full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Rose Eveleth: The loathsome lethal mosquito

Unscramble the Blue Letters


What's the worst bug on the planet? You might vote for the hloefrsy or perhaps the wasp, but for many people, the worst offender is by far the mstiuoqo. The buzzing, the biting, the itching, the mosquito is one of the most commonly detested pests in the world. In Alaska, swarms of mosquitos can get so thick that they actually asphyxiate caribou. And mosquito-borne diseases kill millions of people every year. The suogrce that is the mosquito isn't new. Mosquitoes have been around for over a hundred million years and over that time have coevolved with all sotrs of species, including our own. There are actually tdoshnaus of species of mosquitos in the world, but they all share one insidious quality: they suck boold, and they're really, really good at sucking blood. Here's how they do it. After landing, a mosquito will selhtar some saliva onto the victim's skin, which works like an antiseptic, numbing the spot so we don't notice their attack. This is what causes the itchy, red bumps, by the way. Then the bug will use its serrated mandibles to carve a little hole in your skin, allowing it to pbore around with its proboscis, searching for a blood vessel. When it hits one, the lckuy parasite can suck two to three teims its weight in blood. truns out we don't really like that too much. In fact, humans hate mosquitos so much that we spend billions of dorlals worldwide to keep them away from us — from cnorlelita candles to bug spyars to heavy-duty agricultural pesticides. But it's not just that mosquitos are anioynng, they're also deadly. msqiutoos can transmit everything from malaria to ylolew fever to West Nile vruis to dengue. Over a million people worldwide die every year from mosquito-borne diseases, and that's just plpeoe. Horses, dogs, cats, they can all get diseases from mosquitoes too. So, if these bugs are so dastardly, why don't we just get rid of them? We are humans after all, and we're pretty good at getting rid of species. Well, it's not quite so simple. Getting rid of the mosquito removes a food source for lots of organisms, like frogs and fish and birds. Without them, plants would lose a ptlanoilor. But some sictseitns say that mosquitos aren't actually all that important. If we got rid of them, they argue, another species would simply take their place and we'd probably have far fewer deaths from malaria. The problem is that nobody knows what would happen if we killed off all the mosquitos. Something better might take their spot or perhaps something even worse. The question is, are we willing to take that risk? (bnzuzig)

Open Cloze


What's the worst bug on the planet? You might vote for the ________ or perhaps the wasp, but for many people, the worst offender is by far the ________. The buzzing, the biting, the itching, the mosquito is one of the most commonly detested pests in the world. In Alaska, swarms of mosquitos can get so thick that they actually asphyxiate caribou. And mosquito-borne diseases kill millions of people every year. The _______ that is the mosquito isn't new. Mosquitoes have been around for over a hundred million years and over that time have coevolved with all _____ of species, including our own. There are actually _________ of species of mosquitos in the world, but they all share one insidious quality: they suck _____, and they're really, really good at sucking blood. Here's how they do it. After landing, a mosquito will _______ some saliva onto the victim's skin, which works like an antiseptic, numbing the spot so we don't notice their attack. This is what causes the itchy, red bumps, by the way. Then the bug will use its serrated mandibles to carve a little hole in your skin, allowing it to _____ around with its proboscis, searching for a blood vessel. When it hits one, the _____ parasite can suck two to three _____ its weight in blood. _____ out we don't really like that too much. In fact, humans hate mosquitos so much that we spend billions of _______ worldwide to keep them away from us — from __________ candles to bug ______ to heavy-duty agricultural pesticides. But it's not just that mosquitos are ________, they're also deadly. _________ can transmit everything from malaria to ______ fever to West Nile _____ to dengue. Over a million people worldwide die every year from mosquito-borne diseases, and that's just ______. Horses, dogs, cats, they can all get diseases from mosquitoes too. So, if these bugs are so dastardly, why don't we just get rid of them? We are humans after all, and we're pretty good at getting rid of species. Well, it's not quite so simple. Getting rid of the mosquito removes a food source for lots of organisms, like frogs and fish and birds. Without them, plants would lose a __________. But some __________ say that mosquitos aren't actually all that important. If we got rid of them, they argue, another species would simply take their place and we'd probably have far fewer deaths from malaria. The problem is that nobody knows what would happen if we killed off all the mosquitos. Something better might take their spot or perhaps something even worse. The question is, are we willing to take that risk? (_______)

