Connected on 2019-06-19 15:00:00
from Hayward, California, United States
- 2:22 pm
- Bugscope TeamWe're making presets now (see the thumbnails at left as we work).
- 2:27 pm
- 2:33 pm
- 2:40 pm
- 2:45 pm
- Bugscope Teamlooks good from here DaddyO
- 2:51 pm
- 2:56 pm
- Teacherwe will be joining soon! Students are looking at insects and plants and flowers here in the clasroom
- Bugscope TeamWelcome back!
- Bugscope TeamK we are good, finished with the presets.
- 3:01 pm
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions, of course...
- Bugscope TeamHi again!
- Bugscope Teamthat is one of the sweat bees antennae
- Bugscope TeamDr Korb, a technical glitch: did your students only have the option to login as a guest, not as a student?
- Bugscope Teamthe background, with the gnarly shapes, is doublestick carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see some pollen grains; the little branchlike things are setae -- tiny hairs
- Bugscope Teambut they're not mammals so they're technically not hairs
- Bugscope Teamsetae often have sensory functions
- Bugscope Teamthe sort of halo around the two insects is silver paint that we used to ground and better secure them
- 3:06 pm
- Guestyes guest only
Bugscope TeamThanks! I'll look into that for next time.
- Bugscope Teamyou're helping us work out the unwanted bugs
- TeacherScot - funny
- GuestWhat are we looking at...
Bugscope TeamSweat bee. Looks like a bunny.
Bugscope TeamHoverfly on the right.
- Bugscope TeamWho wants to drive the scope?
- Bugscope TeamAssia, you're driving. You should see some red + - buttons.
- Teacherhey - can I control?
Bugscope Teamyes you are the supreme ruler
- GuestI can’t drive cami,,e
Bugscope TeamSorry, Scott gave it back to Dr Korb
- GuestWhat is the long tube in between the face?
- Bugscope Teammost setae/hairs are mechanosensory- meaning they just provide sense of touch. then there are the chemosensory- for smells/tasting
- Guestwhat are the differences between sweat bee and honey bee?
- GuestAre those legs coming out of the center of the chest area?
Bugscope Teamyes they come out of the thorax, which is the 'chest' of an insect
- GuestWhat are those hairs called?
Bugscope Teamthe larger hairs that have sockets around them are generally called setae
Bugscope Teamthe smaller hairs that may extend out of the cuticle, that are likely not connected to nerves or other sensory structures, are microsetae
- TeacherPlease give Saul control
- GuestWhy isn’t it in color
Bugscope TeamBecause the microscope doesn't use light.
Bugscope TeamIt blasts electrons at each point of the bug; how many reflect back determines how light or dark to draw that part on the screen.
- Bugscope TeamSaul has control
- Guestcan we look at the wings
Bugscope Teamciba because we've mounted almost every insect on its dorsal side, we can see only parts of the wings
- 3:11 pm
- GuestWhy is it called a sweat bee?
Bugscope Teamthey drink human sweat!
- GuestHow much is the microscope
- Bugscope Teamaccording to the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, a sweat bee has the least painful sting of all stinging insects.
- GuestWhat's the thing sticking out of the eye?
Bugscope Teamthat is a hair/seta!
- Guestwhat are those hexagons?
Bugscope Teamthey are the individual facets, or ommatidia, of the eye
- GuestIs there a practical use for them having setae/microsetae?
Bugscope Teamyes for sure -- the setae help insects and other arthropods sense their environment, through the cuticle
Bugscope Teamsome setae are mechanosensory, some are chemosensory, some sense heat, some help the insect sense when it has overextended a limb, or just moved it
- GuestHey daddy-o whose driving this thing you or me?
Bugscope TeamYou; I was just helping for a sec.
- GuestIs that a joke ???
- Guestare those hairs like eyelashes to protect the eye?
Bugscope Teamthey help the insect sense touch, and windspeed and direction
- GuestAre the blobs pollen?
Bugscope TeamThey're like the "pixels" of each eye part.
Bugscope TeamWe've got other thumbnail shortcuts to pollen on the other bugs if you're curious.
- GuestHow do they drink human sweat
Bugscope Teamthey have tongue-like structures as part of their mouthparts
- Guest*cost wise
Bugscope TeamAbout a million, depending on how you do the accounting.
- TeacherLooks like a furry owl
- TeacherHi I'm Miguel Korb's student. What are we looking at?
Bugscope Teamthis is a Monarch butterfly's compound eye
- GuestIf they drink human sweat, and we want to help sweat bugs live, should we offer our sweaty bodies for them to land on?
Bugscope Teamfor sure
- GuestWait so they drink human sweat? Like off humans? Are these common
- GuestI relinquish my control.
- 3:17 pm
- GuestWhy would they have a hair in the eye?
Bugscope Teamthey help sense when something is touching the eye or when the wind speed is changing
- Bugscope Teamterminex says sweat bees are equal-opportunity pollinators, and they will pollinate virtually any type of available flower.
- Bugscope TeamWho wants to try now?
