0:00 6 Minute English.
0:02 From BBC Learning English.
0:05 Hello, I'm Finn, and welcome to 6 Minute English.
0:09 Rob's here today. Hi, Rob.
0:10 Hello, Finn, are you well?
0:11 I'm very well, thanks, Rob.
0:13 Tell me, do you have a favourite science fiction movie?
0:18 Ahh, 'science fiction', so these are 'stories about an imagined future'.
0:22 Well, yes, my favourite was and always will be — ET: Extra Terrestrial. — ET phone home?
0:28 — Yeah, that's right. — Yes, very good.
0:30 And you, Finn?
0:31 Well, mine would probably be Blade Runner.
0:34 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?
0:43 Mm, I do, I do — and come to think of it, lots of movies and stories about the future are quite dark and quite negative.
0:50 That's right. But perhaps this might change.
0:54 A new project wants to use the power of science fiction to do something very different, to inspire people to create a better future.
1:04 — It sounds very grand. — Mm.
1:05 But we'll be discussing the project and learning some language to talk about the future in this programme.
1:10 But before we get too far into the future, I'm sure you have a question for me, Finn?
1:15 I do indeed and it's about the film Blade Runner.
1:18 Now, it's set in the future, but in which year?
1:22 Was it a) 2000? b) 2019? Or c) 2056?
1:29 I think I'm gonna go for the far future.
1:32 — OK. — c) 2056.
1:35 OK, well, I'll tell you if you're right or wrong later, in the not-too-distant future, Rob.
1:42 Very good, Finn. So, as we were saying, lots of science fiction is negative.
1:47 Yes, there's a word to describe the kind of future world which often appears in science fiction — dystopian.
1:56 Now, the noun 'dystopia' means 'an imagined place where things are unpleasant or bad'.
2:02 And the opposite is 'utopia' and 'utopian'.
2:06 OK, but why is so much science fiction dystopian?
2:10 Dr Braden Allenby from Arizona State University.
2:14 The downside of both of science fiction and movies is that they tend to be dystopian, they tend to be very negative, they tend to be very noir.
2:24 Dystopian is easier to do.
2:26 It's easier to write a dystopian story than it is an optimistic story.
2:31 He says dystopian stories are easier to write.
2:34 — Mm. — Mm, 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.
2:42 That's right, yes, but Braden thinks being negative is a downside of science fiction.
2:48 Now, a 'downside' is 'a disadvantage, a bad point'.
2:53 He would prefer to see some more optimistic science fiction.
2:57 Right, 'optimistic', 'more positive about the future', which is why Braden is taking part in something called Project Hieroglyph.
3:05 It brings together writers, scientists, engineers and artists to create optimistic stories about things which really could happen in the next 50 years.
3:14 Mm, yes, so let's talk about the kinds of things are happening in these stories?
3:20 Well, there's one about a huge tower, 20km tall, going all the way into space.
3:26 Apparently, building the tower is good for the US steel industry and they invent a new kind of energy in the story too.
3:33 Sounds very interesting, but is it 'plausible' — could it 'really happen'?
3:39 Could they really build a tower that big?
3:41 Well, there's another about environmentalists who fight to stop people building the first hotel in Antarctica.
3:48 'Environmentalists', that's 'people who care about the environment'.
3:52 Well, there's conflict there and it's plausible, so it could be a good story.
3:58 But I can't help thinking, will these stories actually change anything?
4:03 Ed Finn, who edited a book of these stories, thinks so.
4:06 He says, "A good science-fiction story can be very powerful."
4:10 "It can inspire hundreds, thousands, millions of people "to rally around something that they want to do."
4:17 To 'rally around' something means 'to come together in support of a cause'.
4:23 And Braden Allenby says you can already see the influence of science fiction in modern research.
4:29 Which item is being worked on right now?
4:32 Why are people working on, for example, invisibility cloaks?
4:36 Well, it's Harry Potter, right? That's where they saw it.
4:40 An invisibility 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.
4:50 Yes, very interesting.
