Science and Technology

1. What is science?

Science can be defined as the development and systematization of people’s knowledge about the physical universe. The word science also means a branch of such knowledge. Some branches of science are: mathematics, biology, engineering, physics, astronomy etc

2. What role do science and technology play in our life?

It’s difficult to overestimate the role of science and technology in our life. They accelerate the development of civilization and help us in our cooperation with nature. Scientists investigate the laws of the universe, discover the secrets of nature, make careful observations and apply their knowledge in practice improving the life of people.

3. Which of the centuries in your opinion saw the greatest inventions and discoveries?

During the 20^th century millions of investigations and the endless number of outstanding discoveries were made. The 20^th century had several names that were connected with the certain era in science and technology. First it was called the atomic age due to the discovery of the splitting of the atom. Then it became the age of the conquest of space when for the first time in the history of mankind the man overcame the gravity and entered the universe. And now we live in the information era when the computer network embraces the globe and connects not only the countries and space stations but a lot of people all over the world.

4. Can you remember any outstanding scientists. What are they famous for?

Isaac Newton- the discovery of the law of universal gravity, Alexander Bell- the invention of telephone, Ivan Pavlov – the invention of radio, Albert Einstein – theory of relativity…

5 What should a scientific work be like?

Any scientific work should be as exact as possible, orderly in arrangement. It should be based on sound and sufficient evidence, it must have no object except to find out the truth.

6. What personal features of character should a scientist possess?

A scientist should be clever, industrious, devoted to his work, persistent, ready to overcome difficulties, inventive,

creative, enthusiastic…

7. What is virtual reality?

Virtual reality is a technology that gives users an opportunity to act together with a computer. On the one hand it has a lot of good points. Doctors can practice operations on different parts of human body, students can learn geography and history by ‘walking’ into places they are interested in, tourists can make far-away trips to other countries. But on the other hand this sort of technology without careful regulations can be nothing more than a high-tech instrument for spreading violence, pornography and advertising. A lot of VR programmers are exercises in killing rather than in thinking. Some psychologists warn that for the young and mentally ill virtual trips could be very dangerous as they mix up the real world with the virtual one.

8. Is cloning a controversial issue?

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- open exciting medical possibilities - morally unacceptable

(to clone organs for transplantation) - to clone a dictator, a murderer…

- to preserve endangered species of animals

- solve the problem of food shortages

- create animals which produce more meat, milk…

9. Technology- pros and corns?

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- improve our quality of life - create new problems (more unemployment)

- help to organize work in a more rational way - produce new types of illness

- have more spare time, to dedicate to our hobbies - if there is a power failure a lot of information

- computers can contain a lot of documents, it can be lost…

saves space, paper, trees - produce dangerous rays that can harm people’s health

- leads the way for a high quality of life

- make the information more accessible and immediate

- revolutionize a number of industries…

Education. School.