TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Marlene Zuk: What we learn from insects' sex lives

Unscramble the Blue Letters

But that's just not the case. So for example, take katydids, which are relatives of crickets and grasshoppers. The males are very pckiy about who they mate with, because they not only tsarefnr sperm during mating, they also give the female something called a nautpil gift. You can see two ktdiydas mating in these photos. In both panels, the male's the one on the right, and that sword-like appendage is the female's egg-laying oargn. The white blob is the srpem, the green blob is the nuptial gift, and the male manufactures this from his own body and it's extremely costly to produce. It can weigh up to a third of his body mass. I will now pause for a moment and let you think about what it would be like if human men, every time they had sex, had to produce something that weighed 50, 60, 70 pounds. (leugathr) Okay, they would not be able to do that very often. (Laughter) And indeed, neither can the katydids. And so what that means is the katydid males are very choosy about who they offer these nuptial gifts to. Now, the gift is very notiuiruts, and the female eats it during and after mating. So, the bigger it is, the better off the male is, because that means more time for his sperm to darin into her body and fertilize her eggs. But it also means that the males are very passive about mating, whereas the females are extremely aggressive and competitive, in an attempt to get as many of these nutritious nuptial gifts as they can. So, it's not exactly a stereotypical set of rules. Even more glrenelay though, males are actually not all that important in the lives of a lot of insects. In the social insects — the bees and wasps and ants — the individuals that you see every day — the ants going back and forth to your sugar bowl, the hoeny bees that are flitting from flower to flower — all of those are always female. People have had a hard time getting their head around that idea for miillnnea. The acninet Greeks knew that there was a class of bees, the drones, that are larger than the workers, although they disapproved of the drones' laziness because they could see that the drones just hang around the hive until the mtniag flight — they're the males. They hang around until the mating flight, but they don't participate in ghtiernag nectar or pollen. The Greeks couldn't figure out the drones' sex, and part of the ciuofonsn was that they were aarwe of the sningitg ability of bees but they found it difficult to believe that any animals that bore such a weapon could possibly be a fmaele. Aristotle tried to get involved as well. He suggested, "OK, if the stinging individuals are going to be the males ..." Then he got confused, because that would have meant the males were also taking care of the young in a colony, and he seemed to think that would be completely impossible. He then concluded that maybe bees had the organs of both sexes in the same individual, which is not that far-fetched, some animals do that, but he never really did get it figured out. And you know, even taody, my stuetdns, for instance, call every animal they see, including inescts, a male. And when I tell them that the ferocious army-ant soldiers with their giant jaws, used to defend the colony, are all always female, they seem to not quite believe me. (Laughter) And certainly all of the movies — Antz, Bee Movie — portray the main character in the social insects as being male. Well, what difference does this make? These are movies. They're fiction. They have talking animals in them. What dfrecienfe does it make if they talk like Jerry Seinfeld? I think it does matter, and it's a pbolerm that actually is part of a much deeepr one that has implications for medicine and haleth and a lot of other acetsps of our lives. You all know that scientists use what we call model systems, which are creatures — white rats or fruit felis — that are kind of stand-ins for all other animals, including people. And the idea is that what's true for a posren will also be true for the white rat. And by and large, that turns out to be the case. But you can take the idea of a meodl stysem too far. And what I think we've done, is use males, in any species, as though they are the model system. The norm. The way things are supposed to be. And females as a kind of variant — something scieapl that you only study after you get the basics down. And so, back to the insects. I think what that maens is that people just couldn't see what was in front of them. Because they assumed that the world's stage was largely occupied by male players and females would only have minor, walk-on roles. But when we do that, we really miss out on a lot of what nartue is like. And we can also miss out on the way natural, living things, indicnulg people, can vary. And I think that's why we've used males as moleds in a lot of maedcil rarceseh, something that we know now to be a problem if we want the results to apply to both men and women. Well, the last thing I really love about insects is something that a lot of people find unnerving about them. They have little, tiny bnaris with very little cgtinvoie atibliy, the way we normally think of it. They have complicated behavior, but they lack complicated brains. And so, we can't just think of them as though they're little people because they don't do things the way that we do. I really love that it's difficult to anthropomorphize insects, to look at them and just think of them like they're little people in exoskeletons, with six legs. (Laughter) Instead, you really have to accept them on their own temrs, because insects make us question what's normal and what's natural. Now, you know, people write fiction and talk about parallel universes. They speculate about the saeurrnupatl, maybe the spitirs of the departed walking among us. The allure of another world is something that people say is part of why they want to dabble in the paranormal. But as far as I'm concerned, who needs to be able to see dead people, when you can see live insects? Thank you. (Applause)

