Connected on 2013-06-06 07:00:00
from Sedibeng, Gauteng, South Africa
- 8:49 am
- Bugscope TeamPresently it is Tuesday morning here, 8:45 a.m., thus 3:45 p.m. in South Africa
- Bugscope Teamno insects in the 'scope, just the stage
- Bugscope Teambe right back; if you log on while I'm out please type a message in this chat box
- Bugscope TeamWe will be back and forth but keep this connection open...
- 8:54 am
- Bugscope Teamin the meantime we have checked other schools' compatibility results, and even when they indicated that they had failed, the connection worked
- Bugscope Teamlast week we connected with a school in Connecticut, USA and a school in Thailand at the same time. No problems noted although the school in Connecticut had three failed compatibility tests.
- 9:02 am
- Bugscope Teamhello!
- Bugscope TeamWe can see you!
- Bugscope TeamMpho you have control of the microscope.
- Bugscope TeamYou may, for example, click somewhere on the screen, and the microscope will center on that position.
- TeacherHi
Bugscope Teamsuper cool! Hello!
- Bugscope TeamI can see that you made the 'scope change positions.
- Bugscope Teamyou can also click on one of the presets, on the lefthand screen, and that will command the 'scope to drive to that stored position
- Teacherok i clicked, but it's still not centered
Bugscope Teamtry clicking on one of the presets, please, and see if that gives you any results
- Bugscope TeamI see that a second command made it through, and you successfully moved the stage just now.
- Bugscope Teamit seems it is taking a while for the results of a command to be forwarded to you
- 9:08 am
- Teacheryes i can see that i moved something, yes it takes few seconds to move on my screen
Bugscope Teamcool! please try clicking on one of the two thumbnail presets on the lefthand screen you can reach by clicking on the white arrow in the blue circle to the left
- Bugscope TeamHi Alex!
- Bugscope TeamMpho I believe this will work; it may just take a bit longer for you to receive full images
- Guesthi there! there is always a little delay, and maybe there'll be more with the slower connection. but it looks like it is working, that is great!
- Bugscope Teamit seems there is little to no latency in your ability to type, send, and receive messages
- Bugscope Teamthat just came across here -- the preset of the ridges
- Bugscope Teamhas it come across for you yet?
- GuestMpho, you'll just need to inform the teacher, or whoever is controlling the scope, to be patient with the interface. click slowly and wait for images to load before trying to click again.
- GuestMpho, are you still here?
- Bugscope Teamyes as Alex, of ITS, says, the connection, even with Capetown, was a bit slow.
- Teacheri clicked on one of the thumbnails, most on them are blank and i got only two visible images
- Teacheryes im still here
- Guestcool!
- Bugscope Teamyes there are only two visible images because I just started the 'scope -- I did not put a sample in that we could use to mimic a full session
- Guestthere are only two presets for this test session
- 9:13 am
- Bugscope Teamon Thursday I plan to make 20 or so presets, and they will be much more interesting than looking at the stage, which is what we are doing now
- Teacherok i believe this will work, it only takes few seconds to load, but it will be fine
- Bugscope TeamAwesome!
- GuestMpho, that is great to hear, thanks for working with us on this!
- Bugscope TeamWe look forward to seeing you online on Thursday!
- Bugscope TeamThank you for taking the time to try this out directly.
- Guesti'm outta here, if you need anything else from me, just hollar Scott
- Bugscope TeamDo you have any questions before we log out?
- Bugscope TeamThanks, Alex!
- TeacherThanks i learnt something new today, i will be there when you facilitate this
Bugscope TeamSuper cool! See you soon! Thank you so much for helping -- you know we are a bit nervous about this as well. And we've been doing this for more than 14 years.
- Bugscope Teamsee you in a couple of days!
- Bugscope TeamI'm going to log us all out and shut down...
- Teachergreat thanks
- Bugscope TeamBye!
- 5:47 am
- Bugscope Teamit's Thursday morning here!
