full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ralitsa Petrova: Could your brain repair itself?


Unscramble the Blue Letters


Imagine the brain could reboot, updating its withered and dgmaaed cells with new, improved units. That may sound like science fiction, but it's a potential ratiley scientists are iiatengtnvsig right now. Will our brains one day be able to self-repair? It's well known that embryonic cells in our young developing brains produce new neurons, the microscopic units that make up the brain's tissue. Those nwely generated neurons migrate to various parts of the developing brain, making it self-organize into different structures. But until recently, scientists thought cell pooducrtin came to an abrupt halt soon after this initial growth, leading them to conclude that neurological diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and damaging events, like strokes, are irreversible. But a series of recent discoveries has rlaveeed that adult birnas actually do continue to produce new cells in at least three specialized lniotocas. This pcroses, known as neurogenesis, involves dedicated biran cells, cealld neural stem cells and progenitor clels, which manufacture new neurons or replace the old ones. The three regions where neurogenesis has been discovered are the dettane guyrs, associated with learning and memory, the subventricular zone, which may supply neurons to the olfactory bulb for communication between the nose and brain, and the striatum, which helps manage movement. Scientists don't yet have a good grasp on exactly what role neurogenesis plays in any of these regions, or why they have this ability that's absent from the rest of the brain, but the mere psenecre of a mechanism to gwron new neunors in the adult brain opens up an amazing possibility. Could we harness that minescahm to get the brain to heal its scras similar to how new skin grows to patch up a wound, or a broken bone stitches itself back together? So here's where we stand. Certain proteins and other small molecuels that mimick those proteins can be administered to the brain to make neural stem cells and progenitor cells porudce more neurons in those three locations. This technique still needs improvement so that the cells reproduce more efficiently and more cells survive. But rrseaech shows that progenitor cells from these aears can actually migrate to places where injury has occurred and give rise to new neurons there. And another promising possible approach is to transplant healthy human neural stem cells, which are cultured in a laboratory, to injured tissue, like we can do with skin. Scientists are currently experimenting to determine whether transplanted doonr cells can divide, differentiate and successfully give rise to new neurons in a damaged brain. They've also discovered that we might be able to tecah other kinds of brain cells, such as astrocytes or oligodendrocytes to behave like neural stem cells and start generating neurons, too. So, a cuople of decades from now will our brains be able to self-repair? We can't say for sure, but that has become one of the major gaols of regenerative medicine. The human brain has 100 billion neurons and we're still firunigg out the wiring behind this huge biological motherboard. But everyday, research on neurogenesis brings us closer to that reobot sitwch.

Open Cloze


Imagine the brain could reboot, updating its withered and _______ cells with new, improved units. That may sound like science fiction, but it's a potential _______ scientists are _____________ right now. Will our brains one day be able to self-repair? It's well known that embryonic cells in our young developing brains produce new neurons, the microscopic units that make up the brain's tissue. Those _____ generated neurons migrate to various parts of the developing brain, making it self-organize into different structures. But until recently, scientists thought cell __________ came to an abrupt halt soon after this initial growth, leading them to conclude that neurological diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and damaging events, like strokes, are irreversible. But a series of recent discoveries has ________ that adult ______ actually do continue to produce new cells in at least three specialized _________. This _______, known as neurogenesis, involves dedicated _____ cells, ______ neural stem cells and progenitor _____, which manufacture new neurons or replace the old ones. The three regions where neurogenesis has been discovered are the _______ _____, associated with learning and memory, the subventricular zone, which may supply neurons to the olfactory bulb for communication between the nose and brain, and the striatum, which helps manage movement. Scientists don't yet have a good grasp on exactly what role neurogenesis plays in any of these regions, or why they have this ability that's absent from the rest of the brain, but the mere ________ of a mechanism to _____ new _______ in the adult brain opens up an amazing possibility. Could we harness that _________ to get the brain to heal its _____ similar to how new skin grows to patch up a wound, or a broken bone stitches itself back together? So here's where we stand. Certain proteins and other small _________ that mimick those proteins can be administered to the brain to make neural stem cells and progenitor cells _______ more neurons in those three locations. This technique still needs improvement so that the cells reproduce more efficiently and more cells survive. But ________ shows that progenitor cells from these _____ can actually migrate to places where injury has occurred and give rise to new neurons there. And another promising possible approach is to transplant healthy human neural stem cells, which are cultured in a laboratory, to injured tissue, like we can do with skin. Scientists are currently experimenting to determine whether transplanted _____ cells can divide, differentiate and successfully give rise to new neurons in a damaged brain. They've also discovered that we might be able to _____ other kinds of brain cells, such as astrocytes or oligodendrocytes to behave like neural stem cells and start generating neurons, too. So, a ______ of decades from now will our brains be able to self-repair? We can't say for sure, but that has become one of the major _____ of regenerative medicine. The human brain has 100 billion neurons and we're still ________ out the wiring behind this huge biological motherboard. But everyday, research on neurogenesis brings us closer to that ______ ______.

