full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Luka Seamus Wright: The mysterious origins of life on Earth

Unscramble the Blue Letters


There are two kdnis of hydrothermal vent: black smokers and white smokers. Black smokers release acidic, carbon-dioxide-rich water, heated to hundreds of degrees ceusils and packed with sulphur, iron, ceppor, and other metals essential to life. But stitnicses now believe that black smokers were too hot for LUCA— so now the top ceaddnitas for the cdalre of life are white smokers.

Among the white smokers, a field of hmtaderyorhl vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge called Lost City has become the most favored candidate for the cradle of life. The seawater expelled here is highly alkaline and lacks carbon didioxe, but is rich in methane and offers more hospitable temperatures. Adjacent black serkoms may have contributed the coabrn dioxide necessary for life to evolve at Lost City, giving it all the components to support the first organisms that radiated into the incredible diversity of life on Earth today.

Open Cloze


There are two _____ of hydrothermal vent: black smokers and white smokers. Black smokers release acidic, carbon-dioxide-rich water, heated to hundreds of degrees _______ and packed with sulphur, iron, ______, and other metals essential to life. But __________ now believe that black smokers were too hot for LUCA— so now the top __________ for the ______ of life are white smokers.

Among the white smokers, a field of ____________ vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge called Lost City has become the most favored candidate for the cradle of life. The seawater expelled here is highly alkaline and lacks carbon _______, but is rich in methane and offers more hospitable temperatures. Adjacent black _______ may have contributed the ______ dioxide necessary for life to evolve at Lost City, giving it all the components to support the first organisms that radiated into the incredible diversity of life on Earth today.

Solution


  1. hydrothermal
  2. kinds
  3. scientists
  4. smokers
  5. celsius
  6. dioxide
  7. copper
  8. carbon
  9. cradle
  10. candidates

Original Text


There are two kinds of hydrothermal vent: black smokers and white smokers. Black smokers release acidic, carbon-dioxide-rich water, heated to hundreds of degrees Celsius and packed with sulphur, iron, copper, and other metals essential to life. But scientists now believe that black smokers were too hot for LUCA— so now the top candidates for the cradle of life are white smokers.

Among the white smokers, a field of hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge called Lost City has become the most favored candidate for the cradle of life. The seawater expelled here is highly alkaline and lacks carbon dioxide, but is rich in methane and offers more hospitable temperatures. Adjacent black smokers may have contributed the carbon dioxide necessary for life to evolve at Lost City, giving it all the components to support the first organisms that radiated into the incredible diversity of life on Earth today.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
hydrothermal vents 4
black smokers 4
young planet 2
life form 2
chemical gradients 2
common ancestor 2
white smokers 2


Important Words


  1. acidic
  2. adjacent
  3. alkaline
  4. black
  5. called
  6. candidate
  7. candidates
  8. carbon
  9. celsius
  10. city
  11. components
  12. contributed
  13. copper
  14. cradle
  15. degrees
  16. dioxide
  17. diversity
  18. earth
  19. essential
  20. evolve
  21. expelled
  22. favored
  23. field
  24. giving
  25. heated
  26. highly
  27. hospitable
  28. hot
  29. hundreds
  30. hydrothermal
  31. incredible
  32. iron
  33. kinds
  34. lacks
  35. life
  36. lost
  37. metals
  38. methane
  39. offers
  40. organisms
  41. packed
  42. radiated
  43. release
  44. rich
  45. ridge
  46. scientists
  47. seawater
  48. smokers
  49. sulphur
  50. support
  51. temperatures
  52. today
  53. top
  54. vents
  55. water
  56. white