TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Edmond Hui: How the heart actually pumps blood

Unscramble the Blue Letters

For most of history, humnas had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the oragn so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own heart beating, it wasn't always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the herat pumps blood. But that fact wasn't always oiovubs, because if a heart was exposed or taken out, the body would perish quickly. It's also impossible to see through the blood vessels, and even if that were possible, the blood itself is ouaqpe, making it difficult to see the heart valves working. Even in the 21st century, only a few people in surgery tmeas have actually seen a working heart. Internet searches for heart function, point to cdure models, diagrams or animations that don't really show how it works. It's as if there has been a centuries old conspiracy amongst teachers and students to accept that heart function cannot be demonstrated. Meaning that the next best thing is simply to cut it open and leabl the parts. That way students might not fully grasp the way it works, but can superficially understand it, learning such cnpteocs as the heart is a four-chambered organ, or potentially misleading statements like, mammals have a dual-circulation: one with blood going to the lungs and back, and another to the body and back. In reality, mammals have a figure-eight circulation. bolod goes from one heart pump to the lungs, back to the second heart pump, which sends it to the body, and then back to the first pump. That's an important difference because it marks two completely different morphologies. This confusion makes many students wary of the heart in blooigy lessons, thinking it snliags an intimidating subcjet full of complicated names and daigrmas. Only those who end up studying mdinecie compeltely understand how it all actually works. That's when its functions become apparent as medics get to obsreve the motion of the heart's valves. So, let's imagine you're a mdeic for a day. What you'll need to get started is a whole fresh heart, like one from a sheep or pig. Immerse this heart in water and you'll see that it doesn't pump when squeezed by hand. That's because water doesn't enter the heart clnelay enough for the pinmpug mechanism to work. We can svloe this problem in an extraordinarly simple way. Simply identify the two atria and cut them off, trimming them down to the tops of the ventricles. This makes the heart look less complicated because the atria have several incoming veins attached. So without them there, the only vslsees remaining are the two mjaor heart arteries: the aorta and pulmonary artery, which rise like white columns from between the ventricles. It looks — and really is — very simple. If you run water into the right ventricle from a tap (the left also works, but less spectacularly), you'll see that the ventricular vvlae tries to colse against the icoimnng stream. And then ventricle inflates with waetr. Squeeze the ventricle and a stream of water squirts out of the pulmonary atrery. The ventricular vaevls, clelad the tricuspid in the right ventricle and the mirtal in the left, can be seen through the clear water opening and csliong like parachutes as the ventricle is rhythmically squeezed. This flow of water mimics the flow of blood in life. The valves are completely efficient. You'll notice they don't leak at all when the vcrtienels are squeezed. Over time, they also close against each other with very little wear and tear, which eiplanxs how this mechanism continues to work seamlessly for more than 2 billion beats a heart gives in its ltimfiee. Now, anyone studying the heart can hold one in their hands, make it pump for real and watch the action ulnfod. So place your hand above your own and feel its rhymic beat. Understanding how this dependable inner pump works gives new resonance to the feeling you get when you run a race, drink too much caffeine or catch the eye of the one you love.

Open Cloze

For most of history, ______ had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the _____ so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own heart beating, it wasn't always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the _____ pumps blood. But that fact wasn't always _______, because if a heart was exposed or taken out, the body would perish quickly. It's also impossible to see through the blood vessels, and even if that were possible, the blood itself is ______, making it difficult to see the heart valves working. Even in the 21st century, only a few people in surgery _____ have actually seen a working heart. Internet searches for heart function, point to _____ models, diagrams or animations that don't really show how it works. It's as if there has been a centuries old conspiracy amongst teachers and students to accept that heart function cannot be demonstrated. Meaning that the next best thing is simply to cut it open and _____ the parts. That way students might not fully grasp the way it works, but can superficially understand it, learning such ________ as the heart is a four-chambered organ, or potentially misleading statements like, mammals have a dual-circulation: one with blood going to the lungs and back, and another to the body and back. In reality, mammals have a figure-eight circulation. _____ goes from one heart pump to the lungs, back to the second heart pump, which sends it to the body, and then back to the first pump. That's an important difference because it marks two completely different morphologies. This confusion makes many students wary of the heart in _______ lessons, thinking it _______ an intimidating _______ full of complicated names and ________. Only those who end up studying ________ compeltely understand how it all actually works. That's when its functions become apparent as medics get to _______ the motion of the heart's valves. So, let's imagine you're a _____ for a day. What you'll need to get started is a whole fresh heart, like one from a sheep or pig. Immerse this heart in water and you'll see that it doesn't pump when squeezed by hand. That's because water doesn't enter the heart _______ enough for the _______ mechanism to work. We can _____ this problem in an extraordinarly simple way. Simply identify the two atria and cut them off, trimming them down to the tops of the ventricles. This makes the heart look less complicated because the atria have several incoming veins attached. So without them there, the only _______ remaining are the two _____ heart arteries: the aorta and pulmonary artery, which rise like white columns from between the ventricles. It looks — and really is — very simple. If you run water into the right ventricle from a tap (the left also works, but less spectacularly), you'll see that the ventricular _____ tries to _____ against the ________ stream. And then ventricle inflates with _____. Squeeze the ventricle and a stream of water squirts out of the pulmonary ______. The ventricular ______, ______ the tricuspid in the right ventricle and the ______ in the left, can be seen through the clear water opening and _______ like parachutes as the ventricle is rhythmically squeezed. This flow of water mimics the flow of blood in life. The valves are completely efficient. You'll notice they don't leak at all when the __________ are squeezed. Over time, they also close against each other with very little wear and tear, which ________ how this mechanism continues to work seamlessly for more than 2 billion beats a heart gives in its ________. Now, anyone studying the heart can hold one in their hands, make it pump for real and watch the action ______. So place your hand above your own and feel its rhymic beat. Understanding how this dependable inner pump works gives new resonance to the feeling you get when you run a race, drink too much caffeine or catch the eye of the one you love.

