TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Rose Eveleth: The mystery of motion sickness

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Can you read in the car? If so, consider yourself pretty lucky. For one-third of the population, looking at a book while moving along in a car or a boat or train or pnale qkulciy makes them sick to their stomach. But why do we get motion sickness in the first place? Well, believe it or not, scientists aren't exactly sure. The most cmoomn theory has to do with mismatched sornsey signals. When you travel in a car, your body gets two different messages. Your eyes are seeing the inside of a vehicle, which doesn't seem to be moving. Meanwhile, your ear is telling your brain you're accelerating. Wait, your ear? Your ear has another important function besides hearing. In its isrmoennt part lies a group of structures known as the vestibular system, which gives us our sense of bcaalne and movement. Inside there are three semicircular tulubes that can snsee rotation, one for each dimension of space. And there are also two hair-lined sacks filled with filud. When you move, the fluid stfhis and tickles the hairs, telling your barin if you're moving horizontally or vertically. All this tlels your body which direction you're moving in, how much you've accelerated, even at what angle. In a car, your vasbuietlr system celctrroy senses your movement, but your eyes don't see it, especially when glued to a book. The opposite can happen. You're at the movies, and the camera makes a sweeping move. This time, your eyes think you're moving while your ear knows you're sitting still. But why does this conflicting information make us feel so terrible? Scientists aren't sure, but they think there's an evolutionary explanation. Fast moving vehicles and video reondgcris have only existed in the last cuople of centuries, a blink in evolutionary time. For most of our history, there wasn't that much that could cause this sensory mix-up, except for poisons. And because poisons are not the best thing for survival, our bodies evolved a direct but unpleasant way to get rid of what we ate that was causing the cfionsoun. It's a prtety reasonable theory, but it lavees things unexplained, like why wemon are more afeeftcd by mioton scskneis than men, or why passengers get more nsuoeuas than drivers. Another theory sgetugss that the cause is more about the way some unfamiliar situations make it harder to maintain our natural body posture. Studies show that being immersed in water or just changing your stance can greatly reduce the effects of motion sickness. But we don't really know what's going on. We know the more common remedies for car queasiness — looking at the horizon, over-the-counter plils, chewing gum, but none are totally reliable nor can they handle intense motion sickness and sometimes the skates are far higher than just not being bored during a long car ride. At NASA, where astronauts are huerld into space at 17,000 meils per hour, motion sickness is a serious problem. In addition to researching the latest space-age technologies, NASA also spends a lot of time fignirug out how to keep astronauts from vomiting up their space rations. Like understanding the mysteries of sleep or curing the common cold, motion sickness is one of those seemingly simple problems that, despite amazing scientific progress, we still know very little about. Perhaps one day the exact cause of motion sickness will be found, and with it, a clemloetpy etcfvfeie way to penvret it, but that day is still on the horizon.

Open Cloze

Can you read in the car? If so, consider yourself pretty lucky. For one-third of the population, looking at a book while moving along in a car or a boat or train or _____ _______ makes them sick to their stomach. But why do we get motion sickness in the first place? Well, believe it or not, scientists aren't exactly sure. The most ______ theory has to do with mismatched _______ signals. When you travel in a car, your body gets two different messages. Your eyes are seeing the inside of a vehicle, which doesn't seem to be moving. Meanwhile, your ear is telling your brain you're accelerating. Wait, your ear? Your ear has another important function besides hearing. In its _________ part lies a group of structures known as the vestibular system, which gives us our sense of _______ and movement. Inside there are three semicircular _______ that can _____ rotation, one for each dimension of space. And there are also two hair-lined sacks filled with _____. When you move, the fluid ______ and tickles the hairs, telling your _____ if you're moving horizontally or vertically. All this _____ your body which direction you're moving in, how much you've accelerated, even at what angle. In a car, your __________ system _________ senses your movement, but your eyes don't see it, especially when glued to a book. The opposite can happen. You're at the movies, and the camera makes a sweeping move. This time, your eyes think you're moving while your ear knows you're sitting still. But why does this conflicting information make us feel so terrible? Scientists aren't sure, but they think there's an evolutionary explanation. Fast moving vehicles and video __________ have only existed in the last ______ of centuries, a blink in evolutionary time. For most of our history, there wasn't that much that could cause this sensory mix-up, except for poisons. And because poisons are not the best thing for survival, our bodies evolved a direct but unpleasant way to get rid of what we ate that was causing the _________. It's a ______ reasonable theory, but it ______ things unexplained, like why _____ are more ________ by ______ ________ than men, or why passengers get more ________ than drivers. Another theory ________ that the cause is more about the way some unfamiliar situations make it harder to maintain our natural body posture. Studies show that being immersed in water or just changing your stance can greatly reduce the effects of motion sickness. But we don't really know what's going on. We know the more common remedies for car queasiness — looking at the horizon, over-the-counter _____, chewing gum, but none are totally reliable nor can they handle intense motion sickness and sometimes the ______ are far higher than just not being bored during a long car ride. At NASA, where astronauts are ______ into space at 17,000 _____ per hour, motion sickness is a serious problem. In addition to researching the latest space-age technologies, NASA also spends a lot of time ________ out how to keep astronauts from vomiting up their space rations. Like understanding the mysteries of sleep or curing the common cold, motion sickness is one of those seemingly simple problems that, despite amazing scientific progress, we still know very little about. Perhaps one day the exact cause of motion sickness will be found, and with it, a __________ _________ way to _______ it, but that day is still on the horizon.

