Connected on 2011-11-16 12:00:00
from Greene, Georgia, United States
- 11:06 am
- Bugscope Teamsample chamber is pumping down quickly, and we will be on soon to make presets for today's session
- 11:22 am
- 11:28 am
- 11:33 am
- Bugscope Teamwe're making presets now...
- 11:39 am
- Bugscope TeamHello!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- TeacherHi! We are getting ready!
- Bugscope TeamYay! So are we -- just a few more presets, and we will be good to go.
- Guesthello
Bugscope TeamHello Terrell!
- StudentHi, these are some of the 2nd and 5th graders of Greensboro Elementary.
Bugscope Teamwelcome to Bugscope!
- Guestthis looks so cool
- GuestHEllO Kamyrn
- 11:44 am
- Guestcan you send a spider leg
Bugscope Teamyou mean can you send one to us, or you want to see one?
- Studentoh my gosh is look weird
- StudentMy friends and I at GES are so excited about seeing the bugs! Bugscope is a fun, new way for us to learn about all of the bugs in the world!
Bugscope Teama few at a time, but we're working on it!
- Bugscope Teamwell the bacteria we had hoped to show you are so very small and also hard to find, but there will be a couple of them
- GuestOK
- 11:50 am
- GuestDo you have a komoto dragon?(any part)
Bugscope Teamyo Dude those are hardly related to insects/arthropods. no I am sorry.
- StudentSure, I'm fine with that
- StudentSure, that's fine. So, how long have you actually been in the Bugscobe industries?
Bugscope Teamwe started this project in March 1999.
- Guestok nice
- StudentThat's a long time
- Bugscope Teamyou can tell this beetle came from someone's collection
- StudentWow,I didn't even know that.
- StudentOh, cool! What interested you in bugs?
Bugscope Teamthey are pretty amazing alien (to us) life forms
- Guestwow wow!
- Bugscope Teamthis is salt from a Wendy's restaurant
- Guestthat is so cool
- GuestHow many bugs have you researched?
Bugscope Teamwe have imaged thousands of them, I guess
- Bugscope Teamthis is an ant that was so small I couldn't see it well enough to mount it right side up
- Guesti know
- StudentWho knew Wendy's salt was so exciting?
Bugscope Teamwe call it Aztec salt, since it has those incised-looking features
- GuestHow strong is your microscope?
Bugscope Teamwe can take the mag to over 800,000x but cannot get publishable images at more than maybe 250,000x.
- GuestI like you research!
Bugscope Teamyay!
- Guestit is the best
- GuestThanks.\
- 11:55 am
- StudentDo you really have to go and recieve the parts of the bugs or are they just given to you?
Bugscope Teamboth. I just sent my sister a request to ask my nephews to collect insects for me in Austin TX
- StudentIs it possible to access the Bugscope at home?
Bugscope Teamyes it is. you can log on from anywhere, but it will only be live, like today, when we're up and running
- Guestthat is so interesting
- Bugscope Teamso if you take the mag up you will find some cool-looking stuff
- GuestDo you have a team leader.
Bugscope Teamha it's just me today
- Bugscope TeamI am on two computers. The one with the SEM name is on the computer that drives the SEM.
- Guestcan you see any kind of bug?
Bugscope Teampretty much. smaller ones are best, and we like insects that are specialized more than generalists, which are often not as interesting.
- StudentSo, is the Bugscope only located in Chicago, or are there locations over the state?
Bugscope Teamonly here in Urbana IL.
- TeacherHow long have you been in the Bugscope program?
Bugscope TeamI helped start it in early 1999.
- StudentAre you interested in bugs a lot?
Bugscope Teamyes more and more
- GuestIs that dust on the bug?
Bugscope Teamit's dirt, but if you drive up close you will see diatoms
- GuestSo who built the telescope?
Bugscope Teamwell, this is a microscope, so it goes the other way. it was built by Philips Electron Optics.
- 12:00 pm
- Guestwhat are diatoms
Bugscope Teamthey are silica-shelled creatures that live in the water and have all kinds of cool shapes
- Bugscope TeamYou have control. You are the only person besides me who can drive.
- Guestwhat kind of bug is that
- TeacherCan we get control of the microscope?
Bugscope Teamif you go to the screen on the left you can see all of the presets I made earlier, and you can click on any one to have the 'scope drive to that place.
