Connected on 2011-11-29 17:30:00
from Alameda, California, United States
- 4:39 pm
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down
- Bugscope Teamstill pumping
- Bugscope Teambrb
- 4:47 pm
- Bugscope Teammold spore on fly leg
- 4:54 pm
- 5:01 pm
- Bugscope Teamhello!
- 5:06 pm
- 5:11 pm
- 5:17 pm
- Bugscope TeamHi MKorb!
- 5:22 pm
- Bugscope Teamplaying with the microscope from my desk.
- GuestHey there - thanks for getting things set for today. I hope it wasn't any trouble. I mailed some insects to you today:)
- Bugscope TeamTotally cool.
- Bugscope TeamI had already planned to work late with the Aus people. So it was pretty easy.
- GuestLoving the preset, "Beetle Gang Signs"
- GuestOh that's good. Sorry they couldn't make it.
Bugscope TeamThey acted like they'd been doing me a favor and were sorry they couldn
- Bugscope Teamheh yeah
- GuestOh no....well, I will totally enjoy this session -maybe you can drive the scope this time and show some features that I am not aware of yet...or explain more of the SEM features so I can learn more before the Australia gig.
- Bugscope TeamI just gave you control.
- Bugscope TeamLet me know if you have Q's about anything.
- Guestrad gang signs. Did not know beetles were so hip.
Bugscope Teamthey have like six hands so they are totally hip
- 5:27 pm
- Bugscope Teamyou can see some kind of tiny insect on the thorax there
- Bugscope Teamand also, the claw to the right is grasping a flying aphid\
- Bugscope Teamwe have been super busy. Cate will be back next week and I am looking forward to it.
- GuestIF kids only knew what sort of beetle gangs were out there. And my student just called me - she should be online soon.
- Guestwhoah....very cool.
- Bugscope Teamaphids are hemiptera -- true bugs
- Bugscope Teamso they have piercing mouthparts
- Bugscope Teambut they are very small and have soft bodies, so sometimes it's hard to tell where the head is, what is a leg, etc.
- Bugscope Teamif we critical point dry them they don't shrivel
- Bugscope Teambut that takes about 40 minutes and is labor-intensive
- Bugscope TeamKim!
- Bugscope TeamWelcome to Bugscope!
- GuestKim is online
- 5:32 pm
- Bugscope Teamso it is like you are the teacher now; you have all of the control a teacher does
- Bugscope Teamyou can use the controls at the top of the viewing screen
- Bugscope Teamalso, as you just showed us, you can click on any of the presets to get the microscope to drive to that place
- Guestare earwigs really that scary
Bugscope Teamthis is a little rotten, from being old
- Bugscope Teambut if you try to pick one up it will whip its tail around and pinch you
- Bugscope Teamthe tail portion is like a pair of pliers that can pinch
- Bugscope Teamwhen you want to focus, you have to click plus or minus once and then see if the image gets sharper or more out of focus
- Bugscope Team'cause you don
- Bugscope Teamt really know if you want to focus up or down
- Bugscope Teamonce it starts to focus better you keep going in that direction
- 5:37 pm
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its mouthparts, and you can see one of its compound eyes, to the left
- Bugscope Teamthe compound eye is still visible, with the little bumps, to the left
- Guestwhat am I seeing
Bugscope Teamthe things at the top that look like little legs are called palps
Bugscope Teamthey're accessory mouthparts that help the earwig manipulate its food, and also taste it
- Guestcan I focus better on the eye It looks like snake skin
Bugscope Teamyes first you can click on it, on the screen, and let the microscope center on that place
- Bugscope Teamjust one click on the eye
- Bugscope Teamsweet
- Bugscope Teamand maybe recenter
- GuestKim is digging this - she is on the phone and going "WOW!!" alot :)
- Bugscope Teamheh
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see that it's not in focus
- Bugscope Teamso you can click either the plus sign or the minus sign and see if the image gets worse or better
- 5:43 pm
- GuestYou have a new Bugscope convert :)
- Bugscope Teamcool
- Guestwhat are the little circles
Bugscope Teamthose are the individual facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthey're individual lenses of the eye
- Bugscope Teamsome large insects can have 17,000 ommatidia in one eye
- Bugscope Teamthat would be large flying insects, generally
- Bugscope Teamyou can see it has lamellated antennae
- GuestHe needs a shave.