4:51 So will the stories from Project Hieroglyph inspire people to do and invent new things that can help others?
4:58 Can they help create 'a bright future' — that's 'a good, positive future'?
5:03 Or will they just be good stories?
5:05 Well, 'time will tell' — that means 'we'll find out as time goes by'.
5:09 But one thing that we're going to find out right now is the answer to when the movie Blade Runner was set.
5:15 Mm, and I said the answer was c) 2056.
5:20 And the answer was in fact b) 2019.
5:25 — Really? — Yes, so a little bit earlier, Rob.
5:27 Quite soon, then?
5:28 Yes, it's in a couple of years. So, watch out, LA!
5:31 But, Rob, can you, can you remind us of some of the words we learned today?
5:35 Yes. We had science fiction, dystopian, downside, optimistic, plausible, a bright future, time will tell.
5:52 Thank you, Rob.
5:53 And that's it for today's programme.
5:56 If you want to listen to more programmes like this one, visit BBC Learning English dot com.
6:02 — Bye-bye. — Bye.
6:04 6 Minute English.
6:05 From BBC Learning English.
6:09 Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.
6:13 And I'm Beth.
6:14 Now, you might know them as aliens, UFOs, little green men or even UAPs.
6:21 'UAP' stands for 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' and it's the word scientists now use to describe mysterious things not from this world.
6:33 So, Beth, how would you feel if you looked up and saw strange objects glowing and twisting through the sky?
6:41 Wow. Well, I might stare for a bit.
6:44 I don't know if I'd believe what I was seeing, and I guess I'd be a bit scared!
6:49 Well, that situation is exactly what Navy pilots caught on their fighter jet cameras on a training flight in 2004.
6:58 They recorded mysterious oval objects flying at 24,000 metres.
7:04 The footage is known as the Tic Tac videos, and they have had millions of views on YouTube.
7:10 Now, these videos are being reviewed by US Congress to try understand what these objects were.
7:17 Were they 'flying saucers', 'the disc-shaped craft flown by aliens', or is there a more rational explanation?
7:25 In this programme, we'll be discussing whether we are alone in the universe, and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
7:34 But first, I have a question for you, Beth.
7:37 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?
7:51 Is it a) The USA? b) Canada? Or c) China?
7:57 Hmm, I think it must be the USA.
8:00 OK, Beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.
8:04 Now, while astronomers are scientists who study questions concerning things outside of Earth, they often avoid investigating supposed aliens.
8:14 Adam Frank, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Rochester, explains why the footage in the Tic Tac videos can't give any definitive answers of alien life to BBC World Service programme The Inquiry.
8:29 I don't think the pilots are lying.
8:31 You know, I think the pilots are being honest and have a lot of integrity about what they say they're seeing.
8:36 They're not saying they're aliens.
8:38 They're saying they behaved in ways that no jet could behave.
8:41 But you know, again, personal testimony.
8:44 You can't do any science with that.
8:46 So, what may happen now is we're gonna begin to get us some scientific study of this and we'll try and get a better handle on it.
8:53 Adam says the pilots have 'integrity', a noun meaning 'to have honesty and moral principles'.
9:00 However, what they saw is based on personal testimony.
9:04 A 'personal testimony' is 'a story or statement of evidence 'supported only by a person and what they saw, 'rather than any external evidence or hard facts'.
9:15 To find out more about exactly what the pilots saw, scientific studies are being carried out to try and get a better handle on the situation.
9:24 If you 'get a handle on' something, you 'understand it and are then able to deal with it'.
9:29 Taking a more scientific approach to what the pilots saw, the Tic Tac videos were examined by a panel put together by NASA.
9:37 Here's Adam again discussing the findings on BBC World Service programme The Inquiry.
9:44 At the NASA panel, one of the scientists showed a simple analysis of the video that shows the object travelling at a seemingly high speed over the, the ocean.
9:55 And what the NASA scientist showed was that, with a simple analysis, you can show that that was moving at 40 miles an hour, so certainly nothing very extraterrestrial about that.
