Connected on 2011-02-23 14:30:00
from Cook, Illinois, United States
- 1:15 pm
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down, almost ready to start making presets
- 1:20 pm
- 1:27 pm
- Bugscope Teamhello Mrs N!
- TeacherHi, there! This is amazing!
- Bugscope Teamthis is Scot, on the ESEM. I am making today's presets. It is pretty cool, isn't it?
- TeacherNice to meet you, Scot! I'm glad I can have a peek before our session.
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope TeamYou will be able to select from what I am making now, and you will also be able to drive around, change mag, go to places I have not already found for you.
- Bugscope Teamif you will have students logging in from their own computers, they will be able to chat, and if you permit it, we can let them 'drive' as well
- TeacherGreat! We are interesting in survival adaptations that are special to each arthropod.
- 1:32 pm
- TeacherIs the black beetle mouth the large ground beetle that we sent to you?
- Bugscope Teamyes it is, and we are looking at its antenna right now
- TeacherWhat kind of beetle is the ultra tiny beetle?
- Bugscope TeamCate put the sample stub together from what you sent, and she may log in once we start.
- Bugscope TeamI am not sure about the tiny beetle. It was so small she did not know what it was. Only now that we can see it magnified do we know it is a beetle.
- TeacherI will have about 20 students watching on a large screen. Do you recommend that some have laptops too?
- 1:37 pm
- Bugscope Teamthey could share laptops, for example; it is up to you. you can do this a variety of ways
- Bugscope Teamthey could take turns asking questions. it sounds like you have a nice setup
- GuestHi Mrs. Nelson! Hi Bugscope Team!
- Bugscope TeamHello Mrs Range! Welcome to Bugscope!
- TeacherWe are very fortunate with our access to technology. I'll set up a few laptops for "chatting". Hi, Mrs. Range! Thanks for joining us! Isn't this cool?
- GuestThis is amazing! Can't wait to do it with my groups on Friday!
- 1:43 pm
- TeacherWhat's the highest magnification we can get today?
- Bugscope Teamwe can go higher than we can see things; this will go well over 200,000x but today we will likely not go higher than 20,000x. the limit of a light microscope is about 1200x.
- Bugscope TeamI should've said we can go higher than we can see things clearly
- Bugscope Teambecause we want to be able to see a low mag, we hobble our ability to go to super high mag
- Bugscope Teamif we were closer to the sample -- if the sample was closer to where the electrons come out of the column -- we would get better resolution at high mag. but we would not be able to show you the whole ultra tiny beetle, for example, because we would be so close to it
- 1:48 pm
- 1:53 pm
- TeacherSounds good. Can I practice driving?
- Bugscope Teamyes I think we have enough presets to let you go ahead and start
- Bugscope Teamplease let me know if you have any problems
- Bugscope Teamyou should be able to, for example, move to the lefthand screen briefly and click on one of those thumbnails to have the 'scope drive you to that place on the stub
- Bugscope Teamyou can also use the controls above the central screen here
- TeacherI'm back. I just set up student computers and now I'm going to drive.
- Bugscope Teamand you can click within the image using your mouse to get the sample to center on that position
- Bugscope Teamthe wasp's stinger...
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that it is serrated so it can cut well, but not so badly that it will stay stuck in your skin -- the wasp can sting again
- 1:59 pm
- Bugscope TeamI did that to ensure that control works...
- TeacherOkay.
- Bugscope Teamyou are the only person at the school who has control of the 'scope, unless you want us to confer it to someone else
- Bugscope Teamthe background is silver paint on top of carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamto the left is one of the legs of the black beetle
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the bases of the antennae of this millipede, and you can now see its compound eye fairly clearly]
- TeacherWhat's in front of the eye?
Bugscope Teamthat is one of the antennae; the end is broken off
- 2:04 pm
- Bugscope Teaminsects and other comparable arthropods use their antennae sometimes more than they use their eyes. the antennae are lined with hundreds of chemoreceptors/mechanoreceptors/thermoreceptors that allow the 'bug' to sense its environment
- TeacherHow much more can I zoom in?
Bugscope Teamyou will see that at a certain point there is little more to be seen
- Bugscope Teamthe fruit fly claw -- the very last preset, which I made first -- has nanoparticles on it
- TeacherInteresting! I would love to show the students what the SEM is capable of doing. You'll have to guide me to the nanoparticles.
- Bugscope Teamthe nanoparticles are brochosomes, which are produced solely by leafhoppers. they are usually a few hundred nanometers in diameter
- Bugscope Teamwhen we get too close sometimes, the images will distort because the sample charges up with electrons
- Bugscope Teamthis looks good, however
- Bugscope Teamha you can see it moved since I first made it
- Bugscope Teamcool!
- Bugscope TeamI will drive for a sec using the microscope controls if you wish
- TeacherYes, please!
