Connected on 2013-01-09 09:30:00
from Gallatin, Montana, United States
- 8:53 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll
- 9:08 am
- Bugscope Teamgood morning, Mr McGeehan!
- TeacherHi guys - Brian McGeehan here. Kids will come into class around 8:20 mountain time (so in about 10 minutes) and we will start getting them logged in - should be ready to go in about 20 minutes with questions. We have two groups this morning, next group will come in around 9:15 mountain time then I believe we have an afternoon session on Friday. Thanks
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- Bugscope Teamhello Gorgazol!
- Bugscope TeamGorgazol where are you from? or I guess where are you?
- GuestHello from France!
Bugscope Teamhaha Awesome, Hello!
- Guest:-)
Bugscope Teamwe're getting ready to start a Bugscope session with a school in Montana -- Mr McGeehan's class
- 9:14 am
- GuestI am the dad, my son Leo (aka Gorgazol is 9)
Bugscope Teamtotally cool
- GuestGreat. This is our first time here. Looking forward to it. What am I looing at above?
Bugscope Teamthis is the arm of a beetle Mr McG sent; I am not sure what kind of beetle it is, but it is heavily armored
- Bugscope Teamonce the kids from the school get on, Mr McG will be controlling the microscope
- Bugscope Teamhe may or may not allow his students to drive as well, one at a time
- Bugscope TeamGorgazol you can see from the presets on the lefthand screen what else is on the stub for today's session
- Bugscope Teamthe class will be able to change the magnification, go to other presets, actually drive the microscope to places we did not already save for them...
- Bugscope TeamI just clicked on one of the presets myself...
- Bugscope Teamthis is the venom pore on a spider fang
- Bugscope Teamthe spider's fang was partially torn away from the chelicer, giving us a novel view today
- 9:19 am
- Guestwow!!
- Bugscope Teamnormally we are not able to see the base of the fang
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the serrations that help the thicker portion of the fang cut into the prey
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the opposing fang as well, althought it is harder to make out
- Teacherkids are here now - will start logging them in and driving soon
Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll
- Bugscope Teamnow we see more of the spider's face
- Bugscope Teamincluding some of its eyes
- Bugscope Teamhello Jessica and Becca!
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to Bugscope!
- GuestHI everyone!
- Bugscope Teamhello Hattey, Bella, Steve, Forrest, Morgan, phew I cannot type that fast...
- Bugscope TeamBut Hello Everyone!
- 9:24 am
- Bugscope TeamPlease let us know when you have questions!
- Bugscope Teamhi
- Studenthi
Bugscope TeamHi Ah!
- Studenthi
Bugscope TeamHello Devun, Silas, and Scott!
- Student.
Bugscope TeamMelissa!
- Bugscope Teamthis is a small moth with a 1980's hairstyle
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its eyes, its antennae, and lots of scales
- Guestha ha!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the spider fang. Cate tore its fang out so we could see it better
- Bugscope Teamthe other fang is underneath
- Studentwhy is there a small hole at the end of the fang
Bugscope Teamthat is where the venom comes out
- StudentWHY IS THERE A SMALL HOLE ON THE END OF THE FANG?
Bugscope Teamthat is where the venom comes out, and also where the spider sucks up the insides of its prey
- StudentWhat part of the Spider is the fang located?
Bugscope Teamon the head by the mouth
- 9:29 am
- Bugscope Teamthe fang is at the end of one of the chelicers
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see both chelicers, or chelicerae
- Studentwhy are there little lines on the fang
Bugscope Teamsome of the lines are just the way it formed, and they make it stronger than if it was smooth
- Bugscope Teami think Scot found this spider
- Studentwhat kind of spider is it
Bugscope Teamlikely it came from my house
Bugscope Teambut I am sorry -- we are not very good on spider species
- Teachertrying to move to the assasin bug but not navigating
Bugscope Teamlooks like that preset is stuck
- StudentHow does the electron microscope work?
- 9:34 am
- Studenthow does the scope work
Bugscope Teamthe samples are mounted on a stub and coated with gold-palladium to make them conductive; then they are put in the vacuum chamber of the 'scope; then when the vacuum is good enough we turn on the electron beam, which scans across the samples and gives us the images we see now
- Studentwhat is the bug sitting on
Bugscope Teamthe bumpy dark background is double stick carbon tape. We also use a little bit of silver paint to act as a glue for the insect to make sure it won't fall off
- Studentwhat type of insect is this?
