TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Addison Anderson: The most groundbreaking scientist you've never heard of

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Nicolas snteo is rarely heard of outside Intro to Geology, but anyone hoping to understand life on Earth should see how Steno expanded and connected those very concepts: Earth, life, and udrdnnnieatsg. Born Niels Stensen in 1638 Denmark, son of a goldsmith, he was a sickly kid whose school chums died of paglue. He survived to cut up corpses as an anatomist, synudtig ornags shared across species. He found a duct in animal skulls that sends saliva to the motuh. He refuted Descartes' idea that only hunmas had a pineal gland, proving it wasn't the seat of the soul, arguably, the debut of neuroscience. Most remarkable for the time was his method. Steno never let aenicnt texts, Aristotelian metaphysics, or Cartesian duiotcdens overrule empirical, experimental evidence. His vision, uncluttered by speculation or raiotztainiaoln, went deep. Steno had seen how gallstones form in wet organs by accretion. They obeyed mnildog principles he knew from the goldsmith trade, ruels useful across disciplines for understanding solids by their srttrcuaul relationships. Later, the Grand Duke of Tuscany had him dissect a shark. Its teeth rmleebesd tongue stones, odd rocks seen inside other rocks in Malta and the mtnanuois near Florence. Pliny the Elder, old Roman naturalist, said these fell from the sky. In the Dark Ages, folks said they were snake tongues, petrified by Saint Paul. Steno saw that tgonue stones were shark teeth and vice versa, with the same sings of structural growth. Figuring similar things are made in similar ways, he auegrd the ancient teeth came from ancient skrahs in waters that formed rock around the teeth and became mountains. Rock layers were once layers of watery sediment, which would lay out horizontally, one atop another, oldest up to newest. If layers were drfoemed, tilted, cut by a fault or a canyon, that change came after the layer fomerd. Sounds splmie today; back then, revolutionary. He'd invented sghprtrtaaiy and laid geology's ground work. By fidinng one origin for shark teeth from two eras by stating natural laws runilg the prseent also relud the past, Steno planted seeds for uniformitarianism, the idea that the past was shaped by processes observable today. In the 18th and 19th centuries, English uniformitarian geologists, James Hutton and Charles Lyell, studied current, very slow rates of erosion and sedimentation and realized the eatrh had to be way older than the biibcall guestimate, 6000 years. Out of their work came the rock clcye, which combined with plate tectonics in the mid-twentieth curntey to give us the great molten-crusting, quaking, all-encircling theory of the Earth, from a gallstone to a 4.5 billion-year-old planet. Now think bigger, take it to biology. Say you see shark teteh in one layer and a fossil of an organism you've never seen under that. The deeper fossil's older, yes? You now have evidence of the origin and extinction of species over time. Get uniformitarian. Maybe a process still active today caused changes not just in rkcos but in life. It might also explain siiiialetmrs and differences between seeipcs found by anatomists like Steno. It's a lot to ponder, but Charles Darwin had the time on a long trip to the Galapagos, reading a copy of his friend celahrs Lyell's "Principles of glgeooy," which Steno sort of fnoedud. Sometimes giants stand on the shoulders of criuous little people. Nicolas Steno hpeled eovvle evolution, broke ground for geology, and shoewd how unbiased, empirical observation can cut across intellectual boerrds to deepen our perspective. His finest anocemcmsphilt, though, may be his maxim, casting the search for truth beyond our senses and our current understanding as the piusurt of the beauty of the as yet unknown. Beautiful is what we see, more beautiful is what we know, most beautiful, by far, is what we don't.