- 2:11 pm
- Bugscope Teamthey are still a little hard to see because we are more than an inch away from the column exit - from the pole piece
- Bugscope Teambut those tiny wiffle-ball-like spheres are brochosomes, and they are maybe 250 to 300 nm in diameter
- Bugscope Teamthey are the same diameter as the wavelengths of far-UV light
- Bugscope Teamthey're on the fruit fly's claw
- TeacherI've never seen anything like it before. Thanks! The students will love it. Is there anything else I need to try before the students arrive?
- Bugscope Teamno I think you are doing a good job
- Bugscope TeamI will kill the original preset and make a new one
- Bugscope Teamdone
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll when you are
- TeacherWell, thanks. I'm going to get ready and will be back in a few minutes.
- Bugscope Teamgood deal
- Bugscope TeamMrs N I will be right back as well.
- 2:18 pm
- Bugscope Teamand I am back
- Bugscope Teamha me too
- Bugscope Teamyo
- 2:28 pm
- 2:34 pm
- TeacherWe are all set!
- Bugscope Teamgreat you are in control
- Bugscope Teamplease let me know if you have any problems
- Bugscope Teamthis is a super tiny beetle, and it is on its back -- we are looking at the ventral side, as opposed to the dorsal side
- Bugscope Teamhere you can see one of the compound eyes -- the globelike thing with all of the facets
- Bugscope Teamthe facets of the compound eye are called 'ommatidia.'
- StudentHow long have you been interested in bugs ?
Bugscope Teamseriously, for about 12 years, since we started Bugscope
- Bugscope Teamthis (Bugscope) is only part of what we do
- StudentHow many eyes are in the bugs compound eye
- StudentHow does the microscope zoom in close enough to catch all the electrons in the bug?
- Bugscope Teamit depends on the insect or arthropod, but I bet there are a hundred facets per eye on this beetle
- GuestWhat are the things that look like strings?
Bugscope TeamI am not sure.
- TeacherDo I need to zoom out to move to another part?
- 2:39 pm
- Bugscope TeamMrs Range we see a lot of things we do not recognize. Sometimes those string-like things are fungal hyphae, but I do not thing that is what those are.
- StudentHow did you first get interested in bugs?
Bugscope TeamI got interested when we started to do this.
- Studenthi im max. tell me about studying insects.
Bugscope Teamthe people who do this all of the time are called entomologists, maybe you know...
- Bugscope Teamwe help entomologists collect images of their samples, and we learn from them
- Bugscope Teamthis is the stinger of a waps
- Bugscope Teamd'oh
- Bugscope Teama wasp!
- Bugscope Teamyou can see that it is serrated so that it can cut into your skin, or whatever it stings
- Bugscope Teambut the little barbs, or serrations, do not keep it from being able to pull the stinger out again
- Bugscope Teambees get their stingers caught in people's skin, and the bee has to leave the stinger there, along with the pump (like a little outboard motor) that keeps the bee venom pumping into your skin.
- Studentwhy is it rounded on one side and pointy on the other.
- StudentAre those pieces on the hair the venom?
Bugscope Teamthat stuff that is dried to the left top may be dried venom
- TeacherWhat's the "blob" on the stinger?
Bugscope Teamthat may be venoom, to the top left
- Bugscope Teamvenom not venoom, sorry
- Bugscope Teamstingers are modified ovipositors, which insects (some insects) use to lay eggs
- 2:45 pm
- Bugscope Teamsome insects sting and lay eggs with the same utensil
- StudentWhat is the stinger made out of?
Bugscope Teamit is made of chitin, which is also what the exoskeleton is made of.
- Bugscope Teamwe have found that some insects have hardened jaws, for example, that may have zinc in them, or other minerals
- Studenthow many legs does this milipede have?
- Bugscope Teamit is possible that stingers also have minerals in them
- Bugscope Teamif you take the mag down you may be able to get a good estimate
- Bugscope TeamI was thinking around 100
- Studenthi im Ben what is on the legs
- Studentwhy isn't the stinger sharp on the wasp?
Bugscope TeamI was thinking it was pretty sharp, but it does have to be a little wide and thick so it is sturdy
- Studentare those thorns on the legs?
Bugscope Teamthose are the claws, which are little points
- Bugscope Teamthese look much like rolypoly legs
- StudentHi, what is the biggest bug you have ever seen?
- Bugscope Teamrolypolies are actually crustaceans, and they have gills
- Bugscope Teambut centipedes are not related to rolypolies
- Studentif you wernt a scientist what would you be
- 2:50 pm
- Studenthow much time does it take to set up the SEM for one "scan"
Bugscope Teamonce we get it set up, which takes a few minutes, then all you have to do is focus, check the astigmatism (correct it if it is bad) and then the image takes maybe a minute to collect
- Studentwouldn't the leg sections break apart?
