[0:00]6 minute English from BBC learning English. Hello, I'm Finn and welcome to 6 minute English. Rob's here today. Hi Rob. Hello Finn, are you well? I'm very well. Thanks Rob. Tell me, do you have a favorite science fiction movie. Ah, science fiction, so these are stories about an imagined future. Well, yes, my favorite was and always will be ET. Extraterrestrial. ET phone home. Yes. That's right. very good. And you Finn? Well, mine would probably be Blade Runner. Now that's the movie with Harrison Ford set in a dark scary Los Angeles where he hunts these robots called replicants, you know the one? I do, I do. And come to think of it, lots of movies and stories about the future are quite dark and quite negative. That's right. But perhaps this might change. A new project wants to use the power of science fiction to do something very different to inspire people to create a better future. It sounds very grand but we'll be discussing this project and learning some language to talk about the future in this program. But before we get too far into the future, I'm sure you have a question for me Finn. I do indeed and it's about the film Blade Runner. Now it's set in the future but in which year was it 8 2000 B 2019 or C 2056. I think I'm going to go for the far future. Okay. C 2056. Okay. Well, I'll tell if you're write wrong later in the not too distant future. Very good. So as we were saying, lots of science fiction is negative. Yes, there's a word to describe the kind of future world which often appears in science fiction. . Now, the noun means an imagined where things are unpleasant or bad and the opposite is Utopia and Utopia. Okay, but why is so much science fiction dystopian? Dr. from Arizona State University. The downside of both science fiction and movies is that they tend to be dystopian. Uh they tend to be very negative, they tend to be very. dystopian is easy to do. It's easier to write a dystopian story than it is an optimistic story. He says, stories are easier to write. I can see that. There's more conflict in a world which has problems and good stories often have a lot of conflict and problems to resolve. That's right, yes, but doesn't being negative is a downside of science fiction. Now, a downside is a disadvantage, a bad point. He would prefer to see some more optimistic science fiction. Right, optimistic, more positive about the which is why Bradley is taking part in something called project. It brings together writers, scientists, engineers and artists to create optimistic stories about things which really could happen in the next 50 years. Hmm, yes, so let's talk about the the kinds of things that are happening in these stories. Well, there's one about a huge tower, 20 km tall going all the way into space. Wow. Apparently, building the tower is good for the US steel industry and they invent a new kind of energy in the story too. Well, that sounds very interesting, but is it plausible? Could it really happen? Could they really build a tower that big? Well, there's another about environmentalists who fight to stop people building the first hotel in Antarctica. Uh, environmentalists, that's people who care about the environment. Well, there's there's definitely conflict there and it's plausible. so it could be a good story, but I can't help thinking Will these stories actually change anything? Ed Finn who edited a book of these stories think so. He says, a good science fiction story could be very powerful. It can inspire hundreds, thousands, millions of people to rally around something that they want to do. To rally around something means to come together in support of a cause. And B says you can already see the influence of science fiction in modern research, which item is being worked on right now. Why are people working on for example visibility? Well, it's Harry Potter, right? That's where they saw. An visibility cloak, that's a long coat which makes you invisible in other words unable to be seen which people first saw in one of the Harry Potter movies. Yes, very interesting. So will the stories from Project Huxley inspire people to do and invent new things that can help others. Can they help create a bright future and that's a good positive future. Or will they just be good stories? Well, time will tell. That means we'll find out as time goes by. But one thing that we're going to find out right now is the answer to when the movie Blade Runner was set. And I said the answer was C 2056. And the answer was in fact B. 2019. Really? Yes, a little bit earlier, Rob. Quite soon then. Yes, it's in a couple of years. So Watch out. But Rob, can you can you remind us of some of the words we learned today? Yes, we had science fiction. dystopian, downside, optimistic, plausible. A bright future. Time will tell. Thank you Rob. And that's it for today's program. If you want to listen to more programs like this one, visit BBC Learning English.com. Bye bye. Bye. 6 minute English from BBC Learning English. Hello, this is 6 minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil. And I'm Best. Now, you might know them as aliens, UFOs, little green men or even UAPs. UAP stands for unidentified anomalies phenomenon. And it's the word scientists