Words and Expressions
1.ongoing adj.
continuing without termination and interruption
after the verb phrase: go on
syn: proceeding uninterrupted unbroken perpetual
sentence-making: The ongoing project arose the attention of the public.
Science is an ongoing search for truth.
2. perpetual adj. s2
everlasting; lasting for a long time
syn: permanent enduring ongoing incessant
sentence-making: perpetual snow throughout the winter
a perpetual struggle to discover how the Universe works
3. the Universe
using "the" before "Universe"
4. reasoning, observation and experiment
Three scientific methods to get and support a theory.
5. lay foundations for
prepare for
s.m. His knowledge of mathematics lays foundations for his further study in America.
lay foundations for much of the work that has followed
6. thought, argument
thought: a single act or product of thinking; idea or notion
argument: a process of reasoning; series of reasons
7. it would fall twice as fast
If one had twice the weight of another, it will fall twice as fast (as another).
8. empirical evidence adj. s.2
depending on experience or observation alone, without using scientific method
syn: practical firsthand pragmatic
That a good scientist must rely on empirical experience is not always apparent.
9. put forward→build→reinforce
three steps to a scientific theory
10. peer review
evaluation of a person's work or performance by a group of people in the same occupation, profession, or industry.
If it seems to be true, it will be sent out for peer review, in which people working in the same or similar field are invited to pick holes in the argument, or so falsify the theory, or to repeat the experiment to make sure that the results are correct.
AGGO
11. pick holes in
to find mistakes in something someone has done or said, to show that it is not good or not correct
My boss is always picking holes in my work.
12. falsify
to show or prove to be false; disprove
falsify a theory
13. in orbit
All three comets are the same objects, in orbit of the sun.
13. perform experiments
14. speculative
engaging in or given to such speculation
Experiments may test a theory, or be purely speculative.
15. a New Zealand-born physicist
fire alpha particles at gold leaf in a search for small deflections
detector
paper-thin foil
artillery
compelling
mechanism, theory
crash down
a geocentric Universe
the four bodily humors
the fire-element phlogiston
a mysterious medium called aether
in their support
apparatus
the cathode rays
go back through decades and centuries
a scientific outlook
active
assert
the heavenly bodies
Abbasid
caliphate
the House of Wisdom
Baghdad
Islamic
astrolabe
alchemy
distillation
the monopoly of the Church
groundbreaking books
dissections of human corpses with exquisite illustrations
the Earth-centered model worked out by...
quash
a string of books
fold-out illustrations
flea
combustion
phlogiston
atomic weights
lay out
periodic table of elements 元素周期表
march
electric motor
thermodynamics
palaeontology
leap-frogging
precision
harbor life
daunting
in prospect
Thoughts after Reading
Annie and many students concentrate a lot on science incidents, including some scientific discoveries and details about certain scientific theory. There is no doubt that the article is about science and there is nothing wrong to focus on it. However, there is some other thing that attracts my attention. It is what science really means to us.
I am a student who learn science all the time. I read a lot of SCI articles from Nature, Science and some other famous journals. Sometimes, I am really tired of that. I get lost in lines and words. I need to understand and remember how the genetic technology works, how to calculate the heritability, or how to tell two different species apart. Once and once again, I asked myself why I choose to study science and how it encourages me to go on. What does science really mean to us?
"Science is an ongoing search for truth"