- Bugscope Teamin a minute we'll be putting the sample in the 'scope
- Bugscope Teamsample is in the 'scope and pumping down
- 5:56 am
- Bugscope Teamas soon as the vacuum is acceptable, we'll turn on the electron beam, make some adjustments, and start finding presets for today's session
- 6:03 am
- 6:09 am
- 6:15 am
- Bugscope Teamgood afternoon, Mpho!
- Bugscope Teamwelcome back!
- 6:20 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is salt from a Wendy's restaurant
- 6:26 am
- TeacherThanks, i im still waiting for the teachers
- Bugscope Teamhey we are good -- I'm still driving around, making presets. Currently we're on a mosquito.
- Teacher:-) i can see, i think we wont experience any problem
- Bugscope TeamGreat! Glad to have you on board!
- TeacherI have Joyce, one of the science teacher she need to ask something, please chat with her
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool, glad to say Hi!
- Bugscope Teamof course
- Teacherhi, is it possible for you to control the lesson for us?
- Bugscope Teamyes it is! you will be able to see the presets on the lefthand screen -- we have already made a few
- Bugscope Teamjust ask us to bring in the one you'd like to see
- 6:31 am
- Bugscope Teamwe do this often -- control the microscope for our participant schools
- Teacherthats great. we do not have any specific ones but if you have termites, locusts, bees, ants it will do
- Bugscope Teamwe have a mosquito, an ant, a rolypoly or pillbug, a small wasp, a very small moth... I'm still finding out what Cate put on the stub for us.
- TeacherGreat. Will we need to have sound to our learners during the lesson?
- Bugscope Teamwe will be communicating via chat, and I will have more people on my end to help answer questions
- Bugscope Teamany questions at all
- Bugscope Teamwasp head...
- 6:36 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are looking forward to questions once the students come in
- Teacherbefore you go, do you have any spiders, millipedes and centipedes?
- Bugscope Teamwe have a small spider; the closest we have to a millipede is the pillbug, which is a crustacean
- Teacherit is fine
- Bugscope Teamwe have limited space on the stub and have to choose small critters
- Bugscope Teamalso, sometimes we think we have something super cool but when we get up close there is a problem -- for example it may be covered with a film of some sort
- Bugscope Teamspider now...
- 6:41 am
- Bugscope Teamwe can already see the venom pores
- Bugscope Teambe right back!
- Teacherwill alert you as soon as the learners have settled down
- Bugscope Teamgreat!
- Bugscope Teamwe can keep up a running commentary but would really like to have someone relay questions from the students to us
- 6:52 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- Teacherready when you are
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- Bugscope Teamsome other insects, like roaches, have them as well
- Bugscope Teamplease ask us questions about what you see -- anything at all!
- Bugscope Teamsilverfish are covered with scales
- Teacheris it hollow?
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- Bugscope Teammany of the features we see appear hollow toi some extent
- Teachercan you eat a silverfish
Bugscope Teamsure!
- Bugscope Teambut it would not be very tasty -- and they are so small you would have to eat a lot of them
- Teacherhow big is it
- 6:57 am
- Bugscope Teamit is about a centimeter long
- Bugscope Teamyou can get an idea of the size of things by comparing the image to the data bar on the lower left
- Teacherwhere do you find it?
Bugscope Teamthis was in my house!
- Teacherwhat does it eat
- Bugscope Teamsilverfish like starch, for one thing, so you might find them around your bookbindings
- Bugscope Teamthey are said to like shampoo!
- Teacherwe call it a fishmoth
Bugscope Teamcool!
- Bugscope Teamthe scales, which make them look silvery, protect them from spiderwebs
- Bugscope Teambecause the scales are loose, like those of butterflies or moths or mosquitoes
- Teacherthis is interesting
- Bugscope Teamthe scales stick to the web and the insects (sometimes) escape
- Bugscope Teamsometimes a wasp sting is worse because it can sting you many times
- 7:03 am
- Teacheris the sting of the wasp as bad as the bee sting?