now used to describe mystery things not from this world. So Beth, how would you feel if you looked up and saw strange objects glowing and twisting through the sky. Wow, well, I might stare for a bit. I don't know if I'd believe what I was seeing, and I guess I'd be a bit scared. Well, that situation is exactly what navy pilots caught on their fighter jet cameras on a training flight in 2004. They recorded mystery oval objects flying at 24,000 m. The footage is known as the Tic-tac videos and they have had millions of views on YouTube. Now these videos are being reviewed by US Congress to try to understand what these objects were. Were they flying sources, the diskshapped craft flown by aliens or is there a more rational explanation? In this program we'll be discussing whether we are alone in the and as usual we'll be learning some new vocabulary as well. But first I have a question for you, Beth. thousands of UFO sightings are recorded every year, but which country has had the highest number of reported sightings since records began according to the national UFO reporting center. Is it A, the USA, B, Canada or C, China. Hmm, I think it must be the USA. Okay, Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the program. Now, while astronomers are scientists who study questions concerning things outside of earth, they often avoid investigating supposed aliens. Adam Frank, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, explains why the footage in the Tik-Tok videos can't give any definitive answers of alien life to BBC World Service program, the inquiry. because I don't think the pilots are lying, you know, I think the pilots are being honest and have a lot of integrity about what they say they're seeing. They're not saying they're aliens are saying they behave in in ways that no jet could behave. But, you know, again, personal testimony, you can't do any science with that. So, what may happen now is we're going to begin to get a some scientific study of this and we'll try and get a better handle on it. Adam says the pilots have integrity, a noun meaning to have honesty and moral principles. However, what they saw is based on personal testimony. A personal testimony is a story or statement of evidence supported only by a person and what they saw.
[9:15]Rather than any external evidence or hard facts. To find out more about exactly what the pilot saw, scientific studies are being carried out to try and get a better handle on the situation. If you get a handle on something, you understand it and are then able to deal with it. taking a more scientific approach to what the pilots saw, the Tik-Tok videos were examined by a panel put together by NASA. Here's Adam again discussing the findings on BBC World Service program, the inquiry. At the NASA panel, one of the scientists showed a simple analysis of the video that shows the object traveling at seemingly at high speed over the the ocean. And with the NASA scientists showed was that with a simple analysis you could show that that was moving at 40 miles an hour. So certainly nothing very estuarine about that. The scientists found that although it looks like the object was traveling very fast, it was only moving at 40 miles an hour, which Adam says is not very estuarine. estuarine means from outside earth and is another word often used to describe aliens. So it seems that for now, scientists will need to find much more proof to know exactly whether we're alone in the universe or not. Okay, Beth. I think it's time I revealed the answer to my question. I asked you which country has had the highest number of reported sightings since records began according to the national UFO reporting center. And I guess the USA. Which was the correct answer. There have been over 100,000 reported sightings and encounters with UFOs in the USA since 1947. Okay, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this program, starting with UAP, an acronym that stands for unidentified anomalous phenomena. And is another word meaning alien or UFO. A flying saucer is a diskshapped craft, supposedly flown by aliens. Intelligence means being honest in what you say and having moral principles. A personal testimony is a story or statement of evidence supported by a person and what they saw, rather than external evidence or hard facts. If you get a handle on something, you understand it and are able to deal with it. And finally, extraterrestrial means from outside earth and is another word often used to describe aliens. Once again, our six minutes are up. Join us again soon for more useful vocabulary here at six minutes English. Goodbye for now. Bye. and welcome to 6-minute English. I'm. And hello, I'm Rob. So, Rob, you are a man who enjoys travel. What's the furthest journey you've ever made? Uh, well, I have been to the other side of the world. I've been to Australia, New Zealand, so from London that's a very long way. And how was it? Well, it was pretty boring really and quite cramped on the plane, but I loved it when I got there. So how would you feel about a journey of 56 million kilometers that took around nine months. Oh right. I'd have to travel business class I think. Lots of movies and a very comfortable