TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Emma Bryce: The case of the vanishing honeybees

Unscramble the Blue Letters

There is an environmental mystery afoot, and it begins with a seemingly trivial daitel that reveals a disaster of global proportions. One day, you notice that the honey you slather on your morning toast is more expensive. Instead of switching to jam, you iintstvagee the reason for the price hike. What you find is snkocihg. The number of domesticated honeybees in the US has been decreasing at an alarming rate. This decline appears too big to be explained by the usual causes of bee death alone: disease, parasites or starvation. A typical crime scene has almost no audlt bees left in the hive, except, perhaps, a lonely queen and a few other survivors. It's full of untouched food stores and a brood of unbron larvae, suggesting that the adults vceaatd without waiting for them to hatch. But what's particularly eerie is that there's no tell-tale mass of dead or dying bees nearby. Either they have forgotten their way back to the hive, or they have simply disappeared. These mysterious disappearances aren't new. hanums have been collecting honey for centuries. But it wasn't until European settlers in the 1600's idocetunrd the subspecies, Apis mellifera, that we domesticated bees. Since the 19th century, beekeepers have reported occasional mass disappearances, giving them enigmatic names like disappearing disease, spring dwindle disease and autumn collapse. But when in 2006 such losses were found to affect more than half of all hives in the US, the pnnoeoemhn got a new name: colony collapse disorder. The most finngirehtg thing about this mystery isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular sugar in our tea. We farm bees for their henoy, but they also pollinate our corps on an industrial scale, generating over 1/3 of America's food production this way. So, how can we find the culript behind this calamity? Here are three of the possible onfeefrds. Exhibit A: Pests and Disease. Most infamous is the varroa mite, a minuscule red pest that not only invades coeoilns and feeds on bees, but also transfers pathogens that sutnt bee growth and shortens their life span. Exhibit B: Genetics. The queen is the core of a healthy hive. But nowadays, the millions of queen bees drtbuitised in commercial hives are bred from just a few original queens, which raises the worry about a lack of genetic diversity which could weaekn bees' dfeneess against pathogens and pests. exihbit C: Chemicals. Pesticides used both on cecmoairml beevihes and agricultural crops to ward off parasites could be getting into the food and water that hynebeoes consume. Researchers have even found that some pesticides daamge the honeybees' homing abilities. So we have a file full of cuels but no clear ledas. In reality, scientists, the atcaul detectives on this case, face disagreement over what causes colony claslpoe disorder. For now, we asusme that several factors are the cause. Honeybees aren't nairsceelsy in danger of encotxitin, but fewer bees overall means less pollination and higher food costs, so it's crucial that sinsietcts solve the case of the vanishing bees. Because while having less honey might be a bzkluizl, crop shortages are something that would truly sting.

Open Cloze

There is an environmental mystery afoot, and it begins with a seemingly trivial ______ that reveals a disaster of global proportions. One day, you notice that the honey you slather on your morning toast is more expensive. Instead of switching to jam, you ___________ the reason for the price hike. What you find is ________. The number of domesticated honeybees in the US has been decreasing at an alarming rate. This decline appears too big to be explained by the usual causes of bee death alone: disease, parasites or starvation. A typical crime scene has almost no _____ bees left in the hive, except, perhaps, a lonely queen and a few other survivors. It's full of untouched food stores and a brood of ______ larvae, suggesting that the adults _______ without waiting for them to hatch. But what's particularly eerie is that there's no tell-tale mass of dead or dying bees nearby. Either they have forgotten their way back to the hive, or they have simply disappeared. These mysterious disappearances aren't new. ______ have been collecting honey for centuries. But it wasn't until European settlers in the 1600's __________ the subspecies, Apis mellifera, that we domesticated bees. Since the 19th century, beekeepers have reported occasional mass disappearances, giving them enigmatic names like disappearing disease, spring dwindle disease and autumn collapse. But when in 2006 such losses were found to affect more than half of all hives in the US, the __________ got a new name: colony collapse disorder. The most ___________ thing about this mystery isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular sugar in our tea. We farm bees for their _____, but they also pollinate our _____ on an industrial scale, generating over 1/3 of America's food production this way. So, how can we find the _______ behind this calamity? Here are three of the possible _________. Exhibit A: Pests and Disease. Most infamous is the varroa mite, a minuscule red pest that not only invades ________ and feeds on bees, but also transfers pathogens that _____ bee growth and shortens their life span. Exhibit B: Genetics. The queen is the core of a healthy hive. But nowadays, the millions of queen bees ___________ in commercial hives are bred from just a few original queens, which raises the worry about a lack of genetic diversity which could ______ bees' ________ against pathogens and pests. _______ C: Chemicals. Pesticides used both on __________ ________ and agricultural crops to ward off parasites could be getting into the food and water that _________ consume. Researchers have even found that some pesticides ______ the honeybees' homing abilities. So we have a file full of _____ but no clear _____. In reality, scientists, the ______ detectives on this case, face disagreement over what causes colony ________ disorder. For now, we ______ that several factors are the cause. Honeybees aren't ___________ in danger of __________, but fewer bees overall means less pollination and higher food costs, so it's crucial that __________ solve the case of the vanishing bees. Because while having less honey might be a ________, crop shortages are something that would truly sting.

