full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sean P. S. Gulick: What really killed the dinosaurs? (It wasn’t just the asteroid)

Unscramble the Blue Letters


It's unclear why exactly the lifeforms that survived the extinction did. Many smaller organisms, like insects, persisted. So did elary mammals— perhaps because of their ability to burrow and hrbeintae. And photosynthetic lifeforms like algae, that had ways of wnnsitdtiahg low-light conditions, also surevvid.

tcares of the asteroid scattered worldwide and the scar of the Chicxulub crater attest to this period of monumental destruction. So, what are the chances of another Chicxulub happening? spcae programs are continuously identifying and tracking near-Earth asteroids. Fortunately, the likelihood of one as lgrae and cataclysmic striking in the next thousand or so years seems to be small— something like a 7 in a million chance.

Open Cloze


It's unclear why exactly the lifeforms that survived the extinction did. Many smaller organisms, like insects, persisted. So did _____ mammals— perhaps because of their ability to burrow and _________. And photosynthetic lifeforms like algae, that had ways of ____________ low-light conditions, also ________.

______ of the asteroid scattered worldwide and the scar of the Chicxulub crater attest to this period of monumental destruction. So, what are the chances of another Chicxulub happening? _____ programs are continuously identifying and tracking near-Earth asteroids. Fortunately, the likelihood of one as _____ and cataclysmic striking in the next thousand or so years seems to be small— something like a 7 in a million chance.

Solution


  1. traces
  2. early
  3. withstanding
  4. space
  5. large
  6. hibernate
  7. survived

Original Text


It's unclear why exactly the lifeforms that survived the extinction did. Many smaller organisms, like insects, persisted. So did early mammals— perhaps because of their ability to burrow and hibernate. And photosynthetic lifeforms like algae, that had ways of withstanding low-light conditions, also survived.

Traces of the asteroid scattered worldwide and the scar of the Chicxulub crater attest to this period of monumental destruction. So, what are the chances of another Chicxulub happening? Space programs are continuously identifying and tracking near-Earth asteroids. Fortunately, the likelihood of one as large and cataclysmic striking in the next thousand or so years seems to be small— something like a 7 in a million chance.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
impact site 2
sulfate aerosols 2
rapid climate 2


Important Words


  1. ability
  2. algae
  3. asteroid
  4. asteroids
  5. attest
  6. burrow
  7. cataclysmic
  8. chance
  9. chances
  10. chicxulub
  11. conditions
  12. continuously
  13. crater
  14. destruction
  15. early
  16. extinction
  17. fortunately
  18. happening
  19. hibernate
  20. identifying
  21. insects
  22. large
  23. lifeforms
  24. likelihood
  25. million
  26. monumental
  27. organisms
  28. period
  29. persisted
  30. photosynthetic
  31. programs
  32. scar
  33. scattered
  34. smaller
  35. space
  36. striking
  37. survived
  38. thousand
  39. traces
  40. tracking
  41. unclear
  42. ways
  43. withstanding
  44. worldwide
  45. years