TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Alisa Kazarina: Humanity at the intersection of science and archaeology

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Imagine a preallal universe that coexists in the same place as our universe, in the same spcae, at the same time. This universe is overcrowded with life forms. It is invisible and intangible like the finest layer of reality, which we cannot notice. But it is there, and it maintains the functionality of our eyerdavy world. Without it, we just wouldn't exist. Now, would you be surprised if I told you that actually everything I said before is true? Because I'm about to tell you this. I'm talking about the world of microbes - a separate world, yet so dpeely connected to us. And the story of this connection expands far away into the past. But thanks to modern science, we are now able to read this story like a history book. Ladies and gentlemen, I puodlry present biomolecular archeology, the science behind this history book. And I am here to share with you what fsiannaticg things we can try to manage with this powerful modern science. But let's start with the term itself: biomolecular archeology. It's not even easy to pronounce, not to mention to try to understand the essecne of this phrase. There might not be a problem with the archeology part, right? We've all seen it in movies, we know what it is about, but what is "biomolecular" anyway? The first thing that comes to mind: it is something about biology and mlocleues. And this is actually creroct. A biological molecule, or a biomolecule, is any mlluceoe that is present in a living organism. Now, there are all sorts of molecules in your body, but undoubtedly, the most informative one is DNA. So, let's bring it back together. Biomolecular archeology enables us to study the DNA recovered from archeological samples. And not only native human DNA, which, of course, all by itself gives lots of study perspectives, but also the DNA of microbes that lived side by side with that human. This science is relatively young. About ten years ago, a massive breakthrough happened in genomic research technology. A method apeaerpd which is called NGS, next gieroatnen scuqneenig, and this method saiininclftgy cuts time and cstos of any genomic rcseareh. For example, have you ever heard about the Human Genome Project? It was quite a plapour topic for science fiction some time ago. This pcojret launehcd in 1990 with the goal to dpceyrt all genomic information in a human ornsgaim. At that time, with the technology of the time, it took ten years and three billion dollars to reach the goals of this project. With NGS, all of that can be done in just one day at the cost of 15,000 doallrs. On the firtlee soil of next generation sequencing arose biomolecular archeology because there is a great lot of genomic information to be analyzed and it just wouldn't be possible to mnagae such research with oledn day tghcolenoy. Now we are able to manage such research OK, "But why?" you could ask me. "What benefits can we get out of this information? What can we use it for?" The answer appears to be quite wide. Consider human health as a complex and dynamic system. Apart from genetically determined ftaorcs that are stored in our DNA, our health is severely influenced by many other factors, like our lifestyle, our diet, and our fellow microbes. One hundred trillion cells, one and 14 zeros, that's the approximate number of microorganisms in your body, ten times greater than the number of your own cells. Your microbial baggage occupies almost 2% of your body wegiht, that's about one and a half kilograms, approximately the weight of your liver. Or your brain. And all these are mboreics. Just think about it for a second! Human microbiome, that's the modern term for all mabircoil coeinmmutis inhabiting your body, has earned a close attention over the last decade. It seems that we are only beginning to discover the mysterious role that is given to microbes in the pmfarconere of our health. In 2007, the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. launched the Human Microbiome Project to finally study its relation to our health conditions. And since then, it has only become clearer that our notion about our fellow microbes is inexcusably poor. Francis Collins, the dtoceirr of the National Institutes of Health, even cmraeopd the researchers ivnvelod in the project with the 15th century explorers discovering the outline of a new ctinnonet. It is now being suggested that a range of modern, widespread diseases, starting from obesity, Crohn's disease, other gntsteoiasitnarl problems to all sorts of allergies, autoimmune diseases, or maybe even cancer, may appear to be consequences of microbiome changes. But where do these changes come from? When did they first appear? What was the triggering factor? These are the questions we are trying to find answers to at the moment. This topic always triggers a mermoy of my first conscious experience with the microbial world around. My metohr, like any attentive parent, tried her best to warn me against the invisible drgeans of the wlrod, and she told me a story that every time I do not wash