📘 Part 3: Inventions

This episode's vocabulary

Inventive (adj.) - very good at thinking of new and original ideas.

Curiosity (noun) - an eager wish to know or learn about something.

Thrilled (adj.) - extremely happy about something.

To patent (verb) - to get the official legal right to make or sell an invention.

On the whole (idiom) - generally.

To articulate (verb) - able to express thoughts and feelings easily and clearly, or showing this quality.

Eccentric (adj.) - strange or unusual, sometimes in a humorous way.

Rigidity (noun) - the quality of being stiff, fixed, or impossible to bend.

Rare earth (noun) - one of a group of metal chemical elements that are difficult to find in large quantities, and are important for technology and manufacturing.

Beneficiary (noun) - a person or group who receives money, advantages, etc. as a result of something else.

Proliferation (noun) - the fact of something increasing a lot and suddenly in number or amount.

Breakthrough (noun) - an important discovery or event that helps to improve a situation or provide an answer to a problem.

Phenomenon (noun) - something that exists and can be seen, felt, tasted, etc., especially something unusual or interesting.

Nanotechnology (noun) - an area of science that deals with developing and producing extremely small tools and machines by controlling the arrangement of separate atoms.

Nanobot (noun) - an extremely small robot (= a machine controlled by a computer that can do things automatically).

Questions and Answers

M: What qualities do inventors have?

R: Well, not having met any, I really couldn't say for sure. However, it seems they definitely have to be creative, or at least sympathetic in terms of their imaginations in order to come up with their ideas and combine different ones to make a whole new device.

M: What about scientists?

R: Well, I'm not sure scientists would be as creative as inventors since it's their job to discover things which are already there. Maybe they would have to get inventive about how they make the discovery. But a sense of curiosity to find out seems more appropriate.

M: Do all inventions bring benefits to our world?

R: Well, that depends who you ask, doesn't it? I mean, people mining for cobalt for smartphones in inhumane conditions probably aren't too thrilled about it. But billionaires who patented things probably are. On the whole, however, most people seem thankful for their various gadgets, since they allow them to get on with the things they'd like to be doing.

M: Do you think people who haven't been educated in school can invent things?

R: Well, I don't see why not. It might be more difficult for them to articulate the finer details, but that's what you pay engineers to do. Actually, the kind of eccentric character that rejects the rigidity of mainstream education seems like just the kind of person to invent things. Just look at Mark Zuckerberg, I think he dropped out of university, didn't he?

M: What inventions do you think should be improved?

R: Well, they probably all could to some extent. I mean, the extraction of rare earth minerals for phones is quite destructive to people and the environment. So anything to make that happen less often would be beneficial. Something like a cheap and easily accessible replacement, or an improved recycling process would be good for that.

M: What have been some of the most important inventions in the past 100 years?

R: Oh, wow. I mean, again, that depends on the beneficiaries. If we mean the population as a whole, then things like antibiotics have prevented mass deaths from infection. And the Internet has allowed a huge expansion of many economies and industries, as well as the proliferation of all kinds of information. So I would pick those two if I had to choose.

M: What inventions will we have in 20 years?

R: I think if I knew that, that I would be much richer than I am right now. At a guess, it seems like AI will lead to some major breakthroughs, or more of them since it already has done so in medicine. And so I would expect to see more of that.

M: What invention do you think has had the greatest impact on people's lives in your country?

R: In Scotland? That's a good question, to be honest, since I'm not sure there's anything that separates us from the rest of the world in that regard. I would say the internet. I know, it's a pretty international phenomenon. But it's definitely connected people from all corners of the country like never before. I mean, there are isolated islands that can talk to the rest of the world now.

M: And what invention would you like to see in the future?

R: Not really sure. It would be cool to have some sort of nanotechnology, as long as it was carefully controlled since you could achieve a lot with that. But you could also do a lot of damage.

M: Why?

R: Well, I mean, nanotechnology allows you to reformat things at a molecular level. So you could create some really like super strong material, or you completely break apart something or someone. That's quite dangerous.

M: And why would you like to see in nanotechnology?

R: Because I would like to find a way of making myself thin without going to the gym all the time. So if I could just program some nanobots to just filter out all of the stuff in my body that I didn't need to... That I didn't need to use without going to the gym, that would be great.

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: No worries!