Bugscope Teamit is a true bug, and it is the kind that stalks and kills othe r insects
- Studentwhat type of insect is it
Bugscope Teamit is an assassin bug, and it is a hemipteran -- they have piercing/sucking mouthparts
- Studentis it pousinis
- Bugscope Teamthat was a very sketchy description of how the microscope works; there is more available from the web page
- Studenti cant spell
Bugscope Teamhaha me neither
- Bugscope Teamwe are beaming electrons at the specimens, and we get what are called 2ndary electrons back that give us the images we see
- Studentwhy does he have weird hands
Bugscope Teamthose help him hold onto his prey so he (or she) can bite it
- Bugscope Teamwe use electrons instead of light to image. electrons are much smaller than the wavelength of light so we can see much smaller things (around 2 nanometers).
- Studentwhat are the hairs on the leg and what do they do
Bugscope Teamthey are sensory, for touch, smell, hot/cold....
- Bugscope Teamimaging with electrons we also don't get color images unless later we color them ourselves
- Studentwhat is the black splatter
Bugscope Teamthat is a place where some juju is coming out of the tarsus and messing up our imaging ability
- Bugscope Teamthe black stuff is probably hemolymph, which is insect 'blood'
- TeacherNext up the flying ant!
Bugscope Teamthis is a male ant
- 9:39 am
- Bugscope Teammost ants, almost all of them that we ever see, are females
- Bugscope Teambut if you see a flying ant it is either a queen or a dude
- Bugscope Teamthis is the compound eye, made of lots of lenses -- facets called ommatidia
- Studentare those teeth? and if so, why do they need such large ones
Bugscope Teaminsects do not have teeth, but they do have hardened mouthparts; this is the eye, however, and the little spines or bristles are probably mechanosensory, like cat or rat whiskers
- Studentwhy are there bumpes on his eye
Bugscope Teamthe bumps are the individual facets -- the ommatidia
- Studentit looks like they have multiple eyes...does that mean they see like flies?
Bugscope Teamyes it does
- Studentwhy is there hair on the eye
Bugscope Teamit helps the insect sense touch, and also wind speed
- StudentWhy are there hairs on the eye?
Bugscope Teamthey are sensory, often to help the insect gauge the speed of the wind it may be flying into
- Bugscope Teamcompound eyes have some advantages over our kind of eyes
- Bugscope Teamcompound eyes are domed, usually, and sometimes they cover most of the head, so they give the insect very good peripheral vision -- it does not have to turn its head to see something
- 9:45 am
- Bugscope Teamalso, compound eyes are very sensitive to changes in the visual field -- that is, motion
- Studentwhat causes the crystals
Bugscope Teamthey are some kind of dried salts, and we do not know where they came from
- StudentWhat are the crystals for??
Bugscope Teamthe cricket must have gotten into some salty liquid that then dried
- Bugscope Teamoh I know where we are now
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the cerci
- Studentwhat are those things that look like spikes? and what are they for?
Bugscope Teamprobably insect hairs, also known as setae (pronounced see-tee). They help the insect feel what is going on around it, kind of like cat whiskers
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the cricket's abdomen; the cerci -- one of the things they do -- help the cricket sense when something is coming up behind it
- Bugscope Teamcockroaches have cerci as well, and they induce an automatic running response when they are touched
- Bugscope Teamthis is a housefly
- StudentWHAT I
- Bugscope Teamhaha
- TeacherHey - is that David Lee Roth?
Bugscope TeamI was thinking it was like, um, Cindy Lauper
- 9:50 am
- Studentwhy is it so hairy
Bugscope Teamthe things that look like hairs are setae; scales are actually modified setae as well
- Bugscope Teamthe spider's arm is on top of David Lee Roth's head
- Studentare those a type of feather?
- Studentwhat is on top of it's head
Bugscope Teamone of the spider's arms
- Studentwhat are the scales 4
Bugscope Teamif you had scales, like a butterfly or moth or silverfish or mosquito, they would help you out if you flew into a spiderweb, because they come off so easily
- Studentwhy is it not in color
Bugscope Teamwe are using electrons rather than light to collect these images; electrons are smaller than the wavelengths of light, so we see the images as signal, as greyscale
- Studenthow big is this moth in real life?
