Bbc superhuman
PART 3
Self-repair
Useful expressions:
In other words
When/as the need arises
To have no other options left
To respond to sudden demands
Ultimate aim
Expressions for the topic” Medicine”:
A wonderful ability to regenerate
To match something
To regrow missing or damaged parts
To harness new knowledge to help the body repair itself
Embryo
Blood vessels
Tissue engineers
To repair damage done by terrible diseases and the worst kind of accidents
To collapse
Vertebra
To shatter completely
Spinal cord
To paralyze the limbs
Advanced medical care
To carry signals between brain and limbs
To fuse
To heal
Expert of self-repair
To have some improvement in one’s condition
Back to normal
The power of healing
To get steadily worse
A severe cramp
Angina
To have heart bypass operation
To encourage the growth of
To become a guinea-pig for some experiment
Raw material
To circumcise
Internal body parts
3 dimensional
To fit together perfectly
To be seeded with living cells
Bladder
Ingenious combination of materials
To revert to an earlier form
Stem cells
Stroke
Permanently damaged
To return to normal movement
At a very early stage
To apply the same technology successfully to human
To be amazed by the extent of somebody’s recovery
To be confined to a wheelchair
Answer the questions:
What cannot a human body do for all its sophistication?
What have doctors started to learn?
What happened to Penny Roger’s body when she hit the ground?
What saved her life? What cannot be fixed in her body?
What is crucial if the body is to move with speed and precision?
What is spinal cord?
Who are the real experts of self-repair?
At what age can people do the same?
Do we lose this ability completely when we get older?
How much tissue do people replace during their life?
What made Charles and Roger become guinea-pigs for a very daring experiment?
What was the aim of the operation?
What is the area in which the creation of new tissue is a great success?
Why is it far easier to grow flat pieces of skin than to grow body parts?
How did some tissue engineers manage to grow an ear on the back of the mouse?
What organ did the scientists try to make and why?
Why is it impossible to grow a spinal cord?
How does a salamander regrow a new limb?
Do people contain any cells of this kind? What can they help us to do?
What can the process of regrowing a rat’s spinal cord be compared to?
What were the ingredients for regrowing the spinal cord?
What possibilities do these experiments give to people?
BBC SUPERHUMAN
PART 4
THE ENEMY WITHIN
New words:
To lead to a discovery
To cast a new light on something
Worldwide
To combat a disease
To exploit
To take a first- hand look at advances in cancer treatment
To undergo gene therapy
To search for a miracle
Conventional treatment
To cut out
To spread into
Chemotherapy
To volunteer to try an experimental drug
To be aimed at combating the disease
To be based on something
To be tested as potential drugs
False lead
Dead end
Bush willow
Minute
To be about to do
To reduce the blood supply
To be encouraging
To deprive
Free radicals
To develop novel ways to attack advanced cancers
To irritate delicate tissue
Exposure to
To trigger something
To refuse to give up
To pin one’s hopes on
To only give temporary relief
Cancerous growth
Lifespan
To set off an unstoppable chain reaction
DNA
To get to the heart of
Emergency room
To be unlikely to harm somebody
Early trial
To go through gene therapy trial
Time-bomb
To be in one’s infancy
To survive a fatal disease
A waiting list
To rule something out completely
To progress (about a tumour)
The moment of truth
To maintain something
To look dramatically different
To make a breakthrough
To spot something
To be vulnerable to
To have high rates of
To develop a disease
To take a blood sample
To lack (a crucial repair gene)
A preventive measure
To help early detection
To improve chances of survival
A rapidly growing threat
Somebody’s prospects
Literally
To opt for something
To delude oneself
Scan
To tame a disease