Mountain Ridge Middle School
Session 2014-070

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Transcript

Connected on 2015-04-10 10:30:00 from Douglas County, Colorado, United States

• 9:47 am
• Bugscope Teamyay!

• 9:53 am

• 9:58 am

• 10:04 am

• Bugscope Teamwe are ready to roll
• 10:34 am
• TeacherGood Morning :)
• Bugscope Teammorning!
• TeacherClass is just coming in now. We should be up and running in just a few minutes.
• Bugscope Teamsuper cool
• Bugscope Teamhello everyone!
• Bugscope Teamwelcome to Bugscope!
• Bugscope Teamhello all!
• Bugscope Teamthis is a bee eye right now
• TeacherHi Cate and Scot, can you manipulate the scope for us for the first few minutes so the kids can see the objects.
• 10:40 am
• Bugscope Teamthis is the surface of the compound eye of a honeybee, and we can see the long setae (hairs) sticking out of the eye

• Bugscope Teamthis is the bee's head at a lower magnification
• Studentthere is hair on a bees eye?
• Bugscope Teamthey are pretty hairy things. a lot of it is for sense of touch and carrying pollen
• Studentwhere are the eyes onthe bee
  Bugscope Teamthey are on the far sides (left and right) of the bee. you can only see part of each
• StudentWhy do the bees have hairs on their eyes
  Bugscope Teamthe hairs help them sense their environment, because they do not have skin; rather they have a hard shell on the outside of their body that does not have nerve endings in it; the hairs stick through that and let them sense wind, and smell, and touch, and hot/cold
• StudentWhat's the maximum magnification?
  Bugscope Teamthis microscope could go to 200,000 times magnified if we had interesting things to look at and we set up the sample at a good height.
• StudentAlso, how much is the microscope
  Bugscope Teamthis one was $582,000 in early 1999.
• StudentDoes the hair help bugs maintan body heat
• Studentdo the hairs effect their eye sight
  Bugscope Teamthey help them see more fully around them, for one thing
  Bugscope Teamthe hairs are inbetween the ommatidia, so I dont think they get in the way. the ommatidia are the individual facets of the compound eye
• StudentHow many microscopes do you have in the lab?
  Bugscope Teamabout 25, of various types
• Studentwhy does the bee have so much hair on it?
  Bugscope Teamthe hair also likely helps the bee maintain its temperature
• TeacherCan CASH have control of the scope for a bit?
  Bugscope TeamCash is now the supreme ruler of the microscope.

• StudentHow much hair is on a bee's eye
  Bugscope Teamit seems fairly sparse, probably fewer than a thousand hairs (we're supposed to call them setae) per eye

• 10:45 am
• StudentDoes the hair trap the pollen
  Bugscope Teamyes it does, and some hairs (setae) are better at that; they have branched setae

• StudentDo other bugs have hair on their beside bees
  Bugscope Teamyes but not always on the compound eyes

• Studentwhat does the claw do
  Bugscope Teamit does for an insect kind of the same things our hands do for us

• Studentwhat is a hopper claw
  Bugscope Teamit is one of the claws at the ends of the six limbs of the hopper, which I am sorry we have not identified
• StudentHow much bacteria is on a bee and does that effect the bee
  Bugscope Teamusually we find little or no bacteria. sometimes, or most of the time, we see bacteria on an insect or arthropod after it has died
• Studentdoes the hopper claw have hair on it to ?
  Bugscope Teamyes! insects have these hairs to help them to feel/sense what is going on around it. They have a hard shell (their exoskeleton) around them, so they have these hairs to help

• StudentWhat would happen if the bee didn't have hair?
  Bugscope Teamit would get cold more quickly, and it would lose some of its sensing capabilities
• Studentdoes it have hair on all of its body?
  Bugscope Teammost places; some of the setae are chemosensory, some are thermosensory, some are mechanosensory

• Bugscope Teamsome setae, or more like bristles, are for proprioception

• TeacherWhat are some things that electron microscopes help you to do?
  Bugscope Teamthere are two basic types of electron microscopes; this type, the scanning electron microscope (SEM), allows us to image small things that are 3 dimensional
• Bugscope Teamtransmission electron microscopes (TEMs) allow us to image super thin or super small samples
• 10:50 am
• Studentis that dry skin or feathers on the moth ?
  Bugscope Teamthose are scales, which are also a form of setae

• Studentwhy does the moth all dusty and does that affect them in the heat or the cold
  Bugscope Teamthe dusty stuff are the scales
  Bugscope Teamthey help with flying, and they give the moth different colors

• StudentCan the moth see more since there eyes are larger and more wrapped around/
  Bugscope Teamit can see more and also it can see in wavelengths of light we cannot see in
• Studentwhat are the things above the eyes
  Bugscope Teamthose were palps that help with moving around things and tasting

• StudentWhat are the scales for?
  Bugscope Teamone thing the scales do is allow the insect to escape from spider webs, because they are loose and come off when they get stuck to the web

• Studentare the scales used for protection
  Bugscope Teamyes they can be! they can shed those scales if they get stuck in a spider web to help get free

• StudentHow long would it take them to get out of a spider web
• StudentWhat would happen if they didn't have the scales?
• Studentwhat is an ash borer
• Student/
• StudentDo all bugs have those little triangles on their eyes
  Bugscope Teamthe individual facets of the compound eyes are often hexagonal. I am sorry -- I am not sure what triangles you are talking about.

• Studentcan bugs be blind??????

• Studentare bugs smart?

• StudentHow come bugs can live without us but we can't live without them

• Studentwhat is sticking out of its eyes

• StudentHow do you prepare these bugs to be viewed
  Bugscope Teamwe stick them on with double stick carbon tape and silver paint, which is on an aluminum stub. We also coat the insect with a thin layer of metal. All these things help with conductivity and grounding for the electron beam.
• Studentwhy is it black and white
  Bugscope Teamwe are imaging the samples using a very fine electron beam that is scanning repeatedly across the surface of the sample; the beam is much smaller than visible light, and it causes what are then called secondary electrons to come back from the sample, still smaller than visible light, so what we see comes to us as signal, in greyscale, in shades from white to black

• Studenthow much magnification does your microscope go too?
• StudentHow much does a queen bee weigh?
  Bugscope Teamthey are only slightly bigger than the others. bee keepers often have to paint a little dot on them to help tell them apart from the rest

• StudentAre there differences in the skin layers of different insects which help them adapt more or less?
• 10:55 am

• StudentWhat project are you guys working on right now?
  Bugscope Teamwe help people look at things they have built, or bacteria, or food particles, or selfhealing polymer capsules, all kinds of small stuff
• StudentWhat is the weirdest thing that you have seen through a microscope
• StudentDoes the thin layer of silver affect how you look at the bugs?
  Bugscope Teamthe silver is the smoother part of the background. i use it like a glue. if i use too much, though, the paint may totally consume the specimen

• Studentwhat was the coolest thing you guys have seen in the micoscope.

• StudentWhat other bugs do you look at?
• Studentcan you see things that are living under the microscope
• StudentCan you look at larger animals?
  Bugscope Teamonly parts of larger animals. We have looked at part of a gecko toe before
• StudentHave you ever looked at a human eyeball through the microscope?
  Bugscope TeamI have looked at rabbit cornea as a model for the human eye, but I don't believe I've ever looked at part of the human eye

• StudentDo you leave the bugs the way they died before you prepare them?
  Bugscope Teamusually. sometimes i may break off some limbs or wings if it will help them to lay down better
• Studentwhy are bee's feet all weird lookin?
• StudentWhat do you guys hope to accomplish with this microscope in the future?
  Bugscope Teamwe're going to buy a new one soon; our job is to make the microscopes useful to people in biology, in the study of materials, and in the study of biomaterials, so this will just make it easier for us to help
• Studenthow you ever found any mutations within a cell and identify it?
• Studentno i don't
• TeacherDo you see this scope as being useful in other areas other than biology?
• StudentWould it be possible to create a microscope with an even higher maggnification?
• Studentwhat is this picture?
• StudentIs anybody allowed to use the microscope at your lab?
• StudentHow will scopes change in the future?

• Studentas a controller how do you zoom in on the head
  Bugscope Teamthere is a little area above the image that will say magnification with a plus or minus sign. you would click on the plus sign
  Bugscope Teamdo you see it?
  Bugscope Teamsorry. There was a recent update to some browsers that seem to interfere with some of the controls. you could try to log out and back in?
• StudentDo you weight your bugs sometimes?
  Bugscope Teami dont, but maybe some entomologists do.
• Studentok
• StudentWhat is a grasshoppers main source of protection when it comes to dealing with predators? - Kariss
  Bugscope Teami would say jumping/using their wings
• StudentHow long does it take to get something ready to put under the microscope
  Bugscope Teamit depends on what it is, but usually 15 or 20 minutes
• StudentWhat will the new microscope you guys are getting do?
• Studentthankyou

• StudentHow long do you think it takes to find the bug you are looking for?
• StudentDo you think that we will improve our microscopes so we can see single atoms?
  Bugscope Teamwe can already do that
  Bugscope Teamjust not with this microscope

• StudentOk

• Studenthow you ever found any mutations within a cell and identify it?

