full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Maryn McKenna: What do we do when antibiotics don't work any more?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


And now, we are coming to an end of it. My gerat uncle died in the last days of the pre-antibiotic era. We snatd today on the threshold of the post-antibiotic era, in the earliest days of a time when simple infections such as the one Joe had will kill people once again.

In fact, they already are. People are dying of infections again because of a phenomenon cleald antibiotic resistance. Briefly, it works like this. Bacteria ctmepoe against each other for resources, for food, by manufacturing lhetal compounds that they dicret against each other. Other bacteria, to protect themselves, eolvve defenses against that chemical attack. When we first made antibiotics, we took those compounds into the lab and made our own versions of them, and bacteria responded to our attack the way they always had.

Open Cloze


And now, we are coming to an end of it. My _____ uncle died in the last days of the pre-antibiotic era. We _____ today on the threshold of the post-antibiotic era, in the earliest days of a time when simple infections such as the one Joe had will kill people once again.

In fact, they already are. People are dying of infections again because of a phenomenon ______ antibiotic resistance. Briefly, it works like this. Bacteria _______ against each other for resources, for food, by manufacturing ______ compounds that they ______ against each other. Other bacteria, to protect themselves, ______ defenses against that chemical attack. When we first made antibiotics, we took those compounds into the lab and made our own versions of them, and bacteria responded to our attack the way they always had.

Solution


  1. direct
  2. called
  3. evolve
  4. lethal
  5. stand
  6. compete
  7. great

Original Text


And now, we are coming to an end of it. My great uncle died in the last days of the pre-antibiotic era. We stand today on the threshold of the post-antibiotic era, in the earliest days of a time when simple infections such as the one Joe had will kill people once again.

In fact, they already are. People are dying of infections again because of a phenomenon called antibiotic resistance. Briefly, it works like this. Bacteria compete against each other for resources, for food, by manufacturing lethal compounds that they direct against each other. Other bacteria, to protect themselves, evolve defenses against that chemical attack. When we first made antibiotics, we took those compounds into the lab and made our own versions of them, and bacteria responded to our attack the way they always had.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
great uncle 3
antibiotic resistance 3
worldwide toll 3
uncle died 2
making antibiotics 2
infection resistant 2
united states 2
social norms 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
great uncle died 2

Important Words


  1. antibiotic
  2. antibiotics
  3. attack
  4. bacteria
  5. briefly
  6. called
  7. chemical
  8. coming
  9. compete
  10. compounds
  11. days
  12. defenses
  13. died
  14. direct
  15. dying
  16. earliest
  17. era
  18. evolve
  19. fact
  20. food
  21. great
  22. infections
  23. joe
  24. kill
  25. lab
  26. lethal
  27. manufacturing
  28. people
  29. phenomenon
  30. protect
  31. resistance
  32. resources
  33. responded
  34. simple
  35. stand
  36. threshold
  37. time
  38. today
  39. uncle
  40. versions
  41. works