Today's News..

The Beginning of Personalized DNA Maps

For the first time, all 6 billion letters of one human’s DNA has been mapped out and condensed to one single disk. It took 2 months to map James. D. Watson’s entire genome, at the cost of $1 million dollars. In honor of his involvement in cracking the DNA code half a century ago, Watson was chosen for the honor but many suspect it’s the start of a new era. DNA contains inherited instructions for genes, controlling everything from eye color, to a person’s predisposition to Alzheimer’s disease, but a person’s genome changes on almost a daily basis. In the near future, personalized DNA sequencing is predicted to be available for as little as $1,000 and many speculate it will become a big part in maintaining one’s health.

* condense to(into) 응축하다(압축하다), 요약하다, 모으다..= change sth into a liquid / make sth shorter(smaller), usually by including only the most important parts.eg) condense file 파일을 압축하다.condense luggage 짐을 줄이다.condensed milk 연유

* in honor(honour) of ~에 경의를 표하여, ~을 축하하여= recognize someone(or sth) for doing sth greateg) in honor of his achievementin honor of his involvement


Androids of the Future Becoming a Reality

Kansei reacts to English words such as "bomb", "love" and "president" with different facial expressions but is only the head of a robot. At 33kg and 130cm tall, CB2, a baby robot can roll around, speak, take a few steps and even react to touch. Japan’s fascination with robots only seems to be growing with robots becoming more human-like. Kansei has 36 facial expressions and is programmed to make a reaction based on word associations from a database of 500,000 keywords. In a few years, Kansei is expected to be able to speak and convey feelings. CB2 is predicted to function better and mature to walk and talk like a three-year-old.

* android n. 인조 인간 a. 인간의 특징을 가진= a robot that looks like a human being.

* roll around 데굴데굴 구르다, ~을 데굴데굴 굴리다.

** roll(sprain) my ankle 발목을 삐다.

* convey 전달하다(알리다, 전하다), 뜻하다, 양도하다, 나르다(운반하다) = communicate something / mean something / transfer something through carrier


From Morning Special..