Topic 1 - The Science Book

Words and Expressions

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1.ongoing adj.

continuing without termination and interruption

after the verb phrase: go on

syn: proceeding uninterrupted unbroken perpetual

sentence-making: The ongoing project arose the attention of the public.

Science is an ongoing search for truth.

2. perpetual adj. s2

everlasting; lasting for a long time

syn: permanent enduring ongoing incessant 

sentence-making: perpetual snow throughout the winter

a perpetual struggle to discover how the Universe works

3. the Universe

using "the" before "Universe"

4. reasoning, observation and experiment

Three scientific methods to get and support a theory.

5. lay foundations for 

prepare for 

s.m. His knowledge of mathematics lays foundations for his further study in America.

lay foundations for much of the work that has followed

6. thought, argument

thought: a single act or product of thinking; idea or notion

argument: a process of reasoning; series of reasons

7. it would fall twice as fast

If one had twice the weight of another, it will fall twice as fast (as another). 

8. empirical evidence adj. s.2

depending on experience or observation alone, without using scientific method

syn: practical firsthand pragmatic

That a good scientist must rely on empirical experience is not always apparent.

9. put forward→build→reinforce

three steps to a scientific theory 

10. peer review

evaluation of a person's work or performance by a group of people in the same occupation, profession, or industry.

If it seems to be true, it will be sent out for peer review, in which people working in the same or similar field are invited to pick holes in the argument, or so falsify the theory, or to repeat the experiment to make sure that the results are correct.

AGGO

11. pick holes in

to find mistakes in something someone has done or said, to show that it is not good or not correct

My boss is always picking holes in my work.

12. falsify

to show or prove to be false; disprove

falsify a theory

13. in orbit

All three comets are the same objects, in orbit of the sun.

13. perform experiments

14. speculative

engaging in or given to such speculation

Experiments may test a theory, or be purely speculative.

15. a New Zealand-born physicist

fire alpha particles at gold leaf in a search for small deflections

detector

paper-thin foil

artillery

compelling

mechanism, theory

crash down

a geocentric Universe

the four bodily humors

the fire-element phlogiston

a mysterious medium called aether

in their support

apparatus

the cathode rays

go back through decades and centuries

a scientific outlook

active

assert

the heavenly bodies

Abbasid

caliphate

the House of Wisdom

Baghdad

Islamic

astrolabe

alchemy

distillation

the monopoly of the Church

groundbreaking books

dissections of human corpses with exquisite illustrations

the Earth-centered model worked out by...

quash

a string of books

fold-out illustrations

flea

combustion

phlogiston

atomic weights

lay out

periodic table of elements 元素周期表

march

electric motor

thermodynamics

palaeontology

leap-frogging

precision

harbor life

daunting

in prospect

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Thoughts after Reading

Annie and many students concentrate a lot on science incidents, including some scientific discoveries and details about certain scientific theory. There is no doubt that the article is about science and there is nothing wrong to focus on it. However, there is some other thing that attracts my attention. It is what science really means to us.

I am a student who learn science all the time. I read a lot of SCI articles from Nature, Science and some other famous journals. Sometimes, I am really tired of that. I get lost in lines and words. I need to understand and remember how the genetic technology works, how to  calculate the heritability, or how to tell two different species apart. Once and once again, I asked myself why I choose to study science and how it encourages me to go on. What does science really mean to us?

"Science is an ongoing search for truth"