- TeacherPlease give Kyle control of the microscope.
Bugscope TeamKyle has control!
- Bugscope Teamtotally cool
- Bugscope Teampollen grains
- GuestLmao does this go in my nose and eyes
- Bugscope TeamYes, yes, and yes.
- GuestWhat is that crack?
Bugscope Teamthe crack is in the doublestick carbon tape the insects and pollen grains are resting on
- GuestLmao does this go in my nose and eyes
Bugscope Teamyes for sure
- GuestDoes all pollen look the same?
Bugscope Teamno. a lot of it does seem to look like this, but there are many shapes
- GuestDoes it look prickly to help it stick to pollinators and other plants?
Bugscope Teamyes!
- GuestCan humans help pollinate?
Bugscope TeamIf you kick a football into a pine tree and a cloud of pollen falls out... yes.
- GuestWhat parts of the country do sweat bees live?
Bugscope TeamHere in the midwest they're common.
Bugscope Teamthey are found throughout the world, liking the temperate regions best
- Guestdo bugs have sense of smell? How bugs navigate from flower to flower?
- 3:22 pm
- GuestBed bugs are horrible.........
- GuestWhat is your least favorite bug
Bugscope Teambedbug for me i think. or lice
Bugscope Teamnot sure, but one of my favorites are leafhoppers
Bugscope Teamthe kinds of bugs that you can't easily get rid of and feed on you is my answer
Bugscope TeamBiting flies :(
Bugscope Teamphp/mysql buffer overflows, but hey, I'm a techie.
Bugscope Teamyeah I guess roaches are not so cool, and they are not so interesting either
- TeacherAny scorpians?
Bugscope Teamnot today
- Teacher:(
- GuestI like the idea of fire ants but I wouldn’t want to like be near them. I think it’s cool how they float together in water
- GuestWtf is a biting fly.....
Bugscope Teamlike a deerfly?
Bugscope Teamthey have slashing cutting mouthparts
Bugscope TeamIt hurts when they bite, but they don't leave a bite like a mosquito
- GuestDo you guys study ticks?
Bugscope Teamwe work with entomologists who study ticks, so we have them sometimes
- Bugscope Teamaround here there are deerflies that bite. Then there are aphids which are little true bugs with piercing mouthparts.
- GuestCould you please control of the microscope, and show us insect mouthparts?
Bugscope TeamDone. "Wasp head" preset.
Bugscope Teamserious mouthparts: two sets of palps, the labrum, the mandibles
- Guestwhat bug did this insect eat?
Bugscope Teamnot sure what kind of wasp this is; some of them chew wood
Bugscope Teamit does look like it has another insect in its mouth
- 3:27 pm
- Teacherdo insects smell things?
Bugscope Teamyes
Bugscope Teama lot -- they follow pheromones in the air, or they can
- Bugscope TeamHere's the head of a worker honeybee.
- GuestCan we look at the mold spores
Bugscope TeamSure, just a sec.
- Bugscope TeamHere's some mold spores and other random stuff inside a monarch butterfly proboscis.
- GuestWhat do they use the mouthparts for?
Bugscope Teameating, chewing, sometimes helping form their nests
Bugscope Teamalso, some of the mouthparts -- the palps, help taste prospective food
- GuestHow big is the microscope
Bugscope Teamlike a big tall desk with a taller column on one side
Bugscope Teamlike a teacher's desk or I guess an executive desk
Bugscope Teamhttps://bugscope.beckman.illinois.edu/img/esem-feg.JPG
- GuestWhat is a proboscis?
Bugscope Teamit means nose but it also means the pointy kind of mouthparts that some insects have
- GuestHow big can microscopes get
Bugscope Teamsome of the million-volt TEMs can be three stories tall -- like the one in the first Spiderman movie
- Bugscope TeamPrudy, you're driving. Zoom out to see the "nose" completely.
- Guesthow long do insects live on average?
Bugscope Teamusually around 1-3 months. Some can live around a day and some, like monarchs, can overwinter and survive a couple years
- GuestDo you guys use old computers ? Or is that picture an example
Bugscope Teamhaha No we have modern computers.
Bugscope Teamthat image shows a late 1990's era SEM
- 3:32 pm
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see the more spongy kind of mouthparts that flies have
- Bugscope Teamyou can also see one of the antenna on the top left
- Guestlive**
- GuestWhat is the center part called?
Bugscope Teamthat is the mouth
Bugscope Teamhaha
Bugscope Teamnot trying to be rude...
- Guestis it true that dragonflies only luve for a day
Bugscope Teamdragonflies live longer than a day, but mayflies I think have short lives
Bugscope Teamdragonflies live around 6 months, from egg to adult
- GuestIs it true that regular flies only live 24 hours?
Bugscope TeamI've seen a housefly stuck in my window for more than a day...
- Bugscope TeamMayflies live ca. 24 hours, but most insects, most flies live for days and weeks'
- GuestHow long do roaches live? Can they really survive a nuclear bomb
Bugscope Team1, not sure. 2, let's not find out!
