Vocabulary

claim - заявлять

eyeball – глазное яблоко

to get launched – быть выпущенным

fossil fuel – ископаемое топливо

frequency - широта

wide - широкий

Notes

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon, whose structure is one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp²-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice.

The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 was awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene".

Exercises

Ex.1 Find in the text the words having the similar meaning to:

a) make easier b) quick c) use d) very small e) produce

Ex.2 These are answers to questions about the text. Write the questions:

1. Nanotechnology has gained much momentum in recent years due to its wide application of its principles and products.

2. The device is packed with a pressure sensor, a battery, and a microprocessor among other equipments.

3. The nano device will take many years to get launched for commercial purposes.

4. It can run on almost any fuel such as fossil fuel.

5.

Ex.3 Are the following sentences true or false? If they are false, correct them:

1. Every year a variety of microchips are created and improved, the scientists are inventing new ideas to improve and simplify our lives.

2. Bloom Box, a new innovation by Bloom Energy to produce electricity, can keep running the power on an average of up to 100 years.

3. Scientists at the University of Michigan, UK, have come out with what they claim as world’s smallest computer that measures just one square millimetre.

4. World’s smallest transistor is the first true electronic nanocomponent, which is one atom thick and one atom wide.

5. It is from graphene that the world’s smallest transistor is created.

Ex.4. Work in small groups. Discuss the predictions about technology. Decide which ones are most likely to happen and when they will happen.

1. Medical robots will carry out operations, controlled by surgeons who may be hundreds of kilometers away.

2. Tiny robots will be injected into our bodies to deliver medicine and to perform surgery from the inside.

3. Planes will be controlled by computers which think like humans and are therefore afraid to crash.

4. Cars will be made of composites, plastic, and fiberglass, and will be assembled in six hours.

5. Cars will automatically drive at safe speeds and safe distances from each other.

6. You will be able to download your brain to a computer before you die.

7. Microchips will be stuck to your skin to form different circuits, including computers. You'll be able to watch a DVD using your arm as a screen.

8. Business will be carried out in 3 -D virtual space, not in offices.

9. Active make-up will change to any shade you want.

10. Jobs like teaching children or nursing will continue to be done by people, but most other jobs will be done by robots and computers.

Project: class survey

1. Study the list of the ten most important technological innovations of the past 60 years. Work in groups, and order them 1 to 10 (1 = most important, 10 = least important). Then ask your teacher, and compare with results from a recent survey in the UK.

Innovation	Order
ABS brakes
Air bags
Credit cards
Digital camera
DNA testing
Laser eye surgery
Long-life, low-energy light bulbs
Microwave oven
Mobile phone
Smoke detector

2. Find out from other students what they consider the most important technological innovations in their lives. Make a list of the ten most important for your class.

Part 2