TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Michael Mauser: What are those floaty things in your eye?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Have you ever ncioted something swimming in your field of vision? It may look like a tiny worm or a transparent blob, and whenever you try to get a closer look, it disappears, only to reappear as soon as you sfhit your glance. But don't go rinsing out your eyes! What you are seeing is a common phenomenon known as a floater. The snetifiicc name for these objects is Muscae volitantes, Latin for "flying flies," and true to their name, they can be somewhat annoying. But they're not actually bugs or any kind of external objects at all. Rather, they exist inside your eyeball. Floaters may seem to be alive, since they move and chgane shape, but they are not alive. Floaters are tiny oejcbts that cast shadows on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of your eye. They might be bits of tissue, red blood cells, or clumps of protein. And because they're suspended within the vitreous humor, the gel-like liquid that flils the inside of your eye, floaters drift along with your eye movements, and seem to bounce a little when your eye stops. Floaters may be only barely dgutlisisbhniae most of the time. They become more visible the closer they are to the retina, just as holding your hand closer to a tblae with an oehrevad light will result in a more sharply defined shadow. And floaters are particularly noticeable when you are looking at a uniform bright surface, like a blank computer screen, snow, or a clear sky, where the consistency of the background makes them easier to distinguish. The brighter the light is, the more your pipul contracts. This has an effect similar to rcipnelag a large difusfe light fixture with a single overhead lgiht bulb, which also makes the shadow appear clearer. There is another visual phenomenon that looks similar to foratels but is in fact unrelated. If you've seen tiny dots of light darting about when looking at a bright blue sky, you've experienced what is known as the blue field entoptic pmeoohnenn. In some ways, this is the opposite of seeing floaters. Here, you are not seeing shadows but little minvog windows letting light through to your rietna. The windows are actually caused by white blood cells moving through the capillaries along your retina's surface. These leukocytes can be so large that they nearly fill a capillary causing a plasma space to open up in front of them. Because the sacpe and the white blood cells are both more transparent to blue light than the red blood clles normally present in capillaries, we see a moving dot of light wherever this happens, following the paths of your capillaries and moving in time with your pulse. Under ideal viewing conditions, you might even see what looks like a dark tail following the dot. This is the red bolod cells that have bunched up behind the leukocyte. Some sccniee museums have an exhibit which consists of a screen of blue light, alwlinog you to see these blue sky sprites much more clearly than you normally would. While everybody's eyes experience these sort of effects, the number and type vary grletay. In the case of floaters, they often go unnoticed, as our bairn learns to ignore them. However, abonlmlary numerous or large floaters that iertnefre with vision may be a sign of a more serious condition, requiring immediate medical temartnet. But the mitojary of the time entoptic phenomena, such as floaters and blue sky sprites, are just a gentle reminder that what we think we see depends just as much on our biology and minds as it does on the external wlord.

Open Cloze

Have you ever _______ something swimming in your field of vision? It may look like a tiny worm or a transparent blob, and whenever you try to get a closer look, it disappears, only to reappear as soon as you _____ your glance. But don't go rinsing out your eyes! What you are seeing is a common phenomenon known as a floater. The __________ name for these objects is Muscae volitantes, Latin for "flying flies," and true to their name, they can be somewhat annoying. But they're not actually bugs or any kind of external objects at all. Rather, they exist inside your eyeball. Floaters may seem to be alive, since they move and ______ shape, but they are not alive. Floaters are tiny _______ that cast shadows on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of your eye. They might be bits of tissue, red blood cells, or clumps of protein. And because they're suspended within the vitreous humor, the gel-like liquid that _____ the inside of your eye, floaters drift along with your eye movements, and seem to bounce a little when your eye stops. Floaters may be only barely _______________ most of the time. They become more visible the closer they are to the retina, just as holding your hand closer to a _____ with an ________ light will result in a more sharply defined shadow. And floaters are particularly noticeable when you are looking at a uniform bright surface, like a blank computer screen, snow, or a clear sky, where the consistency of the background makes them easier to distinguish. The brighter the light is, the more your _____ contracts. This has an effect similar to _________ a large _______ light fixture with a single overhead _____ bulb, which also makes the shadow appear clearer. There is another visual phenomenon that looks similar to ________ but is in fact unrelated. If you've seen tiny dots of light darting about when looking at a bright blue sky, you've experienced what is known as the blue field entoptic __________. In some ways, this is the opposite of seeing floaters. Here, you are not seeing shadows but little ______ windows letting light through to your ______. The windows are actually caused by white blood cells moving through the capillaries along your retina's surface. These leukocytes can be so large that they nearly fill a capillary causing a plasma space to open up in front of them. Because the _____ and the white blood cells are both more transparent to blue light than the red blood _____ normally present in capillaries, we see a moving dot of light wherever this happens, following the paths of your capillaries and moving in time with your pulse. Under ideal viewing conditions, you might even see what looks like a dark tail following the dot. This is the red _____ cells that have bunched up behind the leukocyte. Some _______ museums have an exhibit which consists of a screen of blue light, ________ you to see these blue sky sprites much more clearly than you normally would. While everybody's eyes experience these sort of effects, the number and type vary _______. In the case of floaters, they often go unnoticed, as our _____ learns to ignore them. However, __________ numerous or large floaters that _________ with vision may be a sign of a more serious condition, requiring immediate medical _________. But the ________ of the time entoptic phenomena, such as floaters and blue sky sprites, are just a gentle reminder that what we think we see depends just as much on our biology and minds as it does on the external _____.

