full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Lauren Pharr: How vultures can help solve crimes

Unscramble the Blue Letters

One of the reasons I love vertulus is because they tend to oarepte in a manner that can be explained by biology and physics. I started mentally going through the numerous bnitag experiments I had conducted at a body farm in txeas. A body farm is a pclae where you can datnoe your body to science. I also went through my experiences with trapping and GPS tagging vultures. And then the year-long process of monitoring vultures via remote GPS technology. Next, I brought up my field notes and had an "Aha!" moment. I knew of two things that would lure a vulture 40 yards from a body. Guts and brain matter. I prseeentd this information to the detectives and learned that they seestcpud the victim had been incapacitated by blunt force trauma to the head. The blow to the head was tghuhot to have occurred in the area where the pine cone was found, and then the vitcim was drug 40 yards and buried in a shallow grave. This ssgtueegd that brain mettar was the lure for the vulture and illustrates how studying vulture behavior can help piece together some of the evidence.

Open Cloze

One of the reasons I love ________ is because they tend to _______ in a manner that can be explained by biology and physics. I started mentally going through the numerous ______ experiments I had conducted at a body farm in _____. A body farm is a _____ where you can ______ your body to science. I also went through my experiences with trapping and GPS tagging vultures. And then the year-long process of monitoring vultures via remote GPS technology. Next, I brought up my field notes and had an "Aha!" moment. I knew of two things that would lure a vulture 40 yards from a body. Guts and brain matter. I _________ this information to the detectives and learned that they _________ the victim had been incapacitated by blunt force trauma to the head. The blow to the head was _______ to have occurred in the area where the pine cone was found, and then the ______ was drug 40 yards and buried in a shallow grave. This _________ that brain ______ was the lure for the vulture and illustrates how studying vulture behavior can help piece together some of the evidence.

Solution

  1. bating
  2. donate
  3. place
  4. victim
  5. presented
  6. matter
  7. suggested
  8. vultures
  9. operate
  10. texas
  11. suspected
  12. thought

Original Text

One of the reasons I love vultures is because they tend to operate in a manner that can be explained by biology and physics. I started mentally going through the numerous bating experiments I had conducted at a body farm in Texas. A body farm is a place where you can donate your body to science. I also went through my experiences with trapping and GPS tagging vultures. And then the year-long process of monitoring vultures via remote GPS technology. Next, I brought up my field notes and had an "Aha!" moment. I knew of two things that would lure a vulture 40 yards from a body. Guts and brain matter. I presented this information to the detectives and learned that they suspected the victim had been incapacitated by blunt force trauma to the head. The blow to the head was thought to have occurred in the area where the pine cone was found, and then the victim was drug 40 yards and buried in a shallow grave. This suggested that brain matter was the lure for the vulture and illustrates how studying vulture behavior can help piece together some of the evidence.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
turkey vulture 6
vulture scavenging 5
crime scene 4
pine cone 4
vulture evidence 3
scavenging behavior 2
forensic science 2
vultures circling 2
detective thinks 2
start pulling 2
subject matter 2
forensic scientists 2
kidnapping case 2
shallow grave 2
body farm 2
brain matter 2
studying vulture 2
vulture behavior 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
vulture scavenging behavior 2
studying vulture behavior 2

Important Words

  1. area
  2. bating
  3. behavior
  4. biology
  5. blow
  6. blunt
  7. body
  8. brain
  9. brought
  10. buried
  11. conducted
  12. cone
  13. detectives
  14. donate
  15. drug
  16. evidence
  17. experiences
  18. experiments
  19. explained
  20. farm
  21. field
  22. force
  23. gps
  24. grave
  25. guts
  26. head
  27. illustrates
  28. incapacitated
  29. information
  30. knew
  31. learned
  32. love
  33. lure
  34. manner
  35. matter
  36. mentally
  37. moment
  38. monitoring
  39. notes
  40. numerous
  41. occurred
  42. operate
  43. physics
  44. piece
  45. pine
  46. place
  47. presented
  48. process
  49. reasons
  50. remote
  51. science
  52. shallow
  53. started
  54. studying
  55. suggested
  56. suspected
  57. tagging
  58. technology
  59. tend
  60. texas
  61. thought
  62. trapping
  63. trauma
  64. victim
  65. vulture
  66. vultures
  67. yards