Connected on 2010-07-12 11:00:00
from Glendale, AZ, US
- 10:13 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning!
- Bugscope Teamwe are just about ready to start setting up for today's session
- Bugscope Teamwe have to wait a tiny bit more for the 'scope to pump down
- Bugscope Teamthen we'll be able to turn on the electron gun
- Bugscope Teamlike now...
- 10:18 am
- 10:24 am
- Bugscope Teamlet us know if you have any questions
- 10:29 am
- Bugscope Teamwe're making today's presets
- 10:34 am
- 10:40 am
- 10:46 am
- Bugscope TeamWe are done, ready to roll!
- 10:51 am
- Bugscope TeamNewteacher where are you from?
- 11:25 am
- GuestI'm from Crestwood Kentucky- planning a unit on Monarch butterflies and was curious about Bugscope
- Bugscope Teamwhile we are waiting for Christine -- she is having computer problems -- we have given you control of the microscope. you may drive and/or select from any of the presets and drive from there, if you wish
- Bugscope Teamwith Bugscope you can control the microscope, chat with us, log your students in as well so they can chat, and also if you wish you can let us give control of the 'scope to students -- one at a time, of course
- Bugscope Teamsome schools do this in computer labs, where students can each have a computer, or can work two to a computer; and some schools project the interface on a screen; some schools use smartboards...
- 11:30 am
- Bugscope Teamif you want, you can click on any of the presets to the right of this chat box, and the microscope will drive to that place on the stub.
- Bugscope Teamyou can scroll through the presets if you wish
- Bugscope Teamcool. this is just a few ommatidia on one of the compound eyes
- Bugscope Teamhi Oceli!
- Guestvery cool
- Bugscope TeamSorry this is a compound, not a simple eye.
- Bugscope TeamOceli where are you from?
- GuestColombia
- Bugscope TeamWow. Cool!
- Bugscope Teamnow we are looking at what are more like ocelli -- the stemmata on the caterpillar's head
- 11:36 am
- Guestamazing
- Bugscope TeamOceli would you like to drive? We can give you control of the microscope if you'd like to try it out.
- Bugscope TeamI just gave you control. You should see the controls to the right of the image.
- Guestwow
- Guestthanks
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the stemmata a little better
- Bugscope Teamone of the entomology grad students here is from Colombia
- Guestthat is great
- Bugscope Teamwhen you focus, you have a choice of up or down -- you can watch to see if it gets worse or better...
- Bugscope Teamher sister is also an entomologist
- GuestI study forest engineering, this is a field that i find interesting
- GuestAny details on what we're looking at now?
- 11:41 am
- Bugscope Teamthese are the legs of the caterpillar, up close
- Bugscope Teamthey have six regular legs, like an insect, of course
- Bugscope Teamand they also have prolegs, which we can see now
- Bugscope Teamprolegs have lots of little hooks in them called crochets
- GuestThat was my next question
- Bugscope Teamcaterpillars also often have the ability to produce silk, and the silk 'spigots' are near the mouth.
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see some of the crochets
- GuestIs that what they use to connect when they're hanging?
Bugscope Teamyep that's right
- Bugscope Teamyou can actually see some of the silk as well -- some strands of it
- Bugscope Teamit'
- 11:46 am
- Bugscope Teams a little ball of something, less than 10 micrometers in diameter.
- Guestit is amazing how close it can get
- Bugscope Teambacteria are 2 microns in length -- the bacilli
- Bugscope Teamso we can see them no problem when they are there
- Guestwow!
- Bugscope TeamOceli you are a good driver.
- Guesthaha thanks
- GuestHow do you differentiate different kinds of bacteria
Bugscope Teamyou would have to do it using other means than we have -- like genotyping them
- Bugscope Teamto the left is silver paint that Cate put down to make the caterpillar stick better.
- Bugscope Teamthe stemmata!
- Bugscope Teamand there may not be much to see at high mag
- Bugscope Teamif you go to preset 18 you may find something that you can focus on at those higher magnifications
- 11:52 am
- Bugscope Teamtoday's teacher, in Arizona, is having computer problems
- Bugscope Teamthe little round balls we can barely see now are brochosomes
- Guestwill she be able to reschedule?
Bugscope Teamwe will send her a message and ask her if she'd like to reschedule -- this happens sometimes
- Bugscope Teamthey come from leafhoppers, from the Malpighian tubules
- Bugscope TeamOceli when we use the microscope for Bugscope we keep the sample at a long working distance -- there is a lot of space between the electron source and the sample
- Bugscope Teamwe do that so our participants can see as much of an insect as possible at low mag
- Bugscope Teamso when we go to high mag at a long working distance we do not have optimal imaging conditions
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see where you were
- Bugscope Teamthis is the coiled proboscis
- Bugscope Teamof a butterfly
- 11:57 am
- Bugscope Teamand this is a detail of the proboscis
- Bugscope Teamscales are responsible for the color we see, both the structural color and the pigmented color
- Bugscope Teamand scales are also helpful for getting out of spider webs -- the moth or butterfly (or mosquito or silverfish) can leave its scales stuck to the web and get away, sometimes...
Bugscope Teamthey can shed them but they dont molt away like feathers. They kind of act like a defensive measure, like if they get stuck in a web, they shake a few loose
- Bugscope Teamawesome you are doing such a good job
- Guestinteresting
- 12:02 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is a seta -- a 'hair'
- GuestI have to log off- had a great time. I'm sure I'll follow up in the classroom. Thanks!
Bugscope TeamThank You! See you!
- Bugscope Teamnow we are looking at the surface of the eye, and it is a little hard to focus now -- but you can go to a lower mag and it will work better.
- Guestwhat coul be that Scot?