Solution

culprit
honeybees
phenomenon
defenses
crops
collapse
offenders
actual
humans
introduced
colonies
damage
scientists
vacated
extinction
distributed
necessarily
weaken
unborn
leads
exhibit
commercial
assume
honey
clues
beehives
detail
adult
stunt
buzzkill
shocking
investigate
frightening

Original Text

There is an environmental mystery afoot, and it begins with a seemingly trivial detail that reveals a disaster of global proportions. One day, you notice that the honey you slather on your morning toast is more expensive. Instead of switching to jam, you investigate the reason for the price hike. What you find is shocking. The number of domesticated honeybees in the US has been decreasing at an alarming rate. This decline appears too big to be explained by the usual causes of bee death alone: disease, parasites or starvation. A typical crime scene has almost no adult bees left in the hive, except, perhaps, a lonely queen and a few other survivors. It's full of untouched food stores and a brood of unborn larvae, suggesting that the adults vacated without waiting for them to hatch. But what's particularly eerie is that there's no tell-tale mass of dead or dying bees nearby. Either they have forgotten their way back to the hive, or they have simply disappeared. These mysterious disappearances aren't new. Humans have been collecting honey for centuries. But it wasn't until European settlers in the 1600's introduced the subspecies, Apis mellifera, that we domesticated bees. Since the 19th century, beekeepers have reported occasional mass disappearances, giving them enigmatic names like disappearing disease, spring dwindle disease and autumn collapse. But when in 2006 such losses were found to affect more than half of all hives in the US, the phenomenon got a new name: colony collapse disorder. The most frightening thing about this mystery isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular sugar in our tea. We farm bees for their honey, but they also pollinate our crops on an industrial scale, generating over 1/3 of America's food production this way. So, how can we find the culprit behind this calamity? Here are three of the possible offenders. Exhibit A: Pests and Disease. Most infamous is the varroa mite, a minuscule red pest that not only invades colonies and feeds on bees, but also transfers pathogens that stunt bee growth and shortens their life span. Exhibit B: Genetics. The queen is the core of a healthy hive. But nowadays, the millions of queen bees distributed in commercial hives are bred from just a few original queens, which raises the worry about a lack of genetic diversity which could weaken bees' defenses against pathogens and pests. Exhibit C: Chemicals. Pesticides used both on commercial beehives and agricultural crops to ward off parasites could be getting into the food and water that honeybees consume. Researchers have even found that some pesticides damage the honeybees' homing abilities. So we have a file full of clues but no clear leads. In reality, scientists, the actual detectives on this case, face disagreement over what causes colony collapse disorder. For now, we assume that several factors are the cause. Honeybees aren't necessarily in danger of extinction, but fewer bees overall means less pollination and higher food costs, so it's crucial that scientists solve the case of the vanishing bees. Because while having less honey might be a buzzkill, crop shortages are something that would truly sting.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
colony collapse	2
collapse disorder	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
colony collapse disorder	2

Important Words

abilities
actual
adult
adults
affect
afoot
agricultural
alarming
apis
appears
assume
autumn
bee
beehives
beekeepers
bees
begins
big
bred
brood
buzzkill
calamity
case
centuries
century
chemicals
clear
clues
collapse
collecting
colonies
colony
commercial
consume
core
costs
crime
crop
crops
crucial
culprit
damage
danger
day
dead
death
decline
decreasing
defenses
detail
detectives
disagreement
disappearances
disappeared
disappearing
disaster
disease
disorder
distributed
diversity
domesticated
dwindle
dying
eerie
enigmatic
environmental
european
exhibit
expensive
explained
extinction
face
factors
farm
feeds
file
find
food
forgotten
frightening
full
generating
genetic
genetics
giving
global
growth
hatch
healthy
higher
hike
hive
hives
homing
honey
honeybees
humans
industrial
infamous
introduced
invades
investigate
jam
lack
larvae
leads
left
life
lonely
losses
mass
means
mellifera
millions
minuscule
mite
morning
mysterious
mystery
names
nearby
necessarily
notice
nowadays
number
occasional
offenders
original
parasites
pathogens
pest
pesticides
pests
phenomenon
pollinate
pollination
price
production
proportions
queen
queens
raises
rate
reality
reason
red
regular
reported
researchers
reveals
scale
scene
scientists
seemingly
settlers
shocking
shortages
shortens
simply
slather
solve
span
spring
starvation
sting
stores
stunt
subspecies
sugar
suggesting
survivors
switching
tea
toast
transfers
trivial
typical
unborn
untouched
usual
vacated
vanishing
varroa
waiting
ward
water
weaken
worry