Moyock Elementary School
Session 2012-079

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Transcript

Connected on 2013-02-04 10:00:00 from Currituck, North Carolina, United States

• 9:02 am
• Bugscope Teamsample is almost pumped down
• 9:10 am

• 9:19 am

• Bugscope TeamJoyce!
• Bugscope TeamDid you get my email message? I can call if you would like.
• GuestHi everybody in Illinois! Got it!
• Bugscope Teamsuper cool
• GuestWe are just checking in early so that we can see how the system works and also so that the children can see how things work.

• GuestDo I need to log back in as the teacher once our time starts?
• Bugscope Teamyou may if you'd like
• Bugscope Teamwe can give you control as a Guest as well
• 9:24 am

• 9:30 am

• Bugscope Teamplease hold off on driving 'til we have everything set up...

• 9:35 am

• 9:41 am

• Bugscope Teamif you want, you can drive around now

• Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!

• Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions -- about anything
• 9:46 am

• Bugscope Teamthis is pretty cool

• Bugscope Teamyou can see scales on the moth's compound eye

• Bugscope Teamloose scales...
• GuestHi Scot! I hope you have had a good time being a scientist. My name is Ashlyn.
• Bugscope TeamHi Ashlyn!
• Bugscope Teamwe have a lot of fun doing Bugscope, but we don't only look at bugs. We also get to look at projects that other people are researching when they come down and want to use the microscopes.
• 9:52 am
• Bugscope TeamHi Ashlyn!
• Bugscope Teamit is super cool getting to do what we do
• Bugscope Teamwe help people do their research by training them to use the microscopes down here
• Bugscope Teamwe don'
• Bugscope Teamt get to work with entomolgists very often but it is fun too
• Bugscope Teamah sorry I could not spell 'entomologist' correctly the first time
• GuestHi everybody! I think we are ready and the children are loaded with questions for you. I must say that I am soooo glad that I found you so many years ago. It has been nothing but a pleasure to share this wonderful techno opportunity with my students.
• Bugscope Teamsweet!
• Bugscope Teamwe have been doing this since March 1999
• 9:58 am
• Bugscope Teambe sure and let us know when you have questions, and also -- let us know if you need any help with the controls

• Bugscope Teamlooks like you are doing quite well
• GuestThis is Ashlyn driving the SEM.
• Bugscope Teamthis is from a lily
• Bugscope Teamgood job, Ashlyn!

• Bugscope Teamwe think it is likely that most lily pollen looks like this

• Bugscope Teamstargazer lily pollen looks just the same as this, at least to us; this pollen is from an orange lily

• GuestRyan asks, "What kind of insects do you work on the most?"

• GuestAshlyn saysm
• Bugscope Teamwe get a lot of ladybugs, elm bark beetles, sometimes stinkbugs
• Bugscope Teamwe have looked at a lot of parasitic wasps and longhorned beetles
• Bugscope Teamwe like mosquitos too
• GuestOops, sorry. Ashlyn says, "That's interesting."
• Bugscope Teamparasitoid wasps lay their eggs in other insects' eggs and also in their larvae

• GuestKayla asks, "Why do you just study bugs...and some other stuff?"
• GuestAshlyn asks, "What IS that?"

• Bugscope Teamit is so cool looking

• 10:03 am
• Bugscope Teamwe think it has an anticaking agent in it that gives it that incised pattern. normal table salt is smooth on all six sides
• GuestTristan asks, "What is an orange lily?"
• Bugscope Teamthe orange lily was from a flower arrangement one of my friends got
• Bugscope Teamit's a type of flower where we got the pollen grains from

• GuestAvery asks,
• GuestAvery asks, "How long did it take you to find all those bugs?"
• GuestSharon is our driver now!
• Bugscope Teamhere you can see the beetle's compound eye, with all of its tiny facets, called ommatidia, that are like lenses
• Bugscope TeamYay Sharon!

• Bugscope Teamsometimes people send or give us insects and sometimes we find them already dead in or around our houses
• Bugscope Teamplease let us know if the preset gets 'stuck' in one place
• GuestGarrett asks, "What kinds of bugs do you study?"

