Connected on 2014-06-05 12:30:00
from Fresno County, California, United States
- 11:54 am
- Bugscope Teamwe're waiting for the vacuum to get better
- 11:59 am
- 12:04 pm
- 12:10 pm
- 12:16 pm
- 12:21 pm
- Bugscope Teamhello!
- Bugscope TeamGreetings.
- Bugscope Teamwelcome to Busgcope!
- TeacherHello This is our first time using bugscope
- Bugscope TeamWe're setting up some presets for you.
- Bugscope TeamWe're finding some interesting things for you.
- Teacherok. We invited all of 4th grade and we may not need the full hour. Is that ok?
- Bugscope TeamWe're happy you decided to try it out.
- Bugscope TeamThat is quite OK! The more the merrier!
- Bugscope TeamWe're here to answer questions as they come up, so feel free to enter the student's questions (or have them type them in).
- Bugscope TeamWe'll let you know when we're done with the presets.
- Bugscope TeamWe're almost ready.
- Bugscope TeamSince this is your first time, here's how to see the most things: click on the blue arrow pointing left to see some preset buttons. Just single-click on those presets to jump there.
- 12:26 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll!
- Bugscope TeamOnce there, you can zoom out or in using the +/- buttons at the top, or move around by simply clicking once on a point in the image.
- Bugscope TeamTo more quickly, we recommond zooming out (using the - button by the word Magnification), then clicking.
- Bugscope TeamYou now control the scope.
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions, and let us know if you have any problems driving
- Bugscope TeamWe are done setting presents.
- Bugscope TeamYou may be begin.
- Bugscope TeamRemember, if you have any trouble, ask us here. If for some reason your web browser stops working, you can phone us at 217-265-8164.
- Bugscope Teamthis is a wasp, but we can only see two of its wings, and wasps, as well as bees, have four wings
- Bugscope Teamthis is the wasp's head
- Bugscope Teamwe can see its compound eyes, its antennae, we can barely see its mandibles, and we can see its ocelli, on top of its head -- the simple eyes
- Teacherok we are all here
- 12:31 pm
- Bugscope TeamGreat!
- Bugscope Teamgreat!
- Bugscope Teamthis is a green wasp, but we cannot see the color; we're using electrons rather than light to collect the images
- Bugscope TeamSince what I typed earlier may have scrolled off the screen while you were getting everyone there, use the blue left arrow to see our list of presets. You single-click on those to jump there. To zoom in or out, click on the red +/- at the top. To move, click on a point in the picture.
- Bugscope TeamScott just moved to the eye.
- Bugscope Teamyes! this is the compound eye!
- Teacherstudent question: What are the holes around where the antenna enter the head?
Bugscope TeamThe holes are the "ball and socket joint" where the antenna attach and its movement is controlled.
- Bugscope Teamcompound eyes allow the wasp to see all around its head
- Bugscope Teamanother thing about compound eyes is that they allow the insect to see motion -- to see things that might be trying to eat it -- more quickly
- TeacherWhat are the bumpy things between the eyes?
Bugscope Teamthose are the facets of the eyes
- Bugscope Teamthey're called ommatidia
- 12:36 pm
- TeacherAre those hairs coming our of the eye?
- Bugscope Teamyes! the hairs are called setae (see-tee), and they are mechanosensory, like cat or rat whiskers
- Bugscope Teamthese are longer setae at the top of the head
- Bugscope Teamthis is cool, right here -- the little tiny things are bacteria!
- TeacherOh we thought it was tiny particles of dust.
- TeacherStudents would like you to drive there since you know the directions.
- Bugscope TeamI'm sorry about the stinger, but I looked earlier and saw that it was no there
- TeacherCan we see the stinger on the wasp?
Bugscope TeamDo you want to drive there or let Scott?
Bugscope Teamwe cannot see the stinger -- it is inside the body
Bugscope TeamOops. I thought you could. He'll drive down there for you now.
- 12:42 pm
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the abdomen, where the stinger usually is
- Bugscope Teamspeaking of eyesight...
- Bugscope Teamhere we have a crustaceaen with poor eyesight
- Bugscope Teamplus one of its antennae is missing
- Bugscope Teamcrustacean, spelling, sorry...
- TeacherHow good is their eyesite?
Bugscope TeamIn wasps and bees, their eyesight is in some ways better than ours: they can see colors we can't, such as ultraviolet (light beyond the darkest purple you can imagine).