- Guestis this guy facing us?
Bugscope Teamthis is the underside of his head
- Bugscope Teamthe eyes are on the sides of the head
- Bugscope Teamwe cannot see the ommatidia at this low mag
- Guestwhat are the hairs?
Bugscope Teamthe hairs are mostly sensory -- like cat or rat whiskers
- Bugscope Teamwe are supposed to call the hairs 'setae' because insects don't have hair, which is a character of mammals
- Guestcan we focus on the eye?
Bugscope Teamyou can do the same thing you did with the earwig eye
- 5:48 pm
- Guestthanks for the help
Bugscope Teamha sure!
- Bugscope TeamIt's easier if I'm sitting at the 'scope but I am in my office.
- Bugscope Teammosquitoes, butterflies, and moths have another layer of complexity to their eyes
- GuestWhat do you mean? That is interesting!
Bugscope Teamthey have very fine features on the ommatidia that give them more surface area and thus presumably a better ability to capture light
- Bugscope Teamnot so much butterflies but for moths and mosquitoes it is helpful to be able to see in low light conditions
- 5:53 pm
- GuestSo the beetle has an unsophisticated eye?
Bugscope Teammost terrestrial insects do not have what appear to be more complex eyes
- Bugscope Teamof course an adult beetle may be able to fly, but not well and not for long
- GuestThat makes sense.
- Bugscope Teammoths and butterflies and some other insects can see light in ultraviolet wavelengths, which we cannot
- GuestKim just told me that grape growers in napa will plant rose bushes to get aphids to attack those instead of the grapes.
- Bugscope Teamsome flowers produce UV colors to attract the insects they want to pollinate them
- Bugscope Teamthis is a piece of a wing I cut up and put on the stub flat, with silver paint to help hold it down and make it that much more conductive
- GuestNature rocks! Kim said it is eerie but awesome. I am translating for her since she is having a Bugscope AWE moment.
- GuestWe couldn't fly with aphids to load up....so on to the wing.
Bugscope Teamsometimes presets do not respond
- Bugscope Teamthese are wing scales, which can produce color from pigments but also from the spacing of the ridges we see
- GuestThe scales are rounded perfectly - so cool!
- Bugscope Teamwhen those ridges produce color, it's called structural color
- GuestI am learning alot today!!
- Bugscope Teamscales are analogous to feathers on a bird's wing, in some ways
- GuestItalian roof
- 5:58 pm
- Bugscope Teambut one primary use of scales is to help save the insect's life if it flies into a spiderweb
- GuestKim says she wants to go to Italy now :)
Bugscope Teamyeah me too
- GuestI think the moth escape plan sounds good.
- Bugscope Teamso silverfish have those silver scales that likely help them get away from spiders, once in a while
- GuestGood to know - I wondered if silverfish had scales. They are powdery.
- Bugscope Teammany or maybe all insects have a variety of means of protecting themselves from predators.
- Bugscope Teamoften they have chemical protection against ants
- Bugscope Teamlast week someone noted that some spiders produce ant repellent as a component of their webs
- GuestWell I would want to protect myself from a spider. I have some huge garden spiders in front of my place.
Bugscope Teamspiders are pretty wicked
- Guestcan you show us your favorite feature
Bugscope Teamhere you go
- GuestHave you seen the spiders in space on the NASA website. They can also make webs in space.
Bugscope Teamno. I remember when they used to give them LSD.
- Bugscope Teamthis is one (in front) of a colony of mites on the earwig
- 6:03 pm
- GuestPoor spider...
- GuestWhy is this your favorite? I think it would make a nice Christmas card cover.
Bugscope Teamit is a really good view of a mite
- Bugscope Teamwe don't know for sure what these guys eat
- GuestCould you center - we are trying to.
