BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'The natural world' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocabulary!

6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Neil. The 20th of July 1969 was a big day in history. Do you know why, Sam?

Wasn't that when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon?

Right. But it's often forgotten that some of the most dramatic photographs taken

on the Apollo space mission weren't of the Moon at all, they were of Earth.

It wasn't until we went to the Moon that we really saw the size of Earth's oceans

and named ourselves the Blue Planet.

Despite most of our planet being covered by water,

the ocean remains a place of unexplored mystery,

of sea monsters like Moby Dick, and the Kraken.

In this programme, we'll be diving into the deep seas,

seeing some of its strange sights,

and, as usual, learning some related vocabulary too.

But before that, I have a question for you, Sam.

You were right when you said that most of the Earth is covered by water.

But do you know exactly how much of the Earth's surface is ocean?

Is it a) 50%? b) 60%? Or c) 70%?

Well, it is called the Blue Planet, so I'll say c) 70%.

OK. I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

The first thing to say about the deep ocean is that the rules of life down there

are very different from the rules on land.

Sunlight cannot reach the very bottom of the ocean,

a place between two and three kilometres down, known as the deep abyss,

so it is totally dark and extremely cold

and the weight of water creates massive amounts of pressure.

This extreme environment is stranger than fiction,

and home to things which seem to be from another planet,

things like 'hydrothermal vents' —

volcanic hot springs which break through the ocean floor.

Oceanographer Alex Rogers joined an expedition

which discovered a hydrothermal vent in the ocean near Antarctica.

He told his story to BBC World Service programme Discovery.

Well, the first problem is actually finding them,

because they cover a very small area,

so it's literally like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

But when you do come across them, I mean, the deep ocean is food-limited,

so life is quite thin on the ground,

and then suddenly your camera just stumbles into this area

where there is just abundant life all over the sea floor and around these vents.

Alex says that finding these small thermal vents at the bottom of the ocean

is like 'finding a needle in a haystack', an idiom meaning 'almost impossible to find

because the area you have to search is so large'.

Because there's no sunlight on the ocean floor,

it's hard for plants and creatures to survive,

so forms of life are 'thin on the ground' — there are only a few of them.

Alex cannot find anything to film with his camera, until suddenly he nears the vent

and sees plants and animals everywhere.

Here, there is more than enough, or abundant, life.

To picture a hydrothermal vent, imagine an underwater volcano.

Billowing clouds of what looks like smoke

heat the seawater to a temperature of 386°C.

This creates a warm environment of all kinds of weird and wonderful creatures,

including vent mussels, tube worms and blind 'yeti crabs',

so called because of their hairy claws,

some of which get cooked because the water is so hot.

What's amazing is that while these vents may be as old as Earth itself,

they were only discovered in the 1970s.

So, are there more mysteries hiding in the deep ocean?

That's the question BBC World Service's Discovery

asked marine biologist Kerry Howell. Here's what she said.

I have absolutely no doubt that there is plenty more to discover down there.

It's really vast, I mean, it's quite hard to get your head around

how vast the deep sea is, and it is most of our planet.

So, and we've barely scratched the surface of exploration of this unique environment,

and if you think that vents were only discovered in the '70s, you know,

there's great potential for a lot else to come, I think.

We've only been exploring this environment for the last 150 years.

I mean, before that we didn't think there was any life down there at all.

So, it's a very young science, is deep sea biology.

And so, there's, yeah, there's a lot more to discover. I have no doubt.

In terms of ocean exploration,

Kerry thinks we've only 'scratched the surface' —

found out a little bit about something, but not enough to fully understand it.

That's because the ocean is 'vast' — extremely big.

So vast, in fact, that it's 'hard to get your head around it',

or 'difficult to really understand'.

But how vast exactly, Sam?

In my question, I asked how much of the Earth's surface is covered by water.

Mm, and I said it was c) 70%.

Which was the correct answer!

Well, 71% to be precise, but either way, it's hard to get your head around

or, difficult to fully understand.

OK, we'd better recap the other vocabulary too,

starting with the idiom, 'finding a needle in a haystack',

meaning that something is almost impossible to find,

because you have to search so widely for it.

If something is 'thin on the ground', there's very little of it,

but if it's 'abundant', there's plenty or more than enough.

When you 'only scratch the surface',

you find out a little about something, but not enough to fully understand it.

And finally, 'vast' is another way of saying 'extremely large, huge or enormous'.

