TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Edmond Hui: How the heart actually pumps blood

Unscramble the Blue Letters

For most of history, humans had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the organ so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own hreat bieatng, it wasn't always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the heart pumps blood. But that fact wasn't always obvious, because if a heart was eeosxpd or taken out, the body would perish quickly. It's also iiobslsmpe to see through the blood vessels, and even if that were possible, the blood itself is opaque, mnikag it difficult to see the heart vvelas working. Even in the 21st century, only a few ploepe in surgery teams have actually seen a working heart. Internet searches for heart function, point to crude moldes, drimgaas or animations that don't really show how it works. It's as if there has been a cteeuinrs old casnirpocy amongst teachers and students to accept that heart function cannot be demonstrated. minaeng that the next best thing is simply to cut it open and laebl the parts. That way students might not fully grasp the way it wkros, but can superficially understand it, lannierg such concepts as the heart is a four-chambered organ, or potentially misleading statements like, mammals have a dual-circulation: one with blood going to the lungs and back, and another to the body and back. In rtleiay, mammals have a figure-eight cicriaoltun. Blood goes from one heart pump to the lungs, back to the second heart pump, which sends it to the body, and then back to the first pump. That's an important difference because it mkras two completely different morphologies. This confusion makes many students wary of the heart in biology lessons, thinking it signals an intimidating subject full of complicated names and diagrams. Only those who end up studying medicine compeltely uetdrnasnd how it all actually works. That's when its functions become apparent as medcis get to observe the motion of the heart's valves. So, let's imagine you're a medic for a day. What you'll need to get started is a whole fresh heart, like one from a sheep or pig. imserme this heart in water and you'll see that it doesn't pump when squeezed by hand. That's because water doesn't enter the heart cleanly enough for the pumping mechanism to work. We can solve this problem in an extraordinarly splmie way. Simply identify the two airta and cut them off, trimming them down to the tops of the ventricles. This makes the heart look less ceotmcpalid because the atria have several incoming veins attached. So without them there, the only vessels remaining are the two major heart arteries: the aotra and pmournaly artery, which rise like white columns from between the ventricles. It looks — and really is — very simple. If you run water into the right vlrtnceie from a tap (the left also works, but less spectacularly), you'll see that the ventricular vlvae tries to close against the incoming stream. And then ventricle inflates with wetar. sqeeuze the ventricle and a stream of water squirts out of the pulmonary artery. The ventricular valves, called the trisuicpd in the right ventricle and the mrtail in the left, can be seen through the clear water opening and closing like parachutes as the ventricle is rhythmically squeezed. This flow of water mimics the flow of boold in life. The valves are completely eincfeift. You'll notice they don't leak at all when the ventricles are squeezed. Over time, they also close against each other with very little wear and tear, which explains how this mechanism continues to work slseelsamy for more than 2 billion betas a heart gives in its lifetime. Now, anyone studying the heart can hold one in their hands, make it pump for real and watch the action unfold. So place your hand above your own and feel its rhymic beat. Understanding how this dependable inner pump works gives new resonance to the feeling you get when you run a race, drink too much cineaffe or catch the eye of the one you love.

Open Cloze

For most of history, humans had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the organ so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own _____ _______, it wasn't always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the heart pumps blood. But that fact wasn't always obvious, because if a heart was _______ or taken out, the body would perish quickly. It's also __________ to see through the blood vessels, and even if that were possible, the blood itself is opaque, ______ it difficult to see the heart ______ working. Even in the 21st century, only a few ______ in surgery teams have actually seen a working heart. Internet searches for heart function, point to crude ______, ________ or animations that don't really show how it works. It's as if there has been a _________ old __________ amongst teachers and students to accept that heart function cannot be demonstrated. _______ that the next best thing is simply to cut it open and _____ the parts. That way students might not fully grasp the way it _____, but can superficially understand it, ________ such concepts as the heart is a four-chambered organ, or potentially misleading statements like, mammals have a dual-circulation: one with blood going to the lungs and back, and another to the body and back. In _______, mammals have a figure-eight ___________. Blood goes from one heart pump to the lungs, back to the second heart pump, which sends it to the body, and then back to the first pump. That's an important difference because it _____ two completely different morphologies. This confusion makes many students wary of the heart in biology lessons, thinking it signals an intimidating subject full of complicated names and diagrams. Only those who end up studying medicine compeltely __________ how it all actually works. That's when its functions become apparent as ______ get to observe the motion of the heart's valves. So, let's imagine you're a medic for a day. What you'll need to get started is a whole fresh heart, like one from a sheep or pig. _______ this heart in water and you'll see that it doesn't pump when squeezed by hand. That's because water doesn't enter the heart cleanly enough for the pumping mechanism to work. We can solve this problem in an extraordinarly ______ way. Simply identify the two _____ and cut them off, trimming them down to the tops of the ventricles. This makes the heart look less ___________ because the atria have several incoming veins attached. So without them there, the only vessels remaining are the two major heart arteries: the _____ and _________ artery, which rise like white columns from between the ventricles. It looks — and really is — very simple. If you run water into the right _________ from a tap (the left also works, but less spectacularly), you'll see that the ventricular _____ tries to close against the incoming stream. And then ventricle inflates with _____. _______ the ventricle and a stream of water squirts out of the pulmonary artery. The ventricular valves, called the _________ in the right ventricle and the ______ in the left, can be seen through the clear water opening and closing like parachutes as the ventricle is rhythmically squeezed. This flow of water mimics the flow of _____ in life. The valves are completely _________. You'll notice they don't leak at all when the ventricles are squeezed. Over time, they also close against each other with very little wear and tear, which explains how this mechanism continues to work __________ for more than 2 billion _____ a heart gives in its lifetime. Now, anyone studying the heart can hold one in their hands, make it pump for real and watch the action unfold. So place your hand above your own and feel its rhymic beat. Understanding how this dependable inner pump works gives new resonance to the feeling you get when you run a race, drink too much ________ or catch the eye of the one you love.

