TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Amber M. Yates: How this disease changes the shape of your cells

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Perhaps what’s most surprising about this malignant mutation is that it originally evolved as a beneficial adaptation. Researchers have been able to trace the origins of the sickle cell mutation to rignoes historically rgeaavd by a tropical disease called malaria. Spread by a parasite found in local mesoouqtis, malaria uses red blood clels as incubators to sraepd quickly and lethally through the bloodstream.

However, the same structural changes that turn red blood cells into roadblocks also make them more resistant to malaria. And if a child inherits a copy of the mutation from only one parent, there will be just enough abnormal hoomiebgln to make life difficult for the malaria parasite, while most of their red blood cells retain their normal spahe and function. In regions rife with this parasite, sickle cell mtoautin offered a serious evolutionary advantage. But as the adaptation flourished, it became caelr that inheriting the mutation from both parents resulted in sickle-cell anemia.

Open Cloze

Perhaps what’s most surprising about this malignant mutation is that it originally evolved as a beneficial adaptation. Researchers have been able to trace the origins of the sickle cell mutation to _______ historically _______ by a tropical disease called malaria. Spread by a parasite found in local __________, malaria uses red blood _____ as incubators to ______ quickly and lethally through the bloodstream.

However, the same structural changes that turn red blood cells into roadblocks also make them more resistant to malaria. And if a child inherits a copy of the mutation from only one parent, there will be just enough abnormal __________ to make life difficult for the malaria parasite, while most of their red blood cells retain their normal _____ and function. In regions rife with this parasite, sickle cell ________ offered a serious evolutionary advantage. But as the adaptation flourished, it became _____ that inheriting the mutation from both parents resulted in sickle-cell anemia.

Solution

cells
regions
clear
hemoglobin
mosquitoes
shape
ravaged
mutation
spread

Original Text

Perhaps what’s most surprising about this malignant mutation is that it originally evolved as a beneficial adaptation. Researchers have been able to trace the origins of the sickle cell mutation to regions historically ravaged by a tropical disease called malaria. Spread by a parasite found in local mosquitoes, malaria uses red blood cells as incubators to spread quickly and lethally through the bloodstream.

However, the same structural changes that turn red blood cells into roadblocks also make them more resistant to malaria. And if a child inherits a copy of the mutation from only one parent, there will be just enough abnormal hemoglobin to make life difficult for the malaria parasite, while most of their red blood cells retain their normal shape and function. In regions rife with this parasite, sickle cell mutation offered a serious evolutionary advantage. But as the adaptation flourished, it became clear that inheriting the mutation from both parents resulted in sickle-cell anemia.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
red blood	9
blood cells	6
sickle cell	5
blood vessels	2
sickled cells	2
symptoms experienced	2
cell mutation	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
red blood cells	6
sickle cell mutation	2

Important Words

abnormal
adaptation
advantage
anemia
beneficial
blood
bloodstream
called
cell
cells
child
clear
copy
difficult
disease
evolutionary
evolved
flourished
function
hemoglobin
historically
incubators
inheriting
inherits
lethally
life
local
malaria
malignant
mosquitoes
mutation
normal
offered
originally
origins
parasite
parent
parents
quickly
ravaged
red
regions
researchers
resistant
resulted
retain
rife
roadblocks
shape
sickle
spread
structural
surprising
trace
tropical
turn