hadns before eating something, I become a reason of global microbial migration. (Laughter) An uncountable number of microbial flimaies come together, pack their suitcases, their TVs, their favorite toys, and leave their houses forever to move to a new area which is thought to be my body. Now, I was a child with a very vivid imagination, and this sroty iflneeuncd me so much that I was obessesd with handwashing for a really long time. It actually took me years to ocmoerve the thought that I'm doing something wrong when I ititaine this microbial migration, and to understand fnillay that they are actually willing to come, they've got friends there waiting for them. I'm not trying to convince you not to ever wash your hands again, of course not. But let's try to be moderate with it. We lack this microbial diversity nowadays. And as we know from ecology, the most diverse systems are the most stable ones. This might be one of the reasons for our so-called diseases of civilization. And this is exactly the type of hypothesis for biomolecular archeology to deal with. It turns out that there is a unique archaeological material that so preciously sreots the enrouoms aonmut of information related to ancient human microbiome, and this material is ancient dental plaque, thanks to the fact that oral cavity hygiene was not on the list of top pterroiiis for hmnuas of the past. Their oral microbiome has already been partly fossilized during their lifetime in the form of dnetal calculus, which, in turn, styas in soil as well prvrseeed as the skeletons themselves. Sadly, we can't help these fellas anymore. But they can help us by providing uunqie and precious imonatiofrn about their microbes and their haelth, and maybe we will have a cnahce to help others in the future thanks to them. There is one more vast haumn health-related aspect where blcoloeuaimr archaeology takes its rightful place, and this field of research expands into the valley of ancient deadly pathogens. It is true that the vast majority of microbes either provide us some kind of benefit or do not really care whether there is a human around. But there are some aenncit deadly microbes that still remain an urgent problem nowadays all around the world. For example, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One and a half million deaths in 2014. And OK, OK, I know, the first reaction I always get is like, "Wait, aren't there antibiotics?" or "I herad there is even a vaccine; is this disease still dangerous to us after all?" The answer is yes; tuberculosis is closer than you think. Because of some mysterious genetic pnemeoonhn, there are people that can carry around this microbe their entire lives without dipolneveg any symptoms, and there are people that develop symptoms straight ahead after infection. Let me give you a real example of a tuberculosis microepidemic. Let's say a person somehow got infected. He works as a teacher in a junior school. Half a year later, one of his pupils develops sypomtms. A few months later, the older stsier of the pupil. A few more mhonts later, two fdnreis of the sister. This is how it spreads. When I was just starting my research on this topic, I myself was very surprised to know that tuberculosis worldwide remains one of the major health concerns, that on the list of infectious diseases, it is the second most common death cause after HIV. Yes, the fight continues. Did you know we have a tuberculosis clinic right here in Latvia, just outside Riga, where many doctors and other sptlieicsas fight tuberculosis on a daily basis? To finally beat this harmful bacteria, it is crucial to understand how it evolved, how it dvoeleepd resistance to antibiotics, how it spread. And these are the qnetusios where biomolecular archaeology can help us a lot. At the moment, working in the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, we have managed to intfiedy Mycobacterium tuberculosis in one aachcroiaeglol sample from the 17th century. We are now in the process of defining its whole genome, so we can understand what type of tuclrsbiueos reigned at that time over the Latvian territories and where it came from. Obviously, biomolecular archaeology impacts humanities as well, such as history and anthropology. These, for example, are the excavations on the siant Ģertrūdes Cemetery a few yares ago. They started very ssoaotnepulny. There was an idea to build a shopping center in that area, and there was also information that there might be some medieval burial sites. So the Latvian Institute of History received a request to check it out. And they did actually find a medieval burial site, quite a massive one. Our archaeologists dug out over 500 skeletons, and found 2,000 more skeletons buried separately in a giant wooden box. But what was it? This couldn't be war because the skeletons lacked war lesions on their bones. Was it hunger? Epidemic? Archaeology itself cannot take this research any further, we have to ivnreetne with biomolecular methods. Only then can we trace the true reason. The research psroecs that inmemptles the goals of the science is fascinating, even by itself. It all sratts with ancient benos and teeth from ceeetrimes