Unlike the vast oceans, our time is limited to just six minutes and it's up.

So, join us again soon for more amazing adventures

and, of course, useful vocabulary, here at 6 Minute English.

— Goodbye for now! — Goodbye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Sam.

And I'm Neil.

Have you ever made a snowman or enjoyed a cold drink on a hot summer's day?

Slippery in winter and cooling in summer,

ice is made when water gets so cold it freezes.

But there's much more to ice than skiing holidays and cold drinks.

Yes, in an exciting discovery, the James Webb Space Telescope

recently detected the coldest ices ever in outer space,

something NASA scientists think could explain the origins of life on Earth.

For years, scientists have debated how life started on our planet.

Billions of years ago, long before the dinosaurs, animals or even plants existed,

the Earth had a watery environment of oxygen-free gases and chemicals

known as the 'primordial soup'.

It had the potential for life to develop, but something was missing.

So how did we jump from the 'primordial soup'

to the first living plants, animals, and eventually humans?

And how does ice fit into the story?

That's what we'll be finding out in this programme,

and, as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But first, I have a question for you, Neil.

We know ice is frozen water, but do you know the chemical symbol for water?

Is it a) H2O? b) HO2? Or c) H2O2?

Well, I really hope I get this right. I think the answer is H2O.

OK. We'll find out or check if you're right later in the programme.

Astronomer Professor Melissa McClure worked with the NASA scientists

who found ice on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

Here she explains to BBC World Service programme Science in Action

one theory linking ice to the beginnings of life on Earth.

There's sort of these two alternatives

for how you could have had life arise on Earth,

and one is that the very basic building blocks —

like water and methane and CO2 —

like, those molecules were definitely brought to Earth by ices in comets,

and maybe once they were on Earth, then they reacted with either geothermal heat

or some kind of lightning strike to form more complex molecules.

Earth's primordial soup lacked the 'building blocks of life' —

a phrase describing the most basic biological and chemical units

needed to support living things, elements like oxygen and carbon.

Professor McClure thinks these missing elements

were brought to Earth in 'comets' — large bright balls of dirt and ice

which travel around the Sun in outer space.

It's possible that when comets hit Earth billions of years ago,

elements in the ice were scattered and struck by 'lightning' —

a bright flash of light produced by electricity moving in the atmosphere.

This resulted in the complex molecules needed for life on Earth.

Exactly how this happened is not known,

but it involves 'biomolecules', molecules like DNA which are found in living things.

Ice is not a biomolecule, but when it mixes with carbon,

the atoms in ice molecules change to produce complex molecules

and that's when interesting things start to happen.

Here's Professor McClure again,

explaining more to BBC World Service's Science in Action.

If they have a carbon atom in them then they're complex organic molecules,

so things like very simple alcohols, like methanol or ethanol,

like what you would drink, are complex organic molecules

and these molecules could react and start a sort of a reaction chain

that would eventually lead to something like a biomolecule.

Ice can react with other elements to create 'organic' molecules,

for example the alcohol, methanol.

Here, the adjective 'organic' means 'related to living plants and animals'.

That's different from how we use the word to talk about ‘organic food',

meaning 'food that hasn't been grown using artificial chemicals'.

When these organic molecules met the primordial soup, so the theory goes,

it produced a 'chain reaction' —

a series of chemical reactions in which one change causes another.

It was this chain reaction which created the first living cells

and eventually, humans.

Quite impressive for a little piece of frozen water!

Speaking of water, Sam,

what was the answer to your question about the chemical symbol for water?

I said it was H2O.

Which was the right answer, Neil!

Each molecule of water, and ice, contains two atoms of H, that's hydrogen,

joined to one atom of oxygen.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned from the programme,

starting with 'primordial soup' — the environment on Earth

before there were any plants or animals, which created the conditions for life.

The phrase the 'building blocks of life'

refers to the most basic biological and chemical units

needed to support living plants and animals.

A 'comet' is a large object travelling in space

which orbits the sun and has a bright, burning tail.

'Lightning' is a flash of bright light

produced by electricity moving in the atmosphere.

The adjective 'organic' means relating to living plants and animals.

And ‘organic food' means food which has been grown without using chemicals.

And finally, a 'chain reaction' is a series of chemical reactions

in which one change causes another, which in turn, causes another.

Once again, our six minutes are up.