Discussion

M: Yeah, so nanotechnology, dear listener. If you want to be super cool and full of awesome, you can go to nationalgeographic.org or RG National Geographic. And you can read an article about nanotechnology. Why? Well, to be an educated person, you should do that. Right? We recommended reading Psychology Today about memory, and also nanotechnology. So pretty much to be ready to talk about engineering, physics, technology, future in your speaking part 3 and also in your essays would be a cool thing to do to make some examples about nano technology. And just like nanotechnology is the understanding and control of materials on the molecular, atomic scale. Yeah?

R: Yes.

M: Molecular and atomic scale. Really high-tech stuff,. Guys, yeah. Nanotechnology allowed scientists to create the nanotubes on which a lady bird, a lady bug was walking. Alright guys, really fascinating stuff. I have no idea what's all about, but it looks really cool and awesome.

R: I have no idea what any of those words mean but...

M: Yeah, nanotechnology is like... What do they do with it? I don't know. So, inventors, inventors should be what? They should be creative, okay? They should be imaginative. So we speak about their imaginations. They should be able to come up with ideas, come up with new ideas. Alright? And combine different ideas to make a whole new device, for example. And, you know, when a person, an inventor, like has this insight. So there is this moment and they call it like, eureka moment?

R: Oh, eureka moment.

M: Ah, eureka. There we go. Yeah. What is a eureka moment?

R: It's when you have the sudden realization of how to make an idea work. I'm not so sure how common that is, to be honest with you. I think most scientific discoveries are very gradual processes.

M: Yeah. But sometimes, like, inventors, they kind of do this, they can't figure it out and then like, all of a sudden, an apple falls down on your head, and then... Eureka! I know! You know? Maybe. So some inventions are thanks to one eureka moment, you can say. And we can also say that most of our pioneering inventions because inventors are pioneers. Pioneers? Like they are the first people to invent this or that thing. So pioneering, an adjective, like something very new that has never been used before. Like pioneering techniques, pioneering inventions. And we can say that inventors are pioneers. Scientists should also be creative, should be as creative as inventors.

R: Well, I'm not sure they should be.

M: Yeah, they should be.

R: Why do you think so?

M: Well, they usually are creative scientists.

R: Are they?

M: Yeah, because they discover things. They discover new things.

R: But if you discover something that already exists, whereas inventors have got to create something new.

M: But scientists can discover something that hasn't existed before. No, they find things that already exist and explain why they are, they don't discover things that didn't exist before.

M: Oh, really? Oh, okay.

R: Yeah. You discover something that existed previously but you're just, you're not aware of.

M: So sometimes they get inventive. So to get inventive, to be inventive, to invent new things. And they can make a discovery. Make a discovery. okay? This is the phrase, some of them have a sense of curiosity. So they're curious. Curious? They want to know things about everything. And usually, people are curious, like, like children, curious children. They want to know everything. So they're interested in learning about people, things around them. So babies are curious about everything. Like you are curious about how old Rory is. You're interested in it. How old are you, Rory? Oh, you'll be thirty what, thirty-four?

R: Well, hold on, when will this episode go out? I'm 33 at the moment we're recording, however, I think this episode goes out just after my birthday. Wait, let me have a look. No, it's just before. So...

M: 33.

R: When you are listening to this it will be 10 days until my birthday and I will be 34, which makes me a whole 10 years older than Maria.

M: Well, we're not discussing my age. I am forever 21.

R: Well, 24...

M: Forever 21. Some inventions bring benefits. Others may bring damage. And you can say some pioneering inventions brought us a lot of benefits. And Rory here used some strange words like mining cobalt?

R: Yeah. Cobalt is a, it's a metal that's used in your phone.

M: Yeah, of course. Everybody knows that. Yeah.

R: Everybody should know that. It's extremely hazardous to mine. There's a massive mine in Africa, where people are kept in horrendous conditions in order to mine this stuff.

M: Really?

R: Yes.

M: Sorry. I don't know anything about it, really.

R: Well, you should. And also, if you're thinking about investing, if you invest money in cobalt, then it's only going to increase in price because it's very limited in supply, just why people pay you so much to recycle your phones now.

M: And another word is patent. So when we talk about inventions, we talk about patents. A patent is a noun and also is a verb. So a patent is what?

R: It's like a license that means that you can, well, you can make or use or sell something you've invented. It's like a legal document. But it's something the government gives you, it's not something that you just give yourself.