all around Latvia. We then cut out small pieces of these bones and shred them in special scientific mills to get bone powder. We then extract all the DNA that is captured in a specific bone powder sample, and then we sequence it. Sequencing is the process where the machine reads the DNA code and translates it into a four-letter code. By the way, it is atlueoblsy fascinating how all genetic information of human beings and all other living creatures on the planet ertah can be written down using the alphabet containing four letters only. It's absolutely not surprising that the relsut of the sequencing is absolutely unreadable - gigabytes of text consisting of these four letters. It then takes time and efroft to azanlye these data with a variety of cuoopamtatnil moetdhs and programming approaches. And at the very end, we get a pretty readable list of all the mrsomioagcirns from a specific sample. The field of my research contains three seencics at once: archaeology, biology and computer seicnce, all mixed, merged and connected. It's like the science itself mregnig and connecting humanity throughout centuries. Science is like a pyramid: you cannot lay the upper bclok without a foundation of the blocks beneath. And building this pyramid of healthcare throughout the etnire human civilization, I believe biomolecular archaeology just opened up a new frontier for us. Where do we go from here? It's a question of chcioe, but I believe that any destination hdols fascinating discoveries. But just for now, please remember that you are never alone. (Laughter) You've got a hundred tliirlon friends that are always there for you. Think about it next time you want to wash your hands. Thank you. (Applause)

Open Cloze

Imagine a ________ universe that coexists in the same place as our universe, in the same _____, at the same time. This universe is overcrowded with life forms. It is invisible and intangible like the finest layer of reality, which we cannot notice. But it is there, and it maintains the functionality of our ________ world. Without it, we just wouldn't exist. Now, would you be surprised if I told you that actually everything I said before is true? Because I'm about to tell you this. I'm talking about the world of microbes - a separate world, yet so ______ connected to us. And the story of this connection expands far away into the past. But thanks to modern science, we are now able to read this story like a history book. Ladies and gentlemen, I _______ present biomolecular archeology, the science behind this history book. And I am here to share with you what ___________ things we can try to manage with this powerful modern science. But let's start with the term itself: biomolecular archeology. It's not even easy to pronounce, not to mention to try to understand the _______ of this phrase. There might not be a problem with the archeology part, right? We've all seen it in movies, we know what it is about, but what is "biomolecular" anyway? The first thing that comes to mind: it is something about biology and _________. And this is actually _______. A biological molecule, or a biomolecule, is any ________ that is present in a living organism. Now, there are all sorts of molecules in your body, but undoubtedly, the most informative one is DNA. So, let's bring it back together. Biomolecular archeology enables us to study the DNA recovered from archeological samples. And not only native human DNA, which, of course, all by itself gives lots of study perspectives, but also the DNA of microbes that lived side by side with that human. This science is relatively young. About ten years ago, a massive breakthrough happened in genomic research technology. A method ________ which is called NGS, next __________ __________, and this method _____________ cuts time and _____ of any genomic ________. For example, have you ever heard about the Human Genome Project? It was quite a _______ topic for science fiction some time ago. This _______ ________ in 1990 with the goal to _______ all genomic information in a human ________. At that time, with the technology of the time, it took ten years and three billion dollars to reach the goals of this project. With NGS, all of that can be done in just one day at the cost of 15,000 _______. On the _______ soil of next generation sequencing arose biomolecular archeology because there is a great lot of genomic information to be analyzed and it just wouldn't be possible to ______ such research with _____ day __________. Now we are able to manage such research OK, "But why?" you could ask me. "What benefits can we get out of this information? What can we use it for?" The answer appears to be quite wide. Consider human health as a complex and dynamic system. Apart from genetically determined _______ that are stored in our DNA, our health is severely influenced by many other factors, like our lifestyle, our diet, and our fellow microbes. One hundred trillion cells, one and 14 zeros, that's the approximate number of microorganisms in your body, ten times greater than the number of your own cells. Your microbial baggage occupies almost 2% of your body ______, that's about one and a half kilograms, approximately