full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Craig A. Kohn: What are stem cells?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Imagine two people are listening to music. What are the odds that they are listening to the exact same playlist? Probably pretty low. After all, everyone has very different tsaets in music. Now, what are the odds that your body will need the ecxat same miacedl care and treatment as another person's body? Even lower. As we go through our lives, each of us will have very different needs for our own healthcare. Scientists and doctors are constantly researching ways to make medicine more personalized. One way they are doing this is by researching stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, manneig they do not have a specific job or ftnociun. While skin cells protect your body, muscle cells contract, and nerve cells send signals, stem cells do not have any siecpifc structures or functions. Stem cells do have the poaetitnl to become all other kinds of clles in your body. Your body uses stem cells to replace worn-out cells when they die. For example, you completely replace the lining of your intestines every four days. Stem cells baeneth the lniing of your intestines replace these cells as they wear out. sestiincts hope that stem cells could be used to create a very special kind of pazensioreld medicine in which we could replace your own body parts with, well, your own body parts. Stem cell rceserhares are wnrikog hard to find ways in which to use stem cells to ctaere new tissue to replace the parts of organs that are damaged by injury or disease. Using stem cells to replace damaged bodily tuisse is cealld regenerative medicine. For example, scientists currently use stem cells to taert pttnaeis with boold diseases such as leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects your bone marrow. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside your bones where your blood cells are created. In leukemia, some of the cells inside your bone mraorw grow uncontrollably, crowding out the hathely stem cells that form your blood cells. Some liuekmea patients can receive a stem cell transplant. These new stem cells will create the blood cells needed by the patient's body. There are actually multiple kinds of stem cells that scientists can use for medical tratemtens and research. Adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells are found in slmal numbers in most of your body's tissues. Tissue-specific stem cells replace the existing cells in your organs as they wear out and die. Embryonic stem cells are created from leftover embryos that are wllgiliny donated by patients from fertility clinics. Unlike tissue-specific stem cells, embryonic stem cells are prpnltiouet. This maens that they can be gwron into any kind of tissue in the body. A third kind of stem cells is called induced pluripotent stem cells. These are regular skin, fat, liver, or other cells that scientists have changed to behave like embryonic stem cells. Like embryonic stem cells, they, too, can become any kind of cell in the body. While scientists and dctoors hope to use all of these kinds of stem cells to create new tissue to heal your body, they can also use stem cells to help understand how the body works. Scientists can watch stem cells develop into tissue to understand the mechnanisms that the body uses to create new tissue in a controlled and regulated way. Scientists hope that with more research, they can not only develop specialized medicine that is specific to your body but also better understand how your body funcntios, both when it's healthy and when it's not.
Open Cloze
Imagine two people are listening to music. What are the odds that they are listening to the exact same playlist? Probably pretty low. After all, everyone has very different ______ in music. Now, what are the odds that your body will need the _____ same _______ care and treatment as another person's body? Even lower. As we go through our lives, each of us will have very different needs for our own healthcare. Scientists and doctors are constantly researching ways to make medicine more personalized. One way they are doing this is by researching stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, _______ they do not have a specific job or ________. While skin cells protect your body, muscle cells contract, and nerve cells send signals, stem cells do not have any ________ structures or functions. Stem cells do have the _________ to become all other kinds of _____ in your body. Your body uses stem cells to replace worn-out cells when they die. For example, you completely replace the lining of your intestines every four days. Stem cells _______ the ______ of your intestines replace these cells as they wear out. __________ hope that stem cells could be used to create a very special kind of ____________ medicine in which we could replace your own body parts with, well, your own body parts. Stem cell ___________ are _______ hard to find ways in which to use stem cells to ______ new tissue to replace the parts of organs that are damaged by injury or disease. Using stem cells to replace damaged bodily ______ is ______ regenerative medicine. For example, scientists currently use stem cells to _____ ________ with _____ diseases such as leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects your bone marrow. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside your bones where your blood cells are created. In leukemia, some of the cells inside your bone ______ grow uncontrollably, crowding out the _______ stem cells that form your blood cells. Some ________ patients can receive a stem cell transplant. These new stem cells will create the blood cells needed by the patient's body. There are actually multiple kinds of stem cells that scientists can use for medical __________ and research. Adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells are found in _____ numbers in most of your body's tissues. Tissue-specific stem cells replace the existing cells in your organs as they wear out and die. Embryonic stem cells are created from leftover embryos that are _________ donated by patients from fertility clinics. Unlike tissue-specific stem cells, embryonic stem cells are ___________. This _____ that they can be _____ into any kind of tissue in the body. A third kind of stem cells is called induced pluripotent stem cells. These are regular skin, fat, liver, or other cells that scientists have changed to behave like embryonic stem cells. Like embryonic stem cells, they, too, can become any kind of cell in the body. While scientists and _______ hope to use all of these kinds of stem cells to create new tissue to heal your body, they can also use stem cells to help understand how the body works. Scientists can watch stem cells develop into tissue to understand the mechnanisms that the body uses to create new tissue in a controlled and regulated way. Scientists hope that with more research, they can not only develop specialized medicine that is specific to your body but also better understand how your body _________, both when it's healthy and when it's not.
