full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Edith Widder: The weird, wonderful world of bioluminescence

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So there's a lot of animals in the open ocean — most of them that make light. And we have a pretty good idea, for most of them, why. They use it for finding food, for attracting mates, for defending against predators. But when you get down to the bottom of the ocean, that's where things get really strange. And some of these animals are probably iostianripn for the things you saw in "Avatar," but you don't have to travel to Pandora to see them. They're things like this.

This is a golden carol, a bush. It grwos very slowly. In fact, it's thought that some of these are as much as 3,000 years old, which is one reason that bottom twlraing should not be aolelwd. The other reason is this amazing bush golws. So if you brush up against it, any pacle you bhusred against it, you get this twinkling blue-green light that's just breathtaking. And you see things like this. This looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book — just all manner of creatures all over this thing. And these are flytrap aneeonms. Now if you poke it, it pulls in its tentacles. But if you keep poking it, it starts to produce lhgit. And it actually ends up looking like a galaxy. It produces these strings of light, presumably as some form of defense.

Open Cloze


So there's a lot of animals in the open ocean — most of them that make light. And we have a pretty good idea, for most of them, why. They use it for finding food, for attracting mates, for defending against predators. But when you get down to the bottom of the ocean, that's where things get really strange. And some of these animals are probably ___________ for the things you saw in "Avatar," but you don't have to travel to Pandora to see them. They're things like this.

This is a golden _____, a bush. It _____ very slowly. In fact, it's thought that some of these are as much as 3,000 years old, which is one reason that bottom ________ should not be _______. The other reason is this amazing bush _____. So if you brush up against it, any _____ you _______ against it, you get this twinkling blue-green light that's just breathtaking. And you see things like this. This looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book — just all manner of creatures all over this thing. And these are flytrap ________. Now if you poke it, it pulls in its tentacles. But if you keep poking it, it starts to produce _____. And it actually ends up looking like a galaxy. It produces these strings of light, presumably as some form of defense.

Solution


  1. place
  2. grows
  3. brushed
  4. light
  5. trawling
  6. coral
  7. inspiration
  8. allowed
  9. glows
  10. anemones

Original Text


So there's a lot of animals in the open ocean — most of them that make light. And we have a pretty good idea, for most of them, why. They use it for finding food, for attracting mates, for defending against predators. But when you get down to the bottom of the ocean, that's where things get really strange. And some of these animals are probably inspiration for the things you saw in "Avatar," but you don't have to travel to Pandora to see them. They're things like this.

This is a golden coral, a bush. It grows very slowly. In fact, it's thought that some of these are as much as 3,000 years old, which is one reason that bottom trawling should not be allowed. The other reason is this amazing bush glows. So if you brush up against it, any place you brushed against it, you get this twinkling blue-green light that's just breathtaking. And you see things like this. This looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book — just all manner of creatures all over this thing. And these are flytrap anemones. Now if you poke it, it pulls in its tentacles. But if you keep poking it, it starts to produce light. And it actually ends up looking like a galaxy. It produces these strings of light, presumably as some form of defense.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
light organs 3
electronic jellyfish 3
transect screen 2
deep sea 2
bioluminescent plankton 2
chin barbel 2
top speed 2
bioluminescent chemicals 2
monterey canyon 2
giant sixgill 2
sixgill shark 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
giant sixgill shark 2

Important Words


  1. allowed
  2. amazing
  3. anemones
  4. animals
  5. attracting
  6. book
  7. bottom
  8. breathtaking
  9. brush
  10. brushed
  11. bush
  12. coral
  13. creatures
  14. defending
  15. defense
  16. dr
  17. ends
  18. fact
  19. finding
  20. flytrap
  21. food
  22. form
  23. galaxy
  24. glows
  25. golden
  26. good
  27. grows
  28. idea
  29. inspiration
  30. light
  31. lot
  32. manner
  33. mates
  34. ocean
  35. open
  36. pandora
  37. place
  38. poke
  39. poking
  40. predators
  41. pretty
  42. produce
  43. produces
  44. pulls
  45. reason
  46. seuss
  47. slowly
  48. starts
  49. strange
  50. strings
  51. tentacles
  52. thought
  53. travel
  54. trawling
  55. twinkling
  56. years