the weight of your liver. Or your brain. And all these are ________. Just think about it for a second! Human microbiome, that's the modern term for all _________ ___________ inhabiting your body, has earned a close attention over the last decade. It seems that we are only beginning to discover the mysterious role that is given to microbes in the ___________ of our health. In 2007, the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. launched the Human Microbiome Project to finally study its relation to our health conditions. And since then, it has only become clearer that our notion about our fellow microbes is inexcusably poor. Francis Collins, the ________ of the National Institutes of Health, even ________ the researchers ________ in the project with the 15th century explorers discovering the outline of a new _________. It is now being suggested that a range of modern, widespread diseases, starting from obesity, Crohn's disease, other ________________ problems to all sorts of allergies, autoimmune diseases, or maybe even cancer, may appear to be consequences of microbiome changes. But where do these changes come from? When did they first appear? What was the triggering factor? These are the questions we are trying to find answers to at the moment. This topic always triggers a ______ of my first conscious experience with the microbial world around. My ______, like any attentive parent, tried her best to warn me against the invisible _______ of the _____, and she told me a story that every time I do not wash _____ before eating something, I become a reason of global microbial migration. (Laughter) An uncountable number of microbial ________ come together, pack their suitcases, their TVs, their favorite toys, and leave their houses forever to move to a new area which is thought to be my body. Now, I was a child with a very vivid imagination, and this _____ __________ me so much that I was ________ with handwashing for a really long time. It actually took me years to ________ the thought that I'm doing something wrong when I ________ this microbial migration, and to understand _______ that they are actually willing to come, they've got friends there waiting for them. I'm not trying to convince you not to ever wash your hands again, of course not. But let's try to be moderate with it. We lack this microbial diversity nowadays. And as we know from ecology, the most diverse systems are the most stable ones. This might be one of the reasons for our so-called diseases of civilization. And this is exactly the type of hypothesis for biomolecular archeology to deal with. It turns out that there is a unique archaeological material that so preciously ______ the ________ ______ of information related to ancient human microbiome, and this material is ancient dental plaque, thanks to the fact that oral cavity hygiene was not on the list of top __________ for ______ of the past. Their oral microbiome has already been partly fossilized during their lifetime in the form of ______ calculus, which, in turn, _____ in soil as well _________ as the skeletons themselves. Sadly, we can't help these fellas anymore. But they can help us by providing ______ and precious ___________ about their microbes and their ______, and maybe we will have a ______ to help others in the future thanks to them. There is one more vast _____ health-related aspect where ____________ archaeology takes its rightful place, and this field of research expands into the valley of ancient deadly pathogens. It is true that the vast majority of microbes either provide us some kind of benefit or do not really care whether there is a human around. But there are some _______ deadly microbes that still remain an urgent problem nowadays all around the world. For example, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One and a half million deaths in 2014. And OK, OK, I know, the first reaction I always get is like, "Wait, aren't there antibiotics?" or "I _____ there is even a vaccine; is this disease still dangerous to us after all?" The answer is yes; tuberculosis is closer than you think. Because of some mysterious genetic __________, there are people that can carry around this microbe their entire lives without __________ any symptoms, and there are people that develop symptoms straight ahead after infection. Let me give you a real example of a tuberculosis microepidemic. Let's say a person somehow got infected. He works as a teacher in a junior school. Half a year later, one of his pupils develops ________. A few months later, the older ______ of the pupil. A few more ______ later, two _______ of the sister. This is how it spreads. When I was just starting my research on this topic, I myself was very surprised to know that tuberculosis worldwide remains one of the major health concerns, that on the list of infectious diseases, it is the second most common death cause after HIV. Yes, the fight continues. Did you know we have a tuberculosis clinic right here in Latvia, just outside Riga, where many doctors and other ___________ fight tuberculosis on a daily basis? To finally beat this harmful bacteria, it is crucial to understand how it