Solution


  1. figuring
  2. neurons
  3. process
  4. goals
  5. presence
  6. brain
  7. research
  8. locations
  9. called
  10. couple
  11. reboot
  12. switch
  13. scars
  14. produce
  15. gyrus
  16. investigating
  17. brains
  18. grown
  19. reality
  20. cells
  21. newly
  22. areas
  23. molecules
  24. damaged
  25. production
  26. revealed
  27. teach
  28. donor
  29. mechanism
  30. dentate

Original Text


Imagine the brain could reboot, updating its withered and damaged cells with new, improved units. That may sound like science fiction, but it's a potential reality scientists are investigating right now. Will our brains one day be able to self-repair? It's well known that embryonic cells in our young developing brains produce new neurons, the microscopic units that make up the brain's tissue. Those newly generated neurons migrate to various parts of the developing brain, making it self-organize into different structures. But until recently, scientists thought cell production came to an abrupt halt soon after this initial growth, leading them to conclude that neurological diseases, like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and damaging events, like strokes, are irreversible. But a series of recent discoveries has revealed that adult brains actually do continue to produce new cells in at least three specialized locations. This process, known as neurogenesis, involves dedicated brain cells, called neural stem cells and progenitor cells, which manufacture new neurons or replace the old ones. The three regions where neurogenesis has been discovered are the dentate gyrus, associated with learning and memory, the subventricular zone, which may supply neurons to the olfactory bulb for communication between the nose and brain, and the striatum, which helps manage movement. Scientists don't yet have a good grasp on exactly what role neurogenesis plays in any of these regions, or why they have this ability that's absent from the rest of the brain, but the mere presence of a mechanism to grown new neurons in the adult brain opens up an amazing possibility. Could we harness that mechanism to get the brain to heal its scars similar to how new skin grows to patch up a wound, or a broken bone stitches itself back together? So here's where we stand. Certain proteins and other small molecules that mimick those proteins can be administered to the brain to make neural stem cells and progenitor cells produce more neurons in those three locations. This technique still needs improvement so that the cells reproduce more efficiently and more cells survive. But research shows that progenitor cells from these areas can actually migrate to places where injury has occurred and give rise to new neurons there. And another promising possible approach is to transplant healthy human neural stem cells, which are cultured in a laboratory, to injured tissue, like we can do with skin. Scientists are currently experimenting to determine whether transplanted donor cells can divide, differentiate and successfully give rise to new neurons in a damaged brain. They've also discovered that we might be able to teach other kinds of brain cells, such as astrocytes or oligodendrocytes to behave like neural stem cells and start generating neurons, too. So, a couple of decades from now will our brains be able to self-repair? We can't say for sure, but that has become one of the major goals of regenerative medicine. The human brain has 100 billion neurons and we're still figuring out the wiring behind this huge biological motherboard. But everyday, research on neurogenesis brings us closer to that reboot switch.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
neural stem 4
stem cells 3
progenitor cells 2
give rise 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
neural stem cells 3


Important Words


  1. ability
  2. abrupt
  3. absent
  4. administered
  5. adult
  6. amazing
  7. approach
  8. areas
  9. astrocytes
  10. behave
  11. billion
  12. biological
  13. bone
  14. brain
  15. brains
  16. brings
  17. broken
  18. bulb
  19. called
  20. cell
  21. cells
  22. closer
  23. communication
  24. conclude
  25. continue
  26. couple
  27. cultured
  28. damaged
  29. damaging
  30. day
  31. decades
  32. dedicated
  33. dentate
  34. determine
  35. developing
  36. differentiate
  37. discovered
  38. discoveries
  39. diseases
  40. divide
  41. donor
  42. efficiently
  43. embryonic
  44. events
  45. everyday
  46. experimenting
  47. fiction
  48. figuring
  49. generated
  50. generating
  51. give
  52. goals
  53. good
  54. grasp
  55. grown
  56. grows
  57. growth
  58. gyrus
  59. halt
  60. harness
  61. heal
  62. healthy
  63. helps
  64. huge
  65. human
  66. imagine
  67. improved
  68. improvement
  69. initial
  70. injured
  71. injury
  72. investigating
  73. involves
  74. irreversible
  75. kinds
  76. laboratory
  77. leading
  78. learning
  79. locations
  80. major
  81. making
  82. manage
  83. manufacture
  84. mechanism
  85. medicine
  86. memory
  87. mere
  88. microscopic
  89. migrate
  90. mimick
  91. molecules
  92. motherboard
  93. movement
  94. neural
  95. neurogenesis
  96. neurological
  97. neurons
  98. newly
  99. nose
  100. occurred
  101. olfactory
  102. oligodendrocytes
  103. opens
  104. parts
  105. patch
  106. places
  107. plays
  108. possibility
  109. potential
  110. presence
  111. process
  112. produce
  113. production
  114. progenitor
  115. promising
  116. proteins
  117. reality
  118. reboot
  119. regenerative
  120. regions
  121. replace
  122. reproduce
  123. research
  124. rest
  125. revealed
  126. rise
  127. role
  128. scars
  129. science
  130. scientists
  131. series
  132. shows
  133. similar
  134. skin
  135. small
  136. sound
  137. specialized
  138. stand
  139. start
  140. stem
  141. stitches
  142. striatum
  143. strokes
  144. structures
  145. subventricular
  146. successfully
  147. supply
  148. survive
  149. switch
  150. teach
  151. technique
  152. thought
  153. tissue
  154. transplant
  155. transplanted
  156. units
  157. updating
  158. wiring
  159. withered
  160. wound
  161. young
  162. zone