- GuestIs that bactira
Bugscope Teamthis is one of the diatoms
- Bugscope TeamHubbard please let me know if you are having problems.
- TeacherWe are good!
Bugscope Teamtotally cool
- Bugscope Teamyou can always change the mag, click to center, focus, change the contrast and brightness, and select from among the presets on the lefthand screen
- Bugscope Teamthis is an ant mandible, from the inside
- 12:05 pm
- Bugscope Teamants are almost always female
- Bugscope Teamif you see an ant with wings, and it's not the queen, it's a male
- Bugscope Teamthe tiny hairs you see, which we call 'setae,' are sensory
- Bugscope Teamsome setae are mechanosensory, meaning that they are sensitive to touch like cat or rat whiskers
- GuestWhat is a mandible?
Bugscope Teamthat is another word for jaw. In people, the lower jaw is the mandible and the upper jaw is called the maxilla.
- Bugscope Teamsome setae are chemosensory, meaning that they are chemical/smell sensitive. that is especially useful in the insect world
- GuestIs there a king?
Bugscope Teamno. not in ants. males are not often welcome
- GuestWhy is that.
- TeacherWhat is a mechanosensory?
Bugscope Teamit means those setae are sensitive to touch, or to wind, like a cat's whiskers
- 12:10 pm
- Bugscope Teamthere are a few fruitflies on the stub today
- StudentDo you have a bug brain? (if so will you show it to us)
Bugscope Teamit's on the inside, and I am sorry we cannot see it.
- GuestWhat are those on the eyes?
Bugscope Teamthe spikes?
- Guestit's so hairy!
- Guestcan you send a ant head
Bugscope Teamif you go back to the mandible and take the mag down lower you can see the head
- Guestdo fruit flys have compond eyes?
- StudentWhy does the fruit fly's face looks like its angry?
Bugscope Teamit's not really angry; it's just the way all of its features are arranged on its head
- GuestAre they endangered?
- GuestYes the spikes.
Bugscope Teamthe tiny spikes are setae that are said to let the fruitfly know when it is windy, and where the wind is coming from, but I am not sure that is correct
- StudentHow can you tell the difference between house flies and fruit flies
Bugscope Teamhouse flies are much larger, and their eyes are different, right away
- GuestWhere is the mouth?
Bugscope Teamthis fly has sponging mouthparts; that is what looks kind of like a nose to A'nasia.
- StudentIs that thing on the head a nose?
Bugscope Teamit's the proboscis, but in this case proboscis does not mean 'nose,' as it sometimes does. it is the extension of the sponging mouthparts
- 12:16 pm
- TeacherWhat is that thing coming out of its mouth?
Bugscope Teamthere are two palps we can see, and an extensible spongy portion that is now dry and a bit deformed from drying
- Bugscope Teamso the furball-like things are palps, which are accessory mouthparts used to help taste and sometimes manipulate food
- Bugscope Teamthese are the fangs of a huge brown spider
- Bugscope TeamI had to break some of its legs and its palps away so we could see the fangs
- StudentIt looks as if the spider has claws!
Bugscope Teamthey do have small claws as well
- StudentWhat is that hairy stuff by the fangs?
Bugscope Teamspiders are super sensitive to vibration, generally, and those setae help them with that
- Guestr thoose hairs sensers?
Bugscope Teamyes they are!
- StudentAbout how long is its tooth?
Bugscope Teamcheck out the micron bar. you can see that they are more than a millimeter long
- GuestHow many fangs does the huge brown spider have?
Bugscope Teamtwo
- Bugscope Teamthe chelicers, or chelicerae, are the large muscular mouthparts that open and close the fangs so the spider can bite its prey
- StudentWhat are setae?
Bugscope Teamsetae (pronounced see-tee) are what we call most of the hairlike things we see on insects and arthropods like spiders
- Guestit's fangs are so big
Bugscope Teamyeah Dude
- GuestCan they sense danger?
Bugscope Teamthey can sense the earth rumbling when you walk toward them, so yes
- 12:22 pm
- Studentwhat causes them to be so sensitive to vibrations? Don't the legs virbrate when they walk quickly?
Bugscope Teamthe legs are cushioned, in a way, by the huge number of setae, but the plumose setae can also pick up vibrations in the air, such as sound.
- GuestIs that flap a wing?
- Bugscope Teamif a spider is bitten by another spider and senses the venom going into its leg, for example, it can autotomize that leg, meaning that it can just let that leg fall off so the poison (venom) does not enter the body
- StudentWhat exactly is that?
