TedTest

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

Unscramble the Blue Letters

There is an ertoveannmnil mystery afoot, and it begins with a seliegmny 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 rsaoen for the pcire hike. What you find is shocking. The number of doatetmiescd honeybees in the US has been decreasing at an arnlaimg rate. This decline appears too big to be enixlaped by the usual causes of bee death alone: disease, parasites or starvation. A typical crime scnee 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 auldts 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 eauorpen 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 egintiamc names like disappearing disease, snpirg dindlwe 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 meysrty isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular sagur in our tea. We farm bees for their honey, but they also pollinate our crops on an iitsuadnrl scale, generating over 1/3 of America's food putcooidrn this way. So, how can we find the culprit behind this calamity? Here are three of the possible offenders. eiibhxt A: Pests and Disease. Most infamous is the vroara mite, a minuscule red pest that not only invades colonies and feeds on bees, but also transfers phntgeaos that stunt bee gwtorh and shortens their life span. Exhibit B: gteniecs. The queen is the core of a healthy hive. But nowadays, the millnios of queen bees distributed in caceiromml hives are bred from just a few oinraigl qeenus, 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 csunmoe. Researchers have even found that some pesticides damage the honeybees' hminog abilities. So we have a file full of clues but no celar 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. hbeoeeyns aren't necessarily in danger of extinction, but fewer bees overall menas less pollination and higher food cstos, so it's crucial that scientists solve the case of the vanishing bees. Because while having less honey might be a bzizlukl, crop shortages are something that would truly sting.

Open Cloze

There is an _____________ mystery afoot, and it begins with a _________ 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 ______ for the _____ hike. What you find is shocking. The number of ____________ honeybees in the US has been decreasing at an ________ rate. This decline appears too big to be _________ by the usual causes of bee death alone: disease, parasites or starvation. A typical crime _____ 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 ______ 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 ________ 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 _________ names like disappearing disease, ______ _______ 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 _______ isn't that we'll have to go back to using regular _____ in our tea. We farm bees for their honey, but they also pollinate our crops on an __________ scale, generating over 1/3 of America's food __________ this way. So, how can we find the culprit behind this calamity? Here are three of the possible offenders. _______ A: Pests and Disease. Most infamous is the ______ mite, a minuscule red pest that not only invades colonies and feeds on bees, but also transfers _________ that stunt bee ______ and shortens their life span. Exhibit B: ________. The queen is the core of a healthy hive. But nowadays, the ________ of queen bees distributed in __________ hives are bred from just a few ________ ______, 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 _______. Researchers have even found that some pesticides damage the honeybees' ______ abilities. So we have a file full of clues but no _____ 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. _________ aren't necessarily in danger of extinction, but fewer bees overall _____ less pollination and higher food _____, so it's crucial that scientists solve the case of the vanishing bees. Because while having less honey might be a ________, crop shortages are something that would truly sting.

Solution

genetics
consume
dwindle
domesticated
seemingly
industrial
growth
buzzkill
price
environmental
varroa
production
spring
pathogens
european
scene
queens
homing
millions
exhibit
enigmatic
original
honeybees
mystery
clear
sugar
costs
explained
alarming
adults
reason
means
commercial

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