11:18 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a cockroach, and whoever had pinned it -- it is from a collection -- had pierced part of the mouth
- Bugscope Teamroaches are generalists -- they can live in almost any environment. so they do not have specialized features like some insects
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that like the fruit fly, the roach has sensory setae sticking through its exoskeleton that give it information about the environment
- Bugscope Teamthe micron bar we see in the lower left corner of the viewing screen gives us an idea of the magnification we are working at.
- TeacherThanks very much - we have a break for lunch but will be back at 12:00CT!
- Teacher(this is Mr. Braden again - that was a student) Where are the bacteria? Thanks!
- 11:23 am
- Bugscope Teampreset no. 20
- Bugscope Teamthis shifted a bit since we saved it
- TeacherWow. Needs some antibiotics!
Bugscope Teamheh, yeah, we sometimes see a lot of bacteria on bugs
- Bugscope Teamscott is fixing the focus on this image now
- TeacherSorry to be on late today and the lunch break. A new class will be on in half an hour and stay on for half an hour. Appreciate all your info - there was a lot of good discussion going on in the classroom!
- Bugscope Teambacilli are often about 2 microns long
- TeacherGreat image.
- Bugscope Teamwhereas eukaryotic cells can be 8 to 12 to 15 or 30 microns in diameter
- 11:29 am
- Bugscope TeamMr B be sure to drive around if you would like.
- Bugscope Teamthese are comparable to the setae we saw at the tip of the tarsus on the fruit fly
- Bugscope Teamif you take the mag down you will get an idea of where you are
- Bugscope Teamyou can scroll through the presets -- those are only the top few
- 11:34 am
- Bugscope Teammoth head
- Bugscope Teamthe tongue is extended, at least a bit
- Bugscope Teamand you can see one of the antennae -- the other is busted off
- Bugscope Teammoths and butterflies are difficult to image because they charge up with electrons very easily.
- Bugscope Teamwe can see some of that now, in the excessive brightness over the eyes
- Teachertheir wings charge up easily?
- Bugscope Teamyes for sure because of all of the individual scales
- Bugscope Teamthis is a critical point-dried female mosquito
- 11:39 am
- Bugscope Teamcritical point drying makes the features that would normally shrivel when they dry look much more lifelike
- Bugscope Teamsuch as the ommatidia -- the facets of the eyes
- Bugscope Teamthe mangled stuff is the internal components of the proboscis
- Bugscope Teamthere are at least four cutting mouthparts and a siphon tube
- Bugscope TeamWhen you air-dry a sample, the capillary force of the water draws surfaces together and leaves samples looking matted and deflated. Critical point drying removes the liquid without allowing the capillary action
- TeacherSo how do you critical point dry?
Bugscope Teamit's the liquid carbon dioxide that replaces the ethanol that reaches the critical point
- Bugscope Teamwhen we critical point dry a female mosquito, the fascicle -- the internal component of the proboscis, often comes out in the open -- it springs apart
- Bugscope TeamThe name comes from the critical point, a combination of temperature and pressure at which ethyl alcohol is both a liquid and a gas at the same time
- Bugscope TeamSo we first slowly replace the water in the sample with ethyl alcohol, then use the critical point drier to reach the critical point. Then you can slowly let the gas bleed out and it will be removed as a gas instead of a liquid
- Bugscope Teamit is also called supercritical drying
- TeacherI follow. Thanks.
- 11:44 am
- Bugscope TeamI suppose because the critical point is a specific pressure/temperature, and anything above that is "supercritical"
- Bugscope Teamwe replace the ethanol with liquid carbon dioxide and then take that above 31 C and about 1100 psi; then we slowly let the CO2 off as a gas
- Bugscope Teamthere is no phase change between liquid and gas above the critical point, so the gas sublimes away
- Bugscope Teamoh, yeah sorry: I said we bring ethyl alcohol to supercritical, Scott's right that it's actually CO2
- Bugscope Teamwithout damaging the tissue -- the cell walls
- Bugscope TeamProbably could do it with alcohol too, but the critical point might require temperature and pressure that's less easy to work with in a small table-top device
- Bugscope Teamthis is the siphon tube
- Bugscope Teamyes Chas is right -- CO2 is one the chemicals that has the best properties for doing this under lab-achievable conditions
- 11:49 am
- TeacherGreat - thanks!
- TeacherNew class here now - question for them is .. what is this?
Bugscope Teamwe are looking at part of a mosquito eye. You can see the cones on the eye here which is cool
- Bugscope Teamthis is the surface of one of the ommatidia in the compound eye of a mosquito
- Bugscope Teamat 21,440x
- Bugscope Teamthis is highly magnified
- Bugscope Teammosquitos have compound eyes, which just means they have many facets like a diamond, each called an ommatidium
- Bugscope Teamwe are looking at a single facet of the eye, and it has a lot of juju on it
- Bugscope Teamand the stuff that looks like dirt and such, that's juju, like scott says
- Bugscope Teamnow, there one ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthat has a lens in it
- Bugscope TeamWe usually only see this kind of detail on the ommatidia when the insect has good vision. Ants, normally have a smoother more featureless surface to the ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthe lens is fixed, can't move around like human eye lenses can
- Bugscope TeamBut because they have facets that wrap around almost their whole head, they still have a very wide field of view, even without being able to move their eyes
- 11:54 am
- Bugscope Teamif you had compound eyes you would have better peripheral vision; it would be hard to buy sunglasses and likely to get dates; and you would have a better ability to gauge motion.