• 11:00 am
• Studentcan you look at the ebola virus well in the teliscope you use?
  Bugscope Teamwe would use the other electron microscope; it would be pretty straightforward
  Bugscope Teamwe would see it better with a transmission electron microscope, a different kind of electron microscope

• StudentDo you see this scope as being useful in other areas other than biology?
  Bugscope Teamyes it is used in many other areas, even architecture

• StudentHow do grasshoppers digest food?
• Studentis the microscope you use compicated?
  Bugscope Teamit's not too bad. i could train you to use it in an hour if you wanted

• StudentOn a list 1-10 how valuable compared to other microscopes is this one?
  Bugscope Teamthis is a 9 or 10, according to us

• StudentDo you use the micro scope other than science, also do you use the micro scope on human parts or just bugs and animal
• Studentwhat is sticking out of the grass hoppers mouth?
  Bugscope Teampalps- which help for tasting and manipulating food

• Studentwhat are the things inside its mouth
  Bugscope Teamoften we see palps around the opening; rarely do we see inside

• StudentHow do grasshoppers digest food?

• Studenthow you ever found any mutations within a cell and identify it?
  Bugscope Teamwe usually help others image their samples. sometimes they will find what they are looking for

• StudentWhat are some of the most common things you guys study and look at?
  Bugscope Teamanything small and not super oily

• StudentDo you ever feel creeped out by these magnifications?
  Bugscope Teamyes. there was someone that I helped to image schistosomes before. they were creepy little parasitic worms

• StudentWhy do you think the microscope is so valuable?
  Bugscope Teamwe know from experience, from the wide variety of work we do with so many people in so many different disciplines

• StudentWhy does it matter if it's oily?
  Bugscope Teamoil is not very conductive and will cause the image to distort or give contrast pro0blems

• StudentDo you do a lot of research?
• Bugscope Teamhttp://itg.beckman.illinois.edu/microscopy_suite/equipment/ESEM/ has a picture of the ESEM room
• 11:05 am
• StudentHow many things do you study in the Lab using the microscopes?
• TeacherCan you show the kids the lab and what the scope looks like ? And then perhaps show them the picture of inside the scope?
  Bugscope Teamthis is the inside of the 'scope; we cannot see the lab using the microscope without venting the 'scope, and it would take 10 minutes or more to vent and then reestablish the vacuum, plus readjust the beam
• TeacherThank you. Can Price control it for a bit?
  Bugscope Teamprice has control
• StudentHow big is the actual microscope?
  Bugscope Teamkind of like a desk, with a tall portion on one end
• StudentWhy is it in night vision?

• Studentwhat kind of procedures must you do to use this microscope

• Studentwhat are the weird bubble things
• Studentwhere are the eyes of the roach head

• StudentHow would you use it for architecture?
  Bugscope Teamsome people have used this microscope to see stress fractures from bridges, i think. Scot (ESEM) knows more about that.

• StudentI know you already said the teliscope is 538,000 dollars or some crazy thing like that but you also said that was in 1999. How much would it be today?
  Bugscope Teamthe new one is actually around $420,000 because we already have the EDS system to put on it. EDS allows us to do elemental analysis, which thus makes the microscope more useful to more people
• Studentwhat are the things sticking out of the bugs head?
• Bugscope TeamI have also seen people testing out how small they can build scaffolds, and with how much control by making tiny little buildings and image those, which I thought was cool
• StudentWhat are some precautions you need to know about while using this microscope?
• StudentI loged out and logged back in
• Studentin the backround
  Bugscope Teamthose are little craters in the doublestick carbon tape we use to help hold the samples down
• StudentIs the microscope used all over the world
  Bugscope Teamyes it is!
• StudentWhat kind of procedures or cautions must you take to use the microscope?
• Studentwhat are the little antenas on the head
  Bugscope Teamthe things that look like where eyes should be are the antennae, broken off a bit. the things going up the side of the head are palps again
• StudentHas it helped solve any issues
• Bugscope Teamsorry about that problem price. it is a little annoying
• Studentdo all bugs maintain their body heat or can they control them like if your cold blooded
  Bugscope Teamgenerally they can do very little to control their body heat
• Studentit wasn't working for me either
• StudentCan I have the control back? I logged out and then logged back in.
  Bugscope Teami gave it back

• StudentWhat would it be to buy the system and the scope?
  Bugscope Teamaround $500,000; the company makes more money from us by servicing the microscope when it breaks

• StudentThank you
• Bugscope Teamthis is cool

• Studentwhats a proboscis and what does it do

• StudentWhat procedures do you take to use the microscope?
  Bugscope Teamwe train people to use them, and the procedures are a bit different for each type of 'scope
• 11:10 am

• StudentIs this microscope the most advanced microscope in the world
• StudentWhat is a proboscis
  Bugscope Teamit is sometimes the 'nose,' as an elephant's trunk is also called a proboscis; but in this case it is a probing mouthpart
• StudentIn what way can this microscope help you in the future?
  Bugscope Teammany ways, really

• StudentI don't have the top bar to help me magnify
  Bugscope Teamit shows up only when you are the designated driver, and then you might have to slightly enlarge your browser window
• StudentCan you give me an example?

• StudentWhat are proboscis?
  Bugscope Teamthe long mouthpart, in this instance; think of a moth and its coiled strawlike tube, with which it feeds on nectar
• TeacherFor some reason the kids aren't able to get to the magnification. Maybe if you give me the controls I can have them control from my computer.
• StudentWhat is the amount of light needed to make the best image possible?
  Bugscope Teamit varies, of course; but it is not really light

• StudentWhat company sells these microscopes?
  Bugscope Teamthere are five companies: FEI, JEOL, Hitachi, Zeiss, and someone I forget
• TeacherI logged out and back in, I can't seem to see the controls. Can you switch once more?
  Bugscope Teamtry now
• StudentWhat is the largest thing you could look at under the microscope?
  Bugscope Teamsomething no more than 50 mm in diameter
• Bugscope TeamI'm sorry for this problem
• 11:16 am
• TeacherStill not there. That's ok. Maybe you could move it around a bit for us and we can try again soon.
• Studentis that little curved part where they get the blood?
  Bugscope Teamit is part of what the females use, but this is a male, so it is used to get nectar, not blood
• Studentthank you
• Studentthank you
• StudentThank you so much!
• StudentThank You
• StudentTHANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• StudentThank You!
• StudentThanks!
• StudentThank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• StudentThank you very much for your time
• Studentthank you very much this was awesome!!
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThank you guys so much!!!!!
• Studentthsnks
• StudentThank you for your time
• Bugscope TeamThank you, Everyone!~
• TeacherI am switching classes. My next class comes in at 11:19.
• StudentThank You very much for your time out of your day. Thanks.
• Bugscope Teamthank you and sorry again for the problems
• Studentthank you
• Studentmany thanks!!! That was ammmaaaaassssiiinnngggg!!!!! Battle cry!!!!!
• StudentThanks for answering all of our question BYE have a good weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• StudentThank you so much !!!
• Bugscope Teammrs. nielson you could try to log out and back in again and see if we can resolve at least your computer having the issue?
• StudentThank you for showing us this microscope!

• Studentthank you
• Bugscope TeamI restarted the server.
• Bugscope Teameven we get that issue
• TeacherI logged out and I'm back in again
• Bugscope Teamstill nothing?

• Teachernothing at the top
• Bugscope Teamit might be that refreshing your browser will help; sometimes we cannot see the top of the screen because we have the window too small
• Bugscope Teamit may be that our admin people are messing around with permissions and don't know we're using the 'scope right now
• 11:21 am
• Bugscope Teamworked when i logged off and restarted my browser
• Bugscope Teamsometimes when we have had this problem using a different browser works
• TeacherI will log off and try a different server again
  Bugscope Teamsorry Mrs N.
• Bugscope Teamhello!
• Bugscope Teamwhen does the next class come in?
• Bugscope Teamnot a clever question, sorry...
• StudentAfter lunch
• Studenthi
• Bugscope Teamhi
• Bugscope Teamthis is a tick, kind of leaning back
• Bugscope Teamit is covered with a bacterial biofilm, being a good host
• Bugscope Teamthe tick is actually covered in bacteria
• Bugscope Teamat the center of the image is its head
• 11:26 am
• Studenta lot more detailed then i thought it would be
• StudentIm back on and under M.Nielsen
• Bugscope Teamthat flakey stuff is the biofilm
  Bugscope Teambut not the background
• Bugscope Teamwhen the tick bites, the things on the side of the head fold down left and right, and the middle part -- the hypostome -- sticks into your skin
• StudentThe controls are at the top for me, thanks :)
  Bugscope TeamSweet!
• Studentare those half ball things the eyes?
  Bugscope Teamthat is its chelicerae i believe
• Bugscope Teamyay

• Bugscope TeamDarth Vader
• StudentWhat is that?