Open Cloze

But that's just not the case. So for example, take katydids, which are relatives of crickets and grasshoppers. The males are very _____ about who they mate with, because they not only ________ sperm during mating, they also give the female something called a _______ gift. You can see two ________ mating in these photos. In both panels, the male's the one on the right, and that sword-like appendage is the female's egg-laying _____. The white blob is the _____, the green blob is the nuptial gift, and the male manufactures this from his own body and it's extremely costly to produce. It can weigh up to a third of his body mass. I will now pause for a moment and let you think about what it would be like if human men, every time they had sex, had to produce something that weighed 50, 60, 70 pounds. (________) Okay, they would not be able to do that very often. (Laughter) And indeed, neither can the katydids. And so what that means is the katydid males are very choosy about who they offer these nuptial gifts to. Now, the gift is very __________, and the female eats it during and after mating. So, the bigger it is, the better off the male is, because that means more time for his sperm to _____ into her body and fertilize her eggs. But it also means that the males are very passive about mating, whereas the females are extremely aggressive and competitive, in an attempt to get as many of these nutritious nuptial gifts as they can. So, it's not exactly a stereotypical set of rules. Even more _________ though, males are actually not all that important in the lives of a lot of insects. In the social insects — the bees and wasps and ants — the individuals that you see every day — the ants going back and forth to your sugar bowl, the _____ bees that are flitting from flower to flower — all of those are always female. People have had a hard time getting their head around that idea for _________. The _______ Greeks knew that there was a class of bees, the drones, that are larger than the workers, although they disapproved of the drones' laziness because they could see that the drones just hang around the hive until the ______ flight — they're the males. They hang around until the mating flight, but they don't participate in _________ nectar or pollen. The Greeks couldn't figure out the drones' sex, and part of the _________ was that they were _____ of the ________ ability of bees but they found it difficult to believe that any animals that bore such a weapon could possibly be a ______. Aristotle tried to get involved as well. He suggested, "OK, if the stinging individuals are going to be the males ..." Then he got confused, because that would have meant the males were also taking care of the young in a colony, and he seemed to think that would be completely impossible. He then concluded that maybe bees had the organs of both sexes in the same individual, which is not that far-fetched, some animals do that, but he never really did get it figured out. And you know, even _____, my ________, for instance, call every animal they see, including _______, a male. And when I tell them that the ferocious army-ant soldiers with their giant jaws, used to defend the colony, are all always female, they seem to not quite believe me. (Laughter) And certainly all of the movies — Antz, Bee Movie — portray the main character in the social insects as being male. Well, what difference does this make? These are movies. They're fiction. They have talking animals in them. What __________ does it make if they talk like Jerry Seinfeld? I think it does matter, and it's a _______ that actually is part of a much ______ one that has implications for medicine and ______ and a lot of other _______ of our lives. You all know that scientists use what we call model systems, which are creatures — white rats or fruit _____ — that are kind of stand-ins for all other animals, including people. And the idea is that what's true for a ______ will also be true for the white rat. And by and large, that turns out to be the case. But you can take the idea of a _____ ______ too far. And what I think we've done, is use males, in any species, as though they are the model system. The norm. The way things are supposed to be. And females as a kind of variant — something _______ that you only study after you get the basics down. And so, back to the insects. I think what that _____ is that people just couldn't see what was in front of them. Because they assumed that the world's stage was largely occupied by male players and females would only have minor, walk-on roles. But when we do that, we really miss out on a lot of what ______ is like. And we can also miss out on the way natural, living things, _________ people, can vary. And I think that's why we've used males as ______ in a lot of _______ ________, something that we know now to be a problem if we want the results to apply to both men and women. Well, the last thing I really love about insects is something that a lot of people find unnerving about them. They have little, tiny ______ with very little _________ _______, the way we normally think of it. They have complicated behavior, but they lack complicated brains. And so, we can't just think of them as though they're little people because they don't do things the way that we do. I really love that it's difficult to anthropomorphize insects, to look at them and just think of them like they're little people in exoskeletons, with six legs. (Laughter) Instead, you really have to accept them on their own _____, because insects make us question what's normal and what's natural. Now, you know, people write fiction and talk about parallel universes. They speculate about the ____________, maybe the _______ of the departed walking among us. The allure of another world is something that people say is part of why they want to dabble in the paranormal. But as far as I'm concerned, who needs to be able to see dead people, when you can see live insects? Thank you. (Applause)