Solution

centuries
impossible
aorta
learning
people
caffeine
mitral
valve
marks
works
immerse
beating
seamlessly
label
exposed
medics
simple
models
atria
meaning
pulmonary
water
circulation
valves
understand
conspiracy
efficient
complicated
blood
heart
diagrams
beats
making
tricuspid
reality
squeeze
ventricle

Original Text

For most of history, humans had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the organ so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own heart beating, it wasn't always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the heart pumps blood. But that fact wasn't always obvious, because if a heart was exposed or taken out, the body would perish quickly. It's also impossible to see through the blood vessels, and even if that were possible, the blood itself is opaque, making it difficult to see the heart valves working. Even in the 21st century, only a few people in surgery teams have actually seen a working heart. Internet searches for heart function, point to crude models, diagrams or animations that don't really show how it works. It's as if there has been a centuries old conspiracy amongst teachers and students to accept that heart function cannot be demonstrated. Meaning that the next best thing is simply to cut it open and label the parts. That way students might not fully grasp the way it works, but can superficially understand it, learning such concepts as the heart is a four-chambered organ, or potentially misleading statements like, mammals have a dual-circulation: one with blood going to the lungs and back, and another to the body and back. In reality, mammals have a figure-eight circulation. Blood goes from one heart pump to the lungs, back to the second heart pump, which sends it to the body, and then back to the first pump. That's an important difference because it marks two completely different morphologies. This confusion makes many students wary of the heart in biology lessons, thinking it signals an intimidating subject full of complicated names and diagrams. Only those who end up studying medicine compeltely understand how it all actually works. That's when its functions become apparent as medics get to observe the motion of the heart's valves. So, let's imagine you're a medic for a day. What you'll need to get started is a whole fresh heart, like one from a sheep or pig. Immerse this heart in water and you'll see that it doesn't pump when squeezed by hand. That's because water doesn't enter the heart cleanly enough for the pumping mechanism to work. We can solve this problem in an extraordinarly simple way. Simply identify the two atria and cut them off, trimming them down to the tops of the ventricles. This makes the heart look less complicated because the atria have several incoming veins attached. So without them there, the only vessels remaining are the two major heart arteries: the aorta and pulmonary artery, which rise like white columns from between the ventricles. It looks — and really is — very simple. If you run water into the right ventricle from a tap (the left also works, but less spectacularly), you'll see that the ventricular valve tries to close against the incoming stream. And then ventricle inflates with water. Squeeze the ventricle and a stream of water squirts out of the pulmonary artery. The ventricular valves, called the tricuspid in the right ventricle and the mitral in the left, can be seen through the clear water opening and closing like parachutes as the ventricle is rhythmically squeezed. This flow of water mimics the flow of blood in life. The valves are completely efficient. You'll notice they don't leak at all when the ventricles are squeezed. Over time, they also close against each other with very little wear and tear, which explains how this mechanism continues to work seamlessly for more than 2 billion beats a heart gives in its lifetime. Now, anyone studying the heart can hold one in their hands, make it pump for real and watch the action unfold. So place your hand above your own and feel its rhymic beat. Understanding how this dependable inner pump works gives new resonance to the feeling you get when you run a race, drink too much caffeine or catch the eye of the one you love.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

Important Words

accept
achieving
action
animations
aorta
apparent
artery
atria
attached
beat
beating
beats
billion
biology
blood
body
caffeine
called
catch
centuries
century
circulation
cleanly
clear
close
closing
columns
compeltely
completely
complicated
concepts
confused
confusion
conspiracy
continues
crude
cut
da
day
demonstrated
dependable
diagrams
difference
difficult
drink
efficient
enter
explains
exposed
extraordinarly
eye
fact
feel
feeling
flow
fresh
full
fully
function
functions
gave
grasp
hand
hands
heart
history
hold
humans
idea
identify
imagine
immerse
important
impossible
incoming
inflates
internet
intimidating
label
leak
learning
left
leonardo
lessons
life
lifetime
love
lungs
major
making
mammals
marks
meaning
mechanism
medic
medicine
medics
mimics
misleading
mitral
models
morphologies
motion
names
notice
observe
obvious
opaque
open
opening
organ
parachutes
parts
people
perish
pig
place
point
potentially
problem
pulmonary
pump
pumping
pumps
purpose
quickly
race
real
reality
remaining
resonance
rhymic
rhythmically
rise
run
seamlessly
searches
sends
served
sheep
show
signals
simple
simply
solve
spectacularly
squeeze
squeezed
squirts
started
statements
stream
students
studying
subject
superficially
surgery
tap
teachers
teams
tear
thinking
thump
time
tops
tricuspid
trimming
understand
understanding
unfold
valve
valves
veins
ventricle
ventricles
ventricular
vessels
vinci
wary
watch
water
wear
white
work
working
works