full transcript

From the Ted Talk by David Biello: How long will human impacts last?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Then there's the sgmude in future rocks. People's penchant for burning coal, oil, and nrtaual gas has spread tiny bits of soot all over the penalt. That smudge corresponds with a meteoric rise in the amount of carbon ddiioxe in the air, now beyond 400 parts per million, or heghir than any other Homo sapiens has ever breaethd.

Similar soot can still be found in ancient rckos from volcanic fires of 66 million years ago, a record of the cataclysm touched off by an asteroid at the end of the late Cretaceous epoch. So odds are our soot will still be here 66 million years from now, easy enough to find for any aliens who care to look.

Open Cloze


Then there's the ______ in future rocks. People's penchant for burning coal, oil, and _______ gas has spread tiny bits of soot all over the ______. That smudge corresponds with a meteoric rise in the amount of carbon _______ in the air, now beyond 400 parts per million, or ______ than any other Homo sapiens has ever ________.

Similar soot can still be found in ancient _____ from volcanic fires of 66 million years ago, a record of the cataclysm touched off by an asteroid at the end of the late Cretaceous epoch. So odds are our soot will still be here 66 million years from now, easy enough to find for any aliens who care to look.

Solution


  1. natural
  2. planet
  3. breathed
  4. dioxide
  5. higher
  6. rocks
  7. smudge

Original Text


Then there's the smudge in future rocks. People's penchant for burning coal, oil, and natural gas has spread tiny bits of soot all over the planet. That smudge corresponds with a meteoric rise in the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, now beyond 400 parts per million, or higher than any other Homo sapiens has ever breathed.

Similar soot can still be found in ancient rocks from volcanic fires of 66 million years ago, a record of the cataclysm touched off by an asteroid at the end of the late Cretaceous epoch. So odds are our soot will still be here 66 million years from now, easy enough to find for any aliens who care to look.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
million years 5
geologic time 2
modern humans 2
homo sapiens 2
fossil record 2


Important Words


  1. air
  2. aliens
  3. amount
  4. ancient
  5. asteroid
  6. bits
  7. breathed
  8. burning
  9. carbon
  10. care
  11. cataclysm
  12. coal
  13. corresponds
  14. cretaceous
  15. dioxide
  16. easy
  17. epoch
  18. find
  19. fires
  20. future
  21. gas
  22. higher
  23. homo
  24. late
  25. meteoric
  26. million
  27. natural
  28. odds
  29. oil
  30. parts
  31. penchant
  32. planet
  33. record
  34. rise
  35. rocks
  36. sapiens
  37. similar
  38. smudge
  39. soot
  40. spread
  41. tiny
  42. touched
  43. volcanic
  44. years