full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Leslie Kenna: The brilliance of bioluminescence
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Andrea McDonough, Translator
Jessica Ruby, Reviewer
Imagine a place so dark you can't see the nose on your face. Eyes opened or closed, it's all the same because the sun never siehns there. Up ahead, you see a light. When you ceerp in to investigate, a blue lgiht flits around you. "I could watch this forever," you think. But you can't because the mouth of an anglerfish has just sprung open and eaten you alive. You are just one of many creatures at the bottom of the ocean who learn too late to appreciate the power of bioluminescence. Bioluminescence refers to the ability of certain living things to create light. The human body can make stuff like ear wax and toe nails, but these organisms can turn parts of their body into glow scitks. It's like nature made them ready to rave. Why? In one way or another, bioluminescence improves a lviing thing's chances of survival. Take the frelify. It's altibiy to glow green helps it attract a mate on a warm, summer night, but it's just one of many living things that can glow. The railroad worm, Phrixothrix htuirs, can light up its body in two colors: red and green. Would you eat something that looks like an airport rwnuay? Neither would any sensible pedtaror. The flashing lihtgs keep the worm safe. Then there's the deep sea shrimp, Acantherphyra purpurea. When it flees threatened, it spews a cloud of glowing goo from its mouth. Who doesn't run the other way when they've just been puked on? Plus, that puke atractts bigger predators who want to eat the shrimp's enemy. So what if you can't bioluminesce? No problem! There are other ways for living things to make bcesioeculminne work for them, even if they weren't born with the equipment to glow. Let's reivsit the anglerfish moments before it tried to eat you. That glowing bait on top of its head? It comes from a pokcet of skin called the esca. The esca holds bioluminescent bacteria. The anglerfish can't glow there by itself, so it hldos a sack of glowing bacteria instead. Remember the firefly? It can actually make itself glow. Inside its lantern are two chemicals, a lfriciuen and a luciferase. When firefly luciferase and luciferin mix together in the pesenrce of oxygen and fuel for the cell, called ATP, the cmhaecil reaction gives off energy in the form of light. Once scientists feiurgd out how the firefly creates its lriufascee and luciferin, they used gteniec engineering to make this light-producing reaction occur inside other living things that can't glow. For example, they inserted the genes, or instructions, for a cell to create firefly luciferase and luciferin into a tobacco plant. Once there, the taccboo pnlat followed the instructions slipped into its DNA and lit up like a Christmas tree. The beauty of bioluminescence, unlike the light from the sun or an incandescent bulb, is that it's not hot. It takes place in a ragne of temperatures that don't burn a living thing. And unlike a glow stick, which feads out as the chemicals inside get used up, bocnseinemulit reactions use replenishable roueerscs. That's one reason engineers are trying to develop bioluminescent trees. Just think, if planted on the side of hghayiws, they could light the way, using only oxygen and other freely available, clean resources to run. Talk about sauvivrl advantage! That could help our peanlt live lgoenr. Do you find yourself thinking of other ways to put bioluminescence to good use? That glow stick you swing at a rave may help you find a mate, but how else can bioluminescence improve your survival? If you start tihnknig in this way, you have seen the light.
Open Cloze
Andrea McDonough, Translator
Jessica Ruby, Reviewer
Imagine a place so dark you can't see the nose on your face. Eyes opened or closed, it's all the same because the sun never ______ there. Up ahead, you see a light. When you _____ in to investigate, a blue _____ flits around you. "I could watch this forever," you think. But you can't because the mouth of an anglerfish has just sprung open and eaten you alive. You are just one of many creatures at the bottom of the ocean who learn too late to appreciate the power of bioluminescence. Bioluminescence refers to the ability of certain living things to create light. The human body can make stuff like ear wax and toe nails, but these organisms can turn parts of their body into glow ______. It's like nature made them ready to rave. Why? In one way or another, bioluminescence improves a ______ thing's chances of survival. Take the _______. It's _______ to glow green helps it attract a mate on a warm, summer night, but it's just one of many living things that can glow. The railroad worm, Phrixothrix ______, can light up its body in two colors: red and green. Would you eat something that looks like an airport ______? Neither would any sensible ________. The flashing ______ keep the worm safe. Then there's the deep sea shrimp, Acantherphyra purpurea. When it _____ threatened, it spews a cloud of glowing goo from its mouth. Who doesn't run the other way when they've just been puked on? Plus, that puke ________ bigger predators who want to eat the shrimp's enemy. So what if you can't bioluminesce? No problem! There are other ways for living things to make _______________ work for them, even if they weren't born with the equipment to glow. Let's _______ the anglerfish moments before it tried to eat you. That glowing bait on top of its head? It comes from a ______ of skin called the esca. The esca holds bioluminescent bacteria. The anglerfish can't glow there by itself, so it _____ a sack of glowing bacteria instead. Remember the firefly? It can actually make itself glow. Inside its lantern are two chemicals, a _________ and a luciferase. When firefly luciferase and luciferin mix together in the ________ of oxygen and fuel for the cell, called ATP, the ________ reaction gives off energy in the form of light. Once scientists _______ out how the firefly creates its __________ and luciferin, they used _______ engineering to make this light-producing reaction occur inside other living things that can't glow. For example, they inserted the genes, or instructions, for a cell to create firefly luciferase and luciferin into a tobacco plant. Once there, the _______ _____ followed the instructions slipped into its DNA and lit up like a Christmas tree. The beauty of bioluminescence, unlike the light from the sun or an incandescent bulb, is that it's not hot. It takes place in a _____ of temperatures that don't burn a living thing. And unlike a glow stick, which _____ out as the chemicals inside get used up, ______________ reactions use replenishable _________. That's one reason engineers are trying to develop bioluminescent trees. Just think, if planted on the side of ________, they could light the way, using only oxygen and other freely available, clean resources to run. Talk about ________ advantage! That could help our ______ live ______. Do you find yourself thinking of other ways to put bioluminescence to good use? That glow stick you swing at a rave may help you find a mate, but how else can bioluminescence improve your survival? If you start ________ in this way, you have seen the light.