evolved, how it _________ resistance to antibiotics, how it spread. And these are the _________ where biomolecular archaeology can help us a lot. At the moment, working in the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, we have managed to ________ Mycobacterium tuberculosis in one ______________ sample from the 17th century. We are now in the process of defining its whole genome, so we can understand what type of ____________ reigned at that time over the Latvian territories and where it came from. Obviously, biomolecular archaeology impacts humanities as well, such as history and anthropology. These, for example, are the excavations on the _____ Ģertrūdes Cemetery a few _____ ago. They started very _____________. There was an idea to build a shopping center in that area, and there was also information that there might be some medieval burial sites. So the Latvian Institute of History received a request to check it out. And they did actually find a medieval burial site, quite a massive one. Our archaeologists dug out over 500 skeletons, and found 2,000 more skeletons buried separately in a giant wooden box. But what was it? This couldn't be war because the skeletons lacked war lesions on their bones. Was it hunger? Epidemic? Archaeology itself cannot take this research any further, we have to _________ with biomolecular methods. Only then can we trace the true reason. The research _______ that __________ the goals of the science is fascinating, even by itself. It all ______ with ancient _____ and teeth from __________ all around Latvia. We then cut out small pieces of these bones and shred them in special scientific mills to get bone powder. We then extract all the DNA that is captured in a specific bone powder sample, and then we sequence it. Sequencing is the process where the machine reads the DNA code and translates it into a four-letter code. By the way, it is __________ fascinating how all genetic information of human beings and all other living creatures on the planet _____ can be written down using the alphabet containing four letters only. It's absolutely not surprising that the ______ of the sequencing is absolutely unreadable - gigabytes of text consisting of these four letters. It then takes time and ______ to _______ these data with a variety of _____________ _______ and programming approaches. And at the very end, we get a pretty readable list of all the ______________ from a specific sample. The field of my research contains three ________ at once: archaeology, biology and computer _______, all mixed, merged and connected. It's like the science itself _______ and connecting humanity throughout centuries. Science is like a pyramid: you cannot lay the upper _____ without a foundation of the blocks beneath. And building this pyramid of healthcare throughout the ______ human civilization, I believe biomolecular archaeology just opened up a new frontier for us. Where do we go from here? It's a question of ______, but I believe that any destination _____ fascinating discoveries. But just for now, please remember that you are never alone. (Laughter) You've got a hundred ________ friends that are always there for you. Think about it next time you want to wash your hands. Thank you. (Applause)

Solution

months
result
stays
costs
families
molecule
weight
correct
phenomenon
merging
generation
human
technology
science
gastrointestinal
identify
absolutely
essence
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olden
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microbial
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fertile
entire
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cemeteries
significantly
deeply
specialists
microorganisms
dental
sequencing
tuberculosis
methods
health
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appeared
spontaneously
proudly
finally
story
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archaeological
parallel
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computational
bones
priorities
questions
launched
dangers
manage
dollars
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initiate
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block
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decrypt
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chance
continent
molecules
years
director
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intervene
everyday
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choice
friends

Original Text