- Bugscope Teamthe individual facets of the eye are, as Alex says, individual lenses, so they are like indvidual sensors that detect changes quickly
- Bugscope Teammosquitos are probably the most dangerous organism on the planet, to humans anyway, because of their disease carrying capabilities
- 11:59 am
- Bugscope Teamadult mosquitos, the ones we see flying around, usually only live 4-8 weeks. the mosquito will spend a large part of its life as an egg, larva and then pupa
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the mark we left on the sample from sitting at high mag in that same area for awhile
- Bugscope Teamdragonfly's will eat mosquitos though, so next time you see a dragonfly, say hi to em...
- Bugscope Teamdragonflies, i meant to spell...
- Bugscope Teamwhen we use the microscope for Bugscope we keep the sample about an inch from the polepiece, where the electrons come from. that lets us see more of a large insect at low mag. but it also keeps us from having the best resolution at high mag.
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see the thorax, to the left
- Bugscope Teamand we can see the base of one of the antennae, and well as both antennae, and we can see the mouthparts, all coiled around, plus the sheath they normally fit into
- Bugscope Teamyou all have seen "jurassic park", right? well, in that movie they find a mosquito in amber that is way old. that premise is true, the oldest known modern looking mosquito was found in amber from 79-million years ago, in the cretaceous period. but we didn't pull dino dna from it, of course....
- 12:04 pm
- Bugscope Teaminsects were bigger than too
- Bugscope Teamthis is like a bacterial plaque that you might have if you don't brush your teeth
- Bugscope Teamand they carried around little tiny shovels to dig into the dino skin...
- Teacherhello
- Bugscope Teamhi!
- Bugscope Teamwe've been chatting with you, are you just here now?
- Teacherwhat is this?
Bugscope Teamthis is a claw from a true bug. Claws are found at the end of each of an insect's legs
Bugscope Teamthis is the claw of a true bug. lots of bugs have claws
- Teacherwe've been here
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the proboscis and one of the antennae
- Bugscope Teamand one of the legs, folded up a bit
- 12:10 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe proboscis is entended, which is unusual
- Bugscope Teamusually it is coiled up
- Bugscope Teamin the very center is the antenna
- Bugscope Teamrunning top to bottom
- Bugscope Teamoops 'extended'
- Bugscope Teamthis is a millipede, and its head is in the center
- Bugscope Teamsee the compound eye?
- Bugscope Teamupper right
- Bugscope Teamnot now
- Bugscope Teamthere it is
- Bugscope Teamthere is also a scale next to the antenna
- Bugscope Teamsee the mouth?
- Teacherwhat type of larva is this?
- Bugscope Teamtwo sets of palps to help it taste and manipulate its food
- 12:15 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe don't know for sure
- Bugscope Teambecause it does not have crochets, which would go on prolegs, which it doesn't have either, we know that it is not a Lepidopteran larva -- it is not a butterfly or moth caterpillar
- Bugscope Teamsee the jaws, which open from side to side?
- Bugscope Teamthe antennae are busted off
- Bugscope Teambut you can see at least one set of palps as well
- Bugscope Teamin the background we see silver paint and the doublestick carbon tape the insects are adhered to
- Bugscope Teamthe tendon that makes the claws open and close is called an 'unguitractor.'
- Bugscope Teamwe can give it a try...
- 12:20 pm
- Bugscope Teamscott is going to try to focus on the brochosomes
- Bugscope Teamthey are very small excretions from a leafhopper
- Bugscope Teamthey are about 1-2 mircons or less even
- Bugscope Teamthe brochosomes kinda look like soccer balls
- Bugscope Teamsorry we are mnot getting a good view of the few brochosomes on the claw here
- Bugscope Teamok so I'm pretty sure the larva is a lady big larva
- Teacherhow do you know it's from a leafhopper?
Bugscope Teambrochosomes only come from the leafhopper, that is the only organism in the world that produces them
- Bugscope Teambrochosomes were first discovered in the late 1590's when they put a leafhopper under an electron microscope
Bugscope Teamthe late 1950's i mean. silly me can't type.
- Bugscope Teambacteria!
- Teacherwhat type?
- Bugscope Teamooopss!!! the late 1950's!!!!
- Bugscope Teamthey are some sort of bacilli
- Bugscope Teamof course there are thousands of different types of bacilli...
- Bugscope Teamthis is 112,000x
- 12:25 pm
- Bugscope Teamanthrax, E. coli...
- Teacherthank you very much we got to go
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
- Teacheryessir
- Bugscope Teamdon't forget, all the chat and images are saved to your member page
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-022/
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-022
- Bugscope Teamover and out!
- 4:21 pm
- Bugscope Teamwhich is here:
