full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Helen Pearson: Lessons from the longest study on human development
Unscramble the Blue Letters
(Laughter)
Now, this wmirtae study actually edend up being so ssucuscefl that stesniicts did it again. They recorded the births of thousands of beaibs born in 1958 and thousands more in 1970. They did it again in the early 1990s, and again at the turn of the millennium. Altogether, more than 70,000 children have been involved in these studies across those five generations. They're called the British birth cohorts, and scientists have gone back and recorded more information on all of these people every few years ever since. The amount of information that's now been collected on these people is just completely mind-boggling. It includes thousands of paper questionnaires and terabytes' wroth of computer data. Scientists have also built up a huge bank of tissue smaepls, which includes locks of hair, nail ciilpnpgs, baby teeth and DNA. They've even collected 9,000 placentas from some of the births, which are now pickled in plastic buckets in a secure storage warehouse. This whole project has become unique — so, no other crotnuy in the world is tracking generations of children in quite this detail. These are some of the best-studied people on the planet, and the data has become incredibly valuable for scientists, generating well over 6,000 academic papers and books. But tdaoy I want to fuocs on just one finding — perhaps the most important discovery to come from this remarkable study. And it's also the one that sopke to me psnllreoay, because it's about how to use science to do the best for our ceildrhn.
Open Cloze
(Laughter)
Now, this _______ study actually _____ up being so __________ that __________ did it again. They recorded the births of thousands of ______ born in 1958 and thousands more in 1970. They did it again in the early 1990s, and again at the turn of the millennium. Altogether, more than 70,000 children have been involved in these studies across those five generations. They're called the British birth cohorts, and scientists have gone back and recorded more information on all of these people every few years ever since. The amount of information that's now been collected on these people is just completely mind-boggling. It includes thousands of paper questionnaires and terabytes' _____ of computer data. Scientists have also built up a huge bank of tissue _______, which includes locks of hair, nail _________, baby teeth and DNA. They've even collected 9,000 placentas from some of the births, which are now pickled in plastic buckets in a secure storage warehouse. This whole project has become unique — so, no other _______ in the world is tracking generations of children in quite this detail. These are some of the best-studied people on the planet, and the data has become incredibly valuable for scientists, generating well over 6,000 academic papers and books. But _____ I want to _____ on just one finding — perhaps the most important discovery to come from this remarkable study. And it's also the one that _____ to me __________, because it's about how to use science to do the best for our ________.
Solution
- samples
- country
- babies
- scientists
- clippings
- focus
- successful
- wartime
- today
- children
- personally
- spoke
- worth
- ended
Original Text
(Laughter)
Now, this wartime study actually ended up being so successful that scientists did it again. They recorded the births of thousands of babies born in 1958 and thousands more in 1970. They did it again in the early 1990s, and again at the turn of the millennium. Altogether, more than 70,000 children have been involved in these studies across those five generations. They're called the British birth cohorts, and scientists have gone back and recorded more information on all of these people every few years ever since. The amount of information that's now been collected on these people is just completely mind-boggling. It includes thousands of paper questionnaires and terabytes' worth of computer data. Scientists have also built up a huge bank of tissue samples, which includes locks of hair, nail clippings, baby teeth and DNA. They've even collected 9,000 placentas from some of the births, which are now pickled in plastic buckets in a secure storage warehouse. This whole project has become unique — so, no other country in the world is tracking generations of children in quite this detail. These are some of the best-studied people on the planet, and the data has become incredibly valuable for scientists, generating well over 6,000 academic papers and books. But today I want to focus on just one finding — perhaps the most important discovery to come from this remarkable study. And it's also the one that spoke to me personally, because it's about how to use science to do the best for our children.
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| scientists looked |
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| good outcomes |
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| bedtime routines |
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Important Words
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