• Studentis it still alize?
  Bugscope Teamno. all the insects are dead inside the microscope. they are sitting in a vacuum, and in order for the microscope to reach a vacuum state it helps for the insects to be dry

• Studentwhy is the image black and white?
  Bugscope Teamwe are using electrons to help us collect the images, and they are smaller than the wavelengths of visible light, so we see things in shades from white to black

• Studentwhat are the tiny white spots on the roach head ?

• StudentHow much does the microscope weight
  Bugscope Teamabout a half ton
• Studentis that the eye
• Studentwhat's that weird stuff in the ears?
• Studenthow old is the roach
  Bugscope Teamprobably a month or so
• Studentwhat part is that?
• StudentHow old is this Roach

• Studentare the hexagon-shapes eyes?
  Bugscope Teamyes
  Bugscope Teamhexagon is the best shape to fit the something round. the shape allows to fit in as many as possible. probably why honeycombs are like that, but that's just a guess
• Studentare these bugs still alive?
  Bugscope Teamno they are dead and dry and coated with gold-palladium, which actually means they look silver in real life

• StudentWhat is the hole?
  Bugscope Teamthere was a pin sticking through it

• 11:31 am
• Studentdo you ever have to use a 200,000 magnification
  Bugscope Teamyes sometimes, though not usually in insects
• StudentHow many objective lenses are there?
• Studentwhat part of the roach head are we currently looking at ?
• StudentWhat are those pointy things?
  Bugscope Teamthose are setae, which are insect hairs
• Studentwhat do you use them for
• StudentWhat is next to the eye
• StudentWould you get to the brain if you kept on zooming in?
  Bugscope Teamno, this electron beam can't see through the exoskeleton
• Studentwhat is the 200,00 used for?
• StudentIs there hairs on the eye?
  Bugscope Teamyea, most insects have some setae (hair) on their eyes, since they have an exoskeleton which is hard and doesn't have senses built in, the setae help the insect sense its environment

• StudentWhat is next to the eye?
  Bugscope Teamnot sure at this magnification
  Bugscope Teamoh i think it's the palp, which is a mouthpart
  Bugscope Teamthey are used to move around food or to taste/smell it
• StudentWhat's with the spots on the head?
  Bugscope Teamsome of them were the facets of the compound eye

• Studentwhat is the purpose of the pin in the microscope

• StudentWhat is your main study for this particular microscope?

• StudentWhat are you going to use the new microscope for?
  Bugscope Teamwe will do what we do now but have a few more capabilities, and things will work more easily, we hope
• Studentwhy does the eye have hexogons

• StudentWhy are there little hexagons on the eyes?
  Bugscope Teaminsect eyes are made up of individual units called ommatidia, these work together to provide a complete image to the insect, the end result is a low resolution mosaic of sorts. having this feature allows the insects to generally be more sensitive to movements, and also see in a wider angle than we can
• Studentdo they see out of all of the hexagons?
  Bugscope Teamyes they do; they are very sensitive to motion in the visual field, so they can see things moving toward or away from them much more quickly than we can
• Studentwhere is the pin in this microscope?
  Bugscope Teamthere were pins going through some of the insects. i took them out though

• Studentwhat is that little hair-looking thing on its eye?
  Bugscope Teamthat is a scale
• StudentWhere did these insects live?
• StudentHow many of these microscopes are there in the world

• 11:36 am
• StudentHow old do moths live to be?

• StudentWhat's that line on the eyes?
  Bugscope Teamif you are referring to the thing on the right eye at the edge there, that's just a scale that has fallen off, or some other speck/junk
• StudentAre you able to see a single adam
  Bugscope Teamnot with this microscope

• StudentWhat are all of those string type things in the corners?
• Studenthow many of these microscopes ore there in the world
  Bugscope Teamlikely 2 or 3000 comparable 'scopes in the world
• Studenthow many eyes does it have?
  Bugscope Teamthey have 2 compiund eyes, and sometimes they will have a set of 3 simple eyes on the top/back of their head

• Studenthow can you tell the difference between and female mosquito and a male mosquito?
  Bugscope Teamthe easiest way is to look at the antennae, which are very intricate on a male and simple on a female
• StudentDo you have a microscope that can see an atom?
  Bugscope Teamwe have an atomic force microscope, which does a good job

• Studentwhat are those whisker things?
  Bugscope TeamI think probably the fine setae on the antennae

• StudentAre those scales on the middle circle?

• Studentdo they sense things with the little feathers ?
  Bugscope Teamnot too sure, but i'd imagine they might have some sort of mechanosensory function (sensing movements, such as air movement etc...)
• StudentIs it easy to contol
  Bugscope Teamyes it is!
• StudentWhere do you get these samples?

• Studentdo the scales on the eyes grow back after they shed?
  Bugscope Teamno, the scales on the butterflies and moths do not grow back
• StudentI heard you are getting a new microscope how will that be any better then this one
  Bugscope Teamit will have a larger stage, and it will have better controls, it will be easier to use in most modes, and it will have something called beam deceleration that will let us get better resolution of fragile samples
• Studentwhy do they have those?
• Studenthow much did you zoom in the picture?
• StudentDo you ever look at human parts under the microscope.
  Bugscope Teamwe have looked at things like teeth, but usually we don't look at human stuff, occasionally someone wants to look at hair
• Studentwhat are those?
  Bugscope Teamthese are chemosensors on an antenna. they can help with sensing chemicals like scents in the air
• StudentHow much would the new one cost
• StudentHow much time does it take to build one

• 11:41 am
• StudentDo you use the microscope daily?
  Bugscope Teamthe microscope is available 24 hours to researchers. it is used every weekday and sometimes on weekends, sometimes late at night

• Studentdoes the bacteria on the chemoreceptors help or hurt the ash borer ?

• StudentHow may bugs do you have in the lab?
  Bugscope Teamwe have a variety from people that give them to us, like Joe and other entomologists
• StudentWhat kind of information do you gather from looking at all of these?
  Bugscope Teammeasurements, an assessment of quality, just an idea of what the samples look like, also we can collect x-rays from the samples and find out what they are made of
• StudentWhat is the picture above susposed to be
  Bugscope Teambacteria among things that function kind of like tastebuds

• Studentif the scales on the eyes don't grow back, will the butterflies or moths be blind?
  Bugscope Teamno the scales won't do that. they dont use the scales to see. they are mostly for protection and to give them colors
  Bugscope Teamare you talking about the hexagons (ommatidia)? if one of those gets damages, it would probably be like a dead pixel on your tv,

• StudentWhat do you most commonly look at?
  Bugscope Teamit really varies from food particles to bacteria to self-healing polymer capsules to silica samples, all kinds of stuff

• Studentwhat is the coolest thing you have ever had under the microscope.
  Bugscope Teamwe found the most awesome pollen, and we see mites, like on the mosquito antenna in the 'scope now
• StudentDo you have other animals in the lab?
  Bugscope Teamyea, grad students
  Bugscope Teamhaha
• Studentdo you only look at bugs??
  Bugscope Teamjoe might, but we have students look at whatever they are studying, not jsut bugs

• StudentHow much room does the microscope that up
  Bugscope Teamthe room is about 10 x 13 feet

• Studenthow large is the stage on the microscope
  Bugscope Team50 millimeters in diameter; the new one will be 100.

• StudentWhat do you do with the information after you have gathered it?
  Bugscope Teampeople go through their data and publish the images that help show what they wanted to analyze.

• StudentHow much would the new scope cost
  Bugscope Teamit's $420,000-something
• 11:47 am
• StudentWhat's a hopper?
• Studentis that a claw
  Bugscope Teamyes. there is a claw at the end of each leg
• StudentWhere do you work?
  Bugscope TeamBeckman Institute, but in the basement where there is less vibration.

• StudentHow r]
  Bugscope Teampi r squared
• Studentwhat are the things sticking out of the claw ?
  Bugscope Teamoften they are setae that help the insect feel whether it is actually grasping something; sometimes the setae help with the grasping

• Studentdo bugs have hair?
  Bugscope Teamlots of them, all over their bodies
• StudentSHINY :D:D:]\
  Bugscope Teamthat is because the sample is charging a little bit with electrons
• Studenthow far did your furthest sample to analyze come from?
  Bugscope Teamwe have a stromatolite from Australia, and we have also imaged tiles from spaces shuttles
• StudentWhy does it look like water?
  Bugscope Teamoily stuff looks like that
• StudentDoes it have wrinkles?!