10:05 The scientists found that, although it looks like the object was travelling very fast, it was only moving at 40 miles an hour, which Adam says is not very extraterrestrial.
10:17 'Extraterrestrial' means 'from outside Earth', and is another word often used to describe aliens.
10:24 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.
10:33 OK, Beth. I think it's time I revealed the answer to my question.
10:37 I asked you which country has had the highest number of reported sightings since records began, according to the National UFO Reporting Center.
10:47 And I guessed the USA.
10:49 Which was the correct answer!
10:52 There have been over 100,000 reported sightings and encounters with UFOs in the USA since 1947.
11:01 OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from this programme, starting with 'UAP', an acronym that stands for 'unidentified anomalous phenomena' and is another word meaning 'alien' or 'UFO'.
11:15 A 'flying saucer' is 'a disc-shaped craft, supposedly flown by aliens'.
11:21 'Integrity' means 'being honest in what you say and having moral principles'.
11:26 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'.
11:36 If you 'get a handle on' something, you 'understand it and are able to deal with it'.
11:41 And finally, 'extraterrestrial' means 'from outside Earth', and is another word often used to describe aliens.
11:48 Once again our six minutes are up.
11:50 Join us again soon for more useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English!
11:55 — Goodbye for now! — Bye!
11:57 6 Minute English.
11:59 From BBC Learning English.
12:02 Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Neil.
12:05 And hello. I'm Rob.
12:06 So, Rob, you are a man who enjoys travel.
12:09 What's the furthest journey you've ever made?
12:13 Well, I have been to the other side of the world.
12:16 I've been to Australia, New Zealand — so, from London, that's a very long way.
12:20 And how was it?
12:21 Well, it was pretty boring really and quite cramped on the aeroplane, but I loved it when I got there.
12:26 So how would you feel about a journey of 56 million kilometres that took around nine months?
12:33 Ah, right. I'd have to travel Business Class, I think, lots of movies and a very comfortable seat!
12:38 Well, that's how long it would take to get to the planet Mars and this programme is all about the women who want to be the first to set foot on the red planet.
12:47 First, though, today's question, which is about the size of Mars.
12:51 Is it a) Bigger than Earth?
12:54 b) About the same size as Earth? Or c) Smaller than Earth?
12:58 I'm pretty sure I know this. It's bigger than Earth, much bigger I think.
13:03 OK, well, we'll find out if you're right at the end of the programme.
13:07 It's been 40 years since NASA first recruited women to be astronauts.
13:11 Today, a third of the people who work at NASA are women.
13:15 Yes, and 2016 was the first year that there were an equal number of women and men joining as astronaut trainees.
13:23 Equality is slowly coming, but only men have had the opportunity to walk on the Moon, although that was over 45 years ago.
13:32 Karen Nyberg is one of NASA's current astronauts.
13:35 In a recent BBC News feature, she talked about her hopes.
13:39 When did she join the astronaut programme?
13:42 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.
13:51 So it's unfortunate we weren't.
13:53 When did she become an astronaut?
13:55 Well, she said that she was selected in 2000. 'Selected' means 'chosen'.
14:01 At that time, when she was selected, she thought going to the Moon would be 'a realistic possibility'.
14:06 So she thought that it wasn't just a dream, but 'something that could happen'.
14:10 There was a good chance it would happen.
14:11 However, she was disappointed because that opportunity didn't arrive at that time.
14:17 She describes that as being unfortunate.
14:20 In this sense 'unfortunate' means 'unlucky'.
14:22 If you use this adjective it means you are disappointed about something, but you do perhaps understand the reason for it.
14:30 So far, a woman hasn't had the opportunity to step on the Moon.
14:34 These days, Mars is the big target for space travel.
14:37 There are many problems to overcome, but could it, should it be a woman who is the first person to take that step?
14:44 Absolutely, why not?
14:46 On a mission to Mars there would be need for many different kinds of specialists.
14:50 We tend to think of astronauts as spaceship pilots, but really I think they are much more like scientists, carrying out different experiments.