- Bugscope Teamthey are (this species is, apparently) blind
- Bugscope Teamsometimes we see eyespots on other kinds of mites
- Bugscope Teamgnarly
- GuestThanks!
- GuestLooks like a crab.
Bugscope Teamthey are arachnids, more closely related to spiders
- Bugscope Teamrolypolies are crustaceans
- GuestI had no idea. I have learned more in this 30 minutes than all week.
- Bugscope Teamrolypolies have gills, but I am not sure what they look like
- Guestthe surface of the earwig looks scaley
Bugscope Teamyes! that is how the cuticle grows/forms, apparently
- Guestthat's interesting!
- 6:08 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe reason insects and other comparable arthropods have setae (hair) is because the cuticle, which is like our fingernails, forms a shell, like a coat of armor
- GuestKim is making Christmas cards from this image, just saying.
Bugscope TeamI took a high-res. image earlier.
- Bugscope Teamthe head is in the very center but you cannot really tell it's a head
- GuestI think there is a market for Bugscope coffee table books.
- Bugscope Teamso anyway, the setae stick through the cuticle, through the armor, and allow the insect to sense its environment
- Bugscope Teamsetae can be mechanosensory, chemosensory, and thermosensory
- GuestScott - I think you have to be in charge of the focus for now. We are too excited.
Bugscope TeamI don't think I can do much better than this
- Bugscope Teamthat was a tiny bit better
- GuestOk.
- Bugscope Team20 microns is 10 bacteria long, if the bacteria are end to end
- Bugscope Team(lower left, just below the viewing screen)
- GuestKim - my phone just dropped your call. And I have to go teach now.
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the head now
- GuestI am going to sign off now. Kim - feel free to ask Scott a few more questions and sign off in a few minutes. I will send you the link to where you can see the images and chat from today!
- Bugscope TeamThanks, Michele.
- GuestScott - thanks!! Keep a lookout for my package to you this week.
Bugscope Teamtotally cool
- 6:14 pm
- GuestKim is having a BLAST!!!
Bugscope Teamsweet
- Guestis that his head in btw the legs and are those hairs or satea
Bugscope Teamthey're setae, and the head has a kind of cleft in it there
- Bugscope Teamactually the entomologists will call them hairs as well, or bristles, spines, trichae...
- Guestthat is so cool!
Bugscope Teamit makes you want to know more and more
- GuestI think this image is my favorite
Bugscope Teamremind me to link the high-res image to you.
- Guestok
- Guestthen I can print?
- Bugscope TeamI'm setting it up now.
- Bugscope Teamhttp://itg.beckman.illinois.edu/~sjrobin/Kim/MITE.TIF
- Bugscope Teamit looks kind of gray
- 6:19 pm
- Guestthank you Scott
- Bugscope Teambut you can modify the contrast a bit
- Guestok
- Bugscope Teamjust now was the first time I'd seen it since I took it.
- Bugscope Teamhttp://itg.beckman.illinois.edu/~sjrobin/Bugscope Images/
- Bugscope Teamhttp://itg.beckman.illinois.edu/~sjrobin/MaggiesFarm/
- Bugscope Teamthose are some other images I have online
- Guestlike I was telling Dr. Korb, it is beautiful
Bugscope TeamI had saved this sample because of that tiny mite, maybe 200 microns long.
- Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2011-194
- Guestso before I leave, should I write these urls down or can you email them to me?
- Bugscope Teamthat last url is the link to the transcript of this session
- Guestok
- Bugscope Teamopen a new browser window and copy that, if you'd like
- 6:24 pm
- Bugscope Teamsince you have my email please feel free to ask me later if you have problems
- Bugscope Teamis that good for you, today?
- Bugscope Teamkind of a good deal the Australians bailed on us
- Guestyes, thank you Scott
- Bugscope TeamThank you, Kim
- Bugscope TeamSee you on Bugscope in the future. But be sure to let me know if you need help in the meantime.
- GuestI will talk to you again
- Bugscope TeamTotally Cool.
- GuestI certainly will, it was awesome spending time with you and Dr. Korb
- Bugscope TeamSweet. Thank you!
- Bugscope TeamOver and out!