Open Cloze

Nicolas _____ is rarely heard of outside Intro to Geology, but anyone hoping to understand life on Earth should see how Steno expanded and connected those very concepts: Earth, life, and _____________. Born Niels Stensen in 1638 Denmark, son of a goldsmith, he was a sickly kid whose school chums died of ______. He survived to cut up corpses as an anatomist, ________ ______ shared across species. He found a duct in animal skulls that sends saliva to the _____. He refuted Descartes' idea that only ______ had a pineal gland, proving it wasn't the seat of the soul, arguably, the debut of neuroscience. Most remarkable for the time was his method. Steno never let _______ texts, Aristotelian metaphysics, or Cartesian __________ overrule empirical, experimental evidence. His vision, uncluttered by speculation or _______________, went deep. Steno had seen how gallstones form in wet organs by accretion. They obeyed _______ principles he knew from the goldsmith trade, _____ useful across disciplines for understanding solids by their __________ relationships. Later, the Grand Duke of Tuscany had him dissect a shark. Its teeth _________ tongue stones, odd rocks seen inside other rocks in Malta and the _________ near Florence. Pliny the Elder, old Roman naturalist, said these fell from the sky. In the Dark Ages, folks said they were snake tongues, petrified by Saint Paul. Steno saw that ______ stones were shark teeth and vice versa, with the same _____ of structural growth. Figuring similar things are made in similar ways, he ______ the ancient teeth came from ancient ______ in waters that formed rock around the teeth and became mountains. Rock layers were once layers of watery sediment, which would lay out horizontally, one atop another, oldest up to newest. If layers were ________, tilted, cut by a fault or a canyon, that change came after the layer ______. Sounds ______ today; back then, revolutionary. He'd invented ____________ and laid geology's ground work. By _______ one origin for shark teeth from two eras by stating natural laws ______ the _______ also _____ the past, Steno planted seeds for uniformitarianism, the idea that the past was shaped by processes observable today. In the 18th and 19th centuries, English uniformitarian geologists, James Hutton and Charles Lyell, studied current, very slow rates of erosion and sedimentation and realized the _____ had to be way older than the ________ guestimate, 6000 years. Out of their work came the rock _____, which combined with plate tectonics in the mid-twentieth _______ to give us the great molten-crusting, quaking, all-encircling theory of the Earth, from a gallstone to a 4.5 billion-year-old planet. Now think bigger, take it to biology. Say you see shark _____ in one layer and a fossil of an organism you've never seen under that. The deeper fossil's older, yes? You now have evidence of the origin and extinction of species over time. Get uniformitarian. Maybe a process still active today caused changes not just in _____ but in life. It might also explain ____________ and differences between _______ found by anatomists like Steno. It's a lot to ponder, but Charles Darwin had the time on a long trip to the Galapagos, reading a copy of his friend _______ Lyell's "Principles of _______," which Steno sort of _______. Sometimes giants stand on the shoulders of _______ little people. Nicolas Steno ______ ______ evolution, broke ground for geology, and ______ how unbiased, empirical observation can cut across intellectual _______ to deepen our perspective. His finest ______________, though, may be his maxim, casting the search for truth beyond our senses and our current understanding as the _______ of the beauty of the as yet unknown. Beautiful is what we see, more beautiful is what we know, most beautiful, by far, is what we don't.

Solution

mouth
showed
plague
argued
charles
mountains
helped
humans
tongue
cycle
deductions
evolve
biblical
deformed
founded
studying
stratigraphy
organs
simple
rocks
century
similarities
curious
sharks
earth
rules
ancient
resembled
species
ruled
pursuit
molding
geology
formed
finding
teeth
ruling
steno
signs
accomplishment
rationalization
understanding
borders
present
structural