14:58 If we're going to set up a base on Mars, one thing that would be very important is to try to find a way of growing food.
15:05 For that, you need people with skills in those areas.
15:08 One person with those skills is Gioia Massa, a Life Science project manager for NASA.
15:14 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.
15:24 What two aspects does she mention she wasn't good at?
15:28 There certainly were aspects where I was challenged, you know.
15:31 I wasn't as great in math as some of my colleagues, my handwriting is terrible, you know, so there are things that are not my strengths.
15:41 But then I fell in love with plants and plants were my strength and I really learned and focused on that.
15:46 So, Rob, what did she have problems with?
15:48 Well, she said that she wasn't good at math.
15:51 'Math' is a North American English word for what, in British English, we call 'maths'.
15:56 Both words mean 'mathematics', so 'math' in American English, 'maths' in British English.
16:02 She also said that her handwriting is terrible!
16:04 Mind you, if her handwriting was really terrible, maybe nobody would be able to read her bad maths!
16:10 Good point! So handwriting and maths aren't or weren't her 'strengths'.
16:15 They are not 'what she's good at'. What are her strengths?
16:18 Well, the thing she is good at, her real strengths are working with plants, so that's what she concentrated on.
16:25 Right. Well, let's see if one of your strengths is the knowledge of the planets.
16:30 Today's quiz question was is Mars a) Bigger than Earth?
16:35 b) About the same size as Earth? Or c) Smaller than Earth?
16:39 What did you say, Rob?
16:40 I said that it was bigger, much bigger.
16:43 And the answer, I'm afraid to say, is that Mars is smaller than Earth, much smaller, in fact.
16:50 Oh, well, I guess I won't be selected to be an astronaut any time soon!
16:53 Before we blast off out of here, let's review the vocabulary we covered today.
16:58 The first word was the one you just mentioned, 'selected', meaning 'chosen'.
17:02 Then we had the phrase 'a realistic possibility', to describe 'something that has a good chance of happening', unlike my astronaut application!
17:11 Well, if you did become an astronaut, that would be 'unfortunate', our next word, for me at least.
17:16 'Unfortunate', you mean 'disappointing' for you?
17:20 Well, if you were up in space, I wouldn't have the pleasure of your company.
17:23 Hashtag blushing.
17:25 Our next word was 'aspects', meaning 'parts of something', and then the Americanisation, 'math'.
17:31 Which we call 'maths' or 'mathematics' in British English.
17:34 And finally we had 'strengths'.
17:36 And maths certainly isn't one of my 'strengths'!
17:39 It's not 'something I'm good at'.
17:40 But one of your strengths is saying nice things about people.
17:44 Hashtag double blush.
17:46 Well, time for us to go — not to Mars, but to lunch!
17:50 Just time to say you can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and of course on our website, BBC Learning English dot com!
17:58 — Thank you for joining us and goodbye! — Bye-bye!
18:01 6 Minute English.
18:03 From BBC Learning English.
18:06 Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.
18:10 And hello, I'm Rob.
18:12 On August the 6th, 1945, the US aircraft Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, instantly killing 70,000 people.
18:23 When Japan refused to surrender, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, three days later.
18:29 Many believe the bombings quickened the end of the Second World War, but it came at a terrible human cost, which some have called a crime against humanity.
18:39 The invention of the atomic bomb, which resulted from the cooperation between the US military and some of the world's leading scientific minds, was known as The Manhattan Project.
18:50 In this programme, we'll take a look into the science and the politics of The Manhattan Project and, as usual, we'll learn some new vocabulary as well.
18:58 Even before World War Two, scientists had known about the potential energy inside uranium, the heaviest metal in 'the periodic table' — 'a diagram which groups the chemical elements into rows and columns, 'according to their atomic number and symbol'.
19:16 The challenge for science was learning how to unleash this potential energy in a controlled way.
19:22 We'll hear more soon, but first, I have a question for you, Rob.
19:26 I mentioned that uranium is the heaviest element in the periodic table, but which is the lightest?