Bugscope Teamthat depends on the wasp. Bees inject more venom at once, but sometimes the venom is more potent in wasps
- Bugscope Teamwe can go look for the stinger
- Bugscope Teamstingers are modified ovipositors
- Teacheryes we can go look at the stinger
- Bugscope Teamlet's try!
- Bugscope Teamlooks like it is bent; let's go up close!
- Bugscope Teamthis is confusing!
- Teacherit looks blunt
- Bugscope Teamthis is a scale between the components of the stinger, or whatever this is
- Bugscope Teamsince it has a joint of some sort, and stingers do not have joints, it looks like it is part of another insect that happens to be here
- Bugscope Teamthis is a little red-eyed moth
- 7:08 am
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that it is covered with scales like the fishmoth
- Teacherare the hairs on the sting sharp? would they hurt you?
Bugscope Teamno. the hairs are too small and probably not big enough to penetrate our skin
- Teacherwhat part of the red-eyed moth is that
- Bugscope Teamthis is the head, and now we have found what might be pollen, or mold spores, on the eye
- Bugscope Teamwe're looking at the compound eye of the moth
- Bugscope Teamthe individual facets we see are called ommatidia
- Bugscope Teamthey are individual lenses
- Bugscope Teamcompound eyes give the insect very good peripheral vision, sometimes 360 degrees
- Teacheris the eye really red
Bugscope Teamyes it is!
- 7:13 am
- Bugscope Teamin the electron microscope we cannot see color because we are using electrons rather than light to collect our images
- Teacherhow many lenses does the eye have?
Bugscope Teamthere can be as many as 17,000 ommatidia per compound eye
- Bugscope Teamin a large wasp, that
- Bugscope Teamis
- Bugscope Teambut a dragonfly can have 32,000 ommatidia per compound eye!
- Teachermay we please see part of the exoskeleton?
- Bugscope Teamwe cannot see it directly because it is covered with scales!
- Bugscope Teamwe might move to another specimen
- Bugscope Teamhere is an ant, very small
- Bugscope Teamwe are looking at its head, from below
- Teacherwhat is the lifespan of this insect?
Bugscope Teamusually an insect lives as an adult for about 6 weeks, but some live only a day as adults, and some live for years, for example a queen bee
- 7:18 am
- Bugscope Teamhere we can see the exoskeleton
- Bugscope Teamthey do not have a heart like we do, and they do not have veins and arteries -- they have an open circulatory system
- Teacherwhere do we find the heart of the ant?
Bugscope Teamthey don't have a heart like we do. They have a long tube that runs along the body with hearts on the tube at the abdomen
- Teacherhow big is the brain of an ant?
Bugscope Teamthe brain of this ant will be perhaps 200 micrometers in diameter, about a fifth of a millimeter
- Bugscope Teamtheir hearts are really just a series of chambers
- Teacherhow long does the egg take to hatch?
Bugscope Teamit depends, but perhaps 16 to 40 days
- Bugscope Teampresently we're looking at a cercus -- the 'tail' of a silverfish
- Teachercan we go to a mosquito?
- 7:23 am
- Bugscope Teamdo you recognize this?
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the compound eyes, and the pedicels, which are the bases of the antennae and look like furry donuts
- Teacheryes
- Bugscope Teamand lots of scales that protect it from spiders
- Teacherwhat is the structural difference between a male and a female mosquito?
Bugscope Teamone thing you can see right away is that the antennae are quite different
- Bugscope Teamif you see a mosquito with very frilly, ornate antennae, it is a male and will not bite you
- Bugscope Teamfemale mosquitoes, like this one, have more basic antennae
- Bugscope Teamthe females are the ones you have to look out for because they are looking for a blood meal
- Teacherdo all insects have scales?
Bugscope Teamno, mainly just moths, butterflies, mosquitoes, and silverfish.
Bugscope Teamsome beetles and weevils have scales as well
- 7:28 am
- Bugscope Teamboth females and males have the same proboscis, but only that of the female has the cutting components
- Teacherwhere do mosquitoes store blood after sucking it from humans?