Bugscope Teamit's a beetle's eye with the scale of a butterfly or moth, probably, on it
- StudentThat striped-like thing looks like a fin.
Bugscope Teamthat is a scale; it's what makes a butterfly's wing feel so silky to us
- Guestit looks like the outside of a beehive
Bugscope Teamyes it does!
- GuestCan they breath under water?
Bugscope Teamno they would close their spiracles and hold their breath that way
- Guestit looks like a wing
Bugscope Teamyes, and its function -- one of them -- is much like that of a feather
- Guestit looks like a fin
- StudentIts looks like its plastic with beads inside!
- 12:27 pm
- GuestHow big are they?
Bugscope Teamthey are so small they normally look like powder to us; maybe a hundred micrometers long, or longer
- TeacherAre there holes in it?
Bugscope Teamyes there are!
- StudentThat looks like a crocheted blanket up close.
Bugscope Teamthe ridges actually refract light and produce what are called structural colors
- GuestIs that flap a wing?\
Bugscope Teamthis is a tiny fragment of a wing
- Bugscope Teamone of the primary uses of scales is to help their bearers escape from spider webs
- Bugscope Teamthe scales come off very easily, and when a butterfly or moth flies into a spiderweb, it can sometimes leave the scales behind and slip out
- GuestDo they kill bugs?
- StudentWhy when you open salt and study it, it looks like a sphere, but up close, it looks like a cube.
- Guestit looks like a cube
Bugscope Teamabsolutely -- sodium and chlorine, when they combine as sodium chloride, form a cube. sugar, for example, does not form cubes
- GuestWhat are those around the salt?
Bugscope Teammore salt, and the carbon tape the samples are stuck to
- StudentWhy does that look like a bacteria?
Bugscope Teambacteria are usually oval, like pills, but sometimes they are more round, and sometimes they are spiral
- 12:32 pm
- StudentHow is it formed
Bugscope Teamwhen the sodium ions combine with the chlorine ions they take a cube shape, and that shape is repeated as more ions add on.
- Guestit looks like a dice with no dots
Bugscope Teamhah Yeah!
- TeacherWhy does it look like a rock?
Bugscope Teamit is a mineral, technically
- GuestIs the salt in oceans used in foods?
Bugscope TeamI think it could be if it was cleaned.
- Bugscope TeamNote that this is not common salt, which also forms cubes like this but does not have that incised pattern.
- Bugscope Teamwe can see only three of the spider's eyes
- Bugscope Teamit's the way I mounted the spider on the stub today
- Bugscope Teambut now you can see some of the cool plumose setae
- GuestHow many eyes does it have?
Bugscope Teameight total
- StudentWhy does it look like a valley or a field?
Bugscope Teamwe are very close, and it appears that way because it is hard to see what it really is from this perspective
- GuestIs that a hole in front of the eyes?
- Guestwhy is it hairs so long
Bugscope Teamthey're kind of like individual antennae that way -- likely they are more sensitive
- Guestdo it see through all of it's eyes
Bugscope Teamyes it does, but often not well
- StudentWhat are those hairy things on the eye?
Bugscope Teamthose are more setae
- TeacherWhy does it look like eggs?
Bugscope Teamthe things that look like eggs are the simple eyes on the top of the spider's head
- StudentIts hairs look like seaweed.
- 12:38 pm
- GuestWhat kind of spider is that?
Bugscope Teamit was a very large brown spider, but I don't know my spiders and cannot tell you what kind it really is
- TeacherHow many legs does it have?
Bugscope Teamit had eight legs and two palps, but I broke a few legs and one palp off
- StudentAre those senseative to vibrations,too?
Bugscope Teamyes they are!
- StudentAre there hairs sticking out of it?
Bugscope Teamyes there are
- GuestIs that a hole in front of the eyes?
- Bugscope Teamthe setae -- the hairs -- are called plumose hairs because they are kind of like pine trees. plumose means that it has fronds coming out all around
- GuestIs that spider posinous?
Bugscope Teamyes all spiders produce venom, and they almost all feed by injecting their prey with the venom. the venom dissolves the inside organs of the prey, and the spider, who is apparently immune to the venom, sucks it all up like a milkshake.
- StudentWhy is this?