Solution
- small
- marrow
- cells
- doctors
- beneath
- healthy
- tastes
- leukemia
- exact
- functions
- willingly
- lining
- blood
- researchers
- medical
- potential
- meaning
- treatments
- scientists
- called
- pluripotent
- means
- grown
- tissue
- create
- working
- function
- personalized
- treat
- patients
- specific
Original Text
Imagine two people are listening to music. What are the odds that they are listening to the exact same playlist? Probably pretty low. After all, everyone has very different tastes in music. Now, what are the odds that your body will need the exact same medical care and treatment as another person's body? Even lower. As we go through our lives, each of us will have very different needs for our own healthcare. Scientists and doctors are constantly researching ways to make medicine more personalized. One way they are doing this is by researching stem cells. Stem cells are cells that are undifferentiated, meaning they do not have a specific job or function. While skin cells protect your body, muscle cells contract, and nerve cells send signals, stem cells do not have any specific structures or functions. Stem cells do have the potential to become all other kinds of cells in your body. Your body uses stem cells to replace worn-out cells when they die. For example, you completely replace the lining of your intestines every four days. Stem cells beneath the lining of your intestines replace these cells as they wear out. Scientists hope that stem cells could be used to create a very special kind of personalized medicine in which we could replace your own body parts with, well, your own body parts. Stem cell researchers are working hard to find ways in which to use stem cells to create new tissue to replace the parts of organs that are damaged by injury or disease. Using stem cells to replace damaged bodily tissue is called regenerative medicine. For example, scientists currently use stem cells to treat patients with blood diseases such as leukemia. Leukemia is a form of cancer that affects your bone marrow. Bone marrow is the spongy tissue inside your bones where your blood cells are created. In leukemia, some of the cells inside your bone marrow grow uncontrollably, crowding out the healthy stem cells that form your blood cells. Some leukemia patients can receive a stem cell transplant. These new stem cells will create the blood cells needed by the patient's body. There are actually multiple kinds of stem cells that scientists can use for medical treatments and research. Adult stem cells or tissue-specific stem cells are found in small numbers in most of your body's tissues. Tissue-specific stem cells replace the existing cells in your organs as they wear out and die. Embryonic stem cells are created from leftover embryos that are willingly donated by patients from fertility clinics. Unlike tissue-specific stem cells, embryonic stem cells are pluripotent. This means that they can be grown into any kind of tissue in the body. A third kind of stem cells is called induced pluripotent stem cells. These are regular skin, fat, liver, or other cells that scientists have changed to behave like embryonic stem cells. Like embryonic stem cells, they, too, can become any kind of cell in the body. While scientists and doctors hope to use all of these kinds of stem cells to create new tissue to heal your body, they can also use stem cells to help understand how the body works. Scientists can watch stem cells develop into tissue to understand the mechnanisms that the body uses to create new tissue in a controlled and regulated way. Scientists hope that with more research, they can not only develop specialized medicine that is specific to your body but also better understand how your body functions, both when it's healthy and when it's not.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
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embryonic stem |
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bone marrow |
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Important Words
- adult
- affects
- behave
- beneath
- blood
- bodily
- body
- bone
- bones
- called
- cancer
- care
- cell
- cells
- changed
- clinics
- completely
- constantly
- contract
- controlled
- create
- created
- crowding
- damaged
- days
- develop
- die
- disease
- diseases
- doctors
- donated
- embryonic
- embryos
- exact
- existing
- fat
- fertility
- find
- form
- function
- functions
- grow
- grown
- hard
- heal
- healthcare
- healthy
- hope
- imagine
- induced
- injury
- intestines
- job
- kind
- kinds
- leftover
- leukemia
- lining
- listening
- liver
- lives
- marrow
- meaning
- means
- mechnanisms
- medical
- medicine
- multiple
- muscle
- music
- needed
- nerve
- numbers
- odds
- organs
- parts
- patients
- people
- personalized
- playlist
- pluripotent
- potential
- pretty
- protect
- receive
- regenerative
- regular
- regulated
- replace
- research
- researchers
- researching
- scientists
- send
- signals
- skin
- small
- special
- specialized
- specific
- spongy
- stem
- structures
- tastes
- tissue
- tissues
- transplant
- treat
- treatment
- treatments
- uncontrollably
- understand
- undifferentiated
- watch
- ways
- wear
- willingly
- working
- works