Make Your Way 7, Schulbuch mit Audio-CD

Discuss in pairs. Which branch (or branches) of science might be able to answer these questions? Which branch of science interests you most? Why? 1 Is it possible to put life “on hold” by freezing the body? 2 Is there life on other planets? 3 My husband and I have both got blue eyes. Why does my son have brown eyes? 4 Were the pyramids built by aliens? 5 Why did the dinosaurs die out? 6 What will be the longterm effects of cutting down the rain forests? 1 What is the book about? 2 What does the critic think of it? 3 Would you be interested in reading it? Why/Why not? Read the review of Len Fisher’s “How to Dunk a Doughnut” and answer the questions. 2 Write the letters of the sentences below in the spaces in the text to complete it. There are two sentences that you should not use. A (Fisher nicely explains the three laws of thermodynamics, for example, as well as the difference between heat and temperature) B , an English physical chemist and Nobel Prize winner C because science has traditionally been thought of as boring. D and to view from an insider’s perspective what scientists do, E , even to the discoverer F so that even a nonscientist will enjoy it. G how to throw a boomerang, fly ball: im Baseball ein vom Schlagmann sehr hoch geschlagener Ball (im Gegensatz zu: ground ball ) could go a long way toward ...: könnte viel dazu beitragen ... Science is a way of life more than a set of answers, according to Fisher (1) __ . In his delightful book, he uses “‘the science of the familiar’ as a key to open a door to science, to show what it feels like to be a scientist, (2) __ why they do it, and how they go about it.” Each of his nine chapters focuses on relatively mundane affairs – the best way to dunk a doughnut, how to catch a fly ball, how simple tools function, (3) __ how an egg and a sperm manage to unite to form a new life – and each poses scientific questions about the underlying premises and principles involved. Real scientific lessons are embedded in each chap- How to Dunk a Doughnut ter (4) __ , and the thoroughly engaging anec- dotes serve to bring the process of science and the people who conduct scientific investigations to life. He successfully shows how science influences all aspects of our lives and how the “consequences of any par- ticular scientific discovery are of- ten not obvious (5) __ .” This view is increasingly important as poli- ticians regularly favor applied research over the pure research so essential for meaningful progress. Fisher’s humor and readability could go a long way toward making his perspective acceptable to a wide public. 195 6 Compact unit 6: Science Nur zu Prüfzwecken – E gentum des Verlags öbv