Exercise:

Read the article about the future and future predictions and the complete the notes on the opposite page.

WINGS, BABIES AND THE POLLUTION OF PLANETS

Predicting the future has always been a risky business, but recent claims are almost literally unbelievable. Or are they? Back in 1949, the scientist Johan von Neumann made a statement which was both extraordinarily wrong and profoundly correct. It would appear, he wrote, that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although I should be careful with such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in five years. How true! Looking into the future has always been a dangerous occupation. William Futrell isnt afraid to make predictions, however. As one of Americas top plastic surgeons, he foresees a time when people will be flying around using their own wings, men will be having babies and when we lose a leg in an accident the hospital will just grow a new one for us using our own DNA. You cant dismiss Futrells predictions as pure fantasy, not given the fact that he is one of the leading authorities in his field. He has trained at least 20 professors and directors of US medical institutions. Whats changed, he says, is that were mapping the human genome, the code for all life. And we can extract stem cells for this kind of reconstructive work from a persons adipose tissue (thats fat, to you and me). When people dismiss Futrells ideas as fanciful, he points out how far weve come. At the hospital where he works, robots take X-rays and other medical supplies to and from the wards; in Florida, in 2001, a doctor operated on a patient by remote control for the The first step to making Mars habitable is to warm it up, says NASA scientists Chris McKay. His plan is to drop off a pollution-making machine that will scoot around the surface of the planet spewing out greenhouse gasses, thus shortcutting the slow process of evolution. The next step is oxygen and what better oxygen makers have we got than trees? McKay predicts that well be living on Mars sometime in the next 80 years. By that time, he says, the planet will have its algae and bacteria, and well have planted forests of trees. Itll be just right for human habitation. The only problem is that we wont all fit. Mars is only a tenth the size of Earth. And now, perhaps, well be able to grow wings and replace any body parts which become old or damaged. Believe me, Futrell says, wings are not a long way off. And he meant it. But even if we learn how to cure our bodies and end up living forever, there isnt anything we can do about the fact that one day, as the sun gets hotter, this Earth will be an uncomfortable place to live. According to astronomical engineer Robert Zubrin, the Earth will become extinct unless we bring Earth life out with us into the universe. And the only place to go is Mars it has water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. But at the moment it is too cold and dry for human habitation. Wed die within seconds of stepping onto its surface. So well have to do something about it. first time. Using computers and the internet, he removed the gall bladder of a woman in France, 3,500 miles away. These things were once unimaginable.

Make two short notes under each heading.

Two developments that signify humans could now potentially grow a new limb
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Remarkable fact about the gall bladder operation conducted on 2001

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Methods in which Mars can be made habitable for humans

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Predictions made about the future in the article

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