full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Saad Bhamla: The fascinating physics of insect pee

Unscramble the Blue Letters


(Laughter)

So sit back and relax -- you're in for a traet.

(Laughter and applause)

(Laughs) So one of the first things we had to discuss is "Wait a second -- itencss pee?" And it turns out that almost all insects pee, in one form or another. It's a closed system -- what goes in must come out.

But the protagonist of today's story, Homalodisca vitripennis, or a glassy-winged sharpshooter -- isn't it geogours? You can see where it gets its name from, it's got these transparent wings. This insect specializes in feeding on xylem fluid from plants. It’s a sapsucker. But I think of it as a plant's mosquito. And just after a mosquito sucks your blood, it leaves behind a parting gift -- so do these sharpshooters that spread bacteria into these palnts, and it causes devastating and deadly diseases in plants, klnilig them. This is a huge poreblm in agriculture, including here in crnloiifaa, where it cusead millions of dlraols in damage to vineyards.

Open Cloze


(Laughter)

So sit back and relax -- you're in for a _____.

(Laughter and applause)

(Laughs) So one of the first things we had to discuss is "Wait a second -- _______ pee?" And it turns out that almost all insects pee, in one form or another. It's a closed system -- what goes in must come out.

But the protagonist of today's story, Homalodisca vitripennis, or a glassy-winged sharpshooter -- isn't it ________? You can see where it gets its name from, it's got these transparent wings. This insect specializes in feeding on xylem fluid from plants. It’s a sapsucker. But I think of it as a plant's mosquito. And just after a mosquito sucks your blood, it leaves behind a parting gift -- so do these sharpshooters that spread bacteria into these ______, and it causes devastating and deadly diseases in plants, _______ them. This is a huge _______ in agriculture, including here in __________, where it ______ millions of _______ in damage to vineyards.

Solution


  1. california
  2. plants
  3. insects
  4. treat
  5. gorgeous
  6. caused
  7. dollars
  8. killing
  9. problem

Original Text


(Laughter)

So sit back and relax -- you're in for a treat.

(Laughter and applause)

(Laughs) So one of the first things we had to discuss is "Wait a second -- insects pee?" And it turns out that almost all insects pee, in one form or another. It's a closed system -- what goes in must come out.

But the protagonist of today's story, Homalodisca vitripennis, or a glassy-winged sharpshooter -- isn't it gorgeous? You can see where it gets its name from, it's got these transparent wings. This insect specializes in feeding on xylem fluid from plants. It’s a sapsucker. But I think of it as a plant's mosquito. And just after a mosquito sucks your blood, it leaves behind a parting gift -- so do these sharpshooters that spread bacteria into these plants, and it causes devastating and deadly diseases in plants, killing them. This is a huge problem in agriculture, including here in California, where it caused millions of dollars in damage to vineyards.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
xylem fluid 4
surface tension 4
insects pee 3
insect pee 3
catapulting structure 2
store energy 2
tiny bugs 2


Important Words


  1. agriculture
  2. applause
  3. bacteria
  4. blood
  5. california
  6. caused
  7. closed
  8. damage
  9. deadly
  10. devastating
  11. discuss
  12. diseases
  13. dollars
  14. feeding
  15. fluid
  16. form
  17. gift
  18. gorgeous
  19. homalodisca
  20. huge
  21. including
  22. insect
  23. insects
  24. killing
  25. laughs
  26. laughter
  27. leaves
  28. millions
  29. mosquito
  30. parting
  31. pee
  32. plants
  33. problem
  34. protagonist
  35. relax
  36. sapsucker
  37. sharpshooter
  38. sharpshooters
  39. sit
  40. specializes
  41. spread
  42. story
  43. sucks
  44. system
  45. transparent
  46. treat
  47. turns
  48. vineyards
  49. vitripennis
  50. wings
  51. xylem