Connected on 2012-05-24 13:00:00
from York, Pennsylvania, United States
- 12:56 pm
- Bugscope Teampresets are done, and we are ready to roll!
- 1:02 pm
- Bugscope TeamMrs Musone!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope TeamCate made the presets today, and this one, with bacteria, is super cool.
- TeacherHello! We are just getting situated and will be ready in a minute!
Bugscope TeamSweet!
- Bugscope Teambe sure to let us know when you have questions
- TeacherWe will. The students are excited. Are these the beetle and caterpillar we sent?
Bugscope Teamthe caterpillar and beetle are in the microscope along with a few other critters. If you click on the left arrow you can scroll through some presets we made and jump right to one of your insects if you want
- 1:08 pm
- Bugscope TeamMrs. Musone you have control of the 'scope but be sure to let us know when we can help.
- TeacherWhat exactly are we looking at? It looks kind of like a spider web.
Bugscope Teamthese are bacteria. The spider web is a biofilm the bacteria make when they are healthy. It gets really thread-like as you see when it goes through a drying process. Normally the biofilm is more like a blanket laying over the bacteria
- 1:13 pm
- Bugscope Teamso this is a sample of bacteria that we added to what you had sent us
- Bugscope Teamnow we're looking at the end of one of the beetle's arms, or legs, and you can see that it has two claws
- TeacherIt looks as though part of the claw is broken. There's also something thread-like that we are not sure of. What are those threads?
Bugscope Teamthe beetle had clearly led a full life, and he or she was a bit scratched up
- Bugscope Teamthe beetle had likely worn down that part of its claw
- Bugscope Teamthe thread-like things we see are setae, which are what insects use to help them sense their environment
- Bugscope Teamand now we are looking at one of the caterpillars 'prolegs,' which is covered with lots of tiny hooks called 'crochets.'
- 1:19 pm
- TeacherWhat are caterpillar crochets?
Bugscope Teami believe they help the caterpillar 'hook onto' whatever it wants to cling to so it doesn't easily fall off- like a leaf
- Bugscope Teamthese crochets are on the back legs that from our view look like little suction cups
- Bugscope Teamadult insects have six legs, and even as larvae they usually have six legs. caterpillars have six fairly normal looking legs, and they also have other leg-like elements, further down the body, called prolegs, which is what the crochets are attached to
- Bugscope TeamI should say that caterpillars are actually larvae; they're not the adult version of the insect, yet.
- Bugscope Teamnotice that in insects, the mandibles open from side to side, like a gate
- TeacherWhat is the white stuff inside the mandibles? What are the thread-like things for?
Bugscope Teamthe threadlike things are setae, which are just insect hairs. They help the beetle feel what is going on- in this case when an object is by the mouth. They act like cat whiskers
- 1:25 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is really cool-looking salt that we used to get from Wendy's restaurants
- Bugscope Teamthanks Cate I keep having people stop in
- Bugscope Teamso the salt still forms a cube, since it is sodium chloride, and it even forms smaller cubes, but the whole form is broken up a bit by as Cate said, some anti-clumping agent
- TeacherWhat do you suggest we look at next?
Bugscope Teamthe pollen is kind of cool
- 1:30 pm
- Bugscope Teaminsects do the same things we do, but they do them differently
- Bugscope Teamso for example, we see that insects have jaws (mandibles), but unlike our mandibles, they open from side to side
- Bugscope Teamand insects breathe, but not through their mouths or noses like we do
- Bugscope Teaminstead, insects breathe through pores on the side of their body segments that are called spiracles
- TeacherHow did you find pollen since it is so small?
Bugscope Teamthey look like pieces of dirt at lower magnification, but there are more pollen grains in this region as well. Scot brought this fly from his house and it seems all the flies he brings have pollen on them.
- Bugscope Teamthe thoracic spiracles (the thorax is the part of the body the legs and arms are attached to in an insect) in flies are very large, probably because they need to bring a lot of oxygen in to the muscles that control the wings
- TeacherWhat are those leaf-like things?\
Bugscope Teamthere are little hairs here as well. They help keep big particles out of the spiracle, which is where we are on the fly. The spiracle is a breathing hole
- Bugscope Teamthe spiracles are the outer component of the respiratory system in an insect
- TeacherDo we have time for one more?
Bugscope Teamsure!
- 1:36 pm
- Bugscope Teaminsects do not have skin, like we do; instead they have a shell, called an exoskeleton
- Bugscope Teamhaving an exoskeleton is like wearing a suit of armor, for us
- Bugscope Teamif we were wearing armor, we would not feel something touching the surface of the armor
- Bugscope Teammany of the setae (hairs or bristles) we see are what the insect uses to help sense its environment
- Bugscope Teamthe setae, like the one on the left here, are often touch sensitive, so they help the fly sense touch or wind against the compound eye
- TeacherWhat is that gunk on their eye?
Bugscope Teamthere seems to be some dirt or dust on here. There is a hair to the lower left
- Bugscope Teamflies have eyes with many facets like this, many individual lenses -- that are called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teameach ommatidium can collect a whole image; it is only one of many lenses
- 1:42 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe compound eye is often bulbous, like this, so the fly can see quite a lot of the area around it without having to turn its head
- TeacherDo they have good eyesight?
Bugscope Teamit's not as good as a human's, but they can see things move in what appears to be slow motion to them.
- Bugscope Teamflies and other flying insects also often have three more eyes, called ocelli -- the simple eyes
- Bugscope Teamyes as Cate said, with so many eye facets the fly can see changes in the visual field (motion) very quickly. that is one reason it is hard to swat flies
- TeacherScot, SEM & Cate...thank you for sharing with us. It was an incredible experience to see things this closely!
Bugscope TeamThank You for connecting with us today!
- Bugscope TeamI hope you all had fun using this microscope. It costs around $600,000!
- Bugscope TeamSee you again next year!
- Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-090
- Bugscope Teamthis is a link to your member page
- Bugscope TeamBye!