Imagine a parallel universe that coexists in the same place as our universe, in the same space, at the same time. This universe is overcrowded with life forms. It is invisible and intangible like the finest layer of reality, which we cannot notice. But it is there, and it maintains the functionality of our everyday world. Without it, we just wouldn't exist. Now, would you be surprised if I told you that actually everything I said before is true? Because I'm about to tell you this. I'm talking about the world of microbes - a separate world, yet so deeply connected to us. And the story of this connection expands far away into the past. But thanks to modern science, we are now able to read this story like a history book. Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present biomolecular archeology, the science behind this history book. And I am here to share with you what fascinating things we can try to manage with this powerful modern science. But let's start with the term itself: biomolecular archeology. It's not even easy to pronounce, not to mention to try to understand the essence of this phrase. There might not be a problem with the archeology part, right? We've all seen it in movies, we know what it is about, but what is "biomolecular" anyway? The first thing that comes to mind: it is something about biology and molecules. And this is actually correct. A biological molecule, or a biomolecule, is any molecule that is present in a living organism. Now, there are all sorts of molecules in your body, but undoubtedly, the most informative one is DNA. So, let's bring it back together. Biomolecular archeology enables us to study the DNA recovered from archeological samples. And not only native human DNA, which, of course, all by itself gives lots of study perspectives, but also the DNA of microbes that lived side by side with that human. This science is relatively young. About ten years ago, a massive breakthrough happened in genomic research technology. A method appeared which is called NGS, next generation sequencing, and this method significantly cuts time and costs of any genomic research. For example, have you ever heard about the Human Genome Project? It was quite a popular topic for science fiction some time ago. This project launched in 1990 with the goal to decrypt all genomic information in a human organism. At that time, with the technology of the time, it took ten years and three billion dollars to reach the goals of this project. With NGS, all of that can be done in just one day at the cost of 15,000 dollars. On the fertile soil of next generation sequencing arose biomolecular archeology because there is a great lot of genomic information to be analyzed and it just wouldn't be possible to manage such research with olden day technology. Now we are able to manage such research OK, "But why?" you could ask me. "What benefits can we get out of this information? What can we use it for?" The answer appears to be quite wide. Consider human health as a complex and dynamic system. Apart from genetically determined factors that are stored in our DNA, our health is severely influenced by many other factors, like our lifestyle, our diet, and our fellow microbes. One hundred trillion cells, one and 14 zeros, that's the approximate number of microorganisms in your body, ten times greater than the number of your own cells. Your microbial baggage occupies almost 2% of your body weight, that's about one and a half kilograms, approximately the weight of your liver. Or your brain. And all these are microbes. Just think about it for a second! Human microbiome, that's the modern term for all microbial communities inhabiting your body, has earned a close attention over the last decade. It seems that we are only beginning to discover the mysterious role that is given to microbes in the performance of our health. In 2007, the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. launched the Human Microbiome Project to finally study its relation to our health conditions. And since then, it has only become clearer that our notion about our fellow microbes is inexcusably poor. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, even compared the researchers involved in the project with the 15th century explorers discovering the outline of a new continent. It is now being suggested that a range of modern, widespread diseases, starting from obesity, Crohn's disease, other gastrointestinal problems to all sorts of allergies, autoimmune diseases, or maybe even cancer, may appear to be consequences of microbiome changes. But where do these changes come from? When did they first appear? What was the triggering factor? These are the questions we are trying to find answers to at the moment. This topic always triggers a memory of my first conscious experience with the microbial world around. My mother, like any attentive parent, tried her best to warn me against the invisible dangers of the world, and she told me a story that every time I do not wash hands before eating something, I become a reason of global microbial migration. (Laughter) An uncountable number of microbial families come together, pack their suitcases, their TVs, their favorite toys, and leave their houses forever to move to a new area which is thought to be my body. Now, I was a child with a very vivid imagination, and this story influenced me so much that I was obsessed with handwashing for a really long time. It actually took me years to overcome the thought that I'm doing something wrong when I initiate this microbial migration, and to understand finally that they are actually willing to come, they've got friends there waiting for them. I'm not trying to convince you not to ever wash your hands again, of course not. But let's try to be moderate with it. We lack this microbial diversity nowadays. And as we know from