Bugscope TeamIn other ways it isn't as good, which is why you see bumblebees often bumping into things.
Bugscope TeamHere's a fun fact: flowers often have patterns on their petals that we cannot see but bees can. In some orchids, these make little "landing strips" to direct the bee into the source of nectar at the base of the flower.
- 12:48 pm
- TeacherDo we know the name of this insect? Did it come from RES?
Bugscope TeamYes, you did!
Bugscope TeamIf you take the magnification down, you can see more of it.
- TeacherThis is a beetle?
Bugscope TeamThis is the "roly-poly", also known as a "sow bug" or "wood louse".
- Bugscope Teamyes as Daniel says, many flowers have patterns in UV light that we cannot see. Monarch butterflies are like that as well. When we look at males and females, we can tell from the thinner bands on the wings that we are looking at a male, but the wings look very much alike to us. In UV, however male and female monarchs look wayyyy different from each other
- TeacherHow do we take magnification down?
Bugscope TeamClick on the red "-" at the top, near the word "Magnification".
Bugscope TeamOr... I guess Scott is doing it for you.
Bugscope TeamThere you go.
Bugscope TeamIf you click near its feet, you can see more of it.
- Bugscope Teamgood job driving!
- Bugscope TeamNice work on increasing the magnification! You can see where one of the antenna has broken off.
- Bugscope Teamthis is pretty cool
- TeacherThis is really cool!!
- 12:54 pm
- Bugscope Teamit has a kind of sparse moustache, like Jonathan Waters
- TeacherIs that dark place between the antennae the mouth?
Bugscope Teamthe mouth is a little lower
Bugscope TeamCan't quite see the mouth. You can see the little eye in the upper left corner.
- Bugscope Teamwe can see, also, why rol
- TeacherHaaaa
- Bugscope Teamypolies are called isopods
- Bugscope Teamiso- means 'the same'
- Bugscope Teamand pod means foot
- Bugscope Teamso isopods have all the same shaped feet
- Bugscope Teamthey are said also to have gills on this side -- the ventral side, or underside
- Bugscope Teamwe can see its right eye, on the left
- Bugscope TeamI can help, since I am sitting at the microscope.
- 12:59 pm
- Bugscope Teamif you increase the magnification now you will see the compound eye
- Bugscope Teamsome wasps, as well as dragonflies, can have as many as 30,000 ommatidia -- eye facets -- per eye
- Bugscope Teamoh you sent us an ant as well -- can I go look for it?
- Bugscope Teamthis is so cool, and you sent it!
- TeacherStudents want to know what a roly poly and wasp eat.
Bugscope TeamThe roly poly eats dead plants. That's why you often find them under rotting leaves and in rotting logs.
Bugscope TeamMy brother had a compost bin in his back yard. He'd fill it full of coffee grounds from Starbucks. One day when he opened it up, it was full of thousands of roly-polies! I think they really like coffee grounds. :)
Bugscope TeamSome wasps eat other insects. They sting them and move them back to the hive for the young larva to eat. Some feed off nectar like bees. In the fall, yellow jackets can be a real problem because the queen has kicked them out of the hive and they need to find food. This is why they are a nuisance at picnics: they want some of your sugary soda!
- TeacherIs that our ant?
Bugscope Teamyes it is! I almost forgot, and it is such a nice one!
- Bugscope Teamit has serrated mandibles, like a steak knife
- Bugscope Teamthis ant has better eyesight than most; we can tell by the number of ommatidia
- TeacherDoes the ant have as good eye site as the wasps?
Bugscope Teamlikely not
Bugscope TeamIt's hard to say for certain, but it is probably about the same or worse.
- 1:04 pm
- Bugscope Teamsome ants live underground full time and don't even bother to have eyes
- Bugscope Teamants communicate using chemical signals, and they sense those signals using chemoreceptors in their antennae
- Bugscope Teamthey are very sensitive to chemical scents
- Bugscope Teama wasp has a rounder, larger compound eye, and it also has ocelli on top of the head -- it can usually see much better than an ant. flying insects in general will be able to see better than terrestrial insects
- Bugscope Teamthis ant is kind of a surprise; she has ocelli
- Bugscope Teamalmost all ants we see are females
- Bugscope Teamocelli are the tiny 'simple eyes' on top of the head
- 1:09 pm
- Bugscope Teamhere we can see two of the three ocelli fairly well
- TeacherWhat is ocelli?
Bugscope TeamAs Scott said, they perform a function like eyes, but aren't fully formed like regular eyes.
