Computers learn a new language

Computer scientists have developed a program that can teach itself new languages. Feed it a piece of text, in any language, and the program analyses its structure and can produce new, meaningful sentences.

Conventional translation software programs have all the rules of grammar coded into them. But the ADIOS (Automatic Distillation of Structure) program, developed by researchers at Cornell University in New York and Tel Aviv University in Israel, infers the building blocks of a language using statistical and algebraic processes. The software learns the grammar of a new language by searching text for patterns. The researchers think the program will be useful in cognitive science and bioinformatics, as well as in applications such as voice recognition.

analyses 分析

conventional 传统的

distillation 净化（过程）

statistical 统计的

algebraic 代数的

cognitive 认知的

bioinformatics 双信息的

A cellphone that warns of illness

People who have the respiratory disease cystic fibrosis might soon be able to predict when they are about to develop debilitating infections using a simple gadget that plugs into a cellphone.

Working with the mobile network O2 , start-up E-San of Oxford, UK, is performing a 50-patient trial with a cystic fibrosis monitoring system at the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

The system uses a cellphone plug-in called a spirometer to measure the strength of a patient's breathing when they blow sharply into it. The reading is sent via a wireless link to a doctor's PC, which has software to predict if an infection is imminent based on a knowledge of their personal breathing strength levels. If necessary, the GP can then prescribe antibiotics to fight the bug before it hospitalises the patient.

respiratory 呼吸系统

cystic fibrosis 胆囊纤维化

debilitating 使人虚弱的

spirometer 呼吸量计

antibiotics 抗生素

hospitalise 送……进医院治疗

Transgenic Plants

For several thousand years, farmers have been altering the genetic makeup of the crops they grow.

Remarkably, many of our modern crops were developed by people who lacked an understanding of the scientific basis of plant breeding.

Image above are results of insect infestation on Bt (right) and non-Bt (left) cotton bolls.

Canola is a major oilseed crop. Nutritionally improved oils are the goal of transgenic research in canola.

Centuries of breeding of domestic plants and animals had shown that useful traits—speed in horses, strength in oxen, and larger fruits in crops—can be accentuated by controlled mating. It was not until 1865 that an Augustinian monk named Gregor Mendel found that individual traits are determined by discrete"factors", later known as genes, which are inherited from the parents. His rigorous approach transformed agricultural breeding from an art to a science.

However, the intrduction of transgentic technology changed the modern agriculture breeding a lot. There are great numbers of transgentic products around us nowadays. A transgenic crop plant contains a gene or genes that have been artificially inserted instead of the plant acquiring them through pollination.

Question 2 :Have you ever seen or eaten transgentic agricultural products? What do you think of transgentic technology?

CROSS

What determines an object will land when it is thrown? The ______(D) at which it is thrown and its upword ______(A) are both factors.

I spend an ______(B) night waiting for the test results.

Car manufactures try to design cars that are "______"(C), which means the cars are shaped to let air flow smoothly around them without offering much resisitance.

Mental is a good ______(E) of heat. That means it makes an easy path that heat can travel along.

DOWN

When racing cars are designed, a great deal of care is taken to ensure that they are ______(1) so they are unlikely to turn over.

Gaps in the roadway of bridges are there to allow for ______(2) and contraction from temperature changes.

Much of the energy an industrial nation needs for transport and manufacturing comes from fossil fuels such as ______(3), oil and gas.

Ships often use ______(4) to discover how deep the ocean is beneath them or to detect shoals of fish.

Sound waves entering the ear set up vibration in the ear ______(5).

Read & Comprehension

___________________________________

Illustrated Science

___________________________________

Crossword

A.________B.________C.________D.________E.______

1.________2.________3.________4.________5.________

上期Crossword答案

A.yield B. population C. expert D. extinct E. maze F. grazer G. melt H. dew I.locationJ.recycle1. ignore2. nightmare 3. moist 4. species 5. nest 6. calorie 7. addition 8. reserve