Bugscope Teamtheir abdomens
Bugscope Teamit goes right to their stomach
- Teacherplease show us the cutting part of the proboscis
- Bugscope Teamwe cannot see the cutting parts -- the parts that are components of the fascicle. they are inside the sheath of the proboscis, which is covered with scales. I am sorry. Sometimes we can see those components, but usually they are hidden. I can send you a link, later, to some images I took of those components.
- 7:34 am
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the proboscis, and the cutting components and the siphon tube are inside
- Bugscope Teamthis is why it's nice to have a real entomologist. They can correct us when we are wrong
- Teacherhow many other insects suck blood?
- Bugscope Teamsome, such as deerflies and horseflies, use cutting/slashing mouthparts to get blood to drink
- Bugscope Teamthis is what the inside of the chamber looks like
- Teacherwhy does it itch when the mosquitoes suck our blood?
Bugscope Teamthe mosquitoes inject us with an anticoagulant to keep our blood flowing. The anticoagulant is what causes the itch
Bugscope Teamit's a histamine reaction from our bodies to the bite area
Bugscope Teamwait...sorry not quite awake and that's not quite right, the histamine make it bumpy, which is why some people get larger bumps, the itchiness is the vasodialtion stuff,
Bugscope Teamthe vasodilation makes it so the area swells up so the nerves nearby is irritated
- Bugscope Teamthe samples need to be in a vacuum so we can collect the electrons that come back from them
- 7:39 am
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the rolypoly's compound eyes today!
- Teacherdo we put the speciman inside the chmaber?
Bugscope Teamthe samples we work with need to be very dry, and we also coat them with gold-palladium so they will be conductive
- Bugscope Teamthe roly poly has very few ommatidia, as you can see
- Teacherwhy is called a roly poly rampant?
Bugscope Team'rampant' means it is standing up on its hind legs, kind of a joke. like in heraldry
Bugscope Teamdefinitely not sight. They have small eyes and live mostly in dark places anyway
- 7:44 am
- Bugscope Teamfor some reason i caught the wrong question. Oops
- Teacherwhat does it eat?
- Bugscope Teamthey eat decaying plants and stuff like that, even dead insects
- Teacherwhich of the 5 senses of the rolypoly is the strongest?
Bugscope TeamI'm not sure, but if i had to guess it'd probably be taste?
Bugscope Teamlike cate said, it's definitely not sight, you can kind of tell that by comparing the number of omatidia in their compound eye to that of the mosquitoes or other more sigh reliant insects/arthropods
Bugscope Teami guessed taste, since they're soil dwelling, and might be more protected by soil/leaf litter, but taste and touch would probably be their two more important senses
- 7:54 am
- Bugscope Teamhumans have 3 color receptive cones in our eyes. Butterflies have 5. Mantis shrimp have 16.
- Teacherdo the compound eyes see as clearly as we do?
Bugscope Teamno, not even close
Bugscope Teamthey get a much lower resolution picture than we do
Bugscope Teamthey also see in a slightly different range of colour than we do, often in the ultraviolet to slightly below red spectrum
Bugscope Teamand what they see isn't multiple images of the same thing depending on the number of ommatidia, but rather a mosaic of sorts
- Teacherwhy does the electron microscope only show pictures in black and white?
Bugscope Teamwe are using electrons to image and not light. Electrons are smaller and can resolve things as small as a few nanometers big.
- Teacherthank you very much for this experience, it was very informative and we highly appreciate you getting up early to take time to show us these pictures. we hope to keep in contact. goodbye Grade 8 OWLA girls
- Bugscope Teamthanks!
- Bugscope TeamThank You for connecting with us Today!
- Bugscope Teamwe look forward to seeing you again
- Bugscope Teamthis was really fun for us
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool
Bugscope Teamthat is cool
- TeacherThank you to the whole team from the teachers and students.
- Bugscope TeamThank You!
- Bugscope TeamSee you next year!
