full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Greg Gage: The real reason why mosquitoes buzz

Unscramble the Blue Letters


And mosquitoes are no different. So Haley's been snenidpg her semmur bravely lntisneig to mosquitoes, and what she observed may surprise you.

So we want to investigate how the mosquitoes make their song. So Haley, how do we rreocd their wing beats?

Haley Smith: We need to tteehr them. First, we anesthetize them in a fridge or a bed of ice. And then I transfer them to this petri dish of ice, just to get them even more anesthetized. Next, I take an insect pin, and what I do is put a tiny little dab of superglue on this pin. I want to make sure that I get it on his toahrx above his wings so that when he is suspended, his wings are still free to move. So here's one down. It's really hard to catch male mosquitoes in the wild because females are the only moiqoseuts that are attracted to humans. They feed on human boold. And now, we can try to get some recordings from them. So this is the stand that I use to hold them. I like to place it right over the mocrnhpioe so that I can get a recording of the buzzing that you hear. That sound is generated by how fast they're bienatg their wings. This is a male. The mlaes have very bushy antennae, and they look kind of feathery. And they are also much smaller.

Open Cloze


And mosquitoes are no different. So Haley's been ________ her ______ bravely _________ to mosquitoes, and what she observed may surprise you.

So we want to investigate how the mosquitoes make their song. So Haley, how do we ______ their wing beats?

Haley Smith: We need to ______ them. First, we anesthetize them in a fridge or a bed of ice. And then I transfer them to this petri dish of ice, just to get them even more anesthetized. Next, I take an insect pin, and what I do is put a tiny little dab of superglue on this pin. I want to make sure that I get it on his ______ above his wings so that when he is suspended, his wings are still free to move. So here's one down. It's really hard to catch male mosquitoes in the wild because females are the only __________ that are attracted to humans. They feed on human _____. And now, we can try to get some recordings from them. So this is the stand that I use to hold them. I like to place it right over the __________ so that I can get a recording of the buzzing that you hear. That sound is generated by how fast they're _______ their wings. This is a male. The _____ have very bushy antennae, and they look kind of feathery. And they are also much smaller.

Solution


  1. beating
  2. tether
  3. spending
  4. record
  5. males
  6. summer
  7. blood
  8. mosquitoes
  9. microphone
  10. thorax
  11. listening

Original Text


And mosquitoes are no different. So Haley's been spending her summer bravely listening to mosquitoes, and what she observed may surprise you.

So we want to investigate how the mosquitoes make their song. So Haley, how do we record their wing beats?

Haley Smith: We need to tether them. First, we anesthetize them in a fridge or a bed of ice. And then I transfer them to this petri dish of ice, just to get them even more anesthetized. Next, I take an insect pin, and what I do is put a tiny little dab of superglue on this pin. I want to make sure that I get it on his thorax above his wings so that when he is suspended, his wings are still free to move. So here's one down. It's really hard to catch male mosquitoes in the wild because females are the only mosquitoes that are attracted to humans. They feed on human blood. And now, we can try to get some recordings from them. So this is the stand that I use to hold them. I like to place it right over the microphone so that I can get a recording of the buzzing that you hear. That sound is generated by how fast they're beating their wings. This is a male. The males have very bushy antennae, and they look kind of feathery. And they are also much smaller.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. anesthetize
  2. anesthetized
  3. antennae
  4. attracted
  5. beating
  6. beats
  7. bed
  8. blood
  9. bravely
  10. bushy
  11. buzzing
  12. catch
  13. dab
  14. dish
  15. fast
  16. feathery
  17. feed
  18. females
  19. free
  20. fridge
  21. generated
  22. haley
  23. hard
  24. hear
  25. hold
  26. human
  27. humans
  28. ice
  29. insect
  30. investigate
  31. kind
  32. listening
  33. male
  34. males
  35. microphone
  36. mosquitoes
  37. move
  38. observed
  39. petri
  40. pin
  41. place
  42. put
  43. record
  44. recording
  45. recordings
  46. smaller
  47. song
  48. sound
  49. spending
  50. stand
  51. summer
  52. superglue
  53. surprise
  54. suspended
  55. tether
  56. thorax
  57. tiny
  58. transfer
  59. wild
  60. wing
  61. wings