• Studenthow many microscopes do you have in your institute?
  Bugscope Teamprobably 70, but ours are the best

• StudentWhere do most samples come from?
  Bugscope Teamresearchers look at a huge variety of things, from all disciplines
• Studentis that there eye
  Bugscope Teamyes this is the compound eye of a bee

• StudentWhat's that hole like thing in the eye?
  Bugscope Teamthere is where some hairs fell off
• Studentwhy were you looking for tiles on space shuttles scot?
  Bugscope Teampeople wanted to know what they looked like up close and how they might have been affected when they were used as heatshields
  Bugscope TeamI think they are in the dataset from Virtual Microscope.
• 11:52 am
• StudentWhat do you look at most? ex: insects, etc
  Bugscope Teamit happens that we do look at a lot of insects, but usually just for Bugscope; when we are lucky we get to work with entomologists
• StudentDo you ever look at living organisms under the microscopes?
• TeacherA student accidently logged me out, could you possible give me controls again?
• Studentwhat is your main study
  Bugscope Teami study longhorned beetles, how they locate each other with pheromones and also how they find the right tree to lay their eggs in
• Studentdo you look at plant cells?
  Bugscope Teamyes we do; right now we would like to look at the trichomes on the underside of kidney bean plant leaves
• TeacherIs there any way you could turn the camera again so they could see the inside of the scope?
• Studentwhat is your favorite thing to look at under the microscope?
• StudentWhat is your favorite thing to look at?
  Bugscope Teammites and sometimes pollen, sometimes other peoples' samples, just to get good images for them
• StudentWhat are those bumps?
  Bugscope Teamthose are the individual facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
• Studentwhat types of organisms do you look at?
• Bugscope Teamthe stub we see here is 1.75 inches in diameter.
• StudentAre the insects on that table thing?
  Bugscope Teamyes they are!
• StudentHow much power does it take to run this, or does it take any at all?
  Bugscope Teamit runs on 230 V
• StudentWhat do use the data you get from the microscope for?
  Bugscope Teamusually the kind of features something might have. this microscope helps a lot with that. some people want to see how thick a shell wall might be, or the general size of their particles
• StudentHow long do you spend looking at one sample?
  Bugscope Teamit really depends on what someone needs to see
• StudentAre any of the organisms you examine alive?
  Bugscope Teamaccidentally, sometimes
• StudentThank you. Can I have control again so a student can move it ? :)
• StudentDoes it look silver like it does on the screen
  Bugscope Teamyes actually it does
• 11:58 am
• Studentdo you ever make mistakes using the microscope
• Studentwhat is the hardest thing you've had to do using a microscope?
  Bugscope Teamlook at a bacterial biofilm with no coating on it, and it was Shigella, no less

• Studentwhat does 230 V stand for?
  Bugscope Teamtwo hundred thirty volts

• StudentWhy are bugs eyes (when compounded together) so large relative to the rest of the head?
  Bugscope Teamthis really depends on the insect. sometimes they're large because they use their vision as a primary tool for sensing their environment, and in other insects, like a lot of ants, the eyes aren't nearly as large, since a good chunk of time is spend in the dark underground.

• Studentcan you see in color?
  Bugscope Teamnot with the microscope
  Bugscope Teamesem images are black and white because we are only getting a signal back from the electron beam. some people will artificially color their images later

• Studentwhat is a labrum?
  Bugscope Teamin insects, or at least bees, it is a sheath that seems to protect the glossa, or tongue
• StudentWhat is the weirdest thing you have ever had under the microscope?
  Bugscope Team a pair of pliers
• StudentHow long have you been doing this?
  Bugscope Teamhaha more than 32 years

• StudentWhy are there creases in the circles?
  Bugscope Teamthose were folds in the pollen grains

• Studentwhy would bees need labrum to protect their glossa ?
  Bugscope Teamit may help decrease friction during flying, for one thing

• Studentwhat are the indentations next to the hairs?
  Bugscope Teamthose are a different type of chemorececeptor, or possible touch receptors

• Studentbesides the grad students,do you have any other animals in the lab?

• 12:03 pm

• Studentthank you!
• StudentThanks
• StudentBye! Thank you
• StudentThank you very much
• Studentgood bye thanks
• StudentThank You
• StudentThank you for your time bye
• StudentThank you this was amazing
• Bugscope Teamthanks!
• StudentGoodbye and thank you!!!! (overly dramatic)
• StudentThank you!:)
• Studenttheoretically if I sent you something to you could i get it under the microscope
• Studentthank you so mush for answering all of my questions. This was a lot cooler than I thought it would be!!
• Studentgood bye and thank you
• StudentOk Thank You SOOOOO Much! Have A Great Day! I Really Learned A Lot! Bye Bye!
• Studentmuch*
• StudentThanks!
• StudentWhat is juju?
  Bugscope Teamit is what we call things we don't exactly recognize or are not sure about
• StudentTHis class is ending. I have another class coming in at 11:36 right after lunch, Mountain Time
• StudentSo in 30 minutes from now.
• StudentThank you so much for taking time out of your day to answer our questions! :D
• StudentThanks so much
• Studentthank y'all so much !!
• Studentthis has been so cool thank you so much?
• Studentthanks!
• Bugscope TeamThank you, Everyone!
• StudentThe Juju comment is funny :)

• 12:08 pm

• 12:21 pm
• Bugscope Teammite on a spit

• Bugscope Teamthis is the part of the mosquito that sticks into you and collects the blood
• 12:27 pm

• 12:34 pm
• StudentThey are coming back in :)
• Bugscope TeamAwesome!
• Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of the siphon tube of a female mosquito, part of the fascicle, which sticks into your skin

• Bugscope TeamThats awesome!

• Bugscope Teamthis is one of the stylets, to the left, pretty sure, and coming toward us looks like a broken stylet

• Bugscope Teamwhen we have had a chance to look at these in the past, we have seen as many as four stylets, a siphon tube, and another part that I was not sure about.
• 12:39 pm

• StudentThank you for being so patient with all their quesitons.
  Bugscope Teamwe catch as many questions as we can

• Bugscope Teamthe thing on the lower right is the proboscise. the curved thing, part of the fascicle, is usually inside of the proboscis, which is a slit sheath.

• Bugscope Teamoops 'proboscis'

• Bugscope Teammite to the upper left on the antenna

• Bugscope Teamthis is the bee's face

• StudentIs hair all over the body of the bee?
  Bugscope Teamyes pretty much, including the compound eyes!

• 12:44 pm

• Studentwhen a mosquito bites you can it carry on your dna to another place?
  Bugscope TeamI think in a perfect situation someone would be able to extract your DNA from a female mosquito
• StudentHow many pieces of hair is on the bee's hair?
• StudentWhere do you get your samples?
  Bugscope Teamentomologists and schools and various other people give us insects
• StudentWhy does the bee have hair on its eyes and all over its body?
  Bugscope TeamThe more hairs the more they can sense the world around them. All of these hairs are sensory hairs with various functions like - understanding location, heat sensing, IR receptors etc
• StudentWhere do you get the pictures
  Bugscope Teamthese are live images from a scanning electron microscope that you can control from your classroom today
  Bugscope Teamso you are operating a $600,000 instrument over the web

• Bugscope Teamthe bee people tell us that only bees, of all insects, have branched setae like this, what look to us like hair
• StudentI meant head not hair how many pieces of hair is on the bee's head?
  Bugscope Teamyou can try to count them, but i think it would take a while

• StudentIs this hair that we are looking at?
  Bugscope Teamyes although we are supposed to call what looks like hair 'setae,' or 'seta' for a single one.
• StudentWhat is a compound eye?
  Bugscope Teamit means it is multifaceted, rather than the eyeball we have
  Bugscope Teamit's kind of like when you look through a kaleidoscope
  Bugscope Teampeople do not have compound eyes, presently
• StudentIs all the seta pointy or just some of them
  Bugscope Teamthey are often pointy
• StudentHow many other species of bugs do you have?

• StudentWhy are there little points sticking out of the setae?

• 12:49 pm

• StudentHow does the bee see with hair on its eye?
  Bugscope Teamit can see through the setae, which may be a bit too close to be in focus
  Bugscope Teamkind of like your eyelashes

• StudentHow big is a tick usually?
• StudentIs there as much hair on ticks as there is on bees?

• StudentDo all insects have hair on their eye?
• StudentWhy is the tick's skin like that?

