full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ed Yong: Zombie roaches and other parasite tales

Unscramble the Blue Letters


And here is another example of a parasitic manipulation. This is a suicidal cricket. This cricket swallowed the larvae of a Gordian worm, or horsehair worm. The worm grew to adult size within it, but it needs to get into water in order to mate, and it does that by releasing proteins that addle the cricket's brain, canusig it to behave erratically. When the ckceirt nears a body of water, such as this smwinimg pool, it jumps in and dwonrs, and the worm wriggles out of its sicuaidl coprse. Crickets are really roomy. Who knew?

The tapeworm and the Gordian worm are not alone. They are part of an entire cavalcade of mind-controlling parasites, of fungi, viruses, and worms and insects and more that all specialize in stnievubrg and oeivindrrg the wills of their hosts. Now, I first lreenad about this way of life through David Attenborough's "Trials of Life" about 20 years ago, and then later through a wonderful book called "Parasite Rex" by my fneird Carl Zimmer. And I've been writing about these creatures ever since. Few ticpos in biology enthrall me more. It's like the parasites have sbeurtved my own brain. Because after all, they are always compelling and they are delightfully macabre. When you write about parasites, your lcxoien swells with phrases like "devoured alive" and "bursts out of its body." (Laughter)

Open Cloze


And here is another example of a parasitic manipulation. This is a suicidal cricket. This cricket swallowed the larvae of a Gordian worm, or horsehair worm. The worm grew to adult size within it, but it needs to get into water in order to mate, and it does that by releasing proteins that addle the cricket's brain, _______ it to behave erratically. When the _______ nears a body of water, such as this ________ pool, it jumps in and ______, and the worm wriggles out of its ________ ______. Crickets are really roomy. Who knew?

The tapeworm and the Gordian worm are not alone. They are part of an entire cavalcade of mind-controlling parasites, of fungi, viruses, and worms and insects and more that all specialize in __________ and __________ the wills of their hosts. Now, I first _______ about this way of life through David Attenborough's "Trials of Life" about 20 years ago, and then later through a wonderful book called "Parasite Rex" by my ______ Carl Zimmer. And I've been writing about these creatures ever since. Few ______ in biology enthrall me more. It's like the parasites have _________ my own brain. Because after all, they are always compelling and they are delightfully macabre. When you write about parasites, your _______ swells with phrases like "devoured alive" and "bursts out of its body." (Laughter)

Solution


  1. corpse
  2. subverted
  3. suicidal
  4. subverting
  5. topics
  6. overriding
  7. swimming
  8. causing
  9. friend
  10. cricket
  11. drowns
  12. learned
  13. lexicon

Original Text


And here is another example of a parasitic manipulation. This is a suicidal cricket. This cricket swallowed the larvae of a Gordian worm, or horsehair worm. The worm grew to adult size within it, but it needs to get into water in order to mate, and it does that by releasing proteins that addle the cricket's brain, causing it to behave erratically. When the cricket nears a body of water, such as this swimming pool, it jumps in and drowns, and the worm wriggles out of its suicidal corpse. Crickets are really roomy. Who knew?

The tapeworm and the Gordian worm are not alone. They are part of an entire cavalcade of mind-controlling parasites, of fungi, viruses, and worms and insects and more that all specialize in subverting and overriding the wills of their hosts. Now, I first learned about this way of life through David Attenborough's "Trials of Life" about 20 years ago, and then later through a wonderful book called "Parasite Rex" by my friend Carl Zimmer. And I've been writing about these creatures ever since. Few topics in biology enthrall me more. It's like the parasites have subverted my own brain. Because after all, they are always compelling and they are delightfully macabre. When you write about parasites, your lexicon swells with phrases like "devoured alive" and "bursts out of its body." (Laughter)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
gordian worm 3
emerald cockroach 3
natural world 2
cockroach wasp 2
sense organ 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
emerald cockroach wasp 2

Important Words


  1. addle
  2. adult
  3. behave
  4. biology
  5. body
  6. book
  7. brain
  8. called
  9. carl
  10. causing
  11. cavalcade
  12. compelling
  13. corpse
  14. creatures
  15. cricket
  16. crickets
  17. david
  18. delightfully
  19. drowns
  20. enthrall
  21. entire
  22. erratically
  23. friend
  24. fungi
  25. gordian
  26. grew
  27. horsehair
  28. hosts
  29. insects
  30. jumps
  31. knew
  32. larvae
  33. laughter
  34. learned
  35. lexicon
  36. life
  37. macabre
  38. manipulation
  39. mate
  40. nears
  41. order
  42. overriding
  43. parasites
  44. parasitic
  45. part
  46. phrases
  47. pool
  48. proteins
  49. releasing
  50. roomy
  51. size
  52. specialize
  53. subverted
  54. subverting
  55. suicidal
  56. swallowed
  57. swells
  58. swimming
  59. tapeworm
  60. topics
  61. viruses
  62. water
  63. wills
  64. wonderful
  65. worm
  66. worms
  67. wriggles
  68. write
  69. writing
  70. years
  71. zimmer