19:33 Is it a) Hydrogen? b) Carbon? Or c) Oxygen?
19:40 Well, oxygen is a gas, so it must be pretty light, so I'll say c) Oxygen.
19:46 OK, Rob, we'll find out the answer later in the programme.
19:50 First, let's find out a bit more about the science of uranium from Frank Close, an Oxford Professor of Theoretical Physics, in conversation with BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time.
20:04 Well, in 1938, the discovery was made that if you use uranium, the atoms of uranium, are the heaviest that occur naturally in the periodic table, they're very fragile.
20:17 And the discovery was that if you just almost touched them with a single neutron, that's a nuclear particle, the uranium was like a drop of water, it would just break apart, split in two.
20:30 And this action of splitting the uranium has become known as fission.
20:36 Atoms of uranium are very 'fragile' — 'easily broken or damaged'.
20:41 In 1938, it was discovered that when nuclear particles called neutrons were fired at uranium atoms, they would 'split', or 'break in two'.
20:51 This process of 'splitting uranium', or 'fission', did two things.
20:56 First, it released huge amounts of energy, a billion times more than would be released in a normal chemical reaction.
21:03 Secondly, the act of splitting atoms released two more neutrons.
21:07 These new neutrons were freed to hit more uranium, creating four neutrons, which in turn were freed and created eight, then 16 and so on, making what's known as a chemical chain reaction.
21:20 In everyday English, a 'chain reaction' is 'a series of events where each event becomes the cause of the next'.
21:28 The politics behind the development of the atomic bomb was no less complex than the science.
21:34 In the same year that Hitler invaded Poland, two Jewish scientists exiled from Nazi Germany — Rudolf Peierls and Otto Frisch — first realised uranium's power as a weapon of war.
21:46 Listen as Professor Frank Close takes up the story for BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time.
21:53 Now, what happened at that moment was that, having had the idea and the shock of the discovery, you immediately then think, "Maybe scientists in Germany have already had the same idea "and come to the same conclusions.
22:06 "Could Hitler already be building such a weapon?"
22:09 And in their memorandum which they wrote and reached the British government, they said it's conceivable that Germany is in fact developing this weapon, and the only defence against it is to have one yourself.
22:22 After their discovery, Peierls and Frisch were worried that the Nazis had already found out how to weaponise uranium.
22:29 It was 'conceivable' — or 'believable' — that Germany was building an atomic bomb.
22:36 They shared this terrifying thought in their famous 'memorandum' — 'a short written report on a specific topic'.
22:42 As soon as US President Franklin Roosevelt read it, he started the Manhattan Project, and the race to build an atomic bomb began.
22:50 In a strange twist of history, it turned out that Hitler hadn't been building atomic bombs at all.
22:56 And Hiroshima, the Japanese city destroyed in 1945, was rebuilt and stands as a symbol of peace today.
23:05 OK, let's end on a lighter note, Sam, with your question.
23:09 Yes, I asked which is the lightest element in the periodic table.
23:13 It's a) Hydrogen, the lightest of all gases which come at the very start of the periodic table, having the atomic number 1.
23:23 Ah, if only I'd remembered what our chemistry teacher taught us about 'the periodic table' — that's 'a chart grouping all the chemical elements 'according to their atomic number'.
23:33 Let's recap the rest of the vocabulary too.
23:35 If something is 'fragile', it's 'easily broken'.
23:39 To 'split' something means 'to break it into two parts'.
23:42 A 'chain reaction' happens 'when one event becomes the cause of the next'.
23:47 A 'memorandum' is 'a short, written report on a specific topic'.
23:51 And finally, the adjective 'conceivable' means 'believable'.
23:55 And that brings us to the end of our programme!
23:58 We hope you'll join us again soon for more interesting issues and useful vocabulary.
24:03 — Bye for now! — Goodbye!
24:05 6 Minute English.
24:07 From BBC Learning English.
24:11 Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.
24:14 And I'm Rob.
24:16 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.
