Discovery Center or Springfield
Session 2011-038

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Transcript

Connected on 2011-08-04 11:00:00 from Greene, Missouri, United States

• 9:34 am
• Bugscope Teamsetting up for today's session...
• 9:59 am
• Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down -- you can see it in the chamber now
• 10:15 am
• Bugscope Teamnow Cate is adjusting the settings on the microscope, and soon we will be making presets

• Bugscope Teamgood morning, Ryan!
• Bugscope Teamthese are brochosomes

• Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!

• Bugscope TeamRyan we are setting up, so we're turning off your ability to drive 'til we're done.

• 10:21 am
• TeacherGood morning! i'm with the discovery center and was scheduled for an 11:00am session...i'm just checking in early and making sure my connection is good.

• Bugscope Teamlooks good!
• Bugscope Teamtotally cool

• Bugscope Teamwe'll make a few more presets, and then you can practice driving, if you want
• Bugscope Teamwill you have other computers logged into this session?

• Teacherok. no this will be the only computer.
• 10:26 am

• Teacheri'm having trouble with my projector. am i able to save these images to the site so i can find them later?

• Bugscope TeamRyan take your time -- all of the images are saved for you and available on your member page.

• 10:31 am
• Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-038

• Bugscope Teamthe text is saved as well...
• Teacherok, awesome

• 10:38 am
• Bugscope Teamlooks like the other ants got away
• Bugscope Teamokay Ryan you now have control of the microscope

• Bugscope Teamyou can use the arrow to the left to view the presets and also click on any of them to have the 'scope move to that place on the stub
• Bugscope Teamyou can also click on the screen itself to get the image to center, meaning that if you go to low mag you can use that feature to drive
• Bugscope Teamof course there is some lag between you clicking and the 'scope responding and sending you an image of what you've done

• Bugscope Teamusually a second or two...
• Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions, or of course when the students have questions

• Teacherokc great! i think fixed the projector so we're good to go.
• Bugscope Teamsweet!
• 10:43 am

• Bugscope Teamnote that you can change the mag, focus (up or down -- worse or better), adjust the contrast/brightness, drive the 'scope, and also choose from among the presets on the lefthand screen
• Bugscope Teammoths often charge up with electrons because they are covered with scales that are not very conductive

• Bugscope Teamso the excess brightness we see is often due to charging

• Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eyes, and perhaps a few thousand ommatidia -- the individual eye facets

• Bugscope Teamscales are modified setae

• 10:48 am
• Bugscope TeamI am sitting next to the microscope, so I hope you don't mind that I just brought the mag up and adjusted the brightness/contrast and focus
• Bugscope Teamwe do not see these fine features on all flying insect eyes -- usually just butterflies and moths
• Teachersure, no thats great!
• Bugscope Teamthis is about 10 times the limit of a light microscope
• Bugscope Teamand of course we can go higher
• Teacherso what are the smaller dots on each individual ommatidia?
• Teacherand my students say "Hello"
• Bugscope Teamwe don't know -- they do increase the surface area and we assume they help collect light. moths and many other insects, of course, can see light in ultraviolet wavelengths, so these receptors may aid with that
• Bugscope TeamHello! Welcome to Bugscope!
• Bugscope TeamBe sure and cruise to other presets -- it is especially cool that we have an earwig today, with motes
• Bugscope Teamoops -- with *mites*
• Bugscope Teamclicking on the arrow to the left shows you what presets are available
• 10:53 am
• Bugscope Teamand clicking on one of the presets will move the 'scope to that place on the stub

• Bugscope Teamyou're driving a $600,000 microscope
• Bugscope Teamyay! you can see three mites here, on the earwig
• Bugscope Team's thorax
• Bugscope Teamclose to the head, which is just a bit north

• Bugscope Teamthis kind of mite does not have eyes

• Bugscope Teamwhat we think is the head is right in the center with the two antenna-like bristles pointing downward
• Bugscope Teamgood job driving!
• Bugscope Teamisn't it wild that we can find mites like this?