Bugscope Teamthey are pretty sturdy
- TeacherWe are noticing that the wing looks like it has scales. What are they?
Bugscope Teamthose are scales, in a way like feathers on a bird
- Bugscope Teamscales are an adaptation that allows the insect to fly into a web, for example, and slip out, leaving its scales behind
- StudentIt looks like the things that look like feet are attached by a "stem". Does the stem ever break?
Bugscope Teamyes it could break, but they have lots of legs
- TeacherVery interesting! Thank you for your responses! We have so many questions!
- Bugscope Teamspiders have the ability to 'autotomize,' which means they can jettison a leg if they want to
- Studentwhy are there ridges on the "scales"
- Bugscope Teamwe coat the samples with gold-palladium, using a sputter coater, to make them conductive so they do not charge up
- Bugscope Teambut scales, especially, charge up easily, anyway
- TeacherDo the scales grow back?
Bugscope Teamthey do not, usually
- Studentwhat are the lines suposed to do
- Studentwhat are the tips on the pieces?
Bugscope Teamthe tips are just the way those particular scales are formed
- Bugscope Teamscales are also responsible for the colors we see on butterfly and moth wings
- Bugscope Teamthe scales feel like powder to us, when we stroke a butterfly's wing
- Studentwhy are there ridges on the scales
- 2:55 pm
- TeacherWe think it looks like a potato chip or carboard.
Bugscope Teamyes it does -- like a potato chip, the ridges make the scales more rigid
- Studenthow far can the bugscope zoom in
Bugscope Teamwe can go to super high mag, but normally we would have the sample closer to the polepiece, where the electrons come from
- Bugscope Teamso we can get publishable images at 200,000x on very good samples
- StudentWhy are there so many ridges?
Bugscope Teamthe ridges -- this is Cool! -- are responsible for some of the colors we see in a wing
- Studentis the mouth open
Bugscope Teamabout as open as we see them -- we often cannot really look inside
- StudentWhat is the black thing in the middle that looks like a tornado?
Bugscope Teamin the very middle we are looking through to the doublestick carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny dots we see in the mandibles we are looking at now are likely chemoreceptors
- Studenthi
Bugscope TeamHi!
- Studentwhat are the hairlike things
- GuestWhat are the long, hornlike things on either side?
- Bugscope Teambeing an insect is kind of like wearing armor all of the time, because they have an exoskeleton -- no bones
- Bugscope Teamif their skeleton is on the outside, it is much like armor, and if you were wearing armor you would not be able to feel things touching you
- 3:00 pm
- Bugscope Teamso -- the hairs, which we call 'setae,' are what insects and similar arthropods use to help sense their environment
- Studentwhat r the dots
Bugscope Teamthe dots are tiny pores in the surface of the exoskeleton
- StudentIs there any known la
- Bugscope Teamin some cases, tiny dots may be where venom leaves the jaw and enters the prey of the insect or centipede -- you can see that in one of the presets
- StudentThe things that look like bent needles? What are they?
Bugscope Teamsorry I missed some of those messages -- I think those are sensory hairs that help the beetle tell if it is eating something
- StudentHow do bugs communicate?
Bugscope Teamthey communicate with chemical scents, quite often; also with color, and with sound
- StudentThe eyes don't look like eyes.
Bugscope Teamthey are not very good eyes compared to those of some flying insects
- Studentwhy is the skin so smooth
Bugscope Teamit's not really skin, although it looks like it. it is more like a shell -- like the shell of a shrimp, for example
- 3:06 pm
- StudentThe millipede looks like a cobra. Is that the angle of the camera?
Bugscope Teamit is curved and Cate mounted it so it is indeed angled toward us
- Studentwhy is there a line around its head
Bugscope Teamnot sure I will have to look again when I can see it as you saw it
- TeacherWhat is the "hair" used for?
Bugscope Teamso the hair is sensory: mechano- touch sensory; chemo- smell or taste sensory; and thermo- hot/cold sensory
- StudentAre the compound eyes engraved into the head of it?
Bugscope Teamyes in a way; they are streamlined into the head so they don't stick out much
- StudentWhat are the hair like things on the antennae
Bugscope Teamthose are more sensory setae -- they are likely mechanosensory there, so the centipede can feel the position of its antenna
- TeacherSounds like they use the hair like we use our tongue
Bugscope Teamyes they do, and their antennae are often loaded with chemosensory setae. so also -- like our noses, for smelling the air
- Studentyo im Michael.How many bugs are there exactly?
Bugscope Teamthere are millions of species, many we have not discovered yet
- Studentwhat are the points on the antannae made of
Bugscope Teamthey are made of a protein called chitin
- Bugscope TeamMichael I am sorry that was not an exact answer. But I think no one knows for sure
- Studentis it possible for the antennae to fall out
Bugscope Teamyes it is
- StudentIf you are always finding bugs, how do you?What is the process?
