full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Peter Ward: A theory of Earth's mass extinctions
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Now, I torhw this slide up because it indicates to me that, even if SETI does hear something, can we figure out what they said? Because this was a sldie that was passed between the two mojar inglcneelties on Earth — a Mac to a PC — and it can't even get the letters right — (Laughter) — so how are we going to talk to the aliens? And if they're 50 lhgit years away, and we call them up, and you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then 50 years later it comes back and they say, Please repeat? I mean, there we are.
Our planet is a good planet because it can keep water. Mars is a bad planet, but it's still good enough for us to go there and to live on its surface if we're protected. But Venus is a very bad — the wrost — plneat. Even though it's Earth-like, and even though elray in its history it may very well have harbored Earth-like life, it soon succumbed to runaway greenhouse — that's an 800 degrees [Fahrenheit] surface — because of rampant carbon dioxide.
Open Cloze
Now, I _____ this slide up because it indicates to me that, even if SETI does hear something, can we figure out what they said? Because this was a _____ that was passed between the two _____ _____________ on Earth — a Mac to a PC — and it can't even get the letters right — (Laughter) — so how are we going to talk to the aliens? And if they're 50 _____ years away, and we call them up, and you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then 50 years later it comes back and they say, Please repeat? I mean, there we are.
Our planet is a good planet because it can keep water. Mars is a bad planet, but it's still good enough for us to go there and to live on its surface if we're protected. But Venus is a very bad — the _____ — ______. Even though it's Earth-like, and even though _____ in its history it may very well have harbored Earth-like life, it soon succumbed to runaway greenhouse — that's an 800 degrees [Fahrenheit] surface — because of rampant carbon dioxide.
Solution
- major
- early
- intelligences
- planet
- light
- worst
- slide
- throw
Original Text
Now, I throw this slide up because it indicates to me that, even if SETI does hear something, can we figure out what they said? Because this was a slide that was passed between the two major intelligences on Earth — a Mac to a PC — and it can't even get the letters right — (Laughter) — so how are we going to talk to the aliens? And if they're 50 light years away, and we call them up, and you blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then 50 years later it comes back and they say, Please repeat? I mean, there we are.
Our planet is a good planet because it can keep water. Mars is a bad planet, but it's still good enough for us to go there and to live on its surface if we're protected. But Venus is a very bad — the worst — planet. Even though it's Earth-like, and even though early in its history it may very well have harbored Earth-like life, it soon succumbed to runaway greenhouse — that's an 800 degrees [Fahrenheit] surface — because of rampant carbon dioxide.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| hydrogen sulfide |
13 |
| mass extinctions |
8 |
| carbon dioxide |
5 |
| million years |
5 |
| mass extinction |
4 |
| billion years |
3 |
| fossil record |
3 |
| south africa |
3 |
| million hydrogen |
3 |
| critical care |
3 |
| science fiction |
2 |
| good planet |
2 |
| planet earth |
2 |
| microbial age |
2 |
| complex life |
2 |
| black rock |
2 |
| major mass |
2 |
| turns purple |
2 |
ngrams of length 3
| collocation |
frequency |
| million hydrogen sulfide |
3 |
Important Words
- aliens
- bad
- blah
- call
- carbon
- degrees
- dioxide
- early
- earth
- fahrenheit
- figure
- good
- greenhouse
- harbored
- hear
- history
- intelligences
- laughter
- letters
- life
- light
- live
- mac
- major
- mars
- passed
- pc
- planet
- protected
- rampant
- repeat
- runaway
- seti
- slide
- succumbed
- surface
- talk
- throw
- venus
- water
- worst
- years