Connected on 2013-06-03 09:00:00
from Genesee, Michigan, United States
- 7:23 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is coating and will be in the 'scope shortly
- 7:32 am
- Bugscope Teamsample is pumping down
- 7:42 am
- 7:49 am
- 7:54 am
- 8:01 am
- Bugscope Teamalmost done with presets!
- 8:06 am
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll
- 8:14 am
- Bugscope Teamladybug head
- Bugscope Teambe right back!
- 8:24 am
- Bugscope Teamalright!
- 8:30 am
- 8:36 am
- 8:46 am
- 8:53 am
- 8:58 am
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to Bugscope!
- Bugscope Teamwe're driving around, looking at your sample
- Bugscope Teamthis is a leafhopper
- Teacherhi we are finally on
- Bugscope Teamsuper cool
- Bugscope Teamyou have control of the microscope
- Bugscope Teamand you can use the controls above the image...
- Bugscope Teamleafhoppers are true bugs, so they have piercing sucking mouthparts
- Bugscope Teamspider spinnerets
- Bugscope Teamunfortunately the spider's arms are covering its face
- TeacherI am going to let the kids use the computer to explore; we are watching on a screen in o ur class
- Bugscope Teamsounds great!
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions about anything
- 9:04 am
- Bugscope Teamspider abdomen
- Bugscope Teamthis is the cephalothorax
- Bugscope Teamthe head and the thorax are fused in spiders, unlike insects, in which they are separate
- Bugscope Teamthere's a pollen grain with a face
- Bugscope Teambecause the specimen had dried a bit in the 'scope, the preset took us to a place near but not on the place we had originally locked in
- Bugscope Teamit shows you we're doing live imaging...
- Bugscope Teamthis is all on a large bumblebee
- Bugscope Teamseveral different kinds of pollen
- Bugscope Teambees have branched setae -- at least some of the setae (the hairs, or bristles) are branched
- 9:09 am
- Teacherdo we see any part of the bumble bee
Bugscope Teamwe're up very close on one of the tarsi -- one of the forearm joints
- Bugscope Teamthe bumblebee is so large that we cannot see all of it at low magnification
- Teacherwhat are the round parts?
Bugscope Teamall the little balls are pollens
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see the abdomen, on the right
- Bugscope Teamthe stinger is either inside or missing
- Bugscope Teamthis is the roly poly's head
- Bugscope Teamwe mounted it upside down because we couldn't tell which end was which
- 9:14 am
- TeacherWhat is that?
Bugscope Teamwe're looking at the mouth, but it is hard to tell what is what
- TeacherWhat are the two slits?
- Bugscope Teamit is often difficult to see how insect and arthropod mouths work
- Bugscope Teamnot entirely sure how it's mouth works
- Bugscope TeamI think the triangular part is a mandible, which opens side to side
- Bugscope Teamlike, right in the middle there above the horizontal slit
- Bugscope Teamthese are butterfly scales, from a wing
- Bugscope Teamthey have silver paint on them
- Bugscope Teamscales are what makes the wings feel silky when you rub them, and they fall off easily -- they are so fine that to us they seem like powder
- 9:19 am
- Bugscope Teamthe scales on insects like butterflies, moths, silverfish, and mosquitoes protect those insects from getting caught in spiderwebs
- Bugscope Teamthey are actually modified setae, like all of the tiny hairs (setae) we have been seeing
- Teacherwhat are the clump like things on the scales?
Bugscope Teamthose are bits of dried silver paint
- Bugscope Teamthe ridges reflect light in colors that we may not see but are apparent to other insects that see in UV light, for example
- Bugscope Teamwhen we make the samples we help stick them down and also make them conductive using silver paint
- Bugscope Teamscales can produce structural colors, just from their shape and the ridges we see; they can also produce colors that are due to pigments in the latticework we see now
- Teacherhow much does a microscope like this cost?
Bugscope Teamthis one that you are using costs around $600,000
- TeacherWOW! thanks for letting us use it
- Bugscope Teamthe ridges we see now are about 2 to 2.5 microns or micrometers apart
- Bugscope Teamsome of the features you see -- the smallest features -- are on the nanoscale
- TeacherSo, what kind of surprises did you find when you began looking so closelyu at insects?
