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- 8:39 am
- GuestSimple chat line
- GuestTesting non-English: ü, é, ß
- 12:11 pm
- 12:18 pm
- 12:24 pm
- 12:42 pm
- Bugscope TeamHello Mrs G!
- TeacherHello, we were trying to watch your videos before our session and it didn't work for us so we logged on instead.
- TeacherPlease let me know if you want us to wait or start now.
- Bugscope Teamthis is the tip of one of the June bug palps. there are four palps, two of each kind, that help an insect taste and manipulate its food
- Bugscope TeamWe can start now if that works for you.
- TeacherSounds great. The class would like to know what the hair like things are.
- Bugscope Teamplease let us know when you have questions, and also let us know when you would like us to move to one of the presets for you.
- 12:48 pm
- TeacherThey want to know what the hair like things are
Bugscope Teamthose are probably chemosensory setae
Bugscope Teamthey help the insect -- the June bug -- taste its prospective food
- Bugscope Teammost hairs, or setae as we are supposed to call them, are for sense of touch, but these on the end of the palp (which help move or taste food) are probably for helping the insect taste
- TeacherCool! We can move on to the next slide or whatever you have planned
- Bugscope Teamnow you can see where we were
- Bugscope Teamthe head of the June bug, part of its body, and you can see one of screws that controls movement of the stage.
- Bugscope Teamwe have several types of insects inside the microscope chamber right now. they are all sitting on a platter of sorts.
- TeacherCould you explain what that is?
Bugscope Teamwe were looking at the sample as it appears inside the vacuum chamber
- TeacherOne student asks what are the bugs stuck on
Bugscope Teamdouble stick carbon tape
- Bugscope Teamit is an aluminum disk that is covered in double-stick carbon tape. They sometimes will have a dab of silver paint to help them stick more. Then they are all coated in a thin layer of gold-palladium
- Bugscope Teamthe carbon tape has little craters in it
- Bugscope Teamits fangs are below, now, at the moment, at the base of the chelicers we see now
- Bugscope Teamthe spider has 8 eyes but we can see only four right now
- 12:53 pm
- TeacherIs this a spider or still the June Bug
- Bugscope Teamthe mandibles, or actually fangs, are partly covered with setae
- Bugscope Teamthey're sharp and have poison pores near the tips that we cannot see
- Bugscope Teamsome spiders, like tarantulas, can shoot some of their 'hairs' at people or prey
- TeacherAre those all the hairs
Bugscope Teamthis is really cool -- we're looking at tenent setae at the ends of the spider's legs -- where it's hands or claws would be.
Bugscope Teamthe setae have flattened tips that help them stick to surfaces so the spider can crawl on a wall or ceiling.
- 12:58 pm
- TeacherLOL we keep asking as you are answering our question
- TeacherWould this be what helps them climb up walls
Bugscope Teamyes it would help with climbing up walls!
- Bugscope TeamDo you recognize this?
- Bugscope Teamyou can see the praying mantis's mandibles, folded up beneath the palps
- Bugscope Teamwe added this insect to the ones you sent because we thought it would be cool.
- TeacherWe have an ootheca that we hope will hatch before the end of the school year.
Bugscope Teamwow that should be fun!
- Bugscope Teamnow we can see the four palps that many insects have at or around their mouths
- Bugscope Teamthe palps help them taste and manipulate their food
- Bugscope Teamthe mantis has a lot less setae (hairs) than the spider
- 1:03 pm
- Bugscope Teamthe palps and antenna work like noses. the part you are thinking about is the 'lid' of their mouth
- TeacherCould we look at the antenae up close?
- TeacherThe students want to know what is the part above the palps. It looks like a nose.
Bugscope Teamit's called a clypeus; a kind of plate-like element on the face that moves when the praying mantis eats using its mandibles, which are below on the left and right.
- Bugscope Teamhere is a close up of the antenna
- Bugscope Teamthe spines we see help the PM seize its prey.