24:26 In this programme, we'll be meeting one of America's best-known popular scientists, astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson.
24:34 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'.
24:44 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.
24:55 We'll be hearing from the famous astronomer and learning some new vocabulary soon, but first, I have a question for you, Sam.
25:02 Science is ever-changing, with new discoveries updating our understanding all the time.
25:08 For centuries, the Earth was thought to be the centre 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?
25:20 Was it a) Nicolaus Copernicus? b) Isaac Newton? Or c) Galileo Galilei?
25:26 Hmm, I'll say it was c) Galileo.
25:29 OK, Sam. I'll reveal the correct answer later in the programme.
25:32 Recent events like the Covid pandemic and climate crisis have put scientists under pressure from critics motivated by political views.
25:42 Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks facts are not dependent on politics, but should be established with the scientific method, a process of finding the truth through testing and experimentation.
25:53 Here's Neil explaining more about the scientific method to BBC World Service programme HARDtalk.
26:00 If you have a brilliant idea and you test it and it unearths so much of what has been known before, we're gonna double-check that — the rest of us — we'll say, "But did he do it?
26:10 "Did he cross his t's and dot his i's?
26:12 "Did he? Let me check the power that's driving his experiment, you know, "the wall current, let me check how that was conceived and done".
26:20 And if no-one can duplicate your results, it's not a result.
26:24 Before scientists can confirm the truth of an experiment, their findings must be 'doubled-checked' — 'making certain something is correct by carefully examining it again'.
26:34 This process is called 'peer review' — other scientists double-checking the experiment to make sure everything was done correctly.
26:43 One way they do this is to duplicate, or repeat, the experiment to see if they get the same result.
26:49 In other words, Neil wants 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'.
27:00 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.
27:10 People have opinions about all kinds of things, but that doesn't make what they believe a fact.
27:16 Yet fact and opinion are becoming harder to separate.
27:20 As protests by anti-vaccine groups and climate change deniers have shown, many Americans, even presidents, seem suspicious of scientific fact.
27:31 It's a worrying trend that Neil thinks is a result of the US education system, as he told BBC World Service programme HARDtalk.
27:41 It has to do with how science is taught in the schools.
27:44 It's currently taught as a body of information, a satchel of facts that are imparted upon you and then you regurgitate that for an exam.
27:54 That's an aspect of science, but it's not the most important part of science.
27:58 The most important part of science is knowing how to question things and knowing when an answer has emerged that represents an objective truth about this world.
28:09 Neil says that science is taught by encouraging students 'to regurgitate' facts — 'to repeat information without properly understanding it'.
28:17 Knowledge is important, but what's also needed is a questioning attitude than can recognise 'objective truth' — 'a truth about the natural world 'which is not influenced by human bias, opinions or emotion'.
28:32 Without that, anyone is free to call whatever they like a fact, which only leads to chaos.
28:38 Right. No matter how hard I believe that the Moon is made of cheese, or the Sun goes round around the Earth, believing it doesn't make it true.
28:47 That sounds like something Neil deGrasse Tyson would agree with and maybe Galileo too?
28:52 Yes. In my question, I asked who first came up with the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.
28:58 And I said it was Renaissance astronomer Galileo.
29:02 Ah, which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid.
29:05 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 provable truth which is uninfluenced by human bias or opinion'.
29:27 OK, let's recap the rest of the vocabulary from our chat about American scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson and his love of 'cosmology' — 'the study of the universe'.
29:38 To 'double-check' something means 'to make certain it's correct by carefully re-examining it'.
29:44 One way scientists do this is to 'duplicate', or 'repeat exactly', an experiment.
29:49 The idiom 'cross the t's and dot the i's' means 'to pay close attention to the details of what you're doing'.
29:56 And finally, if you 'regurgitate' facts, you just 'repeat them without properly understanding them' — something a true scientist would never do!
30:05 Once again, our six minutes are up. Goodbye for now!
30:08 Bye!
30:09 6 Minute English.
30:11 From BBC Learning English.
