Unit 4. Did Darwin's Finches Do Math?
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 458.
PART B. SCIENCE ITSELF
Task 1. Match the words with their definitions:
| 1. a beak | 1. 1a small amount or piece that is taken from something, so that it can be tested or examined; 2a single example of something, often an animal or plant |
| 2. a finch | 2. postdoctoral research fellow |
| 3. to fine-tune | 3. the hard pointed mouth of a bird [= bill] |
| 4. a postdoc | 4. a small bird with a short beak |
| 5. a specimen | 5. to make very small changes to something such as a machine, system, or plan, so that it works as well as possible |
| 6. a curve | 6. to try to make something fit into a space that is too small, or to try to get into such a space[= squash]; to press something firmly together with your fingers or hand |
| 7. linear | 7. 1 the imaginary line around which a large round object, such as the Earth, turns; 2 a line drawn across the middle of a regular shape that divides it into two equal parts;3 either of the two lines of a graph, by which the positions of points are measured |
| 8. to impose | 8. 1 if someone in authority imposes a rule, punishment, tax etc, they force people to accept it; 2 to force someone to have the same ideas, beliefs etc as you |
| 9. a constraint | 9. 1 a line that gradually bends like part of a circle; 2 a line on a graph that gradually bends and represents a change in the amount or level of something |
| 10. to scale | 10. technical to make writing or a picture the right size for a particular purpose |
| 11. to squeeze | 11. something that limits your freedom to do what you want [= restriction] |
| 12. an axis (PL axes) | 12. a regularly repeated arrangement of shapes, colours, or lines on a surface, usually as decoration: |
| 13. a gene | 13. a plan, idea, or method that is feasible is possible and is likely to work: |
| 14. feasible | 14. 1 consisting of lines, or in the form of a straight line |
| 15. to conserve | 15. 1 to protect something and prevent it from changing or being damaged [= preserve] |
| 16. a pattern | 16. a part of a cell in a living thing that controls what it looks like, how it grows, and how it develops. People get their genes from their parents |
Task 2. Look at the words and phrases given and group them into the table:
Fine-tuned, stout beak, natural selection, postdoc, specimen, curve, linearity, scaling, shearing, axes, gene expression, pattern formation, feasible, property
| general science | biological science | mathematical science |
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