• Bugscope Teamhaving compound eyes is helpful for insects because they can see more of what is around them without turning their heads
• GuestAiden asks, "How many eyes does beetle have?"

• Bugscope Teamalso, compound eyes are very sensitive to changes in the visual field, so insects with compound eyes can see things moving around them very quickly
• Bugscope Teambeetles have 2 compound eyes, but there could be hundreds of facets, or ommatidia, on those compound eyes
• 10:08 am
• Bugscope Teamthis one seems to have hundreds of individual facets in each compound eye, as Cate says
• Bugscope Teamsome large wasps can have as many as 17,000 ommatidia per compound eye

• Bugscope Teamit looks mostly like dust or dirt
• Bugscope Teamyes it is mostly dirt; sometimes we do see pollen, and mold spores, and sometimes bacteria
• GuestAlexis asks, "How long does a Monarch butterfly stay alive?"

• Bugscope Teamthey live for about a month or two

• Bugscope Teamfor the most part
• GuestJacob asks, "Is there a plant that a Monarch caterpillar blends in with?"
• Bugscope Teamalthough some can live much longer
• Bugscope Teamthey are said to live from 4 to 6 weeks to as long as 8 months depending on what generation of the season they are part of
• Bugscope Teamthe ones that migrate can live for longer
• Bugscope Teammonarchs don't really need to blend. they are poisonous to a lot of animals
• GuestLogan asks, "How many insects have you studied?"
• Bugscope Teamthe bright colors they have on their wings help warn other creatures of that.

• Bugscope Teambecause they eat milkweed, they are poisonous
• Bugscope Teamtheir larvae feed on milkweed, which has toxins that the larvae store as they feed
• 10:13 am
• GuestAllison asks, "How does the machine work?"
• Bugscope TeamCate put some milkweed on the stub today so you could see what it looks like

• Bugscope Teamthe specimens we are looking at are dry, and we coat them with a very fine layer of gold-palladium to make them conductive
• Bugscope Teamwe put them in the vacuum chamber of the scanning electron microscope after they have been coated
• Bugscope Teamonce the vacuum chamber is pumped out, we turn on the electron beam, which then scans across the specimens
• GuestDaniel asks, "What do you do with the bugs when you are done?"
• GuestTristan is driving and asks, "How do beetles eat their food with those chompers?"

• Bugscope TeamDaniel we throw the bugs out when we are done -- they are dry and brittle and do not last long
• Bugscope TeamDaniel-- we usually throw them away. Sometimes if they are very interesting we might save them in a dry place, so we can look at them again later
• Bugscope Teamsome beetles chew their food, like this one; we can see one of the mandibles in this view, and we can see some of the palps, as well
• Bugscope Teambeetles use those chompers to chew their food into smaller bits and take those bits in
• GuestWe noticed a broken antenna and the children think: that's how it died, a bird attacked it, it broke off, maybe a predator bit it off??
• 10:19 am

• Bugscope Teampalps are like accessory arms that help the insect move its food into its mouth, and they have chemosensory tips, like taste buds on your tongue, that help them taste their food before they eat it
• Bugscope Teampossibly, more likely it was in a fight with another insect/arthropod, and lost the antenna
• GuestAshlyn again, "Can we see the inside of the bug?"

• GuestCailey asks, "Have you ever studied spiders?"
• Bugscope Teaman insect can survive the loss of an appendage, like us

• GuestTristan thinks that the curved shape is part of a tooth.
• Bugscope Teamif the insect was broken open we could see the inside, but we cannot see through the exoskeleton (the shell of the insect) with this microscope
• Bugscope Teamno, unfortunately we can't see the inside of the insect
• Bugscope Teamwe have looked at quite a few spiders, but we don't study them too much
• Bugscope Teamyes, i have studied spiders

• Bugscope TeamI was looking at the movement of different species up and down tree trunks
• Bugscope Teamwe look at spiders sometimes. they are softbodied, except for the cephalothorax (head/thorax), so they often shrivel up when they die
• Bugscope Teamthe insects are all dried out right now and would just look like a bunch of mush right now if we did have one open
• GuestCallie asks, "How many bugs have you studied?"