Solution


  1. people
  2. sorts
  3. sprays
  4. dollars
  5. virus
  6. yellow
  7. thousands
  8. buzzing
  9. scientists
  10. mosquitos
  11. horsefly
  12. slather
  13. mosquito
  14. pollinator
  15. blood
  16. scourge
  17. citronella
  18. lucky
  19. annoying
  20. times
  21. turns
  22. probe

Original Text


What's the worst bug on the planet? You might vote for the horsefly or perhaps the wasp, but for many people, the worst offender is by far the mosquito. The buzzing, the biting, the itching, the mosquito is one of the most commonly detested pests in the world. In Alaska, swarms of mosquitos can get so thick that they actually asphyxiate caribou. And mosquito-borne diseases kill millions of people every year. The scourge that is the mosquito isn't new. Mosquitoes have been around for over a hundred million years and over that time have coevolved with all sorts of species, including our own. There are actually thousands of species of mosquitos in the world, but they all share one insidious quality: they suck blood, and they're really, really good at sucking blood. Here's how they do it. After landing, a mosquito will slather some saliva onto the victim's skin, which works like an antiseptic, numbing the spot so we don't notice their attack. This is what causes the itchy, red bumps, by the way. Then the bug will use its serrated mandibles to carve a little hole in your skin, allowing it to probe around with its proboscis, searching for a blood vessel. When it hits one, the lucky parasite can suck two to three times its weight in blood. Turns out we don't really like that too much. In fact, humans hate mosquitos so much that we spend billions of dollars worldwide to keep them away from us — from citronella candles to bug sprays to heavy-duty agricultural pesticides. But it's not just that mosquitos are annoying, they're also deadly. Mosquitos can transmit everything from malaria to yellow fever to West Nile virus to dengue. Over a million people worldwide die every year from mosquito-borne diseases, and that's just people. Horses, dogs, cats, they can all get diseases from mosquitoes too. So, if these bugs are so dastardly, why don't we just get rid of them? We are humans after all, and we're pretty good at getting rid of species. Well, it's not quite so simple. Getting rid of the mosquito removes a food source for lots of organisms, like frogs and fish and birds. Without them, plants would lose a pollinator. But some scientists say that mosquitos aren't actually all that important. If we got rid of them, they argue, another species would simply take their place and we'd probably have far fewer deaths from malaria. The problem is that nobody knows what would happen if we killed off all the mosquitos. Something better might take their spot or perhaps something even worse. The question is, are we willing to take that risk? (Buzzing)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. agricultural
  2. alaska
  3. allowing
  4. annoying
  5. antiseptic
  6. argue
  7. asphyxiate
  8. attack
  9. billions
  10. birds
  11. biting
  12. blood
  13. bug
  14. bugs
  15. bumps
  16. buzzing
  17. candles
  18. caribou
  19. carve
  20. cats
  21. citronella
  22. coevolved
  23. commonly
  24. dastardly
  25. deadly
  26. deaths
  27. dengue
  28. detested
  29. die
  30. diseases
  31. dogs
  32. dollars
  33. fact
  34. fever
  35. fish
  36. food
  37. frogs
  38. good
  39. happen
  40. hate
  41. hits
  42. hole
  43. horsefly
  44. horses
  45. humans
  46. important
  47. including
  48. insidious
  49. itching
  50. itchy
  51. kill
  52. killed
  53. landing
  54. lose
  55. lots
  56. lucky
  57. malaria
  58. mandibles
  59. million
  60. millions
  61. mosquito
  62. mosquitoes
  63. mosquitos
  64. nile
  65. notice
  66. numbing
  67. offender
  68. organisms
  69. parasite
  70. people
  71. pesticides
  72. pests
  73. place
  74. planet
  75. plants
  76. pollinator
  77. pretty
  78. probe
  79. problem
  80. proboscis
  81. question
  82. red
  83. removes
  84. rid
  85. risk
  86. saliva
  87. scientists
  88. scourge
  89. searching
  90. serrated
  91. share
  92. simple
  93. simply
  94. skin
  95. slather
  96. sorts
  97. source
  98. species
  99. spend
  100. spot
  101. sprays
  102. suck
  103. sucking
  104. swarms
  105. thick
  106. thousands
  107. time
  108. times
  109. transmit
  110. turns
  111. vessel
  112. virus
  113. vote
  114. wasp
  115. weight
  116. west
  117. works
  118. world
  119. worldwide
  120. worse
  121. worst
  122. year
  123. years
  124. yellow