Solution

majority
space
replacing
diffuse
phenomenon
interfere
noticed
allowing
brain
retina
scientific
greatly
science
objects
pupil
shift
table
treatment
cells
light
world
fills
blood
change
floaters
moving
abnormally
distinguishable
overhead

Original Text

Have you ever noticed something swimming in your field of vision? It may look like a tiny worm or a transparent blob, and whenever you try to get a closer look, it disappears, only to reappear as soon as you shift your glance. But don't go rinsing out your eyes! What you are seeing is a common phenomenon known as a floater. The scientific name for these objects is Muscae volitantes, Latin for "flying flies," and true to their name, they can be somewhat annoying. But they're not actually bugs or any kind of external objects at all. Rather, they exist inside your eyeball. Floaters may seem to be alive, since they move and change shape, but they are not alive. Floaters are tiny objects that cast shadows on the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of your eye. They might be bits of tissue, red blood cells, or clumps of protein. And because they're suspended within the vitreous humor, the gel-like liquid that fills the inside of your eye, floaters drift along with your eye movements, and seem to bounce a little when your eye stops. Floaters may be only barely distinguishable most of the time. They become more visible the closer they are to the retina, just as holding your hand closer to a table with an overhead light will result in a more sharply defined shadow. And floaters are particularly noticeable when you are looking at a uniform bright surface, like a blank computer screen, snow, or a clear sky, where the consistency of the background makes them easier to distinguish. The brighter the light is, the more your pupil contracts. This has an effect similar to replacing a large diffuse light fixture with a single overhead light bulb, which also makes the shadow appear clearer. There is another visual phenomenon that looks similar to floaters but is in fact unrelated. If you've seen tiny dots of light darting about when looking at a bright blue sky, you've experienced what is known as the blue field entoptic phenomenon. In some ways, this is the opposite of seeing floaters. Here, you are not seeing shadows but little moving windows letting light through to your retina. The windows are actually caused by white blood cells moving through the capillaries along your retina's surface. These leukocytes can be so large that they nearly fill a capillary causing a plasma space to open up in front of them. Because the space and the white blood cells are both more transparent to blue light than the red blood cells normally present in capillaries, we see a moving dot of light wherever this happens, following the paths of your capillaries and moving in time with your pulse. Under ideal viewing conditions, you might even see what looks like a dark tail following the dot. This is the red blood cells that have bunched up behind the leukocyte. Some science museums have an exhibit which consists of a screen of blue light, allowing you to see these blue sky sprites much more clearly than you normally would. While everybody's eyes experience these sort of effects, the number and type vary greatly. In the case of floaters, they often go unnoticed, as our brain learns to ignore them. However, abnormally numerous or large floaters that interfere with vision may be a sign of a more serious condition, requiring immediate medical treatment. But the majority of the time entoptic phenomena, such as floaters and blue sky sprites, are just a gentle reminder that what we think we see depends just as much on our biology and minds as it does on the external world.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
blood cells	4
red blood	3
overhead light	2
white blood	2
blue sky	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
white blood cells	2
red blood cells	2

Important Words

abnormally
alive
allowing
annoying
background
barely
biology
bits
blank
blob
blood
blue
bounce
brain
bright
brighter
bugs
bulb
bunched
capillaries
capillary
case
cast
caused
causing
cells
change
clear
clearer
closer
clumps
common
computer
condition
conditions
consistency
consists
contracts
dark
darting
defined
depends
diffuse
disappears
distinguish
distinguishable
dot
dots
drift
easier
effect
effects
entoptic
exhibit
exist
experience
experienced
external
eye
eyeball
eyes
fact
field
fill
fills
fixture
flies
floater
floaters
front
gentle
glance
greatly
hand
holding
humor
ideal
ignore
interfere
kind
large
latin
learns
letting
leukocyte
leukocytes
light
liquid
majority
medical
minds
move
movements
moving
muscae
museums
noticeable
noticed
number
numerous
objects
open
overhead
paths
phenomena
phenomenon
plasma
present
protein
pulse
pupil
reappear
red
reminder
replacing
requiring
result
retina
rinsing
science
scientific
screen
shadow
shadows
shape
sharply
shift
sign
similar
single
sky
snow
sort
space
sprites
stops
surface
suspended
swimming
table
tail
time
tiny
tissue
transparent
treatment
true
type
uniform
unnoticed
unrelated
vary
viewing
visible
vision
visual
vitreous
volitantes
ways
white
windows
world
worm