Original Text

Nicolas Steno is rarely heard of outside Intro to Geology, but anyone hoping to understand life on Earth should see how Steno expanded and connected those very concepts: Earth, life, and understanding. Born Niels Stensen in 1638 Denmark, son of a goldsmith, he was a sickly kid whose school chums died of plague. He survived to cut up corpses as an anatomist, studying organs shared across species. He found a duct in animal skulls that sends saliva to the mouth. He refuted Descartes' idea that only humans had a pineal gland, proving it wasn't the seat of the soul, arguably, the debut of neuroscience. Most remarkable for the time was his method. Steno never let ancient texts, Aristotelian metaphysics, or Cartesian deductions overrule empirical, experimental evidence. His vision, uncluttered by speculation or rationalization, went deep. Steno had seen how gallstones form in wet organs by accretion. They obeyed molding principles he knew from the goldsmith trade, rules useful across disciplines for understanding solids by their structural relationships. Later, the Grand Duke of Tuscany had him dissect a shark. Its teeth resembled tongue stones, odd rocks seen inside other rocks in Malta and the mountains near Florence. Pliny the Elder, old Roman naturalist, said these fell from the sky. In the Dark Ages, folks said they were snake tongues, petrified by Saint Paul. Steno saw that tongue stones were shark teeth and vice versa, with the same signs of structural growth. Figuring similar things are made in similar ways, he argued the ancient teeth came from ancient sharks in waters that formed rock around the teeth and became mountains. Rock layers were once layers of watery sediment, which would lay out horizontally, one atop another, oldest up to newest. If layers were deformed, tilted, cut by a fault or a canyon, that change came after the layer formed. Sounds simple today; back then, revolutionary. He'd invented stratigraphy and laid geology's ground work. By finding one origin for shark teeth from two eras by stating natural laws ruling the present also ruled the past, Steno planted seeds for uniformitarianism, the idea that the past was shaped by processes observable today. In the 18th and 19th centuries, English uniformitarian geologists, James Hutton and Charles Lyell, studied current, very slow rates of erosion and sedimentation and realized the Earth had to be way older than the biblical guestimate, 6000 years. Out of their work came the rock cycle, which combined with plate tectonics in the mid-twentieth century to give us the great molten-crusting, quaking, all-encircling theory of the Earth, from a gallstone to a 4.5 billion-year-old planet. Now think bigger, take it to biology. Say you see shark teeth in one layer and a fossil of an organism you've never seen under that. The deeper fossil's older, yes? You now have evidence of the origin and extinction of species over time. Get uniformitarian. Maybe a process still active today caused changes not just in rocks but in life. It might also explain similarities and differences between species found by anatomists like Steno. It's a lot to ponder, but Charles Darwin had the time on a long trip to the Galapagos, reading a copy of his friend Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology," which Steno sort of founded. Sometimes giants stand on the shoulders of curious little people. Nicolas Steno helped evolve evolution, broke ground for geology, and showed how unbiased, empirical observation can cut across intellectual borders to deepen our perspective. His finest accomplishment, though, may be his maxim, casting the search for truth beyond our senses and our current understanding as the pursuit of the beauty of the as yet unknown. Beautiful is what we see, more beautiful is what we know, most beautiful, by far, is what we don't.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
shark teeth	3
nicolas steno	2

Important Words

accomplishment
accretion
active
ages
anatomist
anatomists
ancient
animal
arguably
argued
aristotelian
atop
beautiful
beauty
biblical
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born
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cartesian
casting
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change
charles
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combined
connected
copy
corpses
curious
current
cut
cycle
dark
darwin
debut
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deep
deepen
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dissect
duct
duke
earth
elder
empirical
english
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erosion
evidence
evolution
evolve
expanded
experimental
explain
extinction
fault
fell
figuring
finding
finest
florence
folks
form
formed
fossil
founded
friend
galapagos
gallstone
gallstones
geologists
geology
giants
give
gland
goldsmith
grand
great
ground
growth
guestimate
heard
helped
hoping
horizontally
humans
hutton
idea
intellectual
intro
invented
james
kid
knew
laid
laws
lay
layer
layers
life
long
lot
lyell
malta
maxim
metaphysics
method
molding
mountains
mouth
natural
naturalist
neuroscience
newest
nicolas
niels
obeyed
observable
observation
odd
older
oldest
organism
organs
origin
overrule
paul
people
perspective
petrified
pineal
plague
planet
planted
plate
pliny
ponder
present
principles
process
processes
proving
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quaking
rarely
rates
rationalization
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refuted
relationships
remarkable
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revolutionary
rock
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roman
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saint
saliva
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sedimentation
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sends
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shark
sharks
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sky
slow
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solids
son
sort
soul
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species
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stating
steno
stensen
stones
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structural
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uncluttered
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watery
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years