ecology, the most diverse systems are the most stable ones. This might be one of the reasons for our so-called diseases of civilization. And this is exactly the type of hypothesis for biomolecular archeology to deal with. It turns out that there is a unique archaeological material that so preciously stores the enormous amount of information related to ancient human microbiome, and this material is ancient dental plaque, thanks to the fact that oral cavity hygiene was not on the list of top priorities for humans of the past. Their oral microbiome has already been partly fossilized during their lifetime in the form of dental calculus, which, in turn, stays in soil as well preserved as the skeletons themselves. Sadly, we can't help these fellas anymore. But they can help us by providing unique and precious information about their microbes and their health, and maybe we will have a chance to help others in the future thanks to them. There is one more vast human health-related aspect where biomolecular archaeology takes its rightful place, and this field of research expands into the valley of ancient deadly pathogens. It is true that the vast majority of microbes either provide us some kind of benefit or do not really care whether there is a human around. But there are some ancient deadly microbes that still remain an urgent problem nowadays all around the world. For example, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. One and a half million deaths in 2014. And OK, OK, I know, the first reaction I always get is like, "Wait, aren't there antibiotics?" or "I heard there is even a vaccine; is this disease still dangerous to us after all?" The answer is yes; tuberculosis is closer than you think. Because of some mysterious genetic phenomenon, there are people that can carry around this microbe their entire lives without developing any symptoms, and there are people that develop symptoms straight ahead after infection. Let me give you a real example of a tuberculosis microepidemic. Let's say a person somehow got infected. He works as a teacher in a junior school. Half a year later, one of his pupils develops symptoms. A few months later, the older sister of the pupil. A few more months later, two friends of the sister. This is how it spreads. When I was just starting my research on this topic, I myself was very surprised to know that tuberculosis worldwide remains one of the major health concerns, that on the list of infectious diseases, it is the second most common death cause after HIV. Yes, the fight continues. Did you know we have a tuberculosis clinic right here in Latvia, just outside Riga, where many doctors and other specialists fight tuberculosis on a daily basis? To finally beat this harmful bacteria, it is crucial to understand how it evolved, how it developed resistance to antibiotics, how it spread. And these are the questions where biomolecular archaeology can help us a lot. At the moment, working in the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Centre, we have managed to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis in one archaeological sample from the 17th century. We are now in the process of defining its whole genome, so we can understand what type of tuberculosis reigned at that time over the Latvian territories and where it came from. Obviously, biomolecular archaeology impacts humanities as well, such as history and anthropology. These, for example, are the excavations on the Saint Ģertrūdes Cemetery a few years ago. They started very spontaneously. There was an idea to build a shopping center in that area, and there was also information that there might be some medieval burial sites. So the Latvian Institute of History received a request to check it out. And they did actually find a medieval burial site, quite a massive one. Our archaeologists dug out over 500 skeletons, and found 2,000 more skeletons buried separately in a giant wooden box. But what was it? This couldn't be war because the skeletons lacked war lesions on their bones. Was it hunger? Epidemic? Archaeology itself cannot take this research any further, we have to intervene with biomolecular methods. Only then can we trace the true reason. The research process that implements the goals of the science is fascinating, even by itself. It all starts with ancient bones and teeth from cemeteries all around Latvia. We then cut out small pieces of these bones and shred them in special scientific mills to get bone powder. We then extract all the DNA that is captured in a specific bone powder sample, and then we sequence it. Sequencing is the process where the machine reads the DNA code and translates it into a four-letter code. By the way, it is absolutely fascinating how all genetic information of human beings and all other living creatures on the planet Earth can be written down using the alphabet containing four letters only. It's absolutely not surprising that the result of the sequencing is absolutely unreadable - gigabytes of text consisting of these four letters. It then takes time and effort to analyze these data with a variety of computational methods and programming approaches. And at the very end, we