Bugscope Teamthe praying mantis has those big raptorial arms
- Bugscope Teamwe can come back to the arms
- TeacherThe students think that the antennae look like marshmallows
- Bugscope Teammaybe they are hungry for some s'mores
- Teacherwhat is the thing that looks like a thorn sticking out?
- Bugscope Teamthe thing sticking out is a single seta (hair). It is probably mechanosensory in nature, meaning it is for sense of touch
- 1:08 pm
- Bugscope Teamit could be chemosensory (sense of taste/smell)
- Bugscope Teamthey are connected to nerves underneath the exoskeleon
- Bugscope Teamexoskeleton*
- Bugscope Teamexoskeletons are like suits of armor for the insects, they wouldnt be able to feel anything without these little hairs
- TeacherSo that means they would shed them when they shed the exoskeleton
- Bugscope Teamyes they would
- TeacherSome do want to see the arms but they are really interested in the eyes. Could we look at the eyes?
- Bugscope Teamwe can see that the praying mantis has just about 360 degree vision
- Bugscope Teamtheir eyes allow them to see pretty much 360 degrees around them
- Bugscope Teamwe're looking at the individual facets of the compound eye, called ommatidia
- TeacherIt looks like the eye has hexagons. What are they?
- 1:14 pm
- Bugscope Teamsome insects can see wavelengths of light that we cannot see, such as ultraviolet light
- Teacherand what are the other little things on the surface. Some look like hairs.
Bugscope Teamthe one little flattened thing next to the seta appears to be a mold spore
- Bugscope Teamthere's some hairs and there's some dried goop of some sort. insects are hard to keep clean
- Bugscope Teamwe are pretty sure it doesn't bother them
- TeacherWow hairs sticking out of their eyes. That sounds painful!
Bugscope Teamhaha
- TeacherIs the goop from after the insect died? We are wondering if goop would make it hard for them to see.
Bugscope Teamyes it is dried at this point. It would probably get in the way of their vision. Those little spots are probably small enough that it doesnt mess with the vision too much. It has so many ommatidia.
- 1:19 pm
- Bugscope TeamThese are brochosomes which are made by a different insect--a leafhopper
- TeacherWhat is a brochosome?
- Bugscope Teamthey are little wiffleball-like structures they use to keep their eggs from drying out
- Bugscope Teamas far as we know, brochosomes are produced only by leafhoppers, and as Cate says, we think they may help keep their eggs moist
- Teachercould we see the arms now?
- Bugscope Teamleafhoppers have this thing called an 'anointing behavior,' in which they use their limbs to help spread brochosomes over their exoskeletons
- 1:24 pm
- Bugscope Teamwe often find that a leafhopper's compound eyes are covered with brochosomes.
- Bugscope Teamhere is the grabbing mechanism on the forelegs
- Bugscope Teamthis, now, is the praying mantis's retention plan
- TeacherAre the tiny hairs on the top more setae for feeling?
Bugscope Teamyes you are correct
- TeacherWhy would their eyes be covered with brochosomes if they are for the eggs?
Bugscope Teami think it also keeps their own exoskeleton from drying out too. Not sure why they need to keep it from drying out when other insects dont
Bugscope Teamgood question -- the entomologists are not really sure what the brochosomes are for
- TeacherWhat is the part near the bottom of the screen (middle) that looks like it is coming out of the rest of the arm
Bugscope Teamthat leads to the part that ends in a claw
- Bugscope TeamAs Cate had said, the exoskeleton of an insect is like a coat of armor, and the setae that stick through the exoskeleton help the insect sense the outer world.
- 1:29 pm
- Bugscope Teamtarsi
- Bugscope Teamthe segments of the end of an 'arm' are called tarsi, or tarsomeres.
- TeacherDo you know why one side had a lot of spikes and the other only a few?