Solution

prevent
figuring
tubules
pretty
confusion
sickness
recordings
completely
miles
tells
plane
brain
women
sense
balance
affected
couple
innermost
suggests
common
pills
correctly
motion
quickly
stakes
hurled
sensory
leaves
shifts
nauseous
effective
fluid
vestibular

Original Text

Can you read in the car? If so, consider yourself pretty lucky. For one-third of the population, looking at a book while moving along in a car or a boat or train or plane quickly makes them sick to their stomach. But why do we get motion sickness in the first place? Well, believe it or not, scientists aren't exactly sure. The most common theory has to do with mismatched sensory signals. When you travel in a car, your body gets two different messages. Your eyes are seeing the inside of a vehicle, which doesn't seem to be moving. Meanwhile, your ear is telling your brain you're accelerating. Wait, your ear? Your ear has another important function besides hearing. In its innermost part lies a group of structures known as the vestibular system, which gives us our sense of balance and movement. Inside there are three semicircular tubules that can sense rotation, one for each dimension of space. And there are also two hair-lined sacks filled with fluid. When you move, the fluid shifts and tickles the hairs, telling your brain if you're moving horizontally or vertically. All this tells your body which direction you're moving in, how much you've accelerated, even at what angle. In a car, your vestibular system correctly senses your movement, but your eyes don't see it, especially when glued to a book. The opposite can happen. You're at the movies, and the camera makes a sweeping move. This time, your eyes think you're moving while your ear knows you're sitting still. But why does this conflicting information make us feel so terrible? Scientists aren't sure, but they think there's an evolutionary explanation. Fast moving vehicles and video recordings have only existed in the last couple of centuries, a blink in evolutionary time. For most of our history, there wasn't that much that could cause this sensory mix-up, except for poisons. And because poisons are not the best thing for survival, our bodies evolved a direct but unpleasant way to get rid of what we ate that was causing the confusion. It's a pretty reasonable theory, but it leaves things unexplained, like why women are more affected by motion sickness than men, or why passengers get more nauseous than drivers. Another theory suggests that the cause is more about the way some unfamiliar situations make it harder to maintain our natural body posture. Studies show that being immersed in water or just changing your stance can greatly reduce the effects of motion sickness. But we don't really know what's going on. We know the more common remedies for car queasiness — looking at the horizon, over-the-counter pills, chewing gum, but none are totally reliable nor can they handle intense motion sickness and sometimes the stakes are far higher than just not being bored during a long car ride. At NASA, where astronauts are hurled into space at 17,000 miles per hour, motion sickness is a serious problem. In addition to researching the latest space-age technologies, NASA also spends a lot of time figuring out how to keep astronauts from vomiting up their space rations. Like understanding the mysteries of sleep or curing the common cold, motion sickness is one of those seemingly simple problems that, despite amazing scientific progress, we still know very little about. Perhaps one day the exact cause of motion sickness will be found, and with it, a completely effective way to prevent it, but that day is still on the horizon.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
motion sickness	7

Important Words

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