— Goodbye! — Bye-bye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Roy.

Whether it's salmon swimming upriver to lay their eggs

or cheetahs running faster than a car,

animals can do incredible things with their bodies.

Human bodies are no less incredible — just think of Olympic swimmers and sprinters.

Our bodies work using just the energy provided by what we eat.

This means that the human body has to be incredibly efficient,

using as little energy as possible to do what it needs to.

Yet even with our efficient bodies,

no-one can run as fast a cheetah, not even Olympic champions!

In this programme, we'll be asking exactly how efficient is the human body?

We'll be comparing human bodies' performance against each other,

and against some animals too.

And, of course, we'll be learning some new and useful vocabulary as well.

But before that, I have a question for you, Roy.

Efficiency involves an input and an output.

It‘s about the relationship between the amount of energy coming in —

in other words, the food we eat — and the amount of the energy going out —

the usual movements and activities of day-to-day life.

So, according to this definition, which animal is the most efficient?

Is it a) an ant? b) a whale? Or c) a human?

Humans are the most efficient animal.

OK, Roy. I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

To find out more about how the human body works,

it's helpful to know how our species evolved.

Here's Herman Pontzer,

Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University,

speaking with BBC World Service programme CrowdScience.

Humans are remarkably efficient. We walk on two very straight legs.

If a human stands next to a dog, for example,

the dog has got that funny bent classic dogleg shape, right?

And that crouched posture is really typical of most animals.

Humans have a very straight leg,

and so because of that, and because our legs are pretty long for our body size —

humans are part of the ape family — we're quite efficient.

Humans are apes, and evolved from the same origin as gorillas and chimpanzees.

One big difference, however, is that humans walk upright on straight legs,

whereas most animals are 'crouched' —

bent over at the knee and leaning forwards to the ground.

This crouched posture is not an efficient way to move.

Other animals, like dogs, have flat backs

and move on four bent legs called 'doglegs' —

something bent in the shape of a dog's leg.

The word 'dogleg' can also mean a sharp bend in a road or path.

So, the design of the human body makes it efficient compared to some other animals —

but how do humans compare with each other?

How do Kenyan athletes break long-distance running records,

while many of us struggle to run for the bus?

The main reason, according to Loughborough University physiologist Rhona Pearce

is training.

But there may be other factors too,

as she explained to BBC World Service's CrowdScience.

Age probably comes into it

in that there's probably an optimal age for tendon elasticity.

That drops off as you get older,

so probably there's a sweet spot in age for running economy.

So, in terms of weight, it depends what you weight is made up of,

so if you've got more muscle mass, that's going to help you,

whereas if it's more fat then you've got to carry it.

Efficient running depends on having flexible muscles and tendons,

and this flexibility 'drops off', or decreases, as we get older.

This means that, in terms of running, the body has an 'optimal age' —

the best age, or the age at which you are most likely to succeed.

Body composition also plays a part.

Efficient runners need high 'muscle mass' —

the amount of muscle in your body, as opposed to fat or bone.

So, training, age, muscle mass and genetics

and are all factors which, when they come together, produce a 'sweet spot' —

the best possible combination of factors and circumstances.

And, from the evidence, it looks like my answer to your question was right, Sam.

Ah, yes, I asked which animal was the most efficient and you said it was c) a human.

Well, I'm sorry to say, but that was the wrong answer!

The funny thing is — and scientists still don't understand why —

but the bigger the animal, the less energy it uses, kilo for kilo.

So, the most efficient animal...

— Is also the biggest — a whale! — Mm-hm.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary from the programme, starting with 'crouched' —

a position which is bent at the knee, leaning forward and closer to the ground.

A 'dogleg' can describe something which has a bent shape,

especially a sharp bend in a road or path.

The 'optimal age' to do something is the best age to do it.

If something 'drops off', it decreases in quality or quantity.

A 'sweet spot' is the best possible combination of factors or circumstances.

And, finally, 'muscle mass' is the amount of muscle in your body,

as opposed to fat or bone.

Once again, our six minutes are up.

— Bye for now! — Bye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Rob.

And I'm Sam.

Now, when we think about famous figures in the history of science,

the name of Charles Darwin often comes up.

Darwin is most famous for his 'theory of evolution',

the idea that animals change and adapt in response to their environment.

In the 1830s, he visited the Galapagos, a string of islands in the Pacific Ocean

famous because of the unique animals living there.

