full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Armando Azua-Bustos: The most Martian place on Earth

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This is a picture of a sunset on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover in 2013. Mars is a very cold planet, foodeld with high levels of UV riiotadan and extremely dry. In fact, Mars is considered to be too dry for life as we know it.

I'm an abisotrosgloit. I try to understand the origin of life on Earth and the plossibiiteis of finding life elsewhere in the universe. plepoe sometimes ask me, how can you be an astrobiologist if you don't have your own spaceship?

Well, what I do is that I study life in those environments on Earth that most colsley resemble other interesting places in the universe. All life on Earth requires water, so in my case I fuocs on the intimate relationship between water and life in order to udtrennsad if we could find life in a planet as dry as Mars. But since I do not have the 2.5 billion dollars to send my own robot to Mars, I sduty the most Martian place on Earth, the Atacama Desert.

Open Cloze


This is a picture of a sunset on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover in 2013. Mars is a very cold planet, _______ with high levels of UV _________ and extremely dry. In fact, Mars is considered to be too dry for life as we know it.

I'm an ______________. I try to understand the origin of life on Earth and the _____________ of finding life elsewhere in the universe. ______ sometimes ask me, how can you be an astrobiologist if you don't have your own spaceship?

Well, what I do is that I study life in those environments on Earth that most _______ resemble other interesting places in the universe. All life on Earth requires water, so in my case I _____ on the intimate relationship between water and life in order to __________ if we could find life in a planet as dry as Mars. But since I do not have the 2.5 billion dollars to send my own robot to Mars, I _____ the most Martian place on Earth, the Atacama Desert.

Solution


  1. people
  2. flooded
  3. understand
  4. focus
  5. study
  6. possibilities
  7. radiation
  8. closely
  9. astrobiologist

Original Text


This is a picture of a sunset on Mars taken by NASA's Curiosity rover in 2013. Mars is a very cold planet, flooded with high levels of UV radiation and extremely dry. In fact, Mars is considered to be too dry for life as we know it.

I'm an astrobiologist. I try to understand the origin of life on Earth and the possibilities of finding life elsewhere in the universe. People sometimes ask me, how can you be an astrobiologist if you don't have your own spaceship?

Well, what I do is that I study life in those environments on Earth that most closely resemble other interesting places in the universe. All life on Earth requires water, so in my case I focus on the intimate relationship between water and life in order to understand if we could find life in a planet as dry as Mars. But since I do not have the 2.5 billion dollars to send my own robot to Mars, I study the most Martian place on Earth, the Atacama Desert.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
uv radiation 2
driest desert 2
driest place 2


Important Words


  1. astrobiologist
  2. atacama
  3. billion
  4. case
  5. closely
  6. cold
  7. considered
  8. curiosity
  9. desert
  10. dollars
  11. dry
  12. earth
  13. environments
  14. extremely
  15. fact
  16. find
  17. finding
  18. flooded
  19. focus
  20. high
  21. interesting
  22. intimate
  23. levels
  24. life
  25. mars
  26. martian
  27. order
  28. origin
  29. people
  30. picture
  31. place
  32. places
  33. planet
  34. possibilities
  35. radiation
  36. relationship
  37. requires
  38. resemble
  39. robot
  40. rover
  41. send
  42. spaceship
  43. study
  44. sunset
  45. understand
  46. universe
  47. uv
  48. water