Read interesting facts about cloning, discuss them and find your own.

Did you know…?

􀀹 Dolly the cloned sheep was named after country singer Dolly Parton, because she started life as a mammary cell.

􀀹 We leave our DNA around all the time, everywhere: on the door, on the table, on the keyboard… For the moment we couldn’t clone from it, but hey, perhaps later we may be able to clone you from the tiny bits of DNA you leave about!

􀀹 Humans have far fewer genes than expected at 35,000 to 42,000, compared to the nematode worm with 18,000 and the fruit fly with 13,000. However, scientists say we may still have more – we don’t know the whole genome set yet and we may have missed some genes.

􀀹 The difference between humans and fruit flies or worms is that human genes work differently, are capable of multitasking, and we have more control genes.

􀀹 Most mutations occur in males.

􀀹 In each of our cells, there are six feet of DNA packed into a chromosome only 0.0004 inches across.

􀀹 Lining up all of the DNA in the human body, it would reach to the sun and back more than 600 times.

􀀹 The information would fill 200 500-page telephone directories.

􀀹 Our DNA is 99.9% identical to all other members of the human race.

7. Talk with your partner(s) about cloning the people / animals in the table. What are the pros and cons of each? Change partners and share your ideas.

_____ dogs to sniff out drugs at airports

_____ yourself

_____ super-intelligent scientists

_____ expert soldiers

_____ cows that produce lots of milk

_____ world class sports stars

_____ very kind voluntary workers

_____ endangered species

Grammar: Phrasal verbs.

 

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and preposition, a verb and an adverb, or a verb with both an adverb and a preposition.

 

A phrasal verb has a meaning, which is different from the original verb. That's what makes them fun, but confusing. You may need to try to guess the meaning from the context, or, failing that, look it up in a dictionary.

 

The adverb or prepositions that follow the verb are sometimes called a particle. The particle changes the meaning of the phrasal verb in idiomatic ways.

 

They are also known as ‘compound verbs’, ‘verb-adverb combinations’, ‘verb-particle constructions", “two-part words/verbs’ and ‘three-part words/verbs’ (depending on the number of words).

 

Phrasal verbs are usually used informally in everyday speech as opposed to the more formal Latinate verbs, such as “to get together” rather than “to congregate”, “to put off” rather than “to postpone”, or “to get out” rather than “to exit”. They should be avoided in academic writing.