• StudentHow do they stay in your skin?
  Bugscope Teamtheir mouthparts are barbed
• StudentSo, is the bee dead when you do this?
  Bugscope Teamyes, but usually all insects we bring them were already dead; we don't usually go out with the intention of killing them

• StudentWhat does the setae do for the bee?
  Bugscope Teamthey help sense wind, touch, hot/cold, wet/dry, pheromones (chemicals in the air), chemicals by touch; they may also help with thermoregulation

• StudentWhy does the tick not have as much setae as the bee?
  Bugscope Teamit does not need to have the same kind of access to data about its surroundings that the bee does, in part because it does not fly

• StudentWhy does a tick's skin have those bumps?
  Bugscope Teamthe bumps we saw were barbs that help it stick into your skin

• Studentcan a tick kill you
  Bugscope Teamit can give you diseases that are very debilitating and may eventually kill you

• StudentIs it barbed all over its body?
  Bugscope Teamno mostly on this side of the hypostome and on the other side

• Bugscope Teamwhen ticks swell up they sometimes break open, but they can repair themselves

• StudentWhat is a tick capitulum?
  Bugscope Teamthe actual head part with the palp-like things on the side
• 12:54 pm
• Studentwhat are those hair things?
  Bugscope Teamthose are sensory hairs
  Bugscope Teamcomparable to what we saw on the bee

• Bugscope Teamthis is the head of a moth
• StudentWould there be any pros to humans having barbed skin?
  Bugscope Teamhaha I am not sure --- maybe some kind of warrior?
  Bugscope Teamarmrest jostling on an airplane would be more entertaining

• StudentWhy do ticks go to the head rather than anywhere else?
  Bugscope Teamthey bite in other places, but they prefer the head because it's warm and there are plenty of places to feed. Also they aren't as easily seen there so that helps "guarantee" a meal

• StudentAre those scales?
  Bugscope Teamyup, this is a moth, moth and butterflies both have scales all over their bodies. the scales are modified setae

• StudentWhat do the scales do for the moth?
  Bugscope Teamthey can provide structural and pigmented color, and also can be used for protection. they can shed some scales to get out of a sticky web

• StudentWhat are the things between the antenas and eyes?
  Bugscope Teamthose are palps- mouthparts
• StudentWhy are moths attracted to light?
  Bugscope Teamthey are predisposed to use the moon to help them navigate, and they confuse lights for the moon
• Studentwhat was the coolest sample you ever got?
  Bugscope Teamsome of the mites we get to look at are awesome, also hexapods are cool
• StudentAre you trying to interest kids in science or giving people knowledge?
  Bugscope Teamboth actually! We want to get more kids interested in science, but if that doesn't work we have at least educated them a little bit
• 12:59 pm

• Bugscope Teamthis is a true bug, which is what cicadas are, and ambush bugs, and assassin bugs, and aphids, and stinkbugs

• StudentWhat is covering the bug's body?
  Bugscope Teamit has a shell like a shrimp, kind of, called the exoskeleton

• StudentWhat is a hexapod?
  Bugscope Teamit's usually a type of arthropod with 6 legs. Not all hexapods are insects.

• StudentHow did you get interested in this AWESOME job
  Bugscope TeamI started out doing transmission electron microscopy and was then lucky enough to get a job in a lab where I got to do scanning electron microscopy as well
• StudentWhat is a cicadas?
• Studentis the thing in the middle of his face an intena?
• StudentWhat's on it's eye? Does that help it's vision?
• StudentDo you answer kids' questions all day?
• StudentWhat is a true bug?
  Bugscope Teamit's the common name for an order of insects

• StudentWhat is an arthropod?
• StudentWhy is this bug called a true bug?
  Bugscope Teamit has a proboscis, which it uses to drink either plant juices or bug juices, or even people 'juices' is a major factor making it a true bug

• StudentWhy are bugs so harry?
  Bugscope Teamthey're hairy because they have an exoskeleton which blocks them from sensing their surroundings, so the hairs help with that
• StudentAre there little pieces of hair covering the true bug's body?
  Bugscope Teamthey look like hair for sure; they are projections called setae, or sometimes bristles, or microsetae, or trichae, or spines

• StudentDo mosquito's only drink blood from humans? And why do they drink our blood?
• StudentIs this the eye the eye that we are looking at?

• StudentWhy do the eyes have scales
  Bugscope Teamsome scales might be just misplaced. The separate sections per each eye has to do with there being individual units fot the eye
• StudentWhat are the different bumps all over the eye?
  Bugscope Teamthose are the ommatidia- the individual fecets of the eye

• StudentDo you happen to know when this bug started to exist?

• StudentCan bugs see colors?
  Bugscope Teamyes although often not the same ones we do; they can sometimes see in ultraviolet wavelengths, which we cannot
• StudentIs there a type of camoflauge that true bugs use?

• StudentWhy is there a bump on his eye

• Studentcamouflage**
• 1:05 pm

• StudentWhat is the point of this bug? (like how bees pollinate)?
  Bugscope Teamthe sad part is that we do not always know how some insects fit into the scheme of things until we lose them; we find that many insects have a niche that fits nicely into a fully functioning ecosystem.
• StudentDoes a tree bug eat and destroy trees?
  Bugscope Teamthat depends on the insect, but a number of them eat away at tissue that help transport nutrients from the ground to the leaves and shoots, which make it so new shoots can't grow, and kills already existing ones
• StudentWhat is that antenna thing by it's right eye?

• Studentare those claws

• StudentWhat is a hopper?

• StudentDoes this help bugs get its prey?
• Studentwhat are we looking at right now?

• StudentCan bugs hear?
  Bugscope Teamyup. some can at least. crickets, for example, use chirps to communicate

• StudentWhat is the point of having a compact eye? What are the advantages?
  Bugscope Teamone thing they do is allow the insect to see more of what is around it at the same time, without turning its body (most insects cannot turn their heads). another advantage is that they are very sensitive to changes in the visual field, which means that they can see things coming at them very quickly.
• StudentWhy do hoppers have claws? What does a hopper do?
  Bugscope Teaminsects have claws at the end of their legs. they use them to grab onto things- like we use our hands kind of
• StudentDo most bugs have barbs on their body to hold on to stuff?
• StudentDo mosquito's only drink blood from humans? And why do they drink our blood?
  Bugscope Teamthey drink blood from various species, and some prefer other species; some prefer snakes, for example. the females are the ones that drink the blood, and they are ravenous to drink blood once their eggs have been fertilized because they need to protein in order to successfully lay their eggs.
• 1:10 pm
• StudentWhy does it look like there are cracks on it's body?
  Bugscope Teamthose particular cracks appear to be in a film on the limb, but they maybe real cracks, like from drying
• StudentWhat kind of environment does a hopper live in?
  Bugscope Teamleafy - they're vegetarians
• StudentCan you please show them the inside of the scope again?
  Bugscope Teamhere it is!
• StudentWhere do you get the microscope?
• StudentHow often do you use this scope?
  Bugscope Teamit gets used a few times every day, except sometimes on weekends
• StudentHow long have you guys been doing this?
  Bugscope TeamBugscope since March 1999.
• StudentTHanks :). Can I have control again so a student can move it?
• StudentHow many bugs are on the different slides of the table.
  Bugscope Teamthe bugs are on a stub, and there are 15 or so.

• StudentHow do you kill the bugs and where do you get them?
• Studentdo you do anything other than looking at bugs?

• StudentWhat is a hopper?
  Bugscope Teamthere are leafhoppers, plant hoppers, and grasshoppers; we are not sure what that particular insect is but it has legs that look like it enjoys hopping.

• Bugscope Teamwe have a lab with a variety of microscopes and instruments that people on campus use to image their samples, not just insects

• 1:15 pm
• StudentAre those dots cells?
  Bugscope Teamwe cannot see the delineations between cells in this kind of sample, unless we're looking at bacteria, usually, or we have grown the cells on a substrate.
• StudentWhat is stuck to the bug?
  Bugscope Teamthere is some dirt and a lot of bactera/biofilm
• Studenthow big is the microscope?
  Bugscope Teamlike a big desk with a taller part on one end
• StudentWhat does the ash mean in the name ash borer head?
  Bugscope Teamit's the family of trees their larvae feed in
• StudentWhat kind of microscopes do you use other then Electron
  Bugscope Teamscanned probe microscopes, light/laser/fluorescence microscopes, also micro and nano xray CT machines
• StudentDo you think that the mouth has a lot of bacteria by it?
  Bugscope Teamwe dont often find bacteria on insects, except ticks
• StudentHave you ever looked at a live bug? Or is that impossible?
  Bugscope Teamthey can close their spiracles and kind of hold their breath if they want, so we could look at them, but it would be mean
• StudentThank you
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThanks!
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThank you so much!
• StudentThank YOU!
• StudentThanks
• StudentThank you!!! :3
• StudentThank you!!!:)
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThanks so much!
• StudentThank You! Goodbye
• StudentWhy do spiders have eight legs? What is the benefit of that?
  Bugscope Teamit means for one thing that they can afford to lose a leg or so and still function
• Studentthank you!!
• Bugscope Teamthanks!
• StudentThanks You!
• StudentWhat is the most fascinating thing you have ever looked at?
  Bugscope TeamA ticks haller's organ - it's the organ they use to "smell" their hosts
  Bugscope Teamyay!
• StudentThis was so cool thank you so much!
• StudentThank you
• StudentThank you! That was very interesting and I learned a lot!
• StudentThank you guys so much for answering our questions I am so thankful for your time!! :)
• StudentThank you!

• StudentThis class is just about over, my next class will be in in 5 minutes
• StudentBye :)

• StudentThank you very much!!!!!!

• Bugscope TeamThank you guys! You really asked some great questions!
• StudentTHANKS YOU SO SO SO VERY VERY VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111
• Studentyou answered the question well
• StudentBye-bye! :3

• 1:22 pm
• Bugscope TeamOh look! there's the haller's organ
• Bugscope Teamits a very dirty haller's organ lol
• Bugscope Teamthis is the Haller's Organ, as T said, and if we look up close we see lots of bacteria.

