DonorsChoose Science Challenge Results!

The DonorsChoose Science Blog Challenge is over–and Bug Donors were able to fund a Connecticut teacher! Yay!

Here’s what she had to say:

I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for your generosity. It is so amazing and inspiring to know that you are all committed to expanding my students’ experiences and opportunities. 

The resources that you have provided will give my students first-hand knowledge of life science. Students who have never before explored the natural world will get a chance to observe, care for, interact with, and study live animals in their habitats. My students will be exposed to the world outside of the streets, and this exposure and experience can help them reach their full potential in life. 

I know that my students can succeed, given the opportunity. YOU have helped give them this opportunity. Thank you on behalf of my students and their futures.

With gratitude,
Ms. O

If that letter doesn’t make you a little verklempt, you have a heart of stone.  Thank you so much for your generous donations! It’s not really important to win the competition, but to get kids involved with nature.  The total for ALL the science bloggers that participated was over $50,000 and will affect over 27,00o kids. WIN.

If you haven’t donated yet, there’s still time–you can visit the Insect Donors Challenge page and still give.  We are just $179 away from funding a teacher in Tulsa that wants to give her pre-K urban kids natural materials to learn and play with.  There are two other projects that will involve kids in composting and gardening.

Thanks everyone!

Bug Camp!

I don’t help with this, but I know the kids that attend love it!

Each year, the MSU Bug House holds summer camps to introduce children to the wonderful world of insects.

Michigan State University Insect World Science Camp is designed for children 9 to 12 years old. It is an over-night camp that goes from July 12 – 15, 2009. Depending on option, fees begin at $250.

There are also 1/2 Day Bug Camp Sessions  for children 6-11 years old.

For more information visit http://www.ent.msu.edu/

Ask an Entomologist: Do insects have eyes?

This question was relayed to me by Zooilogix from a young reader. The answer is yes, insects do have eyes-they even have two kinds of eyes!

The first kind of eye that insects have are called Ocelli. This photo of a wasp head shows the characteristic arrangement of 3 ocelli in a triangle between the larger compound eyes. Most adult insects have two compound eyes, just like we humans have two eyes.

Both kinds of insect eyes–ocelli and compound eyes– function to detect light and movement, just like our eyes. Unfortunately, there are so many different kinds of insects, and kinds of insect eyes, that a discussion of them all without boring everyone, or sounding like a textbook, is going to be impossible.

So let’s just focus on the cool stuff, eh? I’ll put links at the bottom for the people that really want to know what an apposition eye is.

Insect compound eyes are very different–but also similar–to human eyes.

Human eyes are mostly liquid, and use the iris to adjust how much light gets in. You can see this at work if you look at a bright light and then away when looking in a mirror–your pupil will get smaller and bigger, depending on the light.

Insect eyes are mostly solid, and are made up of many individual parts. An insect eye has a sort of bumpy appearance–some insects have over 40,000 individual units to a single eye, which is why it’s called a compound eye. They use pigments traveling up and down inside the eye to regulate how much light gets in. This can make some really neat patterns on the insect eye. Because the eye is solid, it isn’t as easily injured by a poke as our fragile liquid eyes.

Freaky-cool insect eye modifications:

Whirligig beetles (Gyrinidae) actually have 4 compound eyes! Gyrinids live and swim on the surface of ponds and streams. One set of eyes is for seeing above the water, and one is for seeing below the water. (The red line in this photo shows where the water line is when the beetle swims) Oddly enough, these beetles only appear to have 4 eyes–each of their eyes splits in half during development. One half migrates downward onto to the beetle’s chin, and the other to the top of its head.
If you had 2 extra eyes, where would you put them?
You can learn more about gyrinid beetles at Hilton Pond’s website.

Another neat variation on the basic plan is found in dragonflies. Their eyes just about cover their whole head! What would having a head that’s almost all eyes be like?

Our last example of cool insect eyes is found in a group of flies called Diopsidae. They have their eyes out on stalks!

I’d have a lot of trouble with these kinds of eyes–I tend to bump into things a lot, and it would really be a drag to break one of your eyes off!

So there you go, a very brief intro to insect eyes for a young’n.

Some additional insect vision resources:

• Ask a Biologist: Butterfly vision
• Ask a Biologist: What do insects really see?
• San Diego Museum’s online vision exhibit
• An animated illustration of how insect compound eyes work
• A nice explanation of the different types of compound eyes

More advanced resources:

• How insects see polarized light
• UNL’s chapter on insect vision
• A nifty post on the evolution of fly eyes, for those really into rhabdomere arrangement. It’s discussing this paper in Nature, I think.

Children and gardening

A new report by the Cornell Garden Based Learning program:

“Researchers have discovered the secrets to enhancing youth participation in school and community-based garden programs. A three-year study entitled “Greener Voices” proves that children will engage in learning more readily when given responsibility for decision making and planning. “

There is a really interesting “ladder of participation” that models the types of interactions kids can have with gardens. One of the brilliant things this extension program did was partner with Early Childhood faculty members to help build and assess the program.

There are a huge number of resources there; I can’t wait to try them! (They have a “getting started” section that lists what you need to consider before jumping in.) There is also a nice list of research papers that support and document their work.

You can read the actual paper online if you have a subscription–it’s very interesting: Greener Voices: An Exploration of Adult Perceptions of Participation of Children and Youth in Gardening Planning, Design, and Implementation. HortTechnology 17: 151-272 (2007)

Farm Kids have less asthma

I’ve mentioned before that lots of research suggests being a dirty kid is actually good for you.
Some new research was added to the evidence this week:

“This study shows that living in a farming environment reduces the risk of developing asthma…The researchers believe that exposure to endotoxins stimulates the body’s immune system and keeps it busy fighting bacteria thus reducing the risk of the body turning its immune attention to lung inflammation that causes asthma….

“This research suggests that we should discourage childhood exposure to tobacco smoke, encourage breast feeding, and not worry about keeping children’s environment too sterile,” said Majaesic.”