The Triune Brain

The TOEFL often features talks with a science theme so today I decided to find one that is also an IELTS Academic theme (in the reading section) because listening to an explanation can often help to explain a Reading exercise that's based on the same subject. Please note, I am not a Psychologist so this is new to me too and only intended as a practice listening!

Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash

This video explains the Triune Brain and gives you the opportunity to learn some very specific vocabulary which is listed below.

The questions are under the video. Read the questions then watch and take notes. See if you can answer some questions without listening again.

1. What will the Triune Brain Theory most likely explain? 
2. What do we have high and low levels of when we feel "hijacked"?
3. What is the front part of the brain called?
4. What is its purpose?
5. What is the blue part of the brain called?
6. What is controlled by this part?
7. What is the red part associated with?
8. Do they share the same blood supply,
9. What does a SPEC scan show us?
10. What happens to the blood flow when we are faced with adversity and what is the corresponding change to our behaviour?
11. He talks about seeing a tiger footprint in the jungle. What were the two speeds mentioned in reference to the brain?
12. Give another term for the yellow, blue and red parts of the brain (the 4 F's is a not quite as it seems!)
13. What happens to the social inhibitions part of the brain when we get emotional?

In other videos, the red part of the brain is called the Reptillian part and is considered to be the oldest part of the brain.

This information is used by therapists to help people manage their reacions to situations and stress. It could be useful to know in an exam!

NEW VOCABULARY

Triune
Adversity
Freeze
Neocortex
Limbic
Cortisol
Oxytocin
Injection
Wisdom

ANSWERS

1. What will the Triune Brain Theory most likely explain? Our reaction to stress and adversity.
2. What do we have high and low levels of when we feel "hijacked"? High levels of cortisol and adrenalin, low levels of oxytocin.
3. What is the front part of the brain called? The Neocortex
4. What is its purpose? It is for rational, creative, analytic, linguistic thought and for deciding between socially appropriate or inappropriate behaviours.
5. What is the blue part of the brain called? The Limbic part
6. What is controlled by this part? Emotions
7. What is the red part associated with? Fight or flight and reproduction
8. Do they share the same blood supply, No, there are 3 blood supplies.
9. What does a specscan show us? It shows the way our brains process situations  by monitoring blood flow and producing a "movie" of the patterns.
10. What happens to the blood flow when we are faced with adversity and what is the corresponding change to our behaviour? The blood flow is reduced in the Neocortex and increased in the Limbic and back part.
11. He talks about seeing a tiger footprint in the jungle. What were the two speeds mentioned in reference to the brain? The Neocortex works slowly at 1.3 seconds and the other part works at 0.09 seconds.
12. Give another term for the yellow, blue and red parts of the brain (the 4 F's is a not quite as it seems!) Yellow = intelligence, Blue = wisdom, Red is the 4 F's - fight, flight, freeze and....Reproduction 
13. What happens to the social inhibitions part of the brain when we get emotional? It shuts down and we lose an understanding of time.

Supermassive Black Holes

Supermassive Black Holes

A You-Tube video from Newsy

Level B1+

This latest post is a long time coming! No reason except other distractions kept me away from blogger!

While I have your attention, if anyone notices any links missing in previous posts, then send me a message via the message box at the end of the post that has the problem - thank you!

Supermassive black holes.....you may know the song by Muse with the same title - sorry, I'm not posting about that today but instead, listen to a very short, pretty easy, clip about supermassive black holes. 

The questions are below:

1.What size can supermassive black holes reach?

2. What is the rate at which a normal black hole grows?

3. Why is it impossible for supermassive black holes to have grown at the same rate as normal black holes?

4. How are normal black holes made?

5. What may have helped supermassive black holes form and how?

6. What is being built for us to find the oldest light in the universe?

The mystery of Supermassive Black Holes

Scroll down for the answers.


That's all for today, but if you want to listen to a TOEFL talking exercise on Black Holes which is much more challenging, here is a link:

TOEFL Black Holes Talk

This talk is difficult due to the vocabulary used. Here is a list of some of the words you should know before listening:
nuclear fusion reactor
core
mass
upper-hand
implodes
stellar material
supernova
dense
singularity and event horizon
perimeter
radius
squared
lens
prism

Answers to The mystery of Supermassive Black Holes

1.  Supermassive black holes can reach masses of more than ten billion times that of our sun.
2. Normal black holes grow at a certain rate, usually taking a million years or more to reach a substantial size.

3. Black holes were already around about a billion years after the Big Bang which is not enough time for them to reach their enormous sizes at anything like the normal rate.

4. Normally, gas clouds collapse into stars which collapse into black holes.

5. Powerful forces like supersonic streams of gas and dark matter kept the clouds from collapsing, so they grew larger until their gravity became powerful enough to overcome those obstacles, jumpstarting an enormous blackhole seed that’s bigger than any new black hole today.

6. Ground and space-based telescopes are being built to enable us to see the oldest light in the universe.

Magnetism: Motors and Generators

Anyone who knew me at school may remember that I didn't really like Physics but studied it and passed final exams in it and there I stopped, thinking I had left it behind forever! Then TOEFL came along and those dreaded science reading and listening questions!

So, after trying a few practice questions for the AP Physics exam which I found online and realising I had not forgotton everything, I decided to post this pretty easy listening! If I can do it, so can you!