Bugscope Teampeople collect them and look at them and write and publish descriptions
- 3:11 pm
- TeacherAre the white things the eyes.
Bugscope Teamthose are palps we see, mostly
- Bugscope Teamthis is a really nice-looking ladybug
- Bugscope Teamyou can see loose scales on it
- Bugscope Teamthe scales are from another insect, perhaps the moth
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see one of the eyes, to the far left and down
- TeacherWe were just saying that it looks like the moth scales. Neat!
- Bugscope Teama compound eye, streamlined into the shape of the head
- Studentwhat are the hairs?
Bugscope Teamsome are loose hairs from the moth, probably, and the attached ones are sensory
- Studentwhat is that thing sticking out?
Bugscope TeamI'm sorry - hard to tell -- you can see the antenna to the left now, with the segmented shape
- StudentWhy are the eyes smoothed in?
Bugscope Teamthe ladybug does not want its eyes to stick out -- they fit into the shape of the head and can swivel a bit, with the head, to protect the head; also it is better for flying to have smooth features that will not catch the wind
- TeacherWould you please show us the nano particles? You can drive. :)
Bugscope Teamlet me try!
- Bugscope TeamI will go to the microscope instead of using this computer at my desk
- Bugscope Teamnow I am on the SEM
- TeacherThanks!
- 3:16 pm
- Bugscope Teamit is hard to get them to stand still, but you can see those tiny wiffleball-like things
- StudentWhat are those little white ball
- Bugscope Teamthey are called brochosomes, and they are said to be produced only by leafhoppers
- Bugscope Teamthey are about 250 to 300 nanometers in diameter
- Studentwhat bug is this?
Bugscope Teamokay, now you see more of the claw...
- Bugscope Teamnow you see the claw, barely, and you can see the head of the fruit fly
- Studenthow can these particles be on a fruit fly
- Studentoops.sorry about last question.
- Bugscope Teamand now -- the fruit fly's whole head
- StudentAre those perfect hexagons on the eyes -John
Bugscope Teamsometimes they are perfect, yes
- Studentawesome!
- StudentHow many legs does a fruit fly have-Alex
Bugscope Teamsix
- Bugscope Teamall insects have six legs as adults
- TeacherSince we only have a few minutes left, would you please show us anything else that we missed? Thanks!
- Studentwhat are the points coming out of the eyes
Bugscope Teamthose are tiny bristles that the fruit fly uses to sense the wind speed and direction
- 3:21 pm
- Studentwhy are the legs like that
- Bugscope Teamhey there is a pollen grain too
- StudentI have the fear of bugs. How could I get over it?
Bugscope TeamI think you get over things like that by slowly exposing yourself to them until you get used to it.
- Studentwhy are there hairs on the slide
Bugscope TeamI am not sure where that one hair came from -- a real hair!
- StudentHow many eyes are on a bugs compound eye?
Bugscope Teama wasp or moth or butterfly may have 5000 or more
- Bugscope Teamper eye!
- Studentwhy are there holes in the eye
Bugscope Teamthe holes extend to nerves beneath, and the setae, or in this case we are calling them bristles, go through those holes
- TeacherI have a request to see the salt crystal.
- TeacherWhat is to the right of the eye?
Bugscope Teamsalt!
Bugscope TeamSEM cannot take back that reply...
Bugscope Teamoh yeah, now it can
- Bugscope Teami want to see if I can find the mosquito
- StudentIf the hexagon eye is perfect can it see better-sam
- 3:26 pm
- Studentwouldnt the pollen itch?
Bugscope Teamyeah!
Bugscope Teammaybe the fruit fly was itching from that
Bugscope Teamits eye off
- StudentWhat is north of the eye? There's two things.-Carter
Bugscope Teamsorry I missed that, but one was a salt crystal
- Bugscope TeamI just moved us to the mosquito, which I had forgotten about earlier
- Bugscope Teamthis is a male mosquito
- StudentTHANK YOU! (:
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- TeacherOur students need to be going. We really appreciate your time and effort answering all of our questions. The students had a blast!!!
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2010-140
- Bugscope Teamthat is your member page
- GuestThank you!!
- Bugscope Teamif for some reason it does not link you to the page, use your number 2010-140
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you Friday?
- Bugscope TeamCate will be here to help then, I think.
- TeacherTHANK YOU!!!!!
- Bugscope TeamOops. Thank You!
- 3:32 pm
- Bugscope Teamokay I am shutting down. I appreciate getting to work with you. That was fun!
- GuestYes, my groups will do their session on Friday. I know they'll be excited after their friends tell them how cool this was!
- Bugscope Teamgreat!
- Bugscope TeamI am closing down the computers now but look forward to seeing you Friday!