full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Rebecca L. Walker: How do we determine the value of a life?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Smallpox is one of the ddiesalet diseases in history, but fortunately, it’s been ereiaacdtd for over 40 years. However, samples of the vuirs that causes smallpox still exist, leading to cnroecn that rogue actors might try to weaponize it. This is especially worrying because older smallpox vaccines can have serious side effects, and modern antiviral drugs have never been teestd against this dasisee. To protect against this potential threat, the US government is funding research to improve smlpalox treatments and vaccines. And since it’s unethical to expose people to a highly lethal virus, labs are using humanity's closest boligoical relatives as research sbecjtus. But is it right to harm these animals to protect humanity from a potential threat? Or should our closest relatives also be perotcetd against lethal experiments? What would you do as a scientist faced with this very real scenario?

Open Cloze


Smallpox is one of the _________ diseases in history, but fortunately, it’s been __________ for over 40 years. However, samples of the _____ that causes smallpox still exist, leading to _______ that rogue actors might try to weaponize it. This is especially worrying because older smallpox vaccines can have serious side effects, and modern antiviral drugs have never been ______ against this _______. To protect against this potential threat, the US government is funding research to improve ________ treatments and vaccines. And since it’s unethical to expose people to a highly lethal virus, labs are using humanity's closest __________ relatives as research ________. But is it right to harm these animals to protect humanity from a potential threat? Or should our closest relatives also be _________ against lethal experiments? What would you do as a scientist faced with this very real scenario?

Solution


  1. deadliest
  2. smallpox
  3. virus
  4. eradicated
  5. subjects
  6. tested
  7. biological
  8. protected
  9. concern
  10. disease

Original Text


Smallpox is one of the deadliest diseases in history, but fortunately, it’s been eradicated for over 40 years. However, samples of the virus that causes smallpox still exist, leading to concern that rogue actors might try to weaponize it. This is especially worrying because older smallpox vaccines can have serious side effects, and modern antiviral drugs have never been tested against this disease. To protect against this potential threat, the US government is funding research to improve smallpox treatments and vaccines. And since it’s unethical to expose people to a highly lethal virus, labs are using humanity's closest biological relatives as research subjects. But is it right to harm these animals to protect humanity from a potential threat? Or should our closest relatives also be protected against lethal experiments? What would you do as a scientist faced with this very real scenario?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
moral status 13
human lives 2


Important Words


  1. actors
  2. animals
  3. antiviral
  4. biological
  5. closest
  6. concern
  7. deadliest
  8. disease
  9. diseases
  10. drugs
  11. effects
  12. eradicated
  13. exist
  14. experiments
  15. expose
  16. faced
  17. fortunately
  18. funding
  19. government
  20. harm
  21. highly
  22. history
  23. humanity
  24. improve
  25. labs
  26. leading
  27. lethal
  28. modern
  29. older
  30. people
  31. potential
  32. protect
  33. protected
  34. real
  35. relatives
  36. research
  37. rogue
  38. samples
  39. scenario
  40. scientist
  41. side
  42. smallpox
  43. subjects
  44. tested
  45. threat
  46. treatments
  47. unethical
  48. vaccines
  49. virus
  50. weaponize
  51. worrying
  52. years