seat. Well, that's how long it would take to get to the planet Mars. And this program is all about the women who want to be the first to set foot on the red planet. First though, today's question, which is about the size of Mars. Is it a bigger than earth? B about the same size as earth or C smaller than earth. Hmm, I'm pretty sure I know this. It's uh bigger than earth, much bigger I think. Okay, well, we'll find out if you're right at the end of the program. It's been 40 years since NASA first recruited women to be astronauts. Today, a third of the people who work at NASA are women. Yes, and 2016 was the first year that there were an equal number of women and men joining as astronaut trainees. equality is slowly coming, but only men have had the opportunity to walk on the moon. Although that was over 45 years ago. Karenberg is one of NASA's current astronauts. In a recent BBC news feature, she talked about her hopes. When did she join the astronaut program? When I was selected as an astronaut in the year 2000, I thought that that might be a realistic possibility that we would be the ones the next to go to the moon. Um, so it's unfortunate we weren't. When did she become an astronaut? Well, she said that she was selected in 2000. selected means chosen. At that time when she was selected, she thought going to the moon would be a realistic possibility. So she thought that it wasn't just a dream, but something that could happen. There was a good chance it would happen. However, she was disappointed because that opportunity didn't arrive at that time. She describes that as being unfortunate. In this sense, unfortunate means unlucky. If you use this adjective, it means you are disappointed about something. But you do perhaps understand the reason for it. So far, a woman hasn't had the opportunity to step on the moon. These days Mars is the big target for space travel. There are many problems to overcome, but could it, should it be a woman who is the first person to take that step? Absolutely, why not? On a mission to Mars, there would be need for many different kinds of specialists. We tend to think of astronauts as spaceship pilots, but really, I think they're much more like scientists carrying out different experiments. If we're going to set up base on Mars, one thing that would be very important is to try to find a way of growing food. For that, you need people with skills in those areas. One person with those skills is Joya Masa, a life science project manager for NASA. Now, you would think that being a top scientist, she would be brilliant at all areas or aspects of the job, but she told BBC News that it wasn't always the case. What two aspects does she mention she wasn't good at? There's certainly were aspects where where I was challenged, you know, I wasn't as great in math as as some of my colleagues. I my handwriting is terrible, you know, so so there are things that that are not my strength, but you know, when I fell in love with plants and plants were my strength and I really learned and focused on that. So Rob, what did she have problems with? Well, she said that she wasn't good at math. Math is a North American English word for what in British English, we call maths. Both words mean mathematics. So math in American English, maths in British English. She also said that her handwriting's terrible. Mind you, if her handwriting was really terrible, maybe nobody would be able to read her bad maths. Good point. So, handwriting and maths aren't or weren't her strengths. They are not what she's good at. What are her strengths? Well, the thing she is good at, her real strengths are working with plants. So that's what she concentrated on. Right, well, let's see if one of your strengths is the knowledge of the planets. Today's quiz question was, is Mars A bigger than earth, B about the same size as earth or C smaller than earth. What did you say, Rob? I said that it was bigger, much bigger. And the answer, I'm afraid to say is that Mars is smaller than earth, much smaller, in fact. Oh well, I guess I won't be selected to be an astronaut anytime soon. Before we blast off out of here, let's review the vocabulary we covered today. The first word was the one you just mentioned, selected, meaning chosen. Then we had the phrase a realistic possibility to describe something that has a good chance of happening. Unlike my astronaut application. Well, if you did become an astronaut, that would be unfortunate, our next word, for me at least. unfortunate, you mean disappointing for you. Well, if you were up in space, I wouldn't have the pleasure of your company. #bashing. Our next word was aspects, meaning parts of something. And then the American math, which we call math or mathematics in British English. And finally, we had strengths, and maths certainly isn't one of my strengths, it's not something I'm good at. But one of your strengths is saying nice things about people. #double blush. Well, time for us to go, not to Mars, but to lunch. Just time to say you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and of course on our website BBC Learning English.com. Thank you for joining us and goodbye. Bye. 6 minutes English from BBC learning English.