• Bugscope Teamthe curved shape that looked like a tooth was probably one of the palps, or the mandible (the jaw). insects do not have teeth, but some of their mandibles are hardened with minerals so they do not wear out too fast
• GuestSharon asks, "How do Monarch butterflies survive?"
• Bugscope TeamI have done research with six different orders.

• Bugscope Teamone thing that helps Monarchs survive is that they are poisonous, and their coloration warns birds and other animals/insects that they are not good to eat
• GuestCould you take a photo of this for our transcript. Tristan is loving this!
• 10:24 am
• GuestAshlyn asks, "Why do you like being a scientist?"
• Bugscope Teamalso, butterflies (like Monarchs), moths, silverfish, and mosquitos have scales on their bodies that help them escape from spiderwebs if they fly or run into them

• Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/members/2012-079
• GuestJacob asks, "Can you show us a scorpion?"

• Bugscope Teambelow is your member page, which holds a transcript of this session, plus many of the images
• GuestPicture of this too...you should hear the groans!

• Bugscope Teamwe looked at a scorpion last week but we do not have any in the 'scope today
• GuestRyan asks, "What do beetles eat the most?"
• Bugscope Teamyou can see that the proboscis is covered with tiny scales

• Bugscope Teamplant materials maybe?

• Bugscope Teamthe biting part of the proboscis is inside; it has four stylets in it that cut into your skin

• GuestEmma asks, "Why did you think about catching bugs?"

• GuestMore ewwws...love it!
• Bugscope Teamwhen people want to look at bugs, we think about catching them; we are predators

• Bugscope TeamBeing a scientist has its ups and downs, but for the most part you get to work with something you like, and for me i like to be outdoors, and studying ecology allowed me to do so
• GuestAlexis asks, "Do you guys also study flowers?"
• Bugscope TeamI don't study flowers, but i do study trees
• GuestGarrett asks, "What are these lines?"

• Bugscope Teamthe proboscis is like a sleeve that opens to expose the fascicle, which has those four stylets, plus a siphon tube for blood one way and saliva the other, and another part I am not sure about

• GuestAshley asks, "How many spots on the wings does a Monarch have?"
• 10:30 am
• Bugscope Teamthe lines are creases in the scale, like those on potato chips, depending on how wide apart they are, they change the way that light reflects off it, which gives off the different colours you see
• Bugscope Teamsometimes we help people who are studying pollen, and leaves, and other plant parts

• GuestDanielle asks, "What do you do when you are a scientist?"

• Bugscope Teambeetles eat a variety of foods. the black ground beetles you see a lot of times are predatory and eat other insects. ladybird beetles (ladybugs) eat other insects as well, and many other beetles feed on plants
• Bugscope Teamscientists are interested in finding out how things work, and they are also interested in making things, once they understand how they work; there are lots of different things scientists can do
• GuestAvery asks, "Did you answer my question yet?"

• Bugscope TeamCate and I help people use microscopes to do their research.
• GuestGarret also wants to know about those bumps.
• GuestAllison asks, "Do you study all bugs?"

• Bugscope TeamAvery we do not see that your question was complete.
• GuestCailey asks, "How long were you at school to be a scientist?"
• Bugscope TeamIt probably didn't take too long to find all these bugs. In the summer if you took a butterfly net and gently brushed it against the grass a couple of times, you can get a large number of different bugs very easily
• Bugscope Teamthe bumps are 'tastebuds' that help the insect smell its food

• Bugscope TeamI was in college for 4 and a half years getting my bachelor's degree in Physics
• GuestMax asks, "How is it like working at Bugscope?"
• 10:35 am
• GuestAvery re-asks, "How long did it take you to find all of those bugs?"

• Bugscope Teamreally anyone can be a scientist. You just have to ask questions about the way the world works.
• GuestDean asks, "What is your favorite kind of beetle?"

• Bugscope TeamIt probably didn't take too long to find all these bugs. In the summer if you took a butterfly net and gently brushed it against the grass a couple of times, you can get a large number of different bugs very easily
• GuestJacob asks, "Can you show us a wasp?"

