full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sarah Rugheimer: The search for microscopic aliens

Unscramble the Blue Letters


First, we must verify the detection of phosphine itself, and then later, we would have to confirm that this gas is coming from life and not from some unexpected geological or photochemical porcses. If true, this would be one of the most profound discoveries of our generation. If it turns out that we were feoold, that we mistook this gas for biology when it's from some other process, we will have a sobering lssoen to apply to penatls orbiting distant satrs.

vunes is close — literally, our next-door neighbor — and yet we still have trouble understanding it. The planets we're finding orbiting other stars are weird and ueepnctxed. Some have the density of cotton candy, and others rain molten iron. And most stars are different from our sun, with high-energy flares that can make it difficult for life. So the more we're looking at different bsiaortnguie gseas, the more we realize that there's no single gas that's enough to untdnraesd a planet and to claim alien life. It is just really difficult to distinguish life from nonlife from light years away.

Open Cloze


First, we must verify the detection of phosphine itself, and then later, we would have to confirm that this gas is coming from life and not from some unexpected geological or photochemical _______. If true, this would be one of the most profound discoveries of our generation. If it turns out that we were ______, that we mistook this gas for biology when it's from some other process, we will have a sobering ______ to apply to _______ orbiting distant _____.

_____ is close — literally, our next-door neighbor — and yet we still have trouble understanding it. The planets we're finding orbiting other stars are weird and __________. Some have the density of cotton candy, and others rain molten iron. And most stars are different from our sun, with high-energy flares that can make it difficult for life. So the more we're looking at different ____________ _____, the more we realize that there's no single gas that's enough to __________ a planet and to claim alien life. It is just really difficult to distinguish life from nonlife from light years away.

Solution


  1. fooled
  2. lesson
  3. gases
  4. stars
  5. understand
  6. biosignature
  7. process
  8. unexpected
  9. planets
  10. venus

Original Text


First, we must verify the detection of phosphine itself, and then later, we would have to confirm that this gas is coming from life and not from some unexpected geological or photochemical process. If true, this would be one of the most profound discoveries of our generation. If it turns out that we were fooled, that we mistook this gas for biology when it's from some other process, we will have a sobering lesson to apply to planets orbiting distant stars.

Venus is close — literally, our next-door neighbor — and yet we still have trouble understanding it. The planets we're finding orbiting other stars are weird and unexpected. Some have the density of cotton candy, and others rain molten iron. And most stars are different from our sun, with high-energy flares that can make it difficult for life. So the more we're looking at different biosignature gases, the more we realize that there's no single gas that's enough to understand a planet and to claim alien life. It is just really difficult to distinguish life from nonlife from light years away.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
detecting signs 2
microbial life 2
light years 2
planets orbiting 2
alien life 2


Important Words


  1. alien
  2. apply
  3. biology
  4. biosignature
  5. candy
  6. claim
  7. close
  8. coming
  9. confirm
  10. cotton
  11. density
  12. detection
  13. difficult
  14. discoveries
  15. distant
  16. distinguish
  17. finding
  18. flares
  19. fooled
  20. gas
  21. gases
  22. generation
  23. geological
  24. iron
  25. lesson
  26. life
  27. light
  28. literally
  29. mistook
  30. molten
  31. neighbor
  32. nonlife
  33. orbiting
  34. phosphine
  35. photochemical
  36. planet
  37. planets
  38. process
  39. profound
  40. rain
  41. realize
  42. single
  43. sobering
  44. stars
  45. sun
  46. trouble
  47. true
  48. turns
  49. understand
  50. understanding
  51. unexpected
  52. venus
  53. verify
  54. weird
  55. years