Technology+and+Science

=Science and Technology=

Science and technology are tightly coupled. A scientific understanding of the natural world is the basis for much of technological development today. The design of computer chips, for instance, depends on a detailed understanding of the electrical properties of silicon and other materials. The design of a drug to fight a specific disease is made possible by knowledge of how proteins and other biological molecules are structured and how they interact.

Conversely, technology is the basis for a good part of scientific research. The climate models meteorologists use to study global warming require supercomputers to run the simulations. And like most of us, scientists in all fields depend on the telephone, the Internet, and jet travel.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to separate the achievements of technology from those of science. When the Apollo 11 spacecraft put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, many people called it a victory of science. When a new type of material, such as lightweight, superstrong composites, emerges on the market, newspapers often report it as a scientific advance. Genetic engineering of crops to resist insects is also usually attributed wholly to science. And although science is integral to all of these advances, they are also examples of technology, the application of unique skills, knowledge, and techniques, which is quite different from science.

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Listen to a BBC Radio 4 programme called Reith Lectures: "The Triumph of Technology".



 * Lecture 1: Technology will Determine the Future of the Human Race**


====1. Complete the abstract using these words: //environment, energy, disease, applied, resources, pure, industry, poverty, computers, risks, communication, scale, geographic, human race.// ==== //** Abstract **//Man's way of life has depended on technology since the begin of civilization - the flint stone, the control of fire, the wheel, the printing press. In the earliest times significant advances were rare and they were separated by long periods of time - but their benefits, and disadvantages, were easily understood. About two hundred years ago, however, the pace quickened and in recent decades a cascade of truly disruptive advances has revolutionised the way we live. The technologies behind the advances have become increasingly complex and few people understand how they work and fewer still where they are going. The social implications of the advances have also ceased to be obvious and it has become essential that we study their social consequences. Modern technology tends to be thought of in terms of the advances brought about by ..................... and electronic ................................ but it is in transport, medicine, .......................... and weaponry that we have seen the greatest impact upon our lives. It is these areas that distinguish the first world from the second and third worlds. If ...................... and .................... are to be alleviated and the ................................. sustained, then technology must be harnessed on a vast and all inclusive ...................... . Large scale ............................ must be involved. Significant technology is not created by lone workers but by tens and hundreds of individuals working together across social and ................................. boundaries. We must wake up to the fact that it is technologists that is determining the future of the .................. .................. Advances require vast ..................... and companies that are prepared to take .................., and if Britain is to continue to play a crucial role in technology then our establishment must realise that ..................... science is rivaling ................. science both in importance and in intellectual interest.   // Complete the presentation to the lecture //  Presentation (00:00 – 01:38) Venue: ……………………………..................................................... In the honorable presence of : ........................................................  Lecturer: ...……………………......................................................  From: ………………………………..................................................  Invention chosen by ther public as #1 in the last 200 years: ……………….....  Brings solution to: ................................................................................................  Lecturer´s message today: ...................................................................................
 * 2. Listening to the lecture

//Complete the first part of the lecture//   Part 1 (01:48 to 04:09) Almost exactly .............................. years ago tonight, on .................. April ..........................., over ................................. terrified and bewildered people found themselves with little warning drifting or drowning in the ice-cold ........................ Atlantic. Only ........................... of them survived that night. They were, of course, the passengers, officers, and crew of the White Star steamship ........................, and they were in a sense victims of '.................................' of technology. The Titanic disaster was in the main a result of over-reach, of a ..................... between the ................................................... of some technologies and the shortcomings of others; and of ....................................... failures on the part of those who used the available technology. Although Titanic had a ........................................................................ system - and it was an important factor in directing rescue vessels to her - it was a system still in its ..................................... Although the technology of shipbuilding already embraced double skins and water-tight bulkheads, these fell far short of the completeness that we now expect. Those navigating this huge vessel were in some important respects no further advanced than the .............................. who had sailed these same seas ..................... ................................. before: they could ....................................... themselves only by means of stellar observation and dead reckoning, and they had only their eyes to see what lay ahead - and this was less than ......................................................years ago.

The managerial failures were perhaps worse. The ship's .................................... were warned of ice by radio messages, which they ignored. They hadn't carried out ........................... ................................. or trained the ship's company. The ship was speeding ........................... into a known danger area in order to meet her ................................. arrival time in New York. Accidents, by definition, happen. But more diligent officers, properly-trained .............................., and a sufficiency of lifeboats, ........................... .............................. ........................... the majority of those lost to the depths on that dreadful April night. || media type="custom" key="634911" ||

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