Bugscope Teamthere looks to be some dried juju on there, and the holes look like the little cones were torn away
- Guestthanks
- 12:07 pm
- Bugscope Teamsorry I had some guys in here asking questions about bone
- Guestno problemo
- Bugscope Teamheh
- Bugscope Teamdo you say no problemo in Spanish?
- Guestno
- Guesthaha
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the scales, and you can see where they're missing
- Guestin spanish it is "no hay problema"
- Bugscope Teamno hay una problema?
- Bugscope Teamwell I was close...
- Guestyes
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see where Cate put a bunch of silver paint to help make the wing conductive
- 12:12 pm
- Guestwhy?
Bugscope Teamwe sputter coat gold-palladium onto the samples -- several nanometers thick.
- Guestall the objects under the microscope need to be conductive?
Bugscope Teamyes when we use this microscope like a regular SEM , as we are doing now
- Bugscope Teambut when you have individual components like scales -- they are not easily grounded to the stub even when they are coated like that6
- Guesti see
- Bugscope Teamso we ground the samples better by striping silver paint on the edges, and then we look for the darker areas that are not charging up with electrons
- Bugscope Teamit's like clipping a ground wire onto the sample
- Bugscope Teamso it may be that the dark area in the center will look better at high mag
- Bugscope Teamso do you call these hormigas?
- Guestyes
- Bugscope Teamcool
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that her jaw is serrated like a steak knife, for cutting
- GuestAtta sp. i think
- Bugscope Teamoh wow
- 12:17 pm
- Bugscope TeamI have been reading the new book about ants by Mark Moffett.
- Bugscope Teambut we are not taxonomists or even entomologists
- Bugscope Teamsome entomologists are not happy about all of the press that ants get
- Guestyou are so lucky having this kind of instruments
- Bugscope Teamwe are! it is really a lot of fun. we get to see all kinds of cool stuff
- Bugscope Teamnot just insects/arthropods
- Bugscope Teamwe work with food science people, blood people, self-healing polymer people, flexible silicon people, etc.
- Bugscope Teamwe train researchers here to do their work using a whole suite of microscopes, and micro and nanoCT systems
- 12:22 pm
- Guestwhen i first saw a leaf under a stereoscope i found a new world, i was so amazed. Now this
- Bugscope Teamonce we got photos of a mite on the underside of a leaf mid-molt -- it looked like it was taking off its t-shirt
- Bugscope Teamdo you teach?
- Guesthahaha
- Guestno, I stuy forest engineering and enthomology is one of the fields that I like
- Bugscope Teamjust a part of what you do
- 12:28 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe have been working with people who are interested in the wax on the surface of leaves, and bacterial attachment. we have also worked with a group who are interested in high-CO2 environments and how they affect plant growth, including the number of stomates.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the ball-and-socket joint of the antenna, and you can see tiny mold spores on the surface
- Guesthearing that is so amazing, I really love science, but here you need a lot of money to be a scientist
- Bugscope Teamsounds like what you do is pretty cool. do you work with higher-altitude forests, and/or rainforests?
- Guestthat is why I'm making this foundation that aims to foment the love for science and technology
- Bugscope Teamthat all sounds great to us, of course
- Guestright now I'm gonna work with high-altitude ecosistems with the foundation, the ecosistem called 'Paramo'
- Bugscope Teamwe are in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, part of the University of Illinois. a nerd paradise.
- 12:33 pm
- Bugscope TeamParamo? So they are high-altitude forests?
- Guestthis ecosistem is exclusive of "the Andes" mountains and most of it is on Colombia
- Bugscope Teambut it is not so high that it does not have insects?
- Bugscope Teamso the ecosystem (ecosistem) is called Paramo?
- Bugscope Teamoh that is what you said below, sorry
- Guestwell yes, the highest but don't think of it as an usual forest, no treesonly bushes and shurbs... Because of the low temperatures
- Bugscope Teamdoes coffee grow at high altitudes?
- Bugscope Teamsorry to be so uninformed...
- Guestoh, sorry about the "ecosystem" i usually get confused. There are insects, but not as many you'll find in a tropical forest
- Bugscope Teamnot a big deal we just spell differently
- Bugscope Teamyour English is far better than my Spanish
- 12:39 pm
- Guestno problemo, ask anything you want. No, coffee grows only at lowe altitudes, over a temperature of like 28 °C
- Bugscope TeamI will ask Diana, also, if she studies insects from the Paramo.
- Bugscope Teamshe is the grad student from Colombia
- Bugscope TeamI guess this is an obvious question, but does coca grow at high altitudes?
- 12:44 pm
- Guestthere are 2 species of Coca, the genus Erythroxylum, the Erythroxylum coca and the Erythroxylum novogranatense, each with some varieties that grow from the sea level to aproximatedly 2000 meters over sea level
- Bugscope Teamerythro- does that mean they have red coloration?
- Guestyes
- Guestthe fruits are red
- Bugscope Teamah and they must be natural and also farmed, I guess? I saw that Peru may have overtaken Colombia in coca cultivation
- Bugscope TeamOceli it has been very pleasant to get to talk with you. Here is my email address: sjrobin@illinois.edu
- Bugscope TeamYou are welcome to connect with us anytime, and if it would be helpful as part of a presentation you are welcome to set a Bugscope session up with us.
- Guestdiegoct11@hotmail.com if you have any question about the ecosystems around here
- Guestthanks
- Bugscope TeamBugscope is up only during certain times, usually twice a week.
- Bugscope TeamCool so you are Diego? Nice to meet you!
- 12:50 pm
- Guestyes, nice to meet you too
- Bugscope Teambe sure to come back when you get a chance; it would be cool to image some of the insect species from the Paramo.
- Guestthat would be awesome
- Guestsee you next time and thaks for everything
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you Diego!