Bugscope Teamyou mean why are they all sensitive to vibration? it must help the spider to have a huge number of such hairs/setae
- 12:43 pm
- Bugscope Teamsome spiders also have what are called 'urticating hairs.' those can be released when a dog, for example, sniffs too closely. the urticating (urticaria means 'itching') hairs irritate the dog's nose, and she/he leaves the spider alone.
- Bugscope Teaminsects do not carry combs and brushes with them, obviously. but they do sometimes have built-in combs to help clean their limbs and antennae
- StudentWhat are the hairy things and worm looking things on the forelimb?
Bugscope Teamthe spinyn things all in a row form a comb to help keep the antennae clean
- Guestwhat is that on the bottom?
Bugscope Teamyou can see some microsetae, which are not sensory, and you can see the body of the limb itself
- GuestThey look like spikes.
Bugscope Teamthey are much like tiny spikes
- Bugscope TeamI just took the mag down a bit on the SEM so you can see a little better where we are
- Bugscope Teamwhere we were :)
- Bugscope Teamthe padlike things with the tiny branches coming out of them are the antennae
- Bugscope Teamthis is a diatom with a pollen grain sitting next to it
- 12:48 pm
- Bugscope Teamit is on the exoskeleton of a cricket
- Bugscope Teamisn't that cool? I like this kind of stuff
- Guestwhat is the thing that looks like a leaf?
Bugscope Teamthe thing on the left?
- Bugscope Teamthis thing?
- Guestyes
- Bugscope Teamit's a diatom, which is an aquatic microscopic creature with a silica shell. this is all that's left -- the shell
- StudentWhat is that thing that looks like a golfball?
Bugscope Teamit's a pollen grain
- Bugscope Teamif you look up diatoms, later, you will see that they come in all kinds of shapes
- Bugscope TeamA'nasia I don't know what kind of pollen it is.
- Bugscope Teamsee the micron bar on the lower left, just below the screen?
- Bugscope Teamthe scale reads 5 microns, which is about 2.5 bacilli long.
- Bugscope Teambacilli are the bacteria that look like capsules
- Bugscope Teamor I should say, most bacilli are about 2 microns (micrometers) long
- 12:53 pm
- Bugscope Teama micron, or a micrometer, is one millionth of a meter long
- Bugscope Teamor one thousandth of a millimeter, which itself is a thousandth of a meter
- Bugscope Teamthis is the cricket's head
- Teacherwe are trying to get the fly head
- Bugscope TeamI almost didn't put it on the stub today because it is so dirty
- Bugscope Teamthere it is!
- Bugscope Teamthis kind of fly, whatever exactly it is, is larger than a fruitfly by several times
- Bugscope Teamit has aphids crawling on its thorax
- Bugscope TeamI don't know how they got there
- Studentwhat is that thing that looks like a seed ?
Bugscope Teamin the fold there?
- Bugscope Teamlet's go see
- 12:59 pm
- Bugscope Teamit's a crystal of some sort
- Studentno,it's up at they top.
Bugscope Teamha oops okay
- Guestwhat is that thing that looks like a venus flytrap
Bugscope Teamnot sure -- I will go back to where we were
- StudentIs it on its back?
Bugscope Teamyes but it is twisted a bit too
- Bugscope Teamokay.
- Teacheryes that is what
- Bugscope Teamthe things to the right are the antennae, and the globby things to the left are the proboscis and one of the palps
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the palps, which are sometimes called 'palpi'
- GuestWhat are palps?
- Bugscope Teampalpi are accessory mouthparts that help the insect feel, taste, and also manipulate its food
- Bugscope Teamsometimes it is not an insect; spiders have palps as well.
- TeacherOkay. It is time for us to sign out. Thanks so much! We really enjoyed it!
Bugscope Teamyay!
- Bugscope TeamThank You for working with us today!
- 1:04 pm
- GuestThank you for eveything especially for your time.
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-096
- GuestThank you for letting us see these insect. It was really fun. Bye
- Guestthank you for leting me see the bugs and insects
- StudentThanks,for all the information about the bugs!!!!! Thanks from Mya and Nakayla
- Bugscope TeamBye Tony. Thank You!
- StudentTHANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I loved all the pictures. You really increase my mind on the bugs and other things. Now I know what things look up close.
- GuestThank you for all the insects
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Mya and Nakayla, and Kamryn.
- Bugscope TeamThank you, A'nasia!
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Goku!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-096
- Bugscope Teamthat is your member page, below
- Bugscope Teamsee you!
