full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Anil Ananthaswamy: What it takes to do extreme astrophysics

Unscramble the Blue Letters


So this is the Russians working on the ice in the peak of the Siberian winter. They have to drill holes in the ice, dive down into the water — cold, cold water — to get hold of the instrument, bring it up, do any repairs and maintenance that they need to do, put it back and get out before the ice melts. Because that phase of solid ice ltass for two mtnohs and it's full of cackrs. And you have to imagine, there's an eintre sea-like lake underneath, moving. I still don't udntrnsaed this one Russian man working in his bare chest, but that tells you how hard he was working. And these people, a handful of plepoe, have been woknrig for 20 years, looking for ptacleirs that may or may not exist. And they have dedicated their lives to it. And just to give you an idea, they have spent 20 mloiiln over 20 years. It's very harsh conditions. They work on a shoestring budget. The toilets there are literally hloes in the gnurod covered with a wooden shack. And it's that basic, but they do this every year.

Open Cloze


So this is the Russians working on the ice in the peak of the Siberian winter. They have to drill holes in the ice, dive down into the water — cold, cold water — to get hold of the instrument, bring it up, do any repairs and maintenance that they need to do, put it back and get out before the ice melts. Because that phase of solid ice _____ for two ______ and it's full of ______. And you have to imagine, there's an ______ sea-like lake underneath, moving. I still don't __________ this one Russian man working in his bare chest, but that tells you how hard he was working. And these people, a handful of ______, have been _______ for 20 years, looking for _________ that may or may not exist. And they have dedicated their lives to it. And just to give you an idea, they have spent 20 _______ over 20 years. It's very harsh conditions. They work on a shoestring budget. The toilets there are literally _____ in the ______ covered with a wooden shack. And it's that basic, but they do this every year.

Solution


  1. million
  2. people
  3. ground
  4. understand
  5. working
  6. entire
  7. cracks
  8. holes
  9. months
  10. particles
  11. lasts

Original Text


So this is the Russians working on the ice in the peak of the Siberian winter. They have to drill holes in the ice, dive down into the water — cold, cold water — to get hold of the instrument, bring it up, do any repairs and maintenance that they need to do, put it back and get out before the ice melts. Because that phase of solid ice lasts for two months and it's full of cracks. And you have to imagine, there's an entire sea-like lake underneath, moving. I still don't understand this one Russian man working in his bare chest, but that tells you how hard he was working. And these people, a handful of people, have been working for 20 years, looking for particles that may or may not exist. And they have dedicated their lives to it. And just to give you an idea, they have spent 20 million over 20 years. It's very harsh conditions. They work on a shoestring budget. The toilets there are literally holes in the ground covered with a wooden shack. And it's that basic, but they do this every year.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
dark matter 8
large telescope 4
atacama desert 3
called dark 3
south pole 2
pie chart 2
dark energy 2
lake baikal 2
siberian winter 2
ice camp 2
ross ice 2
buddhist monastery 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
called dark matter 2

Important Words


  1. bare
  2. basic
  3. bring
  4. budget
  5. chest
  6. cold
  7. conditions
  8. covered
  9. cracks
  10. dedicated
  11. dive
  12. drill
  13. entire
  14. exist
  15. full
  16. give
  17. ground
  18. handful
  19. hard
  20. harsh
  21. hold
  22. holes
  23. ice
  24. idea
  25. imagine
  26. instrument
  27. lake
  28. lasts
  29. literally
  30. lives
  31. maintenance
  32. man
  33. melts
  34. million
  35. months
  36. moving
  37. particles
  38. peak
  39. people
  40. phase
  41. put
  42. repairs
  43. russian
  44. russians
  45. shack
  46. shoestring
  47. siberian
  48. solid
  49. spent
  50. tells
  51. toilets
  52. understand
  53. water
  54. winter
  55. wooden
  56. work
  57. working
  58. year
  59. years