TedTest

From the Ted Talk by John Cameron: Why do we hiccup?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Charles Osborne began to hiccup in 1922 after a hog fell on top of him. He wasn't cured until 68 years later and is now listed by Guinness as the world record holder for hiccup lneogivty. Meanwhile, Florida teen Jennifer Mee may hold the record for the most frequent hiccups, 50 tiems per minute for more than four weeks in 2007. So what causes hiccups? drotcos point out that a round of hiucpcs often follows from stimuli that stretch the stomach, like swallowing air or too rapid eating or drinking. Others associate hiccups with intense emtnioos or a response to them: laughing, sobbing, anxiety, and exmiceentt. Let's look at what happens when we hiccup. It begins with an involuntary spasm or sudden cirnottocan of the diaphragm, the large dome-shaped mucsle below our lungs that we use to inhale air. This is followed almost immediately by the sdedun closure of the vocal chords and the opening between them, which is called the glottis. The mevnomet of the diaphragm initiates a sudden itanke of air, but the closure of the vocal chords stops it from eetirnng the wind pipe and reaching the lungs. It also creates the characteristic sound: "hic." To date, there is no known foinctun for hiccups. They don't seem to provide any medical or physiological advantage. Why begin to inhale air only to sdudnely stop it from actually entering the lungs? Anatomical structures, or physiological mechanisms, with no apparent purpose pneerst challenges to evolutionary biologists. Do such structures serve some hidden function that hasn't yet been discovered? Or are they relics of our evolutionary past, having once served some ipanormtt purpose only to persist into the present as vestigial rmtnenas? One idea is that hiccups began many millions of yraes before the appearance of humans. The lung is thought to have evolved as a structure to allow early fish, many of which lived in warm, stagnant water with little oxygen, to take advantage of the abundant ogexyn in the air ovreehad. When ddnestecnas of these animals later moved onto land, they moved from gill-based ventilation to air-breathing with lungs. That's similar to the much more rapid changes fecad by frogs today as they tirinaostn from tadpoles with gills to adults with lungs. This hypothesis suggests that the hiccup is a relic of the ancient transition from water to land. An inhalation that could move water over glils followed by a rapid closure of the glottis pneivrteng water from entering the lugns. That's sopeuptrd by evidence which suggests that the nrauel patterning involved in griantneeg a hiccup is almost identical to that responsible for respiration in amphibians. Another group of scientists believe that the reflex is retained in us today because it actually provides an important atdangave. They point out that true hiccups are found only in mammals and that they're not retained in brids, lizards, turtles, or any other exclusively air-breathing animals. Further, hiccups appear in human babies long before birth and are far more common in infants that adults. Their explanation for this involves the uniquely mammalian activity of nnursig. The ancient hiccup reelfx may have been apdated by mammals to help remove air from the stomach as a sort of glorified burp. The sudden expansion of the diaphragm would raise air from the sactmoh, while a closure of the gtoilts would prevent milk from entering the lungs. Sometimes, a bout of hiccups will go on and on, and we try home remedies: sipping continuously from a glass of cold water, holding one's breath, a mouthful of hnoey or peanut butter, batrenhig into a paper bag, or being suddenly frightened. Unfortunately, scientists have yet to verify that any one cure works better or more consistently than others. However, we do know one thing that definitely doesn't work.

Open Cloze

Charles Osborne began to hiccup in 1922 after a hog fell on top of him. He wasn't cured until 68 years later and is now listed by Guinness as the world record holder for hiccup _________. Meanwhile, Florida teen Jennifer Mee may hold the record for the most frequent hiccups, 50 _____ per minute for more than four weeks in 2007. So what causes hiccups? _______ point out that a round of _______ often follows from stimuli that stretch the stomach, like swallowing air or too rapid eating or drinking. Others associate hiccups with intense ________ or a response to them: laughing, sobbing, anxiety, and __________. Let's look at what happens when we hiccup. It begins with an involuntary spasm or sudden ___________ of the diaphragm, the large dome-shaped ______ below our lungs that we use to inhale air. This is followed almost immediately by the ______ closure of the vocal chords and the opening between them, which is called the glottis. The ________ of the diaphragm initiates a sudden ______ of air, but the closure of the vocal chords stops it from ________ the wind pipe and reaching the lungs. It also creates the characteristic sound: "hic." To date, there is no known ________ for hiccups. They don't seem to provide any medical or physiological advantage. Why begin to inhale air only to ________ stop it from actually entering the lungs? Anatomical structures, or physiological mechanisms, with no apparent purpose _______ challenges to evolutionary biologists. Do such structures serve some hidden function that hasn't yet been discovered? Or are they relics of our evolutionary past, having once served some _________ purpose only to persist into the present as vestigial ________? One idea is that hiccups began many millions of _____ before the appearance of humans. The lung is thought to have evolved as a structure to allow early fish, many of which lived in warm, stagnant water with little oxygen, to take advantage of the abundant ______ in the air ________. When ___________ of these animals later moved onto land, they moved from gill-based ventilation to air-breathing with lungs. That's similar to the much more rapid changes _____ by frogs today as they __________ from tadpoles with gills to adults with lungs. This hypothesis suggests that the hiccup is a relic of the ancient transition from water to land. An inhalation that could move water over _____ followed by a rapid closure of the glottis __________ water from entering the _____. That's _________ by evidence which suggests that the ______ patterning involved in __________ a hiccup is almost identical to that responsible for respiration in amphibians. Another group of scientists believe that the reflex is retained in us today because it actually provides an important _________. They point out that true hiccups are found only in mammals and that they're not retained in _____, lizards, turtles, or any other exclusively air-breathing animals. Further, hiccups appear in human babies long before birth and are far more common in infants that adults. Their explanation for this involves the uniquely mammalian activity of _______. The ancient hiccup ______ may have been _______ by mammals to help remove air from the stomach as a sort of glorified burp. The sudden expansion of the diaphragm would raise air from the _______, while a closure of the _______ would prevent milk from entering the lungs. Sometimes, a bout of hiccups will go on and on, and we try home remedies: sipping continuously from a glass of cold water, holding one's breath, a mouthful of _____ or peanut butter, _________ into a paper bag, or being suddenly frightened. Unfortunately, scientists have yet to verify that any one cure works better or more consistently than others. However, we do know one thing that definitely doesn't work.