- Bugscope Teamthe other side of the arm might have more, we just can't see them. maybe the inside of the leg has more spikes
- Bugscope Teamsometimes the setae we see are near the joint of an arm of leg, and the purpose of those setae is proprioception, or self-sensing; the insect needs to know if its arm or leg is extended or closed against itself.
- Bugscope Teamlet's go look at the cicada
- 1:35 pm
- Bugscope Teami dont know what kind of praying mantis that was. one of our local Illinois varieties
- TeacherDo you know what kind of praying mantis this is/
Bugscope TeamI don't know -- it's a kind of run-of-the mill, like a wild-type, compared to the super fancy colored ones that mimic flowers and plants
- Bugscope Teamnow we see the clypeus -- the face shield -- of the cicada
- Bugscope Teamthe cicada has tiny little antenna
- Bugscope Teamantennae
- Bugscope Teamthere is a broken leg poking upwards, which is more the middle of the screen
- TeacherWe know this says the cidada face but it is hard to figure out what we are looking at.
Bugscope Teamthere are compound eyes on both sides, the mouthparts are covered up, and you cannot help but think that the clypeus must resonate with sound
- Bugscope Teamhere is the cicada antenna
- Bugscope Teamsensory pits
- TeacherIs this the thing that looked kind of like an elephant's trunk
- Bugscope Teamyes little bit like a mini trunk
- Bugscope Teamticks have sensory organs like that, and they use them to sense carbon dioxide, which people and animals breathe out, so they can find them
- 1:40 pm
- TeacherMy second graders are getting a little antsy. Are there any other different insects? They are having a great time, but they are 7 :)
- Bugscope Teamsure!
- Bugscope Teamhere is a crane fly you sent us; it's legs fell off somewhere
- TeacherThank you :)
- Bugscope Teamcrane flies often look like giant mosquitoes, but they are harmless
- Bugscope Teamthere is a stick-like object below the wings. That is a haltere. Flies use these to help balance as it flies with 2 wings
- TeacherIs this still the crane fly
- Bugscope Teamyes still the crane fly
- Bugscope Teamteppie is taking us to the housefly
- Bugscope TeamThis is the house fly you sent us.
- TeacherAre we able to see wings on the housefly or the crane fly?
- TeacherWhat part is that? It looks almost like leather
Bugscope Teamwe were looking at the side of the body of the crane fly. around the area of its wings and haltere
- 1:46 pm
- Bugscope Teamhere is the wing on a housefly
- Bugscope Teamthey are a lot hairier than you might expect
- Bugscope Teamthe setae help keep them dry when it's raining.
- TeacherThey would like to see the eyes.
- TeacherAnthony says it looks like fish scales
- Bugscope Teamhere is the housefly eye
- TeacherWhat is on the top of the screen? Is it something on the eye?
- Bugscope Teamit could be a scale from an insect like a mosquito
- TeacherIs that something on the eye or part of the eye
- Bugscope Teamthis is not part of the eye
- 1:51 pm
- Teacherare we able to look at the fly legs
- Bugscope Teamthis fly and the cranefly do not have legs anymore it seems. let me find something comparable
- TeacherWe have a question about the microscope. We read about an electron microscope that scientists used to see virus. Is yours similar?
- Bugscope Teamhere is a leg from the wasp you sent us
- Bugscope Teamit is similar, but not as high-powered.
- Bugscope TeamViruses are typically imaged using transmission electron microscopes. This is a scanning electron microscope.
- Teachervery interesting
- Bugscope Teamso today we are using an electron beam that is set at 7.5 kV. A TEM uses an electron beam powered to 120-200kV
- Bugscope Teammuch more power, and smaller sample sizes
- Bugscope Teamwe can see bacteria with this microscope though
- 1:57 pm
- Bugscope Teambacteria are around 2 micrometers big. The brochosomes were about 500 nanometers big, which is half a micrometer
- TeacherThank you so much for showing us all this. We have to go to recess now and if I keep them there will be mutiny! We really appreciate this and I can't wait to do it with my class next year too!
Bugscope TeamThank you Mrs. G!