The video is introduced by a guy then changes to an American woman:

  


1 What are two of the most important applications of the relationship between electricity and magnetism?


2 What sort of energy does the electric generator convert into electrical energy?

3 Name the five parts of the motor described.

4 How does the commutator move?


5 What happens when current is passed through the circuit?


6 The electrical motor converts electrical c....................... into mechanical f.................

7 What two things were changed to convert the electrical motor into an electrical generator?

8 Did you notice these two idioms: "Like two sides of a coin" and "on the other hand"? Can you explain them?


This is easy to listen to but you do have to concentrate to understand the technical details which is so typical of TOEFL listening exercises.

Scroll down for answers below:

What are two of the most important applications of the relationship between electricity and magnetism?

The electric motor and the electric generator.

What sort of energy does the electric generator convert into electrical energy?

Mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy using electro-magnetic induction. 

Name the five parts of the motor described.

Battery, commutator, brushes, copper wire loop, permanent magnet

How does the commutator move?

It rotates freely rubbing against the brushes.

What happens when current is passed through the circuit?

It creates a magnetic field around the wire which interacts with the field of the permanent magnet to create a rotation of the loop.

The electrical motor converts electrical current into mechanical force.

What two things were changed to convert the electrical motor into an electrical generator?

A windmill rotor was attached to the copper wire loop and a bulb replaced the battery.

Did you notice these two idioms: "Like two sides of a coin" and "on the other hand"?

Can you explain them?

"Like two sides of the same coin" means two different ideas that are closely related. For example, reward and punishment are two different ways of controlling people.

"On the other hand" is used to introduce an alternative explanation of something that has just been explained.

Smartwater to fight crime

This came up on the news today so any plans I had for another post got pushed to one side as I thought this was such a simple yet effective idea and I wanted to share it with you.

It's the use of coded water to catch criminals after a crime has been committed - watch the video to find out more and answer the questions below!

Here is a link to a Fox news report about it:

SmartWater CSI 


Which area in the US is the first to use SmartWater to fight crime?

What difficulties did the British ex-Police Officer talk about with regard to bringing criminals to court?

What happens when a person breaks into a business that is protected by SmartWater?

If that person is caught, what does the police officer do to show the effects of Smartwater CSI?

How do they know if that particular person committed the crime they are investigating?

How can SmartWater be used in the home?

Is Fort Lauderdale enthusiastic about using SmartWater?

What is going to happen in the neighbourhood of South Middle River?

How is it going to be financed?

"We're going to roll it out in Fort Lauderdale..." Can you explain this sentence?

Give 3 synonyms of  "criminals" and which were mentioned in the commentary.

There you go - a quick listening exercise that includes some useful vocabulary.

And one more thing...........If you decide to follow my G+ group, then PLEASE say hello and who you are when you add me as it would be nice to hear from you - at least that way I know you are really human and not computer generated!

Thanks and Byeeeeeeee!

Crabs and Cars

Hi everyone!

Here is a video clip for you to watch and then answer questions about. It is from Science Daily which is a great resource for those of you doing TOEFL. It is a light-hearted look at some research that is currently underway and I hope you find it informative as well as entertaining.

Before getting to the video though, just run through this list of words/phrases and check your understanding of them using a dictionary:

Nimbly

Tricky

Strain

Guages

Wiggling

To set the stage

Common

Now here are the questions you need to answer after watching the video clip:

What is the main theme of this video clip ?

Why do the scientists want to study animals in particular ?

What sort of surfaces can the animals move through ?

In what two ways are their movements measured ?

- Ghost Crab

- Lizard

What is the other thing that the physicists are measuring ?

Why are they doing this ?

On what sort of creature is the robot designed by engineers at Pennsylvania University based?

Do they know how to design a car based on this technology yet ?

In what way is motion said to be changing ?

When you have read through the questions, play the video and try to answer them when it is finished. Here is the link: Crabs and Cars 

Here are the answers: Answers Crabs and Cars

I hope you enjoyed it and learnt something! Keep an eye on my blog and I will put more up to keep you going! 

 

 

The Dry Ice and Dunes on Mars

 Today's short post is based on a video clip I found on the NASA website. It reminded me of those TOEFL lectures about natural phenomena and is nicely presented. It is also available for download and sharing so a big thank you to NASA for that!

I haven't put any vocabulary in today as I think for Upper Intermediate and Advanced students, this should be pretty easy! Just watch the video clip and answer the questions below. For students who are a lower level in English, let me know if you would like vocabulary included in this post by sending me a message in the box below!  

When you click on the link below, you should go directly to You Tube and the correct video clip. If it doesn't work, you can find the clip on the NASA.org website by typing Dry Ice and Dunes into the search box in the website.

Dry Ice and Dunes

1. What kind of planet do we tend to think Mars is?
2. What sort of planet is it actually?
3. What is at the North Pole of Mars?
4. What surrounds this feature?
5. What is the name of the rock found there and what is it likened to on Earth?
6. In what seasons does it get extremely cold?
7. What happens to the ground when it is cold?
8. The sequence of events during Spring is described several times. List the main events in the final explanation that is given. 
9. How often does this happen?
10. What conclusion is offered with regard to Mars and Earth?

And to finish, here is a link to some amazing images from Mars courtesy of National Geographic. Mars photos

Here are the Answers to this post: Answers Dry Ice and Dunes

Hope you enjoyed the clip...Bye for now!!