- 9:25 am
- Bugscope Teamif you go to the brochosome presets, you can see nanoparticles produced by leafhoppers
- TeacherAnd, because we don't know our metrics very well...how many microns would there be in a centimeter?
- Bugscope Teamwe were surprised that there were sometimes bugs living on other bugs- we saw mites living on earwigs
- Bugscope Teamthere are 10,000 micrometers in a centimeter
- Bugscope Teamthese are about 400 nanometers in diameter
- Bugscope Teamthey are produced only by leafhoppers
- Bugscope Teamthe wavelengths of visible light go from about 400 to about 700 nanometers, so we are looking at something that is as small as the wavelength of violet light
- Teacherwhy are these produced?
Bugscope Teamwe think they help protect their eggs, to keep them moist.
- Bugscope Teamthis leafhopper rubbed them all over her or himself
- Bugscope Teamleafhoppers have what is called a self-anointing behavior
- 9:30 am
- TeacherWhat do you do with all the information you find?
Bugscope Teamwe take images of stuff we think is cool, and we let people like our Bugscope participants know what we have found
- Bugscope Teamwhen the entomologists come in to use the microscope we ask them lots of questions
- TeacherSo, have you ever used the equipment to esamine something in the human body like a red blood cell or white blood cell or muscle cells?
Bugscope Teamyes we have. We have even seen cells that help fight cancer
Bugscope Teambecause they are softer than insects, we have to fix them and then dry them in a special way before putting them in the microscope
- Bugscope Teamwe work with researchers in all disciplines; when we do Bugscope it is just kind of fun for us
- Bugscope Teamthe samples go into a vacuum when we use the electron microscope
- TeacherAre the cells that fight cancer natural or do they develop because of medicine?
Bugscope Teami think they were natural cells
- Bugscope Teamlast week we took images of viruses that infect Archaea -- the lifeform that was once thought to be a form of bacteria, once called Archaebacteria
- TeacherHave you ever seen a cancer cell in an insect?
Bugscope Teamno. we don't see too many diseased insects. Or at least none that we know were diseased.
- Bugscope Teamwe use other microscopes as well; there are about thirty different types of microscopes and imaging systems down here
- TeacherIs there a reason the bacteria we are looking at are shaped like a ball?
- Bugscope Teamto look at the Archaea viruses we used a transmission electron microscope
- TeacherIs there a reason why the bacteria are clumped together? Are they sticky?
- Bugscope Teamsome bacteria are shaped like a ball, some more like elongated rods, and some are spiral
- 9:35 am
- Bugscope Teamthese are not bacteria, though; these are brochosomes, which are nanoparticles produced in the Malpighian tubules of leafhoppers
- TeacherAre the dark spots that we see holes or just a darker color on the bacteria?
- Bugscope Teambacteria are longer and a bit larger
- Bugscope Teamthose are actual holes
- TeacherSo...maybe we are having trouble thinking about what a nanoparticle is...
- Bugscope Teama nanoparticle is a particle or tiny speck of something that is on the nano scale; thus it is less than a micrometer in diameter
- Bugscope Teamyour DNA is nano-sized
- Bugscope Teama micrometer, or micron, is 1000 nanometers
- Bugscope Teamsilverfish are covered in scales, and that is what gives them their silver color
- Bugscope Teamthis is a really cool view
- Bugscope Teamthere are tiny 'rocks' on the scales
- 9:40 am
- Teacherwhy do the scales have stripes
Bugscope Teamthe stripes help make them a bit less flexible -- a bit more rigid, like a Ruffles potato chip
- Bugscope Teambut the periodicity of the stripes makes them reflect different colors of light
- TeacherWe really have been so lucky to see the things you have provided for us...thank youo so so much for allowing us to glimpse into the world of nanotechnology and bugs up close and personal!
- Bugscope Teamglad you could join us this morning!
- Bugscope TeamThank You for connecting with us today! I am sorry I missed your calls, earlier, and am very happy you were able to work with us!
- Bugscope TeamSee you!