Solution

students
research
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Original Text

But that's just not the case. So for example, take katydids, which are relatives of crickets and grasshoppers. The males are very picky about who they mate with, because they not only transfer sperm during mating, they also give the female something called a nuptial gift. You can see two katydids mating in these photos. In both panels, the male's the one on the right, and that sword-like appendage is the female's egg-laying organ. The white blob is the sperm, the green blob is the nuptial gift, and the male manufactures this from his own body and it's extremely costly to produce. It can weigh up to a third of his body mass. I will now pause for a moment and let you think about what it would be like if human men, every time they had sex, had to produce something that weighed 50, 60, 70 pounds. (Laughter) Okay, they would not be able to do that very often. (Laughter) And indeed, neither can the katydids. And so what that means is the katydid males are very choosy about who they offer these nuptial gifts to. Now, the gift is very nutritious, and the female eats it during and after mating. So, the bigger it is, the better off the male is, because that means more time for his sperm to drain into her body and fertilize her eggs. But it also means that the males are very passive about mating, whereas the females are extremely aggressive and competitive, in an attempt to get as many of these nutritious nuptial gifts as they can. So, it's not exactly a stereotypical set of rules. Even more generally though, males are actually not all that important in the lives of a lot of insects. In the social insects — the bees and wasps and ants — the individuals that you see every day — the ants going back and forth to your sugar bowl, the honey bees that are flitting from flower to flower — all of those are always female. People have had a hard time getting their head around that idea for millennia. The ancient Greeks knew that there was a class of bees, the drones, that are larger than the workers, although they disapproved of the drones' laziness because they could see that the drones just hang around the hive until the mating flight — they're the males. They hang around until the mating flight, but they don't participate in gathering nectar or pollen. The Greeks couldn't figure out the drones' sex, and part of the confusion was that they were aware of the stinging ability of bees but they found it difficult to believe that any animals that bore such a weapon could possibly be a female. Aristotle tried to get involved as well. He suggested, "OK, if the stinging individuals are going to be the males ..." Then he got confused, because that would have meant the males were also taking care of the young in a colony, and he seemed to think that would be completely impossible. He then concluded that maybe bees had the organs of both sexes in the same individual, which is not that far-fetched, some animals do that, but he never really did get it figured out. And you know, even today, my students, for instance, call every animal they see, including insects, a male. And when I tell them that the ferocious army-ant soldiers with their giant jaws, used to defend the colony, are all always female, they seem to not quite believe me. (Laughter) And certainly all of the movies — Antz, Bee Movie — portray the main character in the social insects as being male. Well, what difference does this make? These are movies. They're fiction. They have talking animals in them. What difference does it make if they talk like Jerry Seinfeld? I think it does matter, and it's a problem that actually is part of a much deeper one that has implications for medicine and health and a lot of other aspects of our lives. You all know that scientists use what we call model systems, which are creatures — white rats or fruit flies — that are kind of stand-ins for all other animals, including people. And the idea is that what's true for a person will also be true for the white rat. And by and large, that turns out to be the case. But you can take the idea of a model system too far. And what I think we've done, is use males, in any species, as though they are the model system. The norm. The way things are supposed to be. And females as a kind of variant — something special that you only study after you get the basics down. And so, back to the insects. I think what that means is that people just couldn't see what was in front of them. Because they assumed that the world's stage was largely occupied by male players and females would only have minor, walk-on roles. But when we do that, we really miss out on a lot of what nature is like. And we can also miss out on the way natural, living things, including people, can vary. And I think that's why we've used males as models in a lot of medical research, something that we know now to be a problem if we want the results to apply to both men and women. Well, the last thing I really love about insects is something that a lot of people find unnerving about them. They have little, tiny brains with very little cognitive ability, the way we normally think of it. They have complicated behavior, but they lack complicated brains. And so, we can't just think of them as though they're little people because they don't do things the way that we do. I really love that it's difficult to anthropomorphize insects, to look at them and just think of them like they're little people in exoskeletons, with six legs. (Laughter) Instead, you really have to accept them on their own terms, because insects make us question what's normal and what's natural. Now, you know, people write fiction and talk about parallel universes. They speculate about the supernatural, maybe the spirits of the departed walking among us. The allure of another world is something that people say is part of why they want to dabble in the paranormal. But as far as I'm concerned, who needs to be able to see dead people, when you can see live insects? Thank you. (Applause)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
fruit flies	2
nuptial gifts	2
social insects	2
model system	2

Important Words

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