It was while in the Galapagos, observing small birds called finches,

that Darwin started forming his theory of evolution.

But today, the animals of the Galapagos

face the same pressures as animals across the world

because of the effects of man-made climate change.

Warming sea waters and more frequent extreme weather events

are affecting animals as much as humans, so, in this programme,

we'll be asking can animals evolve to deal with climate change?

But first, I have a question for you, Sam,

and it's about Charles Darwin's trip to the Galapagos.

In 1831, Darwin set sail around the world, collecting samples of 'flora and fauna',

the plants and animals, of the places he visited.

But what was the name of the ship he sailed in?

a) HMS Beagle? b) HMS Victory? Or c) SS Great Britain?

Hmm, maybe it was b) HMS Victory?

— Are you sure? — No!

OK! Well, I'll reveal the correct answer later in the programme.

Now, it may have been the Galapagos finches

that started Charles Darwin thinking about how animals adapt to their environment

but, as naturalist Kiyoko Gotanda explained

to BBC World Service programme The Climate Question,

Darwin's first impression of the small birds wasn't very good.

When Darwin got to the Galapagos Islands,

he actually wasn't that interested in the finches —

they were kind of a drab colour and they didn't have a very interesting song.

He sampled, though, the finches from different islands,

and so when he got back to England and he was looking at all the variation

in beak shape and size, and body size and shape,

and he was recalling how certain finches were found on certain islands

but not on other islands.

In contrast to more colourful birds like Galapagos parrots,

the finches Darwin observed were 'drab',

dull and boring-looking, with little colour.

Instead, what Darwin noticed were variations in the finches' 'beak' —

the hard, pointed part of a bird's mouth.

Finches born with a 'beak' that could help them get more food

were more likely to survive and have babies.

Over time, as the birds passed on their successful genes,

they adapted to fit in with their environment — what we know as 'evolution'.

So, if animals can evolve to survive their environment,

can they also evolve to cope with the impact humans are having on the climate?

Well, there's already some evidence to show they can.

Studies on birds in the Brazilian Amazon

and red deer on the Isle of Rum, in Scotland,

show warmer temperatures have caused animals to evolve smaller bodies.

It's easier to keep cool when you're small!

American conservationist Thor Hanson

records and measures anole lizards in the Caribbean.

He wants to see how the effects of man-made climate change,

in this case hurricanes, is affecting the lizards.

Listen to what Thor found out

as he speaks with presenters of BBC World Service's The Climate Question.

What you can see is that large toe pads and strong front legs

give some lizards a tighter grip.

When they do start to let go

and their body starts flapping in the air like a flag,

smaller back legs reduce the drag

and allow them to cling on and survive the hurricane.

So the survivors were those lizards with those characteristics,

and they passed those traits along to their offspring.

Thor's lizards developed stronger front legs and smaller back legs,

allowing them to 'cling on', hold on to something tightly,

when hurricanes pass through.

It's this 'trait', a genetically-determined characteristic,

that allows the lizards to survive, and is passed on to their babies.

Thor checked other areas of the Caribbean where hurricanes were frequent

and found the same traits in lizards there: proof of evolution in action.

But whereas we often think of evolution happening over hundreds,

even thousands of years,

the changes in the Caribbean lizards happened in around 40 years,

something that would have surprised Charles Darwin.

Which reminds me of your question, Rob.

Ah, yes, I asked you for the name of the ship Darwin sailed around the world in.

Darwin's ship was called the HMS Beagle

and, appropriately enough, it was named after an animal —

a beagle is a type of dog.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary from this programme about 'evolution',

the way living things adapt to their environment

and pass these adaptations on to their children.

'Flora and fauna' is another way of saying the plants and animals of a place.

'Drab' means dull and colourless in appearance.

A bird's 'beak' is the hard, pointed part of its mouth.

'To cling on' means 'to hold on very tightly'.

And finally, a 'trait' is a genetically-determined characteristic.

Once again, our six minutes are up!

Join us again soon for more interesting topics and useful vocabulary

here at 6 Minute English.

— Goodbye for now! — Bye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Sam.

Over the past 18 months, we've heard a lot about the human 'immune system' —

the cells in our bodies that fight diseases, like coronavirus.

We know that, in humans, the bloodstream carries immune cells around our body.

But what about trees and plants?

They don't have blood, so how do they protect themselves?

That's a good question, Sam, and the answer involves memory.