[24:11]Hello, this is 6 minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam. And I'm Rob. Once in a while, along comes a scientist who captures the public imagination and communicates their passion for science in an exciting and understandable way. In this program, we'll be meeting one of America's best known popular scientists, astronomer Neil Degrasse Tyson. He's a man with a gift for communicating and inspiring people with his television shows and books on cosmology, the study of the origin and nature of the universe. In his day job, he runs the Hayden Planetarium in New York's American Museum of Natural History. But Neil's real mission is to encourage scientific thinking among the American public. We'll be hearing from the famous astronomer and learning some new vocabulary soon. But first, I have a question for you, Sam. Science is ever changing with new discoveries updating our understanding all the time. For centuries, the Earth was thought to be the center of the universe, but who was the first astronomer to have the correct idea that, in fact, the Earth and the planets revolve around the Sun. Was it A, Nicholas Copernicus, B, Isaac Newton, or C, Galileo, Galileo? Hmm, I'll say it was C, Galileo. Okay, Sam, I'll reveal the correct answer later in the program. Recent events like the COVID pandemic and climate crisis have put scientists under pressure from critics motivated by political views. Neil Degrasse Tyson thinks facts are not dependent on politics but should be established with a scientific method, a process of finding the truth through testing and experimentation. Here's Neil explaining more about the scientific method to BBC World Service program, Hardtalk. If you have a brilliant idea and you test it and and it unearths so much of what has been known before, we're going to double check that. The rest of us. We said, well, did he do what did he cross his teas and dot his eyes? Did he let me check the power that's driving his experiment? You know, the the wall current. Let me check how that was conceived and done. And if no one can duplicate your results, it's not a result.
[26:40]Before scientists can confirm the truth of an experiment, their findings must be double checked. making certain something is correct by carefully examining it again. This process is called peer review. Other scientists double checking the experiment to make sure everything was done correctly. One way they do this is to duplicate or repeat the experiment to see if they get the same result. In other words, Neil want scientists to have crossed the T's and dotted the I's. A phrase which means paying attention to the small details of whatever you're doing. A scientific approach requires an open mind and critical thinking. But Neil believes the most important thing is to know the difference between fact and opinion. People have opinions about all kinds of things, but that doesn't make what they believe a fact. Yet, fact and opinion are becoming harder to separate as protests by anti-vaccine groups and climate change deniers have shown. Many Americans, even presidents, seem suspicious of scientific fact. It's a worrying trend that Neil thinks is a result of the US education system as he told BBC World Service program Hardtalk.
[28:16]it has to do with how science is taught in the schools. It's currently taught as a body of information, factual effects that are imparted upon you and then you regurgitate that for an exam. That's an aspect of science, but it's not the most important part of science. The most important part of science is knowing how to question things. And knowing when an answer has emerged that represents sort of an objective truth about this world.
[29:00]Neil says that science is taught by encouraging students to regurgitate facts, to repeat information without properly understanding it. Knowledge is important, but what's also needed is a questioning attitude that can recognize objective truth. A truth about the natural world which is not influenced by human bias, opinions, or emotion. Without that, anyone is free to call whatever they like, a fact, which only leads to chaos. Right, no matter how hard I believe that the moon is made of cheese or the sun goes around the earth, believing it doesn't make it true. That sounds like something Neil Degras Tyson would agree with and maybe too. Yes, in my question, I asked who first came up with the idea that the earth revolves around the sun. And I said it was . Ah, which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid. Galileo knew the earth revolved around the sun, but the first person with the idea was Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543. Unfortunately, centuries before the invention of television could spread the news of this objective truth, a proved truth, which is influenced by human bias or opinion. Okay, let's recap the rest of the vocabulary from our chat about American scientist Neil Degrayson and his love of cosmology, the study of the universe. To double check something means to make certain it's correct by carefully re-examining it. One way scientists do this is to duplicate or repeat exactly an experiment. The image cross the T's and dot the I's means to pay close attention to the details of what you're doing. And finally, if you regurgitate facts, you just repeat them without properly understanding them. Something a true scientist would never do. Once again, our six minutes are up. Goodbye for now. Bye.