get a pretty readable list of all the microorganisms from a specific sample. The field of my research contains three sciences at once: archaeology, biology and computer science, all mixed, merged and connected. It's like the science itself merging and connecting humanity throughout centuries. Science is like a pyramid: you cannot lay the upper block without a foundation of the blocks beneath. And building this pyramid of healthcare throughout the entire human civilization, I believe biomolecular archaeology just opened up a new frontier for us. Where do we go from here? It's a question of choice, but I believe that any destination holds fascinating discoveries. But just for now, please remember that you are never alone. (Laughter) You've got a hundred trillion friends that are always there for you. Think about it next time you want to wash your hands. Thank you. (Applause)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
biomolecular archeology	4
biomolecular archaeology	4
history book	2
ten years	2
genomic research	2
genomic information	2
fellow microbes	2
national institutes	2
ancient deadly	2
mycobacterium tuberculosis	2
medieval burial	2
bone powder	2

Important Words

absolutely
allergies
alphabet
amount
analyze
analyzed
ancient
answer
answers
anthropology
antibiotics
anymore
appeared
appears
applause
approaches
approximate
approximately
archaeological
archaeologists
archaeology
archeological
archeology
area
arose
aspect
attention
attentive
autoimmune
bacteria
baggage
basis
beat
beginning
beings
beneath
benefit
benefits
billion
biological
biology
biomedical
biomolecular
biomolecule
block
blocks
body
bone
bones
book
box
brain
breakthrough
bring
build
building
burial
buried
calculus
called
cancer
captured
care
carry
cavity
cells
cemeteries
cemetery
center
centre
centuries
century
chance
check
child
choice
civilization
clearer
clinic
close
closer
code
coexists
collins
common
communities
compared
complex
computational
computer
concerns
conditions
connected
connecting
connection
conscious
consequences
consisting
continent
continues
convince
correct
cost
costs
creatures
crucial
cut
cuts
daily
dangerous
dangers
data
day
deadly
deal
death
deaths
decade
decrypt
deeply
defining
dental
destination
determined
develop
developed
developing
develops
diet
director
discover
discoveries
discovering
disease
diseases
diverse
diversity
dna
doctors
dollars
dug
dynamic
earned
earth
easy
eating
ecology
effort
enables
enormous
entire
epidemic
essence
everyday
evolved
excavations
exist
expands
experience
explorers
extract
fact
factor
factors
families
fascinating
favorite
fellas
fellow
fertile
fiction
field
fight
finally
find
finest
form
forms
fossilized
foundation
francis
friends
frontier
functionality
future
gastrointestinal
generation
genetic
genetically
genome
genomic
gentlemen
giant
gigabytes
give
global
goal
goals
great
greater
hands
handwashing
happened
harmful
health
healthcare
heard
history
hiv
holds
houses
human
humanities
humanity
humans
hunger
hygiene
hypothesis
idea
identify
imagination
imagine
impacts
implements
inexcusably
infected
infection
infectious
influenced
information
informative
inhabiting
initiate
institute
institutes
intangible
intervene
invisible
involved
junior
kilograms
kind
lack
lacked
ladies
latvia
latvian
laughter
launched
lay
layer
leave
lesions
letters
life
lifestyle
lifetime
list
lived
liver
lives
living
long
lot
lots
machine
maintains
major
majority
manage
managed
massive
material
medieval
memory
mention
merged
merging
method
methods
microbe
microbes
microbial
microbiome
microepidemic
microorganisms
migration
million
mills
mixed
moderate
modern
molecule
molecules
moment
months
mother
move
movies
mycobacterium
mysterious
national
native
ngs
notice
notion
nowadays
number
obesity
obsessed
occupies
olden
older
opened
oral
organism
outline
overcome
overcrowded
pack
parallel
parent
part
partly
pathogens
people
performance
person
perspectives
phenomenon
phrase
pieces
place
planet
plaque
poor
popular
powder
powerful
precious
preciously
present
preserved
pretty
priorities
problem
problems
process
programming
project
pronounce
proudly
provide
providing
pupil
pupils
pyramid
question
questions
range
reach
reaction
read
readable
reads
real
reality
reason
reasons
received
recovered
reigned
related
relation
remain
remains
remember
request
research
researchers
resistance
result
riga
rightful
role
sadly
saint
sample
samples
school
science
sciences
scientific
separate
separately
sequence
sequencing
severely
share
shopping
shred
side
significantly
sister
site
sites
skeletons
small
soil
sorts
space
special
specialists
specific
spontaneously
spread
spreads
stable
start
started
starting
starts
stays
stored
stores
story
straight
study
suggested
suitcases
surprised
surprising
symptoms
system
systems
takes
talking
teacher
technology
teeth
ten
term
territories
text
thought
time
times
told
top
topic
toys
trace
translates
triggering
triggers
trillion
true
tuberculosis
turn
turns
tvs
type
uncountable
understand
undoubtedly
unique
universe
unreadable
upper
urgent
valley
variety
vast
vivid
waiting
war
warn
wash
weight
wide
widespread
wooden
working
works
world
worldwide
written
wrong
year
years
young
zeros
ģertrūdes