Bugscope TeamThese are often used for sensing dark and light, more than they are for actually "seeing" things.
- Bugscope Teamlarval insects -- caterpillars -- sometimes have about 10 eyes, five on each side of the head, called stemmata
- Bugscope Teamthe stemmata look like this -- not very exciting
- Bugscope Teamthis is a wild-looking beetle
- Bugscope Teamthe reason we see so many hairs is because the hairs (we're supposed to called them setae) are sensory
- Bugscope Teaminsects have exoskeletons, which is like if we were wearing armor -- they have a hard shell
- Bugscope Teamso they do not have skin like we do
- 1:14 pm
- Bugscope Teambecause they do not have skin, with nerve endings in it, they need to sense their environment in a different manner, and they use the hairs for that.
- TeacherWhy are there hairs on its back?
Bugscope TeamIn addition to what Scott wrote, I'll toss something in here as the "plant guy": flowers make use of those setae (hairs) to spread pollen around.
- Bugscope Teamthe ant's brain is kind of like a preprogrammed computer, but it also has the capacity to learn some things
- TeacherDoes an ant have a brain?
Bugscope Teamyes it does -- it is fairly simple, though
Bugscope TeamYup. They also have a type of a nervous system, but not nearly as well developed.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the top of a fruitfly's head
- Bugscope Teamwe can see its ocelli
- Bugscope Teamthis fruitfly's brain is about 350 microns wide, about 0.35 or one third of a millimeter
- TeacherWhat is the size of the brain?
Bugscope TeamFor an ant, it is going to be very small, easily less than half the volume of its head.
Bugscope TeamScott gave a size here - 350 microns - that's very small.
- 1:21 pm
- TeacherWhy do the call this a fruit fly?
Bugscope TeamBecause these small flies really like rotting fruit. If you want to grow some of your own, peel a banana and leave it sitting on a plate near an open window. You very likely will have fruit flies within a few days.
Bugscope TeamFruit flies will start out as small tiny white maggots, so you'll see lots of those at first.
Bugscope TeamThen they'll "pupate" before turning into tiny flies.
Bugscope TeamThe flies only live for a short time - long enough to mate and lay eggs for the next generation.
- Bugscope Teamsince Daniel got married his wife does not let him grow fruitflies as often, in his house
- Bugscope Teamhe says he had some just a month ago...
- Bugscope Teamsome insects, as adults, live only a few hours, and some do not even have mouths, as adults
- TeacherHow long can a fruit fly survive?
Bugscope TeamThe flies themselves often live for less than a week, some types only for a day!
Bugscope TeamThey grow very quickly, which is why they are so useful for science! You can grow your own from egg to adult in a matter of weeks.
Bugscope TeamFruit flies were what started us (people) down the road of understanding how we inherit traits from our parents.
Bugscope TeamFruit flies - like us - can have different color eyes. Some red, some brown, some white.
- Bugscope Teamfruitflies, in comparison, have sponging mouthparts
- TeacherCan we see those cool mouth parts?
Bugscope Teamlet's see if we can find some sponging mouthparts
- TeacherDo some flies bite you and why?
Bugscope Teamsome flies actually drink blood, such as horseflies and deerflies
Bugscope Teamthey have really cool, wicked, cutting/slashing mouthparts
Bugscope TeamYes. Horseflies and deerflies are particularly bad about this. They want nutrients and blood.
Bugscope TeamSome flies also regurgitate (vomit) acid onto their food to pre-digest it! They then slurp it up like a sour milkshake! Yum!
- 1:26 pm
- Bugscope TeamSo far we haven't managed to find a mouthpart. We are still trying. May take a few minutes.
- TeacherDo fruit flies have tongues?
Bugscope Teamfruit flies do not have tongues; they have bulbous mouthparts
- TeacherOh that is so cool!
- Bugscope Teamthe thing we see now is the wasp's tongue, called a 'glossa'
- 1:32 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that the wasp has two mandibles, which is another word for jaws
- Bugscope Teamthe jaws open right and left, like a gate
- TeacherHow do they suck the juice out of fruit?
Bugscope Teamthey squeeze saliva out of their sponging mouthparts, and then they use those same sponging mouthparts to suck up what the saliva dissolves
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Bugscope TeamYou sent some super nice things for us all to look at!
- TeacherRES 4th grade says thank you so much?
Bugscope TeamYou are very welcome!!!!!!!!!
- Bugscope TeamWe hope you will sign up again!
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