Solution

advantage
years
sudden
preventing
oxygen
muscle
nursing
glottis
generating
faced
doctors
neural
longevity
important
emotions
breathing
reflex
function
contraction
gills
excitement
intake
hiccups
entering
movement
lungs
honey
transition
supported
suddenly
descendants
remnants
times
adapted
stomach
present
overhead
birds

Original Text

Charles Osborne began to hiccup in 1922 after a hog fell on top of him. He wasn't cured until 68 years later and is now listed by Guinness as the world record holder for hiccup longevity. Meanwhile, Florida teen Jennifer Mee may hold the record for the most frequent hiccups, 50 times per minute for more than four weeks in 2007. So what causes hiccups? Doctors point out that a round of hiccups often follows from stimuli that stretch the stomach, like swallowing air or too rapid eating or drinking. Others associate hiccups with intense emotions or a response to them: laughing, sobbing, anxiety, and excitement. Let's look at what happens when we hiccup. It begins with an involuntary spasm or sudden contraction of the diaphragm, the large dome-shaped muscle below our lungs that we use to inhale air. This is followed almost immediately by the sudden closure of the vocal chords and the opening between them, which is called the glottis. The movement of the diaphragm initiates a sudden intake of air, but the closure of the vocal chords stops it from entering the wind pipe and reaching the lungs. It also creates the characteristic sound: "hic." To date, there is no known function for hiccups. They don't seem to provide any medical or physiological advantage. Why begin to inhale air only to suddenly stop it from actually entering the lungs? Anatomical structures, or physiological mechanisms, with no apparent purpose present challenges to evolutionary biologists. Do such structures serve some hidden function that hasn't yet been discovered? Or are they relics of our evolutionary past, having once served some important purpose only to persist into the present as vestigial remnants? One idea is that hiccups began many millions of years before the appearance of humans. The lung is thought to have evolved as a structure to allow early fish, many of which lived in warm, stagnant water with little oxygen, to take advantage of the abundant oxygen in the air overhead. When descendants of these animals later moved onto land, they moved from gill-based ventilation to air-breathing with lungs. That's similar to the much more rapid changes faced by frogs today as they transition from tadpoles with gills to adults with lungs. This hypothesis suggests that the hiccup is a relic of the ancient transition from water to land. An inhalation that could move water over gills followed by a rapid closure of the glottis preventing water from entering the lungs. That's supported by evidence which suggests that the neural patterning involved in generating a hiccup is almost identical to that responsible for respiration in amphibians. Another group of scientists believe that the reflex is retained in us today because it actually provides an important advantage. They point out that true hiccups are found only in mammals and that they're not retained in birds, lizards, turtles, or any other exclusively air-breathing animals. Further, hiccups appear in human babies long before birth and are far more common in infants that adults. Their explanation for this involves the uniquely mammalian activity of nursing. The ancient hiccup reflex may have been adapted by mammals to help remove air from the stomach as a sort of glorified burp. The sudden expansion of the diaphragm would raise air from the stomach, while a closure of the glottis would prevent milk from entering the lungs. Sometimes, a bout of hiccups will go on and on, and we try home remedies: sipping continuously from a glass of cold water, holding one's breath, a mouthful of honey or peanut butter, breathing into a paper bag, or being suddenly frightened. Unfortunately, scientists have yet to verify that any one cure works better or more consistently than others. However, we do know one thing that definitely doesn't work.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
inhale air	2
vocal chords	2

Important Words

abundant
activity
adapted
adults
advantage
air
amphibians
anatomical
ancient
animals
anxiety
apparent
appearance
associate
babies
bag
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biologists
birds
birth
bout
breath
breathing
burp
butter
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characteristic
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chords
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cold
common
consistently
continuously
contraction
creates
cure
cured
date
descendants
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discovered
doctors
drinking
early
eating
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entering
evidence
evolutionary
evolved
excitement
exclusively
expansion
explanation
faced
fell
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florida
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frightened
frogs
function
generating
gills
glass
glorified
glottis
group
guinness
hiccup
hiccups
hidden
hog
hold
holder
holding
home
honey
human
humans
hypothesis
idea
identical
immediately
important
infants
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inhale
initiates
intake
intense
involuntary
involved
involves
jennifer
land
large
laughing
listed
lived
lizards
long
longevity
lung
lungs
mammalian
mammals
mechanisms
medical
mee
milk
millions
minute
mouthful
move
moved
movement
muscle
neural
nursing
opening
osborne
overhead
oxygen
paper
patterning
peanut
persist
physiological
pipe
point
present
prevent
preventing
provide
purpose
raise
rapid
reaching
record
reflex
relic
relics
remnants
remove
respiration
response
responsible
retained
scientists
serve
served
similar
sipping
sobbing
sort
spasm
stagnant
stimuli
stomach
stop
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stretch
structure
structures
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supported
swallowing
tadpoles
teen
thought
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top
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true
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verify
vestigial
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wind
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works
world
years