Us humans store memories in our brain, but our body also remembers things,

including stressful situations from the past, which it stores in our genes.

The information gets passed on to our children genetically.

But surely trees don't have memories, Neil!

I mean, do you think a tree can remember being young

or what it was doing last year?

Well, not exactly, but trees grow rings — a layer of wood for each year of growth.

That could be a kind of memory.

In this programme, we'll be asking whether trees can remember —

and if so, does it make them stronger and better able to fight disease?

But before that, I have a question for you, Sam.

As I said, trees grow a new ring every year

and, by counting them, we can estimate their age.

One of Earth's longest living trees is the Great Bristlecone Pine,

found on the west coast of America.

But how long can these trees live?

Is it a) over 1,000 years? b) over 3,000 years? Or c) over 5,000 years?

Wow, it'd be a job to count the rings on those trees!

I'll say b) over 3,000 years.

OK, Sam, we'll reveal the correct answer later.

Unlike us, trees don't have blood and bones

to protect them from outside attacks,

so how exactly does a tree's immune system work?

That's what BBC World Service programme CrowdScience

asked bioscientist Jurriaan Ton.

Here's what he said.

Plants in particular need to have a very efficient immune system

for two important reasons.

Firstly, they sit at the bottom of the food chain,

so there are a lot of opportunistic organisms out there,

including insect herbivores and microbial pathogens

who want to tap into that biochemical energy that is stored in plants.

The other reason is plants are rooted to the ground —

they cannot escape from the stressful conditions in their environment.

It's hard for trees to protect themselves.

Unlike animals, they can't run away,

and they're at the bottom of the 'food chain' —

the plants and animals linked in a chain of eating weaker things

and then being eaten by stronger ones.

Rabbits eat grass and, in turn, are eaten by foxes.

Right. If you are at the bottom of the 'food chain', everything wants to eat you,

including 'opportunistic' animals.

If something is 'opportunistic',

it takes advantage of a situation to gain some benefit for itself.

Tree leaves are opportunities for hungry insects and caterpillars to eat.

So, trees need immunity because they're under attack,

either from disease or from living things wanting to eat them.

But what about memory, Sam?

If trees can remember stress — types of insects that eat it, for example —

they might be better prepared in future.

For me, stress is a work deadline or moving house,

but for trees it's more basic, something like not getting enough water.

Dr Estrella Luna-Diez believes trees record stress in their rings.

A small ring, showing that the tree didn't grow much that year,

indicates some outside stress.

She explained more to BBC World Service programme CrowdScience.

Our hypothesis would be that, depending on the level of that stress —

so if it was a really long-lasting drought of a few years —

then maybe the tree can remember it for a long time,

because it needs to adapt to that hostile environment.

Now, maybe the hypothesis would be the other way around,

like if it maybe was a very dry July, for instance,

maybe the tree is not even that bothered and then it forgets within one year,

because that memory of the stress

is gonna be holding it back on its growth, for instance.

Dr Luna-Diez has a 'hypothesis' —

an idea that explains how or why something happens

which has yet to be tested to see if it's correct.

Her 'hypothesis' is that trees remember stressful outside events,

something like a 'drought' — a long period of time with little or no rain.

For a tree which has lived for hundreds of years,

it might be useful to remember that 1947 was a very dry summer.

On the other hand, maybe that stressful year is best forgotten.

Maybe the tree is 'not bothered' —

not worried or concerned because it's not important to it.

So, trees do have memories — but they don't let it get them stressed!

Maybe that's the secret to a long life!

But what's the answer to your question, Neil?

Ah, yes, I asked you how long Earth's oldest trees,

Great Bristlecone Pines, can live.

I said b) over 3,000 years. Was I right?

You were wrong, I'm afraid, Sam.

They live even longer — over 5,000 years, in fact —

all the way back to the Bronze Age.

What memories those trees must have — if only they could speak!

Right, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned, starting with 'immune system' —

the body's way of fighting infection and disease.

A 'food chain' describes how plants and animals get eaten and eat each other.

'Opportunistic' people take advantage of a situation

to get some benefit for themselves.

A 'hypothesis' is an idea to explain how or why something happens

that hasn't been tested to see if it's correct.

A 'drought' is a long period of time with little or no rain.

And, finally, if you're 'not bothered' about something,

you're not worried, because it's not important to you.

Our six minutes are over. Bye for now!

Bye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.