full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tyrone Hayes + Penelope Jagessar Chaffer: The toxic baby

Unscramble the Blue Letters


TH: And what Penelope says here is even more true. For those of you who don't know, we're in the mddlie of the sixth mass extinction. Scientists agree now. We are losing species from the Earth faster than the dinosaurs disappeared, and leading that loss are amphibians. 80 percent of all amphibians are threatened and in come declnie. And I believe, many scientists believe that pesticides are an important part of that decline. In part, amphibians are good intdiacros and more sensitive because they don't have protection from cnmtinaatons in the water — no ehglselgs, no membranes and no placenta. In fact, our invention — by "our" I mean we mlmamas — one of our big inventions was the placenta. But we also sartt out as aquatic organisms.

Open Cloze


TH: And what Penelope says here is even more true. For those of you who don't know, we're in the ______ of the sixth mass extinction. Scientists agree now. We are losing species from the Earth faster than the dinosaurs disappeared, and leading that loss are amphibians. 80 percent of all amphibians are threatened and in come _______. And I believe, many scientists believe that pesticides are an important part of that decline. In part, amphibians are good __________ and more sensitive because they don't have protection from ____________ in the water — no _________, no membranes and no placenta. In fact, our invention — by "our" I mean we _______ — one of our big inventions was the placenta. But we also _____ out as aquatic organisms.

Solution


  1. middle
  2. mammals
  3. eggshells
  4. contaminants
  5. decline
  6. indicators
  7. start

Original Text


TH: And what Penelope says here is even more true. For those of you who don't know, we're in the middle of the sixth mass extinction. Scientists agree now. We are losing species from the Earth faster than the dinosaurs disappeared, and leading that loss are amphibians. 80 percent of all amphibians are threatened and in come decline. And I believe, many scientists believe that pesticides are an important part of that decline. In part, amphibians are good indicators and more sensitive because they don't have protection from contaminants in the water — no eggshells, no membranes and no placenta. In fact, our invention — by "our" I mean we mammals — one of our big inventions was the placenta. But we also start out as aquatic organisms.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
breast cancer 5
sippy cups 3
human body 2
chronic childhood 2
childhood disease 2
percent increase 2
birth defects 2
largest chemical 2
chemical company 2
genetic males 2
hormone imbalance 2
million pounds 2
tyrone talks 2
baby bottles 2
synthetic estrogen 2
unborn children 2
brought home 2
scan revealed 2
testicular tubules 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
chronic childhood disease 2
largest chemical company 2

Important Words


  1. agree
  2. amphibians
  3. aquatic
  4. big
  5. contaminants
  6. decline
  7. dinosaurs
  8. disappeared
  9. earth
  10. eggshells
  11. extinction
  12. fact
  13. faster
  14. good
  15. important
  16. indicators
  17. invention
  18. inventions
  19. leading
  20. losing
  21. loss
  22. mammals
  23. mass
  24. membranes
  25. middle
  26. organisms
  27. part
  28. penelope
  29. percent
  30. pesticides
  31. placenta
  32. protection
  33. scientists
  34. sensitive
  35. sixth
  36. species
  37. start
  38. threatened
  39. true
  40. water