• Bugscope Teameven on the uvula, or whatever it is called
• 1:29 pm
• StudentWhat is the main insect you research?
  Bugscope TeamT studies ticks, which are not actually insects.
  Bugscope TeamI actually study ticks! They aren't insects, but they are arthropods
• Studentcool!
• StudentHow long have you been doing this?
  Bugscope TeamBugscope? We started in March 1999, officially.
• StudentSo what do you like to study

• StudentWhat is the most cool thing in your opinion you have found out?

• StudentIs the hopper claw a disease?
  Bugscope Teamthe claw is like a bird claw, kind of; it is used kind of the same way we use our hands

• StudentIts creepy but really cool!!!

• StudentWhat does it do?
  Bugscope Teampinches and grabs and holds onto things
• StudentHow much does the micro scope cost?
  Bugscope Teamthis one was $582,000.

• StudentThanks
• Studentare those spikes or hairs

• StudentHave you researched any rare insects?
  Bugscope TeamI have not - usually it's hard to research rare insects - usually they are rare because they're engangered

• StudentHow many hours do you work in the lab?
  Bugscope Teamusually around 45 or so

• Studentthat's a lot of money!!!!!

• StudentDo you like your job
• StudentDo you only look at bugs?
• StudentWhere is the hopper critter's habitat?
• Studentwhy is there a lot of spikes on its skin?
  Bugscope Teamthe spikes, or 'setae,' are used to help sense the insect's environment

• StudentWhat is your favorite part of the job?
  Bugscope Teamfocussing for people
  Bugscope Teamand he's amazing at it!

• 1:34 pm

• StudentWow how many micro scopes does your lab have?
  Bugscope Team24 or so, not sure exactically

• Studenthow long have you been studying ticks for?
  Bugscope Teama little over a year now
• StudentWhat made you want to research insects?
• StudentIs there anything specific about the ticks that are currently being studied?
• Studenthow did you get into studying bugs?
• StudentIs your job hard at times?
  Bugscope Teamthere are difficulties in anything you do, but we are very lucky to have such cool stuff to work with
• StudentWhat is your favorite specimen?
  Bugscope TeamI like mites and also hexapods.
• StudentWhat is the hardest part of your job?

• StudentWhat do you use the research you have for?

• StudentWhat are you trying to find in these insects?
  Bugscope Teameveryone's research varies - my research looks at the differences between the haller's organ of ticks

• StudentWhat are the most found diseases in ticks?
  Bugscope TeamDepends on the tick. The black legged tick that we have on the stub here spreads lyme disease
• StudentWhat is your favorite thing about your job?
  Bugscope TeamI like showing people things they had not been able to see before. Once I worked with a guy who used ceramic filters to do his research, and he was nearly done, after 6 years. I was able to show him the micron-sized pore in his filters, which he had never been able to see before.

• StudentWhat made you want to research ticks?

• Studentwhat are some of the past projects you have had?
  Bugscope Teamhundreds of projects, from amphibians to dental implants to chemicals used to neutralize explosives

• 1:39 pm

• StudentWhy did you start studying ticks and other bugs?
  Bugscope TeamI started studying ticks because they are disease vectors and I'm interested in sensory organs

• StudentWhat do you do with your research after you find some?
  Bugscope Teamhopefully publish it so other people can use it and learn from it

• StudentWhat is the insect in?
  Bugscope Teamthe insects and other arthropods are inside the scanning electron microscope vacuum chamber, and they are mounted on doublestick carbon tape, painted where we cannot see the paint with silver, and coated with gold-palladium

• StudentHow does the emerald ash borer catch food?
  Bugscope Teamits food cannot get away -- that is the bad part

• Studentwho do you get the items you research from
  Bugscope TeamT collects hers; we usually have people bring them to us.

• StudentWhy did you become a scientiist?
  Bugscope TeamI started doing this because it was visual research -- it was actually showing someone something and let them make up their own minds what it meant

• StudentHow many days a week do you guys work?
  Bugscope TeamI try to keep it at 5 but answer questions at all times, and if something breaks I will be in to fix it if I can.

• StudentWhat eats a ash borer?
• StudentAre the things you research mainly found in the U.S.A?
  Bugscope Teambecause the people we work with are in the USA, yes...

• Studentwhats your favorite specimen
  Bugscope Teamit varies, but I like to look at mites

• Studentwhat was the first spesamen in your lab?
  Bugscope TeamI started working with frogs and axolotls in 1982.

• StudentHow did the ticks get the diseases in the first place?
  Bugscope TeamThey get them from animals. So when ticks are born, they are larvae and have no diseases, but when they take their first blood meal - if the animal they feed off has it, then they pick it up. Now, when they molt into nymphs (after a blood meal) they need to find another blood meal - here is where they usually spread disease because when they find a host they bite them and feed off of them for several days and during this time they can either spread the disease they have, or pick up a disease as well. Finally, the nymphs will molt into adults and when the adults feed they will also need a blood meal and if they picked up a disease previously they can spread the disease here too
  Bugscope Teamsorry that was a lot

• Studentwhat is the white powder left behind when you touch a moth?
• 1:44 pm

• StudentWhat was the first thing you looked at through one of these microscopes?
  Bugscope Teamwith TEM it was tubulin, from the brain; with SEM it was frog embryos
• StudentWhat is the weirdest bug you have ever looked at?
  Bugscope Teamsome of the hexapods

• StudentWhy are the moth scales layered on top of each other?
  Bugscope Teamthis helps with efficiency of the scales this way if they lose a scale they may still have an overlapping scale to still protect some of that area

• Studentwhat is an axolotls?
  Bugscope Teaman axolotl is a neotenic salamander, meaning that it becomes an adult but remains in a larval state

• StudentDoes a moth have scales all around the body?
  Bugscope Teamyes they do, pretty much

• StudentWhy do the eyes of the moth not rest inside the head like humans?
• Studentwhat is the white powder left behind when you touch a moth?
  Bugscope Teamthat would be their scales

• StudentWhere are these ticks found?
  Bugscope Teamticks are usually found in prairies and forests
• Studentwhy does the moth have scales on its mouth?
  Bugscope Teamthe scales help them escape from spiderwebs, so they are found almost everywhere.

• Studentabout how meany scales do they have?
  Bugscope Teammillions

• StudentWhat is your favorite thing to look under a microscope?
  Bugscope Teammites

• StudentWhat information can you get from looking at bugs under a microscope?
  Bugscope Teammorphological information that helps differentiate species or sexes, for example

• StudentIf you took off the scales of a moth, would it have a chance to live?
  Bugscope TeamI think it would get cold, and it would not be able to fly.
• Studentwhy is there dust on their eyes?

• StudentDo you study bees?
• StudentHow long can a moth live

• StudentLizards and snakes shed their scales so do moths shed their scales?
  Bugscope Teamyes, but not on purpose - they don't grow back
• StudentHow does the eye compound of bugs help them see?
  Bugscope Teamthe compound eye allows its bearer to see sometimes 360 degrees, all around it
  Bugscope Teamalso, it lets the insect see changes in the visual field very rapidly, so it can escape predators, for example

• StudentWhats that?
  Bugscope Teamthis is close up on the antenna of a bee

• StudentTHis is Mrs. N. on a kids computer, can we show them the inside of the scope?
  Bugscope Teamyes just a sec!
• StudentWhy are moths so attracted to light?
• 1:50 pm
• Studentwhy do bee antenas have spikes on them?
  Bugscope Teamthe spikes are sensory hairs that the use to "smell" certain things
• StudentDo you research anything other than insects?
  Bugscope Teamyes almost all of what do does not involve insects at all
  Bugscope TeamT studies insects, but I work with people who do all kinds of other research
• StudentWere you always interested in studying insects? Why?
• StudentHave you studied human cells?
• StudentDo you use different scopes for different species?
  Bugscope Teamdifferent 'scopes for different types of analysis
• StudentHow many species do you look at?
  Bugscope Teamcurrently, I look at 3 tick species
• StudentThank you for showing us. Can you please switch back to Mrs. N?
• StudentWhy are you researching ticks?
• Studenthow lone dose it take to clean that?
  Bugscope Teamall we have to do is take the stub out of the microscope. but it does take a few minutes to clean one

• StudentIf ticks shed their skin so they can escape a spider web, what happens if they get caught once again?

