1000 words

Randall Munroe did an xkcd cartoon a while back where he tried to explain a Saturn V rocket using only the 1000 most common words in English. The resulting work, entitled “Up Goer Five”, inspired some other scientists to try to explain their own work using just 1000 words. Want to try it? There’s a web app to help you out. It tells you when you use a word that is NOT in the list of 1000. I tried it out with the first part of the 2011 Eppendorf Prize winning essay by Tiago Branco.

Original
Animal survival depends on the ability to analyze the environment and act on it: escape predators, find food, select a mate. Understanding how the brain achieves this is one of the most fascinating and challenging problems in neuroscience. What sequence of steps converts sensory cues into behavior? In other words, how does the brain compute?

Limited to the most common 1000 words in English
Animal living needs to sense and think about what is around: escape bad guys, find food, get laid. Understanding how the brain does this is one of the most cool and hard problems in brain study. What steps change sensing into doing? In other words, how does the brain figure?

See what other people have written about their scientific work. Then try it out for yourself!