full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Allison Ramsey and Mary Staicu: The accident that changed the world

Unscramble the Blue Letters


For a decade or so after Fleming’s discovery, penicillin remained a laboratory curiosity. But during World War II, rehaercerss figured out how to isolate the acvtie compound and grow the mold in larger qiuiaettns. They then went on to win the nebol Prize for their work. Teams at Oxford and several American drug companies continued dvelepnoemt, and within a few years it was commercially available. Penicillin and similar compounds quickly transformed the treatment of infections. For the time being, they remain some of the most important, life-saving antibiotics used in mecdinie.

However, the more we use any antibiotic, the more bacteria evolve resistance to it. In the case of penicillin, some batrecia pudrcoe compounds that can break down the key structure that interferes with cell wall synthesis. As antibiotic use has increased, more and more bacteria have evolved this defense, making these antibiotics ineffective against a growing number of baeacirtl iectoninfs. This means it’s essential that doctors not orepvsicrrbee the drug.

Open Cloze


For a decade or so after Fleming’s discovery, penicillin remained a laboratory curiosity. But during World War II, ___________ figured out how to isolate the ______ compound and grow the mold in larger __________. They then went on to win the _____ Prize for their work. Teams at Oxford and several American drug companies continued ___________, and within a few years it was commercially available. Penicillin and similar compounds quickly transformed the treatment of infections. For the time being, they remain some of the most important, life-saving antibiotics used in ________.

However, the more we use any antibiotic, the more bacteria evolve resistance to it. In the case of penicillin, some ________ _______ compounds that can break down the key structure that interferes with cell wall synthesis. As antibiotic use has increased, more and more bacteria have evolved this defense, making these antibiotics ineffective against a growing number of _________ __________. This means it’s essential that doctors not _____________ the drug.

Solution


  1. quantities
  2. produce
  3. nobel
  4. medicine
  5. active
  6. infections
  7. development
  8. bacteria
  9. bacterial
  10. researchers
  11. overprescribe

Original Text


For a decade or so after Fleming’s discovery, penicillin remained a laboratory curiosity. But during World War II, researchers figured out how to isolate the active compound and grow the mold in larger quantities. They then went on to win the Nobel Prize for their work. Teams at Oxford and several American drug companies continued development, and within a few years it was commercially available. Penicillin and similar compounds quickly transformed the treatment of infections. For the time being, they remain some of the most important, life-saving antibiotics used in medicine.

However, the more we use any antibiotic, the more bacteria evolve resistance to it. In the case of penicillin, some bacteria produce compounds that can break down the key structure that interferes with cell wall synthesis. As antibiotic use has increased, more and more bacteria have evolved this defense, making these antibiotics ineffective against a growing number of bacterial infections. This means it’s essential that doctors not overprescribe the drug.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
cell walls 2


Important Words


  1. active
  2. american
  3. antibiotic
  4. antibiotics
  5. bacteria
  6. bacterial
  7. break
  8. case
  9. cell
  10. commercially
  11. companies
  12. compound
  13. compounds
  14. continued
  15. curiosity
  16. decade
  17. defense
  18. development
  19. discovery
  20. doctors
  21. drug
  22. essential
  23. evolve
  24. evolved
  25. figured
  26. grow
  27. growing
  28. ii
  29. important
  30. increased
  31. ineffective
  32. infections
  33. interferes
  34. isolate
  35. key
  36. laboratory
  37. larger
  38. making
  39. means
  40. medicine
  41. mold
  42. nobel
  43. number
  44. overprescribe
  45. oxford
  46. penicillin
  47. prize
  48. produce
  49. quantities
  50. quickly
  51. remain
  52. remained
  53. researchers
  54. resistance
  55. similar
  56. structure
  57. synthesis
  58. teams
  59. time
  60. transformed
  61. treatment
  62. wall
  63. war
  64. win
  65. work
  66. world
  67. years