Bugscope Teamit's about 8 or 10 mm long, very small
- Bugscope Teamyes it may look huge in these images, but it is very small
Bugscope Teamit is so small that I did not know what it was until I looked at it using the SEM -- the scanning electron microscope we are using today
- Bugscope Teamthis is the yellowjacket's stinger
- 9:55 am
- Studentwhy does it look like it has dust on it
Bugscope Teamit may be dust. some of the stuff could also be dried bug blood or dried venom
- Studentdoes a yellow jacket die after it stings
Bugscope Teamhoneybees die when they sting mammals because mammals have thick skin that the stinger barbs get caught in; the stinger gets torn out of the bee, and the bee dies
- Studentis the stinger retractable
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- Studentwhy is the stinger so small
Bugscope Teamit comes out a little further; we are only seeing part of it
- Studentdoes the yellow jacket die after it stings
Bugscope Teamno- she can keep on stinging however many times she wants
- Studentwhat are the hairs for?
Bugscope Teaminsects have hairs, or setae, because they do not have skin like we do with nerve endings in it. instead, they have an exoskeleton, like a shell, or like if we were wearing armor
- Studentwhats your guys background..are ya'll insect experts
- Bugscope Teamwe don't have a degree specializing in insects, but we do have science degrees. We have been working with bugscope for many years, so we are like junior entomologists
- Studentwhats your guys background..are ya'll insect experts
Bugscope TeamCate has a physics degree, and I have a degree in English and biology
- Bugscope Teamso the setae can be mechanosensory, chemosensory, thermosensory; they can be used for proprioception; on and on
- Studentwhy does his mouth look like triscuits
Bugscope Teamhaha I think that is the brushlike nature of the tongue
- 10:00 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the spiracles, through which insects breathe
- Studentwhat is this called and what is it used for
Bugscope Teamit is called a spiracle, as in reSPIRAtory
- Teachersebastion is asking about the spiracle
Bugscope Teamspiracles are connected to tracheae on the inside of the body; the tracheae deliver oxygen to the various organs
- Bugscope Teamwhen have have an insect that is broken open, we can see the tracheae; they look like corrugated tubes
- Bugscope Teamit is good for us that the insect respiratory system is not very good
- Bugscope Teamif insects and other similar arthropods have much more efficient respiratory systems, they could become quite large
- 10:05 am
- Bugscope Teamsilverfish like sugar and starch, so we might find them in our food or around bookbindings, if anyone has books anymore
- Bugscope Teamthis is a flat heavily armored beetle; I thought it was a giant bedbug at first
- Bugscope Teamas Cate mentioned, some of the spines or spikes or bristles we see are self-sensing -- they help the insect feel if it is hyperextending one of its limbs, for example
- Studentwhat are his mandibles used for
Bugscope Teamthey are used to chew food or bite into things
- Studentwhy are his fangs hollow
Bugscope Teamthey may allow some liquid to flow toward the mouth; really we are not sure
- Studentwhy are the mandibles dull and not sharp?
- Studentwhat is the microscope normaly used for?
Bugscope Teamour job is to train researchers -- mostly graduate students and postdoctoral scholars -- to use the instruments to study their own samples; we work with biologists, engineers, all kinds of people. yesterday Cate worked with some people who were looking at particles they ahd caught on air filters
- 10:11 am
- Studentmo
- Bugscope Teamoops 'had' caught
- Bugscope Teamthe microscope has other functions we do not see today; for example it can be used to perform elemental analysis of samples, to let people know what their samples are made of and where those elements are
- Bugscope Teamthis is a whole large suite of a variety of microscopes, and we are using just one today
- Studentthnx
- Studenttahnk u that was awesome
- Studentthank you
- Studentthank you we have to go now
- Studentthank oyu that was a good leasson
- Studentthank you bye!
- Studentawesome
- Studentthank you good bye
- Studentthank u cvf\]
- Studentthank you we have to change classes now! good bye
- Bugscope Teamthanks for using bugscope with us this morning
- Studentbye bye
- Bugscope TeamThank You, Everyone!
- StudentThanks you that was awesome! We have to go to a new class!
- TeacherRound one is over - we have a second group starting in about 5 minutes
- Studentthank you that was cool!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Bugscope TeamWe had a good time, and thank you for the great questions
- Studentthanks for the ansures
- Studentthank dude!
Bugscope Teamhaha Thank You!
- Bugscope Teamthis is the fly claw...
- Bugscope Teambrb
- 10:17 am
- Studenti
Bugscope TeamChase!