• StudentWhy does the bee antenna have little holes with hairs around them? What is the purpose of them?
  Bugscope Teamthose are sensory, both the 'hairs' and the holes, mostly chemical sensing
• StudentHow often do you look at different types of species?
  Bugscope Teamnot too often, it really depends on what I'm during. last summer I looked at 3 tick species and this summer I will look at 2 different tick species
• StudentHave you studied human cells?
  Bugscope Teamyes

• StudentDo you like mosquito's?
  Bugscope Teamyes

• Bugscope Teamthis is super cool

• Studentwhat type of ticks do you look at?
  Bugscope TeamI look at the black-legged tick, the lone star tick, and the dog tick

• Bugscope Teamthe hole is called an anterior tentorial pit, and it doesn't go anywhere

• 1:55 pm
• Studentwhy are you researching ticks?
  Bugscope TeamI'm researching them because they spread disease to both humans and animals. So I'm working on looking at their host finding structure so that perhaps we can utilize our knowledge of the structure to better control populations of disease spreading ticks

• Studenthow do they see?
  Bugscope Teamticks or mosquitoes?
• StudentWhat do all of those little hairs do for the mosquito?

• StudentDo you study bees?
  Bugscope Teamwe help people study whatever they want. sometimes it is indeed insects and arthropods
• Studenthow far have you gotten?
  Bugscope TeamI've just started my research, but I have gotten a lot of work done
• StudentWhen did you start getting into studying insects?
  Bugscope TeamI did when we started Bugscope so I would know the answers to a few questions.

• StudentIs the scope linked to the site some how or are these just diagrams from the scope from a little while ago?
• StudentHow can you tell if the mosquito is female or male?
  Bugscope Teamthe males have frilly antennae, and the females have kind of boring antennae
  Bugscope Teamalso because females blood feed they have that long needle like mouth and males do not have that
• StudentCan bees see all color or are they color blind like some other animals?
  Bugscope Teamthey see some colors better than others; I think they have problems with red but I am not sure.

• StudentWhy study bug cells and not mammal cells?
  Bugscope Teamwe study everything, or we help with everything; but insects and similar arthropods are super interesting
• Studentwhat does the pattern on the bee's skin do?
  Bugscope Teamit helps other insects and other bees recognize it

• StudentIs this beetle a female or male?
  Bugscope TeamI am not sure. Sometimes you cannot tell without cracking them open.

• StudentAre animals or humans affected more by the diseases carried around by ticks?
  Bugscope Teamits hard to say because we don't study(or know of) all of the animals that are bitten by ticks. Usually, we study the human cases the most because we put ourselves first followed by our pets like cats and dogs. There isn't much research going into all animals just the main ones involved like the white footed mouse and deer which is where the ticks usually get the disease
• StudentWhy do the eyes of the moth not rest inside the head like humans eyes?
  Bugscope Teamit is better for them if they are out where they can provide the best view possible.

• 2:00 pm

• StudentHow much pollen can a bee hold at one time?
  Bugscope Teamprobably much less than a gram, but thousands of pollen grains

• StudentIf moths shed their scales but they don't grow back do they loose protection and or warmth?
  Bugscope Teamthey definitely loose protection. Insects are not warm-blooded animals like we are so they won't loose any warmth

• Studentis the camera update that happens every couple of seconds caused by it being broadcast to us or is it like that for you whenever you guys have to research something?
  Bugscope Teamthe electron beam is constantly scanning across the sample, like a TV,

• StudentAre the ticks affected by the diseases they are carrying or are they just a carrier?
  Bugscope Teamusually they are impervious to the diseases

• Studentthank you!
• StudentThanks!
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThanks!!! :)
• StudentThank You!
• StudentAre mosquitoes' vision the same as ours? Like can they see the colors we see?
  Bugscope TeamI don't think they can see the colors we see, but they may be able to see UV light, which we cannot, and they may be able to see or at least detect heat.
  Bugscope Teamthey have very different eyes - insects cannot see in very much detail, but many have close to 360 vision
• StudentThank you so much!
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThank you!!:)
• StudentThank you so much for your time!! I look more into different types of bugs!!
• StudentIs each part of the eye connected to eachother?
  Bugscope Teamyes, and in particular inside the head, in the brain
• StudentThank you, have fun with the next two classes!
• StudentThank you... Thank very much
• StudentThank you!!!!!
• StudentNext class comes in 10 minutes :). Almost done. :) Two more classes. You guys are awesome
• StudentThank you!!
• StudentThank you so much! I've learned a lot!
• StudentHow much can an ant hold of food?
  Bugscope Teamwhatever fits into the gaster, which is what the abdomen is called.
• StudentThank you very much for your education.
• Studentthank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• StudentThank you for your time you had some very very good answers!!
• StudentThank you very much for donating your time to helping us see cells in larged.
• Bugscope TeamMs N we have a researcher coming in at 2:30. So we will have to leave the 'scope at that time.
• StudentOk. Is there any chance she will let us just watch her work?
• Student2:30 my time correct?
• Bugscope TeamHis company pays for time on the microscope, and we will not be able broadcast his work.
• Bugscope Teamit is 2:04 our time now
• 2:07 pm
• Studentok. I understand. My kids will just be bummed. Can we keep this document up so they can at least look through it and see the script.
• StudentSo..I'm a little confused because I double and triple checked with bugscope that we could have until 2:45 my time, mountain time to use the scopes so all my kids could use this. In my last email they even confirmed this.
  Bugscope TeamI am sorry -- these are the longest sessions by far that we have with almost anyone; we have to share the microscope with researchers, and we usually limit our time to 2 hours or less.
  Bugscope TeamI think Kendra likely didn't think of it being Mountain time, because our calendar says we're done at 1:30 our time, and it is 2:05 now. We are doing our best to accommodate you.
  Bugscope TeamUltimately it is my fault. I cannot blame Kendra.
• Bugscope Teamwe can run for 20 more minutes, or more if Kasi does not have his samples made by 2:30 here.
• StudentI understand SJ, thank you. Are we still ok to go until 2:30 for now? I truly thank you for all your time.
  Bugscope Teamit sounds like he may not be ready by 2:30...
  Bugscope TeamI just gave him two pairs of pliers to help him break his samples, which are usually paint on metal
  Bugscope Teamhe still needs to coat them with gold-palladium

• Bugscope Teamhere we are looking at the top of the head of a Brazilian trapjaw ant.
• Bugscope Teamwe can see the compound eye in the upper left.
• StudentOk. I know you are doing so much . I truly thank you for everything.
  Bugscope Teamwe are good -- I'm sorry to have these constraints on our time.
• 2:12 pm

• Bugscope Teamtrapjaw ants are said to emply one of the fastest of biological functions when their jaws snap together
• Bugscope Teamso the entomologists who study them here use our ultra highspeed video camera
• Bugscope Teamthey need to be able to image at at least 90,000 frames per second
• Bugscope TeamI believe these trapjaw ants feed on springtails (Collembola), which are the super tiny critters you see sometimes when you pass your palm across soil, ouside
• StudentWhat are we looking at
  Bugscope Teamthis is the top of the head of a trapjaw ant, from Brazil

• 2:17 pm

• StudentHow do you look at different bugs?
  Bugscope Teamin this case we mounth them on stubsm, dry, and coat them with gold-palladium before using the scanning electron microscope to get images just like we're doing now

• Bugscope Teammount them on stubs...
• Bugscope Teamthese are ommatidia, the facets of the compound eye
• Bugscope Teamthese particular ommatidia are covered with some kind of film
• StudentAre they dead or alive?
  Bugscope Teamdead
• Studentdo you ever look at live bugs?
  Bugscope Teamwe have, by accident

• Bugscope Teamthe people who study trapjaw ants using the ultrahighspeed camera use a super nice dissecting microscope, and they are alive
• StudentWhat is your favorite bug to look at?
  Bugscope Teammites, but mosquitoes like this are really nice to see

• StudentWhat kind of bugs do you look at?
  Bugscope TeamI look at whatever we have. I do not study insects.
• StudentHow do you kill the bugs
  Bugscope Teamusually we freeze them

• Bugscope Teamthis is totally awesome, what we see right now

• Bugscope Teamit is a mite that has been infesting mosquitoes in this campus colony
• StudentHow much does this microscope cost?
  Bugscope Team$582,000.
• StudentHow long does it take?
  Bugscope Teamwe're doing it now; is that what you mean?
• Bugscope Teamwhen we take images we slow the electron beam down so the images look a bit better than they do now
• 2:23 pm
• StudentDo you use the microscope for anything other than bugs?
  Bugscope Teamabsolutely. we only look at bugs during Bugscope, unless we're helping entomologists
• StudentHow long does it take for the bugs to die
  Bugscope Teamwe don't check, but usually overnight
• StudentAre only bugs what you study?
• StudentDo you ever have to open the bugs to look at them?
  Bugscope Teamone of my guys works for a professor and does that for him
• StudentAre some bugs easier to see than others?
  Bugscope Teamyes for sure
• StudentIs this microscope used often?
  Bugscope Teammost days several people use it

• Studentwhat is your favorite thing to look at besides bugs?
• StudentWhen you use the chamber to put the coating on the bug(s), how long does it take?
  Bugscope Teamabout 10 to 12 minutes, usually; it has a turbo pump

• StudentWhat would happen if a human got hit by the electrons?
  Bugscope Teamum they would be scattered by the atmosphere