• Bugscope Teamwe're not sure how they eat -- whether they pick up scraps of food or actually penetrate the cuticle of the insect and feed off some of its hemolymph
• Bugscope Teamso this is what we think is the head, just left of center

• Bugscope Teamit's like a stegasaurus, with a tiny head compared to the size of its body

• 10:59 am

• Bugscope Teamthe little bristle-like things are probably mechano- and chemoreceptors
• Bugscope Teamthey can sense touch and smell
• Bugscope Teamalso hot/cold, and wind

• Bugscope Teamthis is one of the spider's spinnerettes

• Bugscope Teamthey have these cool 'plumose' setae all over their bodies

• Bugscope Teamspiders are very sensitive to vibration, of course, and we think these hairs, like little pine trees, help them pick up information from vibration around the spider or on its web

• Bugscope Teammany insect setae are more like hairs

• Bugscope Teamthis is the wasp's stinger, slanting from the right to the left

• Bugscope Teamit has some kind of goo on it
• Bugscope Teamyou can see the tip is to the left and very sharp

• Teacherhow did you get the stinger to stay out of the abdomen?

• Bugscope TeamIt just happened that way -- we don't always have such luck
• 11:04 am
• Teacheroh, ok.

• Bugscope Teamthe stinger has a lot of juju on it so it is hard to see the serrations along the shaft that stingers usually have
• Bugscope Teamon a honeybee the serrations are more apparent, and when they sting mammals, as we know they get stuck
• Teacheroh,ok. so its serrated like a shark's tooth?
  Bugscope Teamyes it is and I am sorry we cannot see that right now
• Bugscope Teammosquitoes have four serrated blades that cut into your skin
• Bugscope Teamno mosquitoes today, and it is rare again that we are able to see those stingers
• Bugscope Teamactually they're called stylets or lancets

• Bugscope Teamwhoa it's a stinkbug!
• Bugscope Teamyou can see the very round compound eyes to the left and right

• Bugscope Teamin the center, where we are now, is the proboscis
• Bugscope Teamstinkbugs are 'true bugs' that have piercing/sucking mouthparts like this
• 11:09 am
• Bugscope Teamthis is the upper portion, where there is a kind of suction apparatus that helps the stinkbug drink plant fluids

• TeacherSo do they spray their "stink" as a defense against predators?
  Bugscope Teamyes -- the glands are between the 1st and 2nd set of legs on the underside of the thorax; we saved that area as a preset

• Bugscope Teamstinkbugs are said to hate their 'stink' as much as their potential predators do
• Bugscope Teamso we think the network of bumps on the lower surface is part of a stink absorption system that keeps the stink from enveloping the bug
• Teacherwild.
• Bugscope Teamit is so cool-looking, and you can see that it has many involutions -- lots of folds and thus a lot of surface area
• Bugscope Teamthis is where the stink comes out of the glands on the inside of the body -- through these branched filter-like bars
• 11:16 am

• Teachercool

• Bugscope Teamsorry I just had someone come and ask me some questions

• 11:21 am
• Bugscope Teamthese tiny whiffle-ball like things are brochosomes

• Bugscope Teamthey are said to be produced only by leafhoppers, but we find them on other insects that have been around leafhoppers
• Bugscope Teamthey are nanoparticles, usually about 450 nanometers in diameter

• Bugscope Teamand this is a silverfish
• Bugscope Teamsilverfish have scales, as do moths, butterflies, mosquitoes, and very few other insects
• Bugscope Teamscales are helpful to insects in several ways
• Bugscope Teamone is that they come off easily -- they're the fine powder you feel when you rub the wing of a butterfly
• Bugscope Teamif the butterfly flies into a spiderweb, there is a good chance it can get back out by leaving its scales stuck to the web and thus slipping away
• Bugscope Teamsame with the silverfish
• Bugscope Teamor moth or mosquito
• 11:26 am
• Bugscope Teamscales on the silverfish reflect silver light, of course
• Bugscope Teambut those on a moth or butterfly can create those neat color patterns we see

• Bugscope Teamthe face of the silverfish is hard to make out
• Bugscope Teamthis is about where the mouth is, up a bit
• Bugscope Teaminsects often have four accessory mouthparts called palps that help them push their food into their mouths and also smell the food so they can tell if it is appropriate to eat
• Bugscope Teamif you look at the ant head you can see the palps much more easily
• TeacherWell, i think we're gonna have to cut our session a little short. But thank you guys so much for this opportunity! This is my second session with bugscope this summer and we've really enjoyed it. It's been a unique and educational experience. Thanks! Ryan Hawkins, Discovery Center of Springfield
• Bugscope Teamhey Thank You!
• Bugscope Teamthank you for doing bugscope with us this morning
• Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-038
• 11:32 am
• Bugscope Teamjust below is your member page
• Bugscope Teamsee you next time!