Solution
- fades
- bioluminescence
- survival
- hirtus
- predator
- feels
- shines
- creep
- luciferin
- presence
- ability
- genetic
- attracts
- pocket
- range
- planet
- living
- tobacco
- longer
- holds
- figured
- bioluminescent
- sticks
- runway
- light
- chemical
- firefly
- highways
- plant
- resources
- revisit
- luciferase
- thinking
- lights
Original Text
Andrea McDonough, Translator
Jessica Ruby, Reviewer
Imagine a place so dark you can't see the nose on your face. Eyes opened or closed, it's all the same because the sun never shines there. Up ahead, you see a light. When you creep in to investigate, a blue light flits around you. "I could watch this forever," you think. But you can't because the mouth of an anglerfish has just sprung open and eaten you alive. You are just one of many creatures at the bottom of the ocean who learn too late to appreciate the power of bioluminescence. Bioluminescence refers to the ability of certain living things to create light. The human body can make stuff like ear wax and toe nails, but these organisms can turn parts of their body into glow sticks. It's like nature made them ready to rave. Why? In one way or another, bioluminescence improves a living thing's chances of survival. Take the firefly. It's ability to glow green helps it attract a mate on a warm, summer night, but it's just one of many living things that can glow. The railroad worm, Phrixothrix hirtus, can light up its body in two colors: red and green. Would you eat something that looks like an airport runway? Neither would any sensible predator. The flashing lights keep the worm safe. Then there's the deep sea shrimp, Acantherphyra purpurea. When it feels threatened, it spews a cloud of glowing goo from its mouth. Who doesn't run the other way when they've just been puked on? Plus, that puke attracts bigger predators who want to eat the shrimp's enemy. So what if you can't bioluminesce? No problem! There are other ways for living things to make bioluminescence work for them, even if they weren't born with the equipment to glow. Let's revisit the anglerfish moments before it tried to eat you. That glowing bait on top of its head? It comes from a pocket of skin called the esca. The esca holds bioluminescent bacteria. The anglerfish can't glow there by itself, so it holds a sack of glowing bacteria instead. Remember the firefly? It can actually make itself glow. Inside its lantern are two chemicals, a luciferin and a luciferase. When firefly luciferase and luciferin mix together in the presence of oxygen and fuel for the cell, called ATP, the chemical reaction gives off energy in the form of light. Once scientists figured out how the firefly creates its luciferase and luciferin, they used genetic engineering to make this light-producing reaction occur inside other living things that can't glow. For example, they inserted the genes, or instructions, for a cell to create firefly luciferase and luciferin into a tobacco plant. Once there, the tobacco plant followed the instructions slipped into its DNA and lit up like a Christmas tree. The beauty of bioluminescence, unlike the light from the sun or an incandescent bulb, is that it's not hot. It takes place in a range of temperatures that don't burn a living thing. And unlike a glow stick, which fades out as the chemicals inside get used up, bioluminescent reactions use replenishable resources. That's one reason engineers are trying to develop bioluminescent trees. Just think, if planted on the side of highways, they could light the way, using only oxygen and other freely available, clean resources to run. Talk about survival advantage! That could help our planet live longer. Do you find yourself thinking of other ways to put bioluminescence to good use? That glow stick you swing at a rave may help you find a mate, but how else can bioluminescence improve your survival? If you start thinking in this way, you have seen the light.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| firefly luciferase |
2 |
| tobacco plant |
2 |
Important Words
- ability
- acantherphyra
- airport
- alive
- andrea
- anglerfish
- atp
- attract
- attracts
- bacteria
- bait
- beauty
- bigger
- bioluminesce
- bioluminescence
- bioluminescent
- blue
- body
- born
- bottom
- bulb
- burn
- called
- cell
- chances
- chemical
- chemicals
- christmas
- clean
- closed
- cloud
- create
- creates
- creatures
- creep
- dark
- deep
- develop
- dna
- ear
- eat
- eaten
- enemy
- energy
- engineering
- engineers
- equipment
- esca
- eyes
- face
- fades
- feels
- figured
- find
- firefly
- flashing
- flits
- form
- freely
- fuel
- genes
- genetic
- glow
- glowing
- goo
- good
- green
- head
- helps
- highways
- hirtus
- holds
- hot
- human
- imagine
- improve
- improves
- incandescent
- inserted
- instructions
- investigate
- jessica
- lantern
- late
- learn
- light
- lights
- lit
- live
- living
- longer
- luciferase
- luciferin
- mate
- mcdonough
- mix
- moments
- mouth
- nails
- nature
- night
- nose
- occur
- ocean
- open
- opened
- organisms
- oxygen
- parts
- phrixothrix
- place
- planet
- plant
- planted
- pocket
- power
- predator
- predators
- presence
- puke
- puked
- purpurea
- put
- railroad
- range
- rave
- reaction
- reactions
- ready
- reason
- red
- refers
- remember
- replenishable
- resources
- reviewer
- revisit
- ruby
- run
- runway
- sack
- safe
- scientists
- sea
- shines
- shrimp
- side
- skin
- slipped
- spews
- sprung
- start
- stick
- sticks
- stuff
- summer
- sun
- survival
- swing
- takes
- talk
- temperatures
- thinking
- threatened
- tobacco
- toe
- top
- translator
- tree
- trees
- turn
- warm
- watch
- wax
- ways
- work
- worm