full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tim Harford: A powerful way to unleash your natural creativity

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 1837, he begins work on two very interesting projects. One of them: ermwrothas. The other, a little notebook which he titles "The transmutation of species." Then, Darwin starts sdnyutig my field, economics. He reads a book by the economist Thomas maulhts. And he has his eerkua moment. In a faslh, he realizes how species could emerge and evolve slowly, through this process of the survival of the fittest. It all comes to him, he writes it all down, every single important eenemlt of the theory of evolution, in that ntoooebk.

But then, a new project. His son William is born. Well, there's a natural experiment right there, you get to observe the development of a human infant. So immediately, drwain starts making notes. Now, of course, he's still working on the theory of evtioloun and the development of the human infant. But during all of this, he realizes he doesn't really know enough about toxaomny. So he starts studying that. And in the end, he spends eight years becoming the world's leading expert on barnacles.

Open Cloze


In 1837, he begins work on two very interesting projects. One of them: __________. The other, a little notebook which he titles "The transmutation of species." Then, Darwin starts ________ my field, economics. He reads a book by the economist Thomas _______. And he has his ______ moment. In a _____, he realizes how species could emerge and evolve slowly, through this process of the survival of the fittest. It all comes to him, he writes it all down, every single important _______ of the theory of evolution, in that ________.

But then, a new project. His son William is born. Well, there's a natural experiment right there, you get to observe the development of a human infant. So immediately, ______ starts making notes. Now, of course, he's still working on the theory of _________ and the development of the human infant. But during all of this, he realizes he doesn't really know enough about ________. So he starts studying that. And in the end, he spends eight years becoming the world's leading expert on barnacles.

Solution


  1. darwin
  2. studying
  3. element
  4. eureka
  5. evolution
  6. taxonomy
  7. notebook
  8. malthus
  9. earthworms
  10. flash

Original Text


In 1837, he begins work on two very interesting projects. One of them: earthworms. The other, a little notebook which he titles "The transmutation of species." Then, Darwin starts studying my field, economics. He reads a book by the economist Thomas Malthus. And he has his eureka moment. In a flash, he realizes how species could emerge and evolve slowly, through this process of the survival of the fittest. It all comes to him, he writes it all down, every single important element of the theory of evolution, in that notebook.

But then, a new project. His son William is born. Well, there's a natural experiment right there, you get to observe the development of a human infant. So immediately, Darwin starts making notes. Now, of course, he's still working on the theory of evolution and the development of the human infant. But during all of this, he realizes he doesn't really know enough about taxonomy. So he starts studying that. And in the end, he spends eight years becoming the world's leading expert on barnacles.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
commercially successful 3
human infant 3
albert einstein 2
special relativity 2
highly creative 2
multiple projects 2
research papers 2
creative people 2
eureka moment 2
medical students 2
wrong answer 2
michael crichton 2
twyla tharp 2
darwin starts 2
starts studying 2
billiard room 2


Important Words


  1. barnacles
  2. begins
  3. book
  4. born
  5. darwin
  6. development
  7. earthworms
  8. economics
  9. economist
  10. element
  11. emerge
  12. eureka
  13. evolution
  14. evolve
  15. experiment
  16. expert
  17. field
  18. fittest
  19. flash
  20. human
  21. immediately
  22. important
  23. infant
  24. interesting
  25. leading
  26. making
  27. malthus
  28. moment
  29. natural
  30. notebook
  31. notes
  32. observe
  33. process
  34. project
  35. projects
  36. reads
  37. realizes
  38. single
  39. slowly
  40. son
  41. species
  42. spends
  43. starts
  44. studying
  45. survival
  46. taxonomy
  47. theory
  48. thomas
  49. titles
  50. transmutation
  51. william
  52. work
  53. working
  54. writes
  55. years