Solution

artery
organ
explains
valve
solve
signals
opaque
concepts
humans
unfold
heart
mitral
called
ventricles
teams
close
subject
water
observe
medic
biology
diagrams
cleanly
closing
blood
pumping
valves
incoming
crude
major
label
vessels
lifetime
medicine
obvious

Original Text

For most of history, humans had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the organ so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own heart beating, it wasn't always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the heart pumps blood. But that fact wasn't always obvious, because if a heart was exposed or taken out, the body would perish quickly. It's also impossible to see through the blood vessels, and even if that were possible, the blood itself is opaque, making it difficult to see the heart valves working. Even in the 21st century, only a few people in surgery teams have actually seen a working heart. Internet searches for heart function, point to crude models, diagrams or animations that don't really show how it works. It's as if there has been a centuries old conspiracy amongst teachers and students to accept that heart function cannot be demonstrated. Meaning that the next best thing is simply to cut it open and label the parts. That way students might not fully grasp the way it works, but can superficially understand it, learning such concepts as the heart is a four-chambered organ, or potentially misleading statements like, mammals have a dual-circulation: one with blood going to the lungs and back, and another to the body and back. In reality, mammals have a figure-eight circulation. Blood goes from one heart pump to the lungs, back to the second heart pump, which sends it to the body, and then back to the first pump. That's an important difference because it marks two completely different morphologies. This confusion makes many students wary of the heart in biology lessons, thinking it signals an intimidating subject full of complicated names and diagrams. Only those who end up studying medicine compeltely understand how it all actually works. That's when its functions become apparent as medics get to observe the motion of the heart's valves. So, let's imagine you're a medic for a day. What you'll need to get started is a whole fresh heart, like one from a sheep or pig. Immerse this heart in water and you'll see that it doesn't pump when squeezed by hand. That's because water doesn't enter the heart cleanly enough for the pumping mechanism to work. We can solve this problem in an extraordinarly simple way. Simply identify the two atria and cut them off, trimming them down to the tops of the ventricles. This makes the heart look less complicated because the atria have several incoming veins attached. So without them there, the only vessels remaining are the two major heart arteries: the aorta and pulmonary artery, which rise like white columns from between the ventricles. It looks — and really is — very simple. If you run water into the right ventricle from a tap (the left also works, but less spectacularly), you'll see that the ventricular valve tries to close against the incoming stream. And then ventricle inflates with water. Squeeze the ventricle and a stream of water squirts out of the pulmonary artery. The ventricular valves, called the tricuspid in the right ventricle and the mitral in the left, can be seen through the clear water opening and closing like parachutes as the ventricle is rhythmically squeezed. This flow of water mimics the flow of blood in life. The valves are completely efficient. You'll notice they don't leak at all when the ventricles are squeezed. Over time, they also close against each other with very little wear and tear, which explains how this mechanism continues to work seamlessly for more than 2 billion beats a heart gives in its lifetime. Now, anyone studying the heart can hold one in their hands, make it pump for real and watch the action unfold. So place your hand above your own and feel its rhymic beat. Understanding how this dependable inner pump works gives new resonance to the feeling you get when you run a race, drink too much caffeine or catch the eye of the one you love.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

Important Words

accept
achieving
action
animations
aorta
apparent
artery
atria
attached
beat
beating
beats
billion
biology
blood
body
caffeine
called
catch
centuries
century
circulation
cleanly
clear
close
closing
columns
compeltely
completely
complicated
concepts
confused
confusion
conspiracy
continues
crude
cut
da
day
demonstrated
dependable
diagrams
difference
difficult
drink
efficient
enter
explains
exposed
extraordinarly
eye
fact
feel
feeling
flow
fresh
full
fully
function
functions
gave
grasp
hand
hands
heart
history
hold
humans
idea
identify
imagine
immerse
important
impossible
incoming
inflates
internet
intimidating
label
leak
learning
left
leonardo
lessons
life
lifetime
love
lungs
major
making
mammals
marks
meaning
mechanism
medic
medicine
medics
mimics
misleading
mitral
models
morphologies
motion
names
notice
observe
obvious
opaque
open
opening
organ
parachutes
parts
people
perish
pig
place
point
potentially
problem
pulmonary
pump
pumping
pumps
purpose
quickly
race
real
reality
remaining
resonance
rhymic
rhythmically
rise
run
seamlessly
searches
sends
served
sheep
show
signals
simple
simply
solve
spectacularly
squeeze
squeezed
squirts
started
statements
stream
students
studying
subject
superficially
surgery
tap
teachers
teams
tear
thinking
thump
time
tops
tricuspid
trimming
understand
understanding
unfold
valve
valves
veins
ventricle
ventricles
ventricular
vessels
vinci
wary
watch
water
wear
white
work
working
works