M: Yeah. And if you, dear listener, if you invent something, and it's really new, so then you should have a patent. So an official legal right to make, and sell this particular invention. Alright? So for example?

R: Well, I mean the iPhone needed a patent I think. You can't just go around selling things as iPhones when they're not.

M: And like, let's check if this invention has already been patented, or a patented technology, right? Maybe like you have invented something, but then you check it up. And then you see, oh, it's already been invented. Hey, hey. Yeah, oops. And usually, we are thankful for our gadgets, we are thankful for different inventions because they allow us to get on with other things in life. So, inventions, technology, new things allow us to get on with our daily life. Kind of they help us in our daily life. People who didn't get a school education can invent things. It might be difficult for them to articulate the finer details. Finer details? Like small details about a certain technology. Articulate? Well, to what, to explain, to describe, articulate, to say it out loud. And sometimes like some inventors could be quite eccentric. Eccentric? Like strange. Like different from other people.

R: Different from what's normal.

M: I'm not gonna go to school like I'm too smart for this. So they reject this mainstream education. For example, Mark Zuckerberg.

R: Why is that struggle to say? He made Facebook.

M: Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg. How do you pronounce it?

R: Zuckerberg.

M: Zuckerberg? Oh, boy... So he dropped out. Yeah? From college. So I think he finished school, but not college. There you go. We can improve the extraction of rare earth metals for phones. So Rory told us about this cobalt situation in Africa. And here, the method of extracting rare earth metals for phones is quite destructive. So it's damaging. Right? It's damaging people's health. And this could be improved. So this is a very good example. You can also speak about solar panels. Certain, like how rubbish is recycled. So we can improve recycling technologies. We can improve, I don't know, the materials for plastic bags, remove plastic bags altogether. And introducing a cheap and easily accessible replacement for these metals could be a solution in the past 100 years. Hmm, so what technologies, what inventions have been the most important? Antibiotics. Antibiotics, which prevent mass deaths, or which prevent us from infections, antibiotics. And the internet. Of course, the internet, dear listener. And here, Rory used the proliferation of all kinds of information.

R: But that just means spreading information.

M: Yeah, like thanks to the proliferation of the internet. Everyone has access to any kind of information. So Rory picked these two. So if you... You can say like, if I were to choose two, I would pick antibiotics and the internet. Yeah. But also you can talk about nuclear energy, dear listener. Okay? So antibiotics, the internet. Nuclear energy was first discovered in the 1930s by Italian physicist Oh, Italian, interesting. So nuclear energy nuclear power, yeah? Reactors. So to give us energy. Yeah, yeah, dear listener, so and also vaccines. There we go. We can talk about vaccines and antibiotics, dear listener, a very specific topic. So make sure you read something, okay? About nanotechnology, remember? And then about the future. So in the future, nanotechnology, okay?

R: Nanotechnology and AI. That's about it.

M: Yeah, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT, more ChatGPT. And it seems like artificial intelligence will lead to some major breakthroughs. Another keyword for this topic, a breakthrough. Like a discovery, a breakthrough, something new. Inventions in your country, which have had the greatest impact. And Rory goes like in Scotland? In my country? Inventions? What? Well, penicillin, isn't it enough?

R: Not in the last 100 years, definitely the internet.

M: The internet. So the internet is like for everybody, yeah? Artificial intelligence and the internet. So ChatGPT. Can we say that ChatGPT is a recent invention?

R: I don't know. If you're pushed then yes.

M: Yeah. So we can say that it's a pretty international phenomenon, the internet, and like my country is not isolated from the rest of the world. So yeah, it's the internet. But if, dear listener, in your country, you have some special invention. Well, yes. Super! Thank you very much for listening! Let's keep being creative, inventive. Alright? And we recommend that you should do some reading on nanotechnology and just Google inventions in the future. Or...

R: Take our word for it and just...

M: The internet. Talk about the internet.

R: Talk about the internet.

M: No, no, seriously, you do need some preparation. Okay? So maybe in your mother tongue, so you can read it in your native language for ideas. Okay? Because this topic could be in essays and in speaking, so please do some background reading. So your homework, dear listener, now we have homework tasks for you. Okay? Go online, in your native language, or in English, Google nanotechnology, inventions in the future. And the greatest inventions of all time. You need some names, some examples. And you will feel more confident, okay? Take some notes, it's like University. Alright? Proper studying, dear listener. Okay? So you do that. Alright? And we'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye!

R: Bye!

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