• Bugscope TeamI like weevils

• Bugscope TeamSorry Jacob. We don't have any wasps in the microscope today
• Bugscope TeamI like longhorned beetles
• Bugscope Teamweevils are sometimes called snout beetles
• GuestAshlyn asks, "How many parts are in a bug when they are alive and dead?"

• GuestCailey asks, "How do you prepare the bugs?"
• GuestKayla is driving.

• GuestDean asks, "How big the Bugscope?"
• Bugscope Teaminsects have a head, a thorax (what the legs are attached to, and the head and the abdomen), six legs, an abdomen, and two antennae

• GuestMax asks, "Is that a honeycomb?"
• Bugscope Teamthe microscope is about the size of a large desk, and on one end it has a taller portion
• Bugscope Teamthe main part of the microscope is as large as a refridgerator box. Then the computer part of it takes up a large desk

• GuestRyan asks, "What is your best thing about bugs?"
• Bugscope TeamMax that was a few filaments of milkweed, from the milkweed plant

• 10:40 am
• GuestKayla is wanting to know what brochosomes are...

• Bugscope TeamKayla: Brochosomes are nanoparticles that only leafhoppers make

• Bugscope TeamI am sitting at the microscope so I can fix the focus, sometimes, at high magnifications like this.
• GuestAlexis asks, "Can the Monarch butterfly travel far?"
• Bugscope Teamit is cool that we are able to see nanoparticles, as Cate said
• Bugscope TeamMonarchs can travel thousands of miles...
• GuestKayla is holding her hands up and saying, "Please put this in English. I do not understand it very well."

• Bugscope Teamthis is magnified over 150,000 times
• Bugscope Teama nanoparticle is something that can be measured in nanometers, which are billionths of a meter
• GuestCailey asks, "What do you do on your job?"
• Bugscope Teama millimeter is a thousandth of a meter, and a micrometer is a millionth of a meter, or a thousandth of a millimeter
• Bugscope Teamnanometer is smaller than micrometer which is smaller than millimeter. these particles are as small as the wavelength of visible light

• GuestTristan asks, "What is your favorite kind of bug?"

• 10:45 am

• Bugscope Teamso when we see something as small as a brochosome, we are at a very high magnification

• Bugscope TeamTristan I like weevils, mites, and leafhoppers
• GuestRyan says that these look like grapes.
• Bugscope TeamBrochosomes are very tiny objects that a leafhopper (a small insect you can find on many plants) covers itself with for protection.

• Bugscope Teamplease let us know if Kayla has more questions
• Bugscope TeamRyan they do look like grapes, don't they?
• Bugscope TeamThe best thing about insects is their diversity. You can hardly go anywhere in the world without running into them. Somethimes they run into you! My friend had a drgonfly fly into his face once when we were in an open top jeep.
• GuestEmma asks, "How do you catch the bugs?"
• Bugscope TeamWith hands, or a butterfly net.
• GuestAshlyn asks, "How small are bugs' hearts?"

• Bugscope Teambugs can be caught in traps, with nets, and also when we are home we sometimes catch them by putting jars over them and slipping paper over the top -- then we freeze them

• GuestDaniel asks, "What is that thing?"
• Bugscope TeamThere is also a device called an aspirator, that we use for really small insects. You're essentially sucking the bugs up through a straw into a jar.
• Bugscope Teamthere are traps you can use as well. Some device where bugs can get in but can't get out so easily
• GuestCallie asks,'
• 10:50 am
• Bugscope TeamBug hearts are almost too small to see with your eye; sometimes they look like tubes with swollen blobs in them
• Bugscope Teaminsects don't really have a heart
• GuestCallie asks, "Can you give us the names of bugs that would be fun to say out loud?"
• Bugscope Teamthis is a closeup of a leafhopper's claw
• Bugscope Teamthey have an open circulatory system (unlike us, we have a closed system)
• Bugscope TeamEarwig...
• Bugscope TeamEdward Leafhopper
• Bugscope TeamWeevil
• Bugscope Teamsnout beetle

• GuestDanielle asks, "Where do you find the bugs?"
• Bugscope TeamGoliath Beetle
• Bugscope Teamfruit fly
• Bugscope TeamCollembola (springtails)

