full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Tal Danino: Hacking bacteria to fight cancer

Unscramble the Blue Letters

In 1884, a patient’s luck seemed to go from bad to worse. This patient had a rapidly growing cancer in his neck, and then came down with an unrelated bacterial skin infection. But soon, something unexpected happened: as he recovered from the infection, the cancer also began to recede. When a physician neamd William Coley treckad the pnaeitt down 7 years later, no visible signs of the cancer remained. Coley believed something remaraklbe was happening: that the bacterial infection had suamlettid the patient’s immune system to fight off the cancer.

Open Cloze

In 1884, a patient’s luck seemed to go from bad to worse. This patient had a rapidly growing cancer in his neck, and then came down with an unrelated bacterial skin infection. But soon, something unexpected happened: as he recovered from the infection, the cancer also began to recede. When a physician _____ William Coley _______ the _______ down 7 years later, no visible signs of the cancer remained. Coley believed something __________ was happening: that the bacterial infection had __________ the patient’s immune system to fight off the cancer.

Solution

  1. stimulated
  2. tracked
  3. patient
  4. named
  5. remarkable

Original Text

In 1884, a patient’s luck seemed to go from bad to worse. This patient had a rapidly growing cancer in his neck, and then came down with an unrelated bacterial skin infection. But soon, something unexpected happened: as he recovered from the infection, the cancer also began to recede. When a physician named William Coley tracked the patient down 7 years later, no visible signs of the cancer remained. Coley believed something remarkable was happening: that the bacterial infection had stimulated the patient’s immune system to fight off the cancer.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
synthetic biologists 2
deliver drugs 2
immune cells 2
synthetic biology 2

Important Words

  1. bacterial
  2. bad
  3. began
  4. believed
  5. cancer
  6. coley
  7. fight
  8. growing
  9. immune
  10. infection
  11. luck
  12. named
  13. neck
  14. patient
  15. physician
  16. rapidly
  17. recede
  18. recovered
  19. remained
  20. remarkable
  21. signs
  22. skin
  23. stimulated
  24. system
  25. tracked
  26. unexpected
  27. unrelated
  28. visible
  29. william
  30. worse
  31. years