- Bugscope Teamokay back
- Bugscope TeamGorgazol are you still here?
- Studenti
Bugscope Teamhello Domaneek and Sami!
- Bugscope Teamgoodness! Hello Everyone!
- Bugscope Teamthis is pretty cool
- Bugscope Teamthe ridges that follow the curve of the fang strengthen it
- Bugscope Teamthe serrations at the wide end help it cut into the spider's prey
- 10:23 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the venom pore as well
- Bugscope Teamthe other fang is below
- StudentWhat's the little hole in the fang for?
Bugscope Teamthat is where the venom comes out, and also where the dissolved internal organs of the prey are sucked into the spider's stomach
- Studentwhat are the hairs for?
Bugscope Teamthey are sensory, in a variety of ways, including vibration
- StudentHow do electron microscopes work?
Bugscope Teamthey are cathode ray tubes, like an older TV, except the back of the TV is at the top
- Bugscope Teamelectron microscopes use a filament that has a current passed through it in a vacuum, like a light bulb; but they also have electromagnetic lenses that take the filament image (the electron beam) and pass it down a column, where it can impinge upon a sample, also in the vacuum
- Studentwhat are the small spikes on the legs
Bugscope Teamthose may be sensory -- they may be self-sensory; we are not sure
- 10:28 am
- Bugscope Teamnot sure what that is at the bottom of the abdomen
- Bugscope Teamstill do not know what this is; it looks almost like a mite
- TeacherWhat do you think it might be? It looks like a parasite...
- Studentchat
- StudentHow large are the specimens that you are observing?
Bugscope Teamyou can get an idea by looking at the scalebar at the lower left. 500 microns is a half millimeter
- Studenthey i think i saw that moth in a van halen video
Bugscope Teamhaha Exactically
- Bugscope Teambactera are usually about 2 micrometers long; we can see them easily with this 'scope
- StudentWHAT IS THE STUFF ON IT?
Bugscope Teamsome of what we see are fine hairs called setae
- 10:33 am
- Studentwhy is the hair so long on its body
Bugscope Teamprobably helps with thermoregulation, also is useful, as are the scales, if the moth gets caught in a spiderweb
- Studentwhat are the small structures called? what are they for? and why are there so many?
Bugscope Teamthe flake-like things are the scales -- what we feel as powder when we rub a moth's wings
- Bugscope Teamthe facets we see now are ommatidia -- the individual facets of the compound eye
- Bugscope Teamthe ommatidia are lenses
- Studenthow far in can this scope zoom in on the moth
Bugscope Teamwe can bring it up so high that nothing really makes sense anymore
Bugscope Teamwhen we use the microscope for research and work at shorter distances from the polepiece to the sample, we can get useful images at 200,000x
- Bugscope Teamwe can get useful, publishable images at 200,000x, sometimes
- Bugscope Teamthis is the ball and socket joint of the cricket's antenna
- 10:38 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eye to the lower left
- Studentcan you clear that up to see the atomic level
Bugscope Teamnot with this microscope; we can when we use the AFM, but if the sample is not super clean we will see atmospheric water, which is of course also made of atoms
- Bugscope Teamwhen we want an electron microscope that will work at a higher magnification and higher resolution than this one, we use the transmission electron microscope (TEM)
- Bugscope Teamsome TEMs can get atomic resolution
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of the yellowjacket
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its mandibles, which open side to side like a gate
- Bugscope Teamyou can see tiny feelers around the mouth, called palps
- Bugscope Teamand you can see the tongue, which is called a glossa\
- Studentwhat else is this scope used for
Bugscope Teamwe train people to use it for their research: biology, materials, food science, atmospheric science, geology...
- Studentwhen do you normally use an afm scope
Bugscope Teamwhen you have a super flat sample with super tiny features on it; when you start to reach the atomic scale, the distances are so great it is easy to get lost
- 10:43 am
- Bugscope TeamCate and I, plus three other microscopists down here, train people (graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, mostly) to use a variety of microscopes to image their samples
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the atom molecules, but they usually end up looking like bumps on the surface
- Studentcan you clear that up to see atom molucuels
Bugscope Teamyou can with the AFM; if you want to see atomic-scale imaging at normal atmosphere you can image freshly cleaved mica
- StudentWhy is is called the assassin bug?
