Insects

Questions

1. Do you like insects?
2. What is your favorite insect?
3. What insects are there in your country?
4. Why are so many people afraid of insects?
5. What insects do you get in your house?
6. Have you ever eaten insects?
7. How would the world change if all insects suddenly became 100 times bigger?
8. What is the bees knees to you?

Videos

About 10 years ago, the news was packed with reports about something called colony collapse disorder — a mysterious phenomenon that involved the disappearance of enormous numbers of bees. Then, the news

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stopped talking about it. So what gives? Are bees safe now?

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Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Flowers | Insects
Every 13 or 17 years, billions of cicadas emerge from the ground to molt, mate and die. Adult cicadas only live a few weeks above ground, but you’d be hard pressed to ignore them — they are extremely loud! Rose Eveleth

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explains everything you need to know about these noisy insects, admitting that there’s still some things we just don’t understand.

Lesson by Rose Eveleth, animation by Eli Enigenburg.

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Category:  Nature & Environment
BBC
Hungry Venus flytraps snap shut on a host of unfortunate flies. But, despite its name, flies aren’t the flytrap’s only meal. As long as its prey is roughly the right size and touches two of its hairs within twenty seconds, the

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plant will dine on any insect or spider that comes its way.

Glands in the lobes then secrete enzymes that break the dinner down into a digestible soup. Ten days later, the trap pops open to reveal nothing but a dried out husk.

David Attenborough looks at the extraordinary ends to which animals and plants go in order to survive. Featuring epic spectacles, amazing TV firsts and examples of new wildlife behaviour.

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Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Danger | Insects | Plants
Follow a queen fire ant as she builds a colony, protects it from neighboring ant armies and fends off would-be usurpers vying for her throne.

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In the spring, just after a heavy rainfall, male and female fire ants swarm the skies for a day of romance, known as the nuptial flight. Thousands of reproduction-capable ants take part in a mating frenzy, and for one successfully mated female, her work is only beginning. Walter R. Tschinkel details how the new queen builds a colony and protects it from neighboring ant armies.

Lesson by Walter R. Tschinkel, directed by Lisa Vertudaches.

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Category:  Nature & Environment
Keywords: Insects | Life

Vocabulary:
cove
secluded
float
shore
anchor
lighthouse
greenhouse
handsaw
hammer
power tool
nail
board (noun)
ton
land sick
biomass
canoe
paddle
real estate
prosper
fulfilled

Expressions:
subsistence living
hon

Vocabulary:
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word
word

Expressions:
expression
expression
expression
expression

Vocabulary:
prestigious
involuntary
swindler
fraudulence
unwarranted
concern
unfounded
impostor
syndrome
faculty
pervasive
prevalent
disproportionately
underrepresented
downplay
abnormality
self-esteem
spiral
accolade
threshold
susceptible
voice (verb)
peer
dismiss
excel
ease
mentor
competence
banish
frank

Expressions:
nagging doubt
shake a feeling
put something to rest
surefire way

Vocabulary:
filmmaker
principle
handcuff
clown
distill
underdog
aspect
familiar
unfamiliar
chopsticks
keyboard
organic
grounded
clarity
stuntman
steady
gag
perfectionist
rhythm
distinct
continuity
elbow
bunch
flail around
unlike
invincible
impressive
humanize
asset
payoff
relentlessness
finale

Expressions:
kick ass
going above and beyond
get smacked in the face
sell a joke

Vocabulary:
explosion
smoke (noun)
engine
unique
pilot
route
unemotional
terror
instant
reach out (to someone)
postpone
urgency
purpose
regret
humanity
ego
reflect
eliminate
frame (verb)
artistic
talent
bawl
miracle

Expressions:
bucket list
brace for impact
mend fences
make sense
connecting dots