• Bugscope Teamsometimes we find them in our houses, and sometimes outdoors
• Bugscope Teamsometimes on the porch, when they get through the screens
• Bugscope Teamtheir hemolymph (blood) flows all throughout their body, and they have one blood vessel that acts as the 'heart'. The part of the vessel in the abdomen is more muscular and does the pumping, circulating blood back towards the head.
• GuestTristan asks, "Are all butterflies insects?"
• Bugscope Teamall butterflies are insects

• GuestSharon asks, "How do you know all about Monarch butterflies?"
• Bugscope Teamthere's a wasp with the scientific name Aha ha

• 10:55 am
• GuestCallie asks, "What kind of bugs do you like to study?
• GuestAlexis asks, "Do you catch Monarch butterflies?"
• Bugscope Teamthese are called 'tenent setae,' and they are what allow flies and beetles and other insects to stick to srufaces so easily, even climbing on the ceiling

• Bugscope Teamonce in a while someone sends us Monarchs; it is rare that we would catch them ourselves.
• Bugscope Teamnot too often Alexis
• GuestAiden is driving and wants to know what those spiky things are.

• Bugscope TeamAn entomologist is someone who studies insects
• Bugscope TeamI like mites, so I like to see if they are on ants or beetles or other insects, or plants, that we are looking at
• GuestAshlyn asks, "How many bugs do you have (on the presets)?"
• Bugscope Teamthe spikey things are tiny hairs called tenent setae that help the insect hold onto surfaces

• Bugscope Teamthey kind of work like velcro

• Bugscope Teamlook! you found a brochosome!
• GuestCailey asks, "How long have you worked there?"
• Bugscope TeamI have been here since the end of 1998.

• GuestLogan is driving.
• Bugscope Teamthis is actually a small grasshopper.

• Bugscope Teamand now a beetle, on its back

• 11:01 am
• Bugscope Teamthe back is called the dorsum; the front -- what are looking at now -- is the ventrum

• GuestSharon asks, "How do you feel when you are studying bugs?"
• Bugscope Teamwhen an insect dies its arms and legs fold up like this -- the tiny muscles and tendons shrink back

• Bugscope TeamWhen we look at bugs it is very exciting to see things we have never seen before. Last week we found an ant about a millimeter long on a beetle. It was so tiny.
• GuestTristan asks, "Do you read bug information?"

• Bugscope TeamI've been with Bugscope since 2005.
• GuestRyan asks,
• Bugscope TeamTristan it is fun for us to read about bugs; it helps us understand what we are looking at.
• GuestRyan asks, "How many insects do you catch?"
• GuestWe will wrap up our session with my students' thanks.
• GuestThank you for letting us chat with you and seeing those pictures.
• Bugscope Teami find that field guides are the best books to use for identifying insects
• Bugscope Teamone of the guys who works down here set up a net in front of his car headlights and caught lots of insects, and also seeds in the air; some insects don't really fly but get caught in the wind.
• GuestThank you for letting us enjoy this experience.
• Bugscope TeamThank you, Everyone!
• GuestThank you for letting us see everything that you have let us see. I am sorry that we don't see each other in real person.
• 11:06 am
• GuestThank you for letting us chat with you and we hope we see you again.
• Bugscope Teamthank you for all your great questions! You were all great scientists today
• Bugscope Teamthere are photos of us on the website, except for Joe -- we need to get a good photo of him
• GuestI am happy that I could chat with you.
• Bugscope TeamThanks!
• Bugscope TeamYay!
• GuestThank you for letting us see the pictures of bugs.
• Bugscope TeamWe are shutting down so someone else can use the microscope.
• Bugscope TeamThose were actually live images of dead bugs...
• GuestThank you for letting us see all the bug pictures and parts. Have a nice day and Happy February!
• GuestThank you for letting us learn about bugs.
• GuestThank you for everything.
• Bugscope Teamwe are logging out! see you next year!
• GuestJoyce says, "You are all 'the bomb'!!!!!" Til next year.....and Iwill for sure complete the eval form! LOL
• Bugscope Teamhaha Thank You!
• Bugscope TeamBye!