TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Craig A. Kohn: What are stem cells?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Imagine two people are listening to misuc. What are the odds that they are listening to the exact same playlist? Probably pterty low. After all, everyone has very different tastes in music. Now, what are the odds that your body will need the exact same medical care and treatment as another person's body? Even lower. As we go through our lvies, each of us will have very different needs for our own healthcare. sneiitcsts and doctors are constantly researching ways to make medicine more personalized. One way they are doing this is by researching stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, meaning they do not have a specific job or function. While skin cells protect your body, muslce cells contract, and nerve cells send signals, stem cells do not have any specific structures or fointcuns. Stem cells do have the potential to become all other kinds of clels in your body. Your body uses stem cells to replace worn-out cells when they die. For example, you completely replace the liinng of your ieisnettns every four days. Stem cells beneath the lining of your intestines reapcle these cells as they wear out. Scientists hope that stem cells could be used to create a very special kind of personalized medicine in which we could replace your own body parts with, well, your own body parts. Stem cell researchers are working hard to find ways in which to use stem cells to create new tissue to replace the parts of organs that are damaged by injury or disease. Using stem cells to replace damaged bodily tissue is called regenerative medicine. For example, scientists currently use stem cells to taret patients with blood diseases such as leukemia. lkeemiua is a form of canecr that afftecs your bone marrow. Bone morarw is the spongy tissue inside your bones where your blood cells are created. In leukemia, some of the cells inside your bone marrow grow uncontrollably, crowding out the healthy stem cells that form your blood cells. Some leukemia patients can receive a stem cell tanslprnat. These new stem cells will create the boold cells needed by the patient's body. There are actually mllitpue kinds of stem cells that scientists can use for medical treatments and research. Adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells are found in small numbers in most of your body's tsusies. Tissue-specific stem cells replace the etnixsig cells in your organs as they wear out and die. Embryonic stem cells are created from leftover embryos that are winlglliy datneod by pietants from ftreiltiy clinics. Unlike tissue-specific stem cells, embryonic stem cells are pluripotent. This menas that they can be grown into any kind of tissue in the body. A third kind of stem cells is called induced prepolinutt stem cells. These are regular skin, fat, liver, or other cells that scientists have caeghnd to bevahe like embryonic stem cells. Like embryonic stem cells, they, too, can become any kind of cell in the body. While scientists and doctors hope to use all of these kinds of stem cells to create new tuisse to heal your body, they can also use stem cells to help understand how the body works. Scientists can wtcah stem cells develop into tissue to understand the mechnanisms that the body uses to create new tissue in a controlled and rlueetgad way. Scientists hope that with more research, they can not only develop specialized medicine that is sfcpieic to your body but also better understand how your body functions, both when it's healthy and when it's not.

Open Cloze

Imagine two people are listening to _____. What are the odds that they are listening to the exact same playlist? Probably ______ low. After all, everyone has very different tastes in music. Now, what are the odds that your body will need the exact same medical care and treatment as another person's body? Even lower. As we go through our _____, each of us will have very different needs for our own healthcare. __________ and doctors are constantly researching ways to make medicine more personalized. One way they are doing this is by researching stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, meaning they do not have a specific job or function. While skin cells protect your body, ______ cells contract, and nerve cells send signals, stem cells do not have any specific structures or _________. Stem cells do have the potential to become all other kinds of _____ in your body. Your body uses stem cells to replace worn-out cells when they die. For example, you completely replace the ______ of your __________ every four days. Stem cells beneath the lining of your intestines _______ these cells as they wear out. Scientists hope that stem cells could be used to create a very special kind of personalized medicine in which we could replace your own body parts with, well, your own body parts. Stem cell researchers are working hard to find ways in which to use stem cells to create new tissue to replace the parts of organs that are damaged by injury or disease. Using stem cells to replace damaged bodily tissue is called regenerative medicine. For example, scientists currently use stem cells to _____ patients with blood diseases such as leukemia. ________ is a form of ______ that _______ your bone marrow. Bone ______ is the spongy tissue inside your bones where your blood cells are created. In leukemia, some of the cells inside your bone marrow grow uncontrollably, crowding out the healthy stem cells that form your blood cells. Some leukemia patients can receive a stem cell __________. These new stem cells will create the _____ cells needed by the patient's body. There are actually ________ kinds of stem cells that scientists can use for medical treatments and research. Adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells are found in small numbers in most of your body's _______. Tissue-specific stem cells replace the ________ cells in your organs as they wear out and die. Embryonic stem cells are created from leftover embryos that are _________ _______ by ________ from _________ clinics. Unlike tissue-specific stem cells, embryonic stem cells are pluripotent. This _____ that they can be grown into any kind of tissue in the body. A third kind of stem cells is called induced ___________ stem cells. These are regular skin, fat, liver, or other cells that scientists have _______ to ______ like embryonic stem cells. Like embryonic stem cells, they, too, can become any kind of cell in the body. While scientists and doctors hope to use all of these kinds of stem cells to create new ______ to heal your body, they can also use stem cells to help understand how the body works. Scientists can _____ stem cells develop into tissue to understand the mechnanisms that the body uses to create new tissue in a controlled and _________ way. Scientists hope that with more research, they can not only develop specialized medicine that is ________ to your body but also better understand how your body functions, both when it's healthy and when it's not.

