A. New sciences

You are probably familiar with the traditional branches of science, e.g. chemistry, physics, botany and zoology. But what about these more recently established fields?

• ¹ change, usually slightly
• ² typical qualities or important parts
• ³ communicate with or react to
• ⁴ the way that parts of a system are organised
• ⁵ purpose
• ⁶ the basic chemical units / groups of atoms
• ⁷ connected in our mind
• ⁸ makes possible
• ⁹ decide the intended meaning of
• ¹⁰ smallest basic part of a plant or animal
• ¹¹ making something new that did not exist before
• ¹² the top layer of the earth’s surface, in which plants grow

B. Everyday technology

C. Verbs used in science and technology

Note the collocations in bold.

• He experimented with different materials before utilising¹ the most suitable one.
• The technician pressed a button and lights started flashing.
• When she pulled the large lever², the wheel began to rotate³.
• The zoologist dissected⁴ the animal and extracted⁵ its organs.
• When they were combined, the two chemicals reacted violently with each other.
• After analysing the problem, she concluded that there was a flaw⁶ in the theory.
• Insert⁷ the disk into the DVD drive to install⁸ the software or visit the website to download it.

• ¹ use (fml technical/scientific)
• ² bar or handle that moves in order to control something (e.g. a machine)
• ³ turn (fml technical/scientific)
• ⁴ cut open (usually a dead body or plant) to study its parts
• ⁵ took out (fml technical/scientific)
• ⁶ fault, mistake or weakness
• ⁷ put in (fml technical/scientific)
• ⁸ make it ready to use