full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lara Durgavich: An evolutionary perspective on human health and disease

Unscramble the Blue Letters

In the case of neiadtnsgesehrs, some research suggests that one reason it's becoming more cmomon in some pnoipoaluts is that many people today, including most of us in this room, spend far more time reading, writing and eagginng with various types of screen than we do outside, interacting with the wrlod on a bigger scale. In evolutionary terms, this is a recent change. For most of human evolutionary history, people used their viison across a baedorr landscape, snendipg more time in activities like hunting and gathering. The increase in recent years in what's termed "near work," focusing intensely on objects directly in front of us for long periods of time, strains our eyes dffterlieny and affects the physical shpae of the eye. When we put all these pieces together, this ultimate explanation for nearsightedness — that environmental and behavioral change impact the way we use our eyes — helps us better understand the proximate cause. And an inescapable conclusion emerges — my mother was right, I probably should have spnet a little less time with my nose in a book.

Open Cloze

In the case of _______________, some research suggests that one reason it's becoming more ______ in some ___________ is that many people today, including most of us in this room, spend far more time reading, writing and ________ with various types of screen than we do outside, interacting with the _____ on a bigger scale. In evolutionary terms, this is a recent change. For most of human evolutionary history, people used their ______ across a _______ landscape, ________ more time in activities like hunting and gathering. The increase in recent years in what's termed "near work," focusing intensely on objects directly in front of us for long periods of time, strains our eyes ___________ and affects the physical _____ of the eye. When we put all these pieces together, this ultimate explanation for nearsightedness — that environmental and behavioral change impact the way we use our eyes — helps us better understand the proximate cause. And an inescapable conclusion emerges — my mother was right, I probably should have _____ a little less time with my nose in a book.

Solution

  1. populations
  2. differently
  3. broader
  4. common
  5. nearsightedness
  6. vision
  7. spent
  8. shape
  9. spending
  10. world
  11. engaging

Original Text

In the case of nearsightedness, some research suggests that one reason it's becoming more common in some populations is that many people today, including most of us in this room, spend far more time reading, writing and engaging with various types of screen than we do outside, interacting with the world on a bigger scale. In evolutionary terms, this is a recent change. For most of human evolutionary history, people used their vision across a broader landscape, spending more time in activities like hunting and gathering. The increase in recent years in what's termed "near work," focusing intensely on objects directly in front of us for long periods of time, strains our eyes differently and affects the physical shape of the eye. When we put all these pieces together, this ultimate explanation for nearsightedness — that environmental and behavioral change impact the way we use our eyes — helps us better understand the proximate cause. And an inescapable conclusion emerges — my mother was right, I probably should have spent a little less time with my nose in a book.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
natural selection 6
evolutionary medicine 5
sickle cell 5
heterozygote advantage 4
cell anemia 4
red blood 4
eastern european 3
normal copy 2
unusually high 2
high rate 2
ashkenazi population 2
defective gene 2
problems today 2
ashkenazi jews 2
blood cells 2
human health 2
proximate explanations 2
ultimate perspective 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
sickle cell anemia 4
unusually high rate 2
red blood cells 2

Important Words

  1. activities
  2. affects
  3. behavioral
  4. bigger
  5. book
  6. broader
  7. case
  8. change
  9. common
  10. conclusion
  11. differently
  12. emerges
  13. engaging
  14. environmental
  15. evolutionary
  16. explanation
  17. eye
  18. eyes
  19. focusing
  20. front
  21. gathering
  22. helps
  23. history
  24. human
  25. hunting
  26. impact
  27. including
  28. increase
  29. inescapable
  30. intensely
  31. interacting
  32. landscape
  33. long
  34. mother
  35. nearsightedness
  36. nose
  37. objects
  38. people
  39. periods
  40. physical
  41. pieces
  42. populations
  43. proximate
  44. put
  45. reading
  46. reason
  47. research
  48. room
  49. scale
  50. screen
  51. shape
  52. spend
  53. spending
  54. spent
  55. strains
  56. suggests
  57. termed
  58. terms
  59. time
  60. today
  61. types
  62. ultimate
  63. understand
  64. vision
  65. work
  66. world
  67. writing
  68. years