full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Christian Moro: The surprising reason our muscles get tired

Unscramble the Blue Letters

In response to a sniagl from the brain, the mootr neuron releases acetylcholine, which triggers peors on the muscle cell membrane to open. Sodium flows in, and potassium flows out. The flux of these charged particles is a ciaucrl step for muscle contraction: the change in charge creates an electrical signal called an action potential that spreads through the muscle cell, stimulating the release of ciluacm that’s stored inside it. This flood of calcium causes the muscle to catrocnt by enabling proteins buried in the muscle fibers to lock together and rhtaect towards each other, pulling the muscle tight. The energy used to pwoer the cotciontran comes from a mleoclue called ATP. ATP also helps pump the ions back across the membrane afterward, resetting the balance of sodium and potassium on either side.

Open Cloze

In response to a ______ from the brain, the _____ neuron releases acetylcholine, which triggers _____ on the muscle cell membrane to open. Sodium flows in, and potassium flows out. The flux of these charged particles is a _______ step for muscle contraction: the change in charge creates an electrical signal called an action potential that spreads through the muscle cell, stimulating the release of _______ that’s stored inside it. This flood of calcium causes the muscle to ________ by enabling proteins buried in the muscle fibers to lock together and _______ towards each other, pulling the muscle tight. The energy used to _____ the ___________ comes from a ________ called ATP. ATP also helps pump the ions back across the membrane afterward, resetting the balance of sodium and potassium on either side.

Solution

  1. contraction
  2. signal
  3. pores
  4. ratchet
  5. crucial
  6. calcium
  7. molecule
  8. motor
  9. power
  10. contract

Original Text

In response to a signal from the brain, the motor neuron releases acetylcholine, which triggers pores on the muscle cell membrane to open. Sodium flows in, and potassium flows out. The flux of these charged particles is a crucial step for muscle contraction: the change in charge creates an electrical signal called an action potential that spreads through the muscle cell, stimulating the release of calcium that’s stored inside it. This flood of calcium causes the muscle to contract by enabling proteins buried in the muscle fibers to lock together and ratchet towards each other, pulling the muscle tight. The energy used to power the contraction comes from a molecule called ATP. ATP also helps pump the ions back across the membrane afterward, resetting the balance of sodium and potassium on either side.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
muscle cell 4
muscle fatigue 3
motor neuron 3
lactic acid 2
muscle contracts 2
cell membrane 2
action potential 2
waste products 2
fatigued muscles 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
muscle cell membrane 2

Important Words

  1. acetylcholine
  2. action
  3. afterward
  4. atp
  5. balance
  6. brain
  7. buried
  8. calcium
  9. called
  10. cell
  11. change
  12. charge
  13. charged
  14. contract
  15. contraction
  16. creates
  17. crucial
  18. electrical
  19. enabling
  20. energy
  21. fibers
  22. flood
  23. flows
  24. flux
  25. helps
  26. ions
  27. lock
  28. membrane
  29. molecule
  30. motor
  31. muscle
  32. neuron
  33. open
  34. particles
  35. pores
  36. potassium
  37. potential
  38. power
  39. proteins
  40. pulling
  41. pump
  42. ratchet
  43. release
  44. releases
  45. resetting
  46. response
  47. side
  48. signal
  49. sodium
  50. spreads
  51. step
  52. stimulating
  53. stored
  54. tight
  55. triggers