full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lukas Rieppel: The most notorious scientific feud in history

Unscramble the Blue Letters


detprasee to catch up with Marsh, Cope invested his dwindling fortune into silver mining. The gamble failed, and he was left nearly destitute. While Cope contemplated selling his precious collection, Marsh was named lead paleontologist for the US Geological suvery. This well-funded branch of the government often sponsored Westward expeditions, giving Marsh even more resources to vanquish his rival.

The Bone Wars spilled into public view when Cope had a tabloid newspaper pslubih an article accusing Marsh of plagiarism, fraud, and corruption. Marsh fried back and the two further tarnished each other’s reputations. Neither ever relented. When Cope died, he donated his skull to science, hoping to prove that his brain was larger than that of his enemy. msrah never accepted the challenge. Although Marsh named more seiepcs than Cope, both men greatly expanded our unrsdnnateidg of euotloivn. But their egotistical one-upmanship reminds us that, in sptie of its ideals, science is a pnresaol enterprise ctndoceud by individual— and at times dlpeey flawed— hmaun beings.

Open Cloze


_________ to catch up with Marsh, Cope invested his dwindling fortune into silver mining. The gamble failed, and he was left nearly destitute. While Cope contemplated selling his precious collection, Marsh was named lead paleontologist for the US Geological ______. This well-funded branch of the government often sponsored Westward expeditions, giving Marsh even more resources to vanquish his rival.

The Bone Wars spilled into public view when Cope had a tabloid newspaper _______ an article accusing Marsh of plagiarism, fraud, and corruption. Marsh _____ back and the two further tarnished each other’s reputations. Neither ever relented. When Cope died, he donated his skull to science, hoping to prove that his brain was larger than that of his enemy. _____ never accepted the challenge. Although Marsh named more _______ than Cope, both men greatly expanded our _____________ of _________. But their egotistical one-upmanship reminds us that, in _____ of its ideals, science is a ________ enterprise _________ by individual— and at times ______ flawed— _____ beings.

Solution


  1. conducted
  2. fired
  3. human
  4. spite
  5. publish
  6. species
  7. deeply
  8. personal
  9. survey
  10. evolution
  11. marsh
  12. desperate
  13. understanding

Original Text


Desperate to catch up with Marsh, Cope invested his dwindling fortune into silver mining. The gamble failed, and he was left nearly destitute. While Cope contemplated selling his precious collection, Marsh was named lead paleontologist for the US Geological Survey. This well-funded branch of the government often sponsored Westward expeditions, giving Marsh even more resources to vanquish his rival.

The Bone Wars spilled into public view when Cope had a tabloid newspaper publish an article accusing Marsh of plagiarism, fraud, and corruption. Marsh fired back and the two further tarnished each other’s reputations. Neither ever relented. When Cope died, he donated his skull to science, hoping to prove that his brain was larger than that of his enemy. Marsh never accepted the challenge. Although Marsh named more species than Cope, both men greatly expanded our understanding of evolution. But their egotistical one-upmanship reminds us that, in spite of its ideals, science is a personal enterprise conducted by individual— and at times deeply flawed— human beings.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
marsh named 3
dinosaur bones 2
bone wars 2


Important Words


  1. accepted
  2. accusing
  3. article
  4. beings
  5. bone
  6. brain
  7. branch
  8. catch
  9. challenge
  10. collection
  11. conducted
  12. contemplated
  13. cope
  14. corruption
  15. deeply
  16. desperate
  17. destitute
  18. died
  19. donated
  20. dwindling
  21. egotistical
  22. enemy
  23. enterprise
  24. evolution
  25. expanded
  26. expeditions
  27. failed
  28. fired
  29. fortune
  30. fraud
  31. gamble
  32. geological
  33. giving
  34. government
  35. greatly
  36. hoping
  37. human
  38. ideals
  39. invested
  40. larger
  41. lead
  42. left
  43. marsh
  44. men
  45. mining
  46. named
  47. newspaper
  48. paleontologist
  49. personal
  50. plagiarism
  51. precious
  52. prove
  53. public
  54. publish
  55. relented
  56. reminds
  57. reputations
  58. resources
  59. rival
  60. science
  61. selling
  62. silver
  63. skull
  64. species
  65. spilled
  66. spite
  67. sponsored
  68. survey
  69. tabloid
  70. tarnished
  71. times
  72. understanding
  73. vanquish
  74. view
  75. wars
  76. westward