Bugscope Teamit eats other insects. Probably called assassin by the way it usually camouflages in its environment before attacking the insect
- Bugscope Teamthis is a hemipteran; it has piercing/sucking mouthparts and sort of half-coverings over its wings
- Studentwhat is the mouth used for
Bugscope Teamit jabs the end into the insect and drinks out the insect's blood
- Bugscope Teamassassin bugs and ambush bugs operate much like spiders
- Bugscope Teamthe insect's blood is called hemolymph
- Studentdoes the assassin bug have any predators?
Bugscope Teamyes -- birds, for example; mice and rats
- Bugscope Teamlizards and birds might like to eat them
- 10:49 am
- Studentwhy does it have so much hairs on its legs
Bugscope Teamthe hairs are called setae (seetee) by entomologists, and they are usually sensory: chemosensory, mechanosensory, thermosensory; they can also be used for proprioception, which is mechanosensing
- Bugscope Teami think they can be found in most places of the US except for the desert areas
- Bugscope Teamand very cold
- Studentdo you know if there are assassin bugs in Montana?
Bugscope Teamyes they are pretty much anywhere other insects are found; do you ever see wheelbugs, with the large gear-looking thing on their backs?
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head of the centipede
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that it has fairly poor eyes
- Bugscope Teama wheelbug is a kind of stegasaurus of the insect world
- Bugscope Teamcentipedes are kind of nasty
- Bugscope Teamyou can see its fangs now
- Bugscope Teamand its antennae
- Studentare centipedes vemomous? if so how much?
- Bugscope Teamthe tropical centipedes are the more dangerous ones, which thankfully we don't have much of
- Studenthow many legs do they really have
Bugscope Teamthey are said to have from under 20 to more than 300; this has probably 28 or 30
- Studentwhy do they have so many legs?
Bugscope Teamthe legs help the centipedes move quickly
- 10:54 am
- Student*venomous
Bugscope Teamthese have smaller, shorter fangs and are physically smaller, so the venom does not go as far if they were to bite one of us
- Studentmay i please zooooooooooooooooooooooooo
- Student;
- Bugscope Teamhere we can see the spider's face
- Bugscope Teamits eyes, like 4 of them, are at the top of this view
- Bugscope Teamthe vertical things wer
- Bugscope Teamooops
- Bugscope Teamthese are chelicerae
- Bugscope Teamthey open outward, and the fangs are at the tips
- Bugscope Teamspiders may or may not see very very well, but they have a very well developed ability to sense vibration
- Studentwhat type of spider
Bugscope Teamit is some kind of house spider; I am sorry -- we are not very good at identifying spiders
- Bugscope Teamthis is the silverfish
- Bugscope Teamthey like to eat starch and sugar
- Bugscope Teamyou might find them around your bookbindings, if you happen to have any books
- 11:00 am
- Bugscope Teamwe cannot quite see the eyes on this silverfish
- Bugscope Teamsilverfish have scales, like moths, butterflies, mosquitoes, and few other insects
- Bugscope Teamthese are sensory setae
- Studentahhhhhh than
- Bugscope Teamthis is one of the spiracles on the flying ant's thorax
- Studentwhat is that hole for?
Bugscope Teamit is a breathing hole for the insect, kind of like a nose to us
- Student bgvyhv
- StudentTHANK YOU!
- Studentthank you a lot
- StudentThank you so much!!!
- StudentThank you so much!! :)
- Studentthanks that was really cool
- Bugscope Teamthanks for your great questions!
- Studentthank you for all the information!
- Studentit was awesome!!!!!!!
- Studentthanks sooooo much!!!! have a great day bye :)
- Studentthanks! we are going to r next class.
- Student:):):):):):):):):):):):)
- Bugscope Teamglad you all had fun
- Studentwonderful!!!!
- Studentthanks sooo much!!!!!! bye!
- Studentthank you :) see you later!!!!
- Studentthanks! we are going to our next class!
- StudentThank you very much! This lesson was very intriguing!
- Studentahhh thank you ahhh thanks so much that was awesome that was incredible ahh thanks so much!!!!!:)
Bugscope TeamThank You!
- StudentThank you so much, this was really awesome and amazing. It was very intriguing. Thanks :-) B-)
- Studenthey thank you so much we had a great time talk to you soon you rock ya buddy
- TeacherThat's all the classes for today, we appreciate you letting us join you for some microscopy. We'll see you again on Friday!
Bugscope Teamsee you Friday!
- Studentttyl
- 11:05 am
- Bugscope Teamsee the ocellus?