Solution

replace
lining
changed
multiple
pretty
willingly
muscle
tissue
behave
tissues
lives
scientists
cancer
transplant
intestines
pluripotent
functions
existing
cells
treat
watch
leukemia
blood
fertility
regulated
specific
donated
music
means
affects
marrow
patients

Original Text

Imagine two people are listening to music. What are the odds that they are listening to the exact same playlist? Probably pretty low. After all, everyone has very different tastes in music. Now, what are the odds that your body will need the exact same medical care and treatment as another person's body? Even lower. As we go through our lives, each of us will have very different needs for our own healthcare. Scientists and doctors are constantly researching ways to make medicine more personalized. One way they are doing this is by researching stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, meaning they do not have a specific job or function. While skin cells protect your body, muscle cells contract, and nerve cells send signals, stem cells do not have any specific structures or functions. Stem cells do have the potential to become all other kinds of cells in your body. Your body uses stem cells to replace worn-out cells when they die. For example, you completely replace the lining of your intestines every four days. Stem cells beneath the lining of your intestines replace these cells as they wear out. Scientists hope that stem cells could be used to create a very special kind of personalized medicine in which we could replace your own body parts with, well, your own body parts. Stem cell researchers are working hard to find ways in which to use stem cells to create new tissue to replace the parts of organs that are damaged by injury or disease. Using stem cells to replace damaged bodily tissue is called regenerative medicine. For example, scientists currently use stem cells to treat patients with blood diseases such as leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects your bone marrow. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside your bones where your blood cells are created. In leukemia, some of the cells inside your bone marrow grow uncontrollably, crowding out the healthy stem cells that form your blood cells. Some leukemia patients can receive a stem cell transplant. These new stem cells will create the blood cells needed by the patient's body. There are actually multiple kinds of stem cells that scientists can use for medical treatments and research. Adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells are found in small numbers in most of your body's tissues. Tissue-specific stem cells replace the existing cells in your organs as they wear out and die. Embryonic stem cells are created from leftover embryos that are willingly donated by patients from fertility clinics. Unlike tissue-specific stem cells, embryonic stem cells are pluripotent. This means that they can be grown into any kind of tissue in the body. A third kind of stem cells is called induced pluripotent stem cells. These are regular skin, fat, liver, or other cells that scientists have changed to behave like embryonic stem cells. Like embryonic stem cells, they, too, can become any kind of cell in the body. While scientists and doctors hope to use all of these kinds of stem cells to create new tissue to heal your body, they can also use stem cells to help understand how the body works. Scientists can watch stem cells develop into tissue to understand the mechnanisms that the body uses to create new tissue in a controlled and regulated way. Scientists hope that with more research, they can not only develop specialized medicine that is specific to your body but also better understand how your body functions, both when it's healthy and when it's not.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
stem cells	24
embryonic stem	4
bone marrow	3
blood cells	3
scientists hope	2
body parts	2
stem cell	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
embryonic stem cells	3

Important Words

adult
affects
behave
beneath
blood
bodily
body
bone
bones
called
cancer
care
cell
cells
changed
clinics
completely
constantly
contract
controlled
create
created
crowding
damaged
days
develop
die
disease
diseases
doctors
donated
embryonic
embryos
exact
existing
fat
fertility
find
form
function
functions
grow
grown
hard
heal
healthcare
healthy
hope
imagine
induced
injury
intestines
job
kind
kinds
leftover
leukemia
lining
listening
liver
lives
marrow
meaning
means
mechnanisms
medical
medicine
multiple
muscle
music
needed
nerve
numbers
odds
organs
parts
patients
people
personalized
playlist
pluripotent
potential
pretty
protect
receive
regenerative
regular
regulated
replace
research
researchers
researching
scientists
send
signals
skin
small
special
specialized
specific
spongy
stem
structures
tastes
tissue
tissues
transplant
treat
treatment
treatments
uncontrollably
understand
undifferentiated
watch
ways
wear
willingly
working
works