- GuestWhat is the difference between a Yellow Jacket and a Wasp?
Bugscope Teama yellow jacket is a specific kind of wasp
- Guesthow much does a bee and dragonfly weigh?
Bugscope Teama bee perhaps less than a gram, and a dragonfly perhaps a few grams if it is large
- 3:38 pm
- GuestDo you guys never kill bugs. Like morally
Bugscope TeamI have no moral issue with killing a bug, and it depends on the space it is in. Big spider, small room: he dies. Small spider, big room: live to see another day!
- Guestdo you study spiders too?
Bugscope Teamyes when we get them -- they don't dry very well
- GuestWhy are bees disappearing?
Bugscope Teamthe environment is changing; their habitat is disappearing; they may have been replaced by another species, such as Argentinian bumble bees being outcompeted by imported European honeybeesan ho
Bugscope Teamsorry for extra letters at the end...
- Guestdoes the size and weight affect how high and how far they can fly?
Bugscope TeamNot that much. Wind affects that much more.
- Bugscope Teami'm not 100% here, but using my handy dandy field guide book, I think the wasp we have is a blue mud dauber. The females capture orbweavers (spiders) with a paralyzing sting
- Bugscope TeamBack to the sweat bee. Here's some pollen stuck to it.
- Bugscope Teampollen!
- Teacherthanks for showing us some new things!
- Bugscope Teamno problem. It is fun for us to be doing this again
- 3:43 pm
- Bugscope Team(Here's the sunflower pollen again.)
- Bugscope TeamKDeMain, you can drive the scope if you want.
- GuestDo corporations replicate pollination to speed up farming
Bugscope TeamI'm not sure if they replicate it, but I'm sure they do all they can to make sure pollination occurs
- Teacherwe are doing a whole unit on pollinators - anything you can tell us in the next 10 minutes about that would be interesting (korb here again)
Bugscope Teamglobal warming and insecticides such as nicotinamides are big problems; also, as I meant to mention below, humans brought European bees into Chile, and they migrated at least as far as Argentina, wiping out whole other species of endemic pollinators
- GuestDoes pollen look different based on where it was produced? like why does this one look smooth but the sunflower one was spikey?
Bugscope Teamdifferent plants will make different looking pollen grains. I'm not sure why some are smooth. You would think all should be spiky so they could stick on pollinators better
Bugscope Teamsome can be oblong like a football and others can be round like these sunflower ones. They can also have different aperture numbers. Like the spiky balls are just 1 aperture. We saw some other ones that looked like it had 4 (apertures are those lobes, with the indentations)
- GuestWhat bugs are you guys afraid of
Bugscope Teamspiders, which are technically not bugs, and hornets, which are
Bugscope Teamhuman-fly hybrids
Bugscope TeamAny thing with more than 6 legs *shiver*
Bugscope Teamfor me it's the larvae. I don't like wiggly things
- Bugscope Teamthere are also viral diseases that affect pollinators, as well as mites such as Varroa mites
- Teacherthat is a way coolimage!!
- Teachercool image
- Teachersorry we are n't driving the scope as much - we are a little tired.
Bugscope TeamNo worriers! It's helping me learn how tro as well.
- Teachersummer classes are LONG
- Guestwhy certain pollinators choose specific type of flower?
Bugscope TeamThat has to do, at least partly, with the UV colors they see on the flowers
Bugscope TeamI heard somewhere of a particular orchid that needs a particular hummingbird with a really really long tongue to pollinate.
- Bugscope TeamMechanical pollination is possible, and it has been shown at times to be more effective than insect pollination, but there are other reasons why insects should not be wiped out.
- 3:48 pm
- Teacherhope this is helpful to you all
Bugscope TeamIt is for me since I am new to Bugscope. Yesterday and today are my first sessions, and I am hooked!
- Bugscope Teamthings are going pretty smoothly on our end so I know I am happy. Camille is, I'm sure, enjoying making a list of things to debug
- Bugscope TeamYou can see all the insects!
- Bugscope TeamThey are coated with a thin layer of gold-palladium to make them conductive for the electron beam
- Bugscope TeamDr Korb we are thrilled to be working with you, as in the old days. This new scanning electron microscope is more powerful and better equipped than the old one, but it has been very difficult to set up for Bugscope. To us this represents a big triumph, and we are very happy to have you on board for these first few new Bugscope connections
- Bugscope Teamso even if you could image in color, it wouldn't look very colorful
- Teachertalk to you soon about more sessions maybe for the Fall.
- Bugscope TeamSuper cool.
- Bugscope TeamThank you Dr. Korb!
- Bugscope TeamThank you!
- Teacheryay!! Ok - we are going to sign off for our break then a pollinator activity! Great to "see" you all again!! Glad we could help relaunch!!!
Bugscope TeamGlad over here too, Dr Korb. See you soon again we hope!
- Bugscope Teamthanks for hanging out with us!
- Bugscope TeamThank you to Dr Korb's students, as well!
- Bugscope TeamOK, show's over I guess. I'll logout all the students.