• StudentWhat is the easiest bug to work with under the microscope?
  Bugscope Teamnot sure; I like earwigs

• Studentwhat else do you look at
  Bugscope Teambacteria, geological samples, silica samples, food science samples, selfhealing polymer capsules

• StudentWhat is the hardest thing to look at under the microscope?
  Bugscope Teamthings that are oily

• StudentWhat is a turbo pump?
  Bugscope Teamit is a super fast vacuum pump

• StudentWhat other types of things do you look at besides bugs? Are there any science advancements that have come out of your lab?
  Bugscope Teamyes we worked with the flexible silicon people, for example -- the first of those grad students, and the selfhealiing people, the graphite people, nanotube people, all kinds of cool stuff
• StudentDo you look at spiders?
  Bugscope Teamsometimes
• StudentHave you ever looked at lice?
  Bugscope Teamyes
• StudentHow do you get the bugs?
  Bugscope Teampeople send them or bring them
• Studentwhat bugs or other things have you not looked at?
• StudentWhat kind of bugs are oily?
  Bugscope Teamsometimes, for example, stinkbugs have the stink fluid all over them
• 2:28 pm
• StudentWhat do the self healing people look at?
  Bugscope Teamthey make capsules that break open when the things they are in break
• StudentWhere do most of the bugs come from? Are they from different countries?
  Bugscope Teammostly the us, but the trapjaw ant today is from Brazil
• Studentwhat is your favorite thing to look at besides bugs?
  Bugscope Teamnot sure; I kind of like pollen sometimes
• TeacherI know we are on limited time, is there any way we can swith the camera around one last time so they can see the inside of the scope?
  Bugscope Teamsure just a sec
• Bugscope Teamahh it's dark!
• Bugscope Teamthere we go
• StudentWhat are some of the bugs you look at?
• Bugscope TeamKasi is about 15 minutes from being ready...
• StudentDo you ever feel bad when you kill the bugs?
  Bugscope Teamyes, sometimes; I don't like to kill anything, really
• TeacherThank you. Please let me know when we need to turn off :).
  Bugscope Teamhe still has to mount all of his samples and then go to the sputter coater

• Studenthow long do you really look at the bug to get all the information needed
  Bugscope Teamwe try to be really efficient when we are helping entomologists
  Bugscope TeamCate helped a guy, over two or three years, look at over 300 new species of parasitic wasps.

• StudentWhat would happen if you put something other than plants and animals in there.
  Bugscope Teamwe do, most often, look at things that are not plants or animals

• 2:33 pm
• StudentCan you look at the inside of the bugs?
  Bugscope Teamif they are broken or cut open and properly prepared

• Student That microscope looks hard to work. How long does it take to know all the parts and how to the microscope?
  Bugscope Teamit is really easy to use, actually; you learn the tricks, and it is fun

• Studentdo the scales do anything
  Bugscope Teamyes they help protect insects from spider webs, and they also provide color, super cool

• StudentDo you have any bugs cut open and ready?
  Bugscope Teamno; it is kind of gross, to me

• Studenthaha

• Studenthow long did it take to know the microscope in and out?
  Bugscope TeamI have been doing this fulltime since I got out of college in May 1983.
• StudentHow did you get the idea of bugscope?
  Bugscope Teamit was I think a kind of fortuitous accident the guy who hired me made
• StudentWhat is your part in working the micro-scope. Preparing the bugs or working the micro-scope?
  Bugscope TeamI do both, but I manage the whole lab. so I have a few people who work for me who train people to do all kinds of imaging.
• StudentHow long ago did it start?
  Bugscope TeamBugscope started in the beginning of 1999.

• Student How many people use bugscope a year? What is the coolest thing you've done with bugscope?
  Bugscope TeamI like it when we connect with other countries, like Tanzania. But it is fun working with you, as well, of course.
• Studentcan you see the bugs in color?
  Bugscope Teamnot with an electron microscope, unless someone is faking the colors
• 2:38 pm
• StudentDo you use the microscope often?
  Bugscope Teamalmost every weekday
• StudentDo kids use this for their own projects in school?
  Bugscope Teamolder kids, like in college and grad school
• StudentWhere are you centered?
  Bugscope Teamthis is the University of Illinois.
• StudentIs it sometimes hard to see in the microscope with no color?
  Bugscope Teamthat is a good point considering what we are looking at right now. scales have (often) colors derived from the pigments in them, but they also have what are called structural colors, derived from the lines we are looking at right now. those lines are so close together and small that they interfere with visible light.
• StudentWhat is the most interesting pattern you have seen
  Bugscope TeamI found the most awesome pollen grain once. It looked like science fiction, so bizarre.

• StudentWhat is this job called?
  Bugscope Teamelectron microscopist

• Bugscope Teambut anyway, with regard to scales, they sometimes produce changes in light, into UV colors, which we cannot see. it is amazing.
• Studentdo you know what the hairs on the bees eyes do for the bee?
• StudentIf you could look at any bug you wanted what would it be?
• 2:43 pm

• StudentWould you prefer to see the bugs with color, or not?
  Bugscope TeamI am pretty happy, most of the time, to work in greyscale; it is hard to conceive of how this would even work in color.

• StudentCan it be hard to focus the scop

• Studentscope on the bug you are looking at?

• StudentWhat is the smallest thing that you could see under this microscope?
  Bugscope Teamwe can see, for example, brochosomes, during Bugscope sessions. They are 250 to 400 nanometers in diameter. Try googling "brochosome."
  Bugscope Teambut we can see much better than that, just not under the conditions we are using today.

• StudentWhen you look at a bug close up is it usually how you predicted it would look like?
  Bugscope Teamwe often have nice surprises.

• StudentWhat is the most exotic bug you have looked at?
  Bugscope Teamonce we had some flies from Israel in the microscope, and there were only six known in the world at that time
• StudentHave you ever looked at a bacteria cell clearly?
  Bugscope Teamyes

• StudentCan you see DNA in a electron microscope?
  Bugscope Teamyes but the other kind of electron microscope -- a transmission electron microscope (TEM)
• StudentWhat is the largest bug that you have seen in the microscope?
  Bugscope Teama cicada -- really too big

• StudentAre surprises good or bad?
  Bugscope Teamsometimes we find mites, like between the jaws of a beetle, or on the eye of an earwig, or like today, on the antenna of a mosquito
• Studenthow many different microscopes do you work with?
  Bugscope Teamme usually just two main ones; we have many more

• 2:48 pm
• StudentHow many bugs do you look at?
  Bugscope Teamjust the few hundred we see during Bugscope each year
• Studentdo you like your job
  Bugscope Teamsometimes I think I have the coolest job possible

• StudentHave you ever seen a real DNA molecule?
  Bugscope Teamyou cannot really see it the way it is modeled, but you can get the idea of the spiral shape
• StudentWhat is the hardest bug to look at?
  Bugscope Teamthe hardest ones are really hairy, like spider mites
• StudentHow many bug do you look at everyday?
  Bugscope Teamwe do Bugscope twice a week in school season
  Bugscope Teamso maybe 25 or 30

• StudentWhat is the most complex bug have you looked at?
• StudentGoodbye!
• Studentthank you
• StudentHave you ever looked at a bug and got a brilliant idea from it
• Bugscope Teamwe can tell from looking at claws, and what is around them, whether the insect will be able to climb a wall or walk on the ceiling
• Studentbye SJ
• StudentThank you and bye
  Bugscope TeamThank you!
• StudentGood bye and thank you!!!
• Studentthanks!!
• Studentthank you
• StudentThank you!
• StudentThank you
• Bugscope Teamreally nice questions
• Studentthank you for giving your time to help us!
• TeacherThis is such a valuable experience and I truly appreciate the time you give to us.
• StudentBye, Thank you
• StudentBye, thank you
• StudentGOOD BYE
• TeacherI know you are on time constraints so the kids are going to log off. Thank you for all your time and help.
  Bugscope Teamyes I can hear Kasi, getting ready to get on.
• StudentBye
• Studentthank you for your time bye!
• StudentThank you very much, goodbye.
• StudentBye! Thank you!
• Studentthank you!
• StudentThank you for your time!
• Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2014-070
• Bugscope Teamhttp://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/members/2014-070
• Bugscope Teamthe one without the s might work better.
• Bugscope TeamThank you, Everyone!
• TeacherSJ, what do we need to do to wrap up? Can I stay on this site for my next class and just scroll through the script so they can see what we discussed?
• Bugscope Teamyou can for sure go to the website and go over the transcript
• 2:54 pm
• Bugscope Team please tell the next class I am very sorry we ran out of time.
• Bugscope TeamI am on the SEM computer. It is called an ESEM because we can use it in so called environmental mode, without coating samples, as well./
• Bugscope Teamtime to shut down
• TeacherESEM, thank you so much. I know you guys give us more time than other schools and I really appreciate it.
• Bugscope TeamThank you so much for working with us today.
• Bugscope Teamit's Scott, of course....
• Bugscope TeamBye!