Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

UNIT 5: It’s not rocket science

5A Life hacks

4
1 form a theory / an opinion
2 analyze samples / the results
3 carry out an operation / a survey
4 release chemicals into the atmosphere / an animal
5 submit an essay / it before the deadline
6 reward their effort / her for her work
7 track or analyze the movement of birds / your progress

5 Answers will vary. Suggested answers are as follows:

1 form a team / response
2 analyze information / the results / the game
3 carry out research / tests
4 release from captivity / from prison
5 submit a plan / coursework
6 reward good behaviour / an attempt
7 track a parcel / your progress / changes

6–8 Answers will vary.

9
1 The four life hacks mentioned are:
1. Making a smartphone speaker louder
2. an app that tracks your sleep patterns
3. putting your phone into Airplane mode while charging
4. Consuming yoghurt after eating spicy food

2 The problems the life hacks can help solve are as follows:
1. A louder smartphone speaker can help you get out of bed in the morning.
2. The app wakes you up during light sleep, when it’s easier and less traumatic for you to be
woken.
3. Charging a phone in Airplane mode saves energy and helps charge your phone faster.
4. Consuming yoghurt stops the burning sensation in your mouth when eating spicy foods.

10
1 Marie was given the phone for her birthday.
2 Marie finds it really difficult to get out of bed in the morning.
3 It’s best to leave it far away from your bed (as then you’ll be forced to get up to turn the
alarm off).

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

4 The phone throws the sound around the room. The cup channels the sound better.
5 The app tracks your sleep patterns.
6 Phones can be charged faster when they are in Airplane mode.
7 When you eat spicy food, you think the temperature in your mouth rises (because the
chemical in chillies tricks the heat-detecting nerves in your mouth).
8 The chemical in chillies doesn’t dissolve in water (but needs to be washed off with
something fatty).

11
1 was recently given
2 is then left; you’ll be forced
3 it’d be thrown
4 It’s been designed
5 phone’s being charged
6 just been sent

13
1. The passives in Exercise 11 are in the past tense.
2. The passive is used in each case because the focus is on the object or the person
experiencing the action rather than performing it.
3. I was recently given this lovely new smartphone — “I” is the indirect object and ‘this lovely
new smartphone’ is the direct object.
An email has just been sent to me by Maxine. — ‘An email’ is the direct object and ‘me’ is the
indirect object.

GRAMMAR REFERENCE
1
1 (1) had (obviously) existed (2) was invented (3) marked / marks (4) was found (5) is (now)
called
2 (1) is (often) called / has (often) been called (2) had been produced / were produced / were
being produced (3) presented (4) were being printed (5) (were being) distributed
3 (1) being stolen / getting stolen (2) be installed (3) track (4) is being used / has been used
(5) be wiped (6) getting
4 (1) hit (2) be replaced (3) has been funded (4) has started (5) are (already) being built (6) are
getting

GRAMMAR REFERENCE
2
1 was shown to the queen
2 was awarded to Ahmed Zewail
3 were set some tricky questions
4 were taught how to do it
5 had been given to me / was given to me

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

14
1 be placed
2 have been (completely) transformed
3 was created
4 be said
5 had been used / were used
6 were (regularly) being tested / were (regularly) tested
7 being connected
8 be given

15
a
1 be placed
2 have been (completely) transformed
3 was created
4 be said
5 had been used / were used
6 were (regularly) being tested
7 being connected
8 be given

17
1 The yo-yo
The name is taken from Tagalog, a language that’s spoken in the Philippines, where it was
used as a weapon for hundreds of years. It was first produced as a toy in California in the
1920s.
2 Coffee
It is thought that it was first produced in Mocha, Yemen, over a thousand years ago. It’s now
consumed all over the world – particularly in the morning.
3 Paper
It was first invented in Ancient China over 2,000 years ago for use in government but wasn’t
introduced into Europe until the 11th century.
4 Captcha boxes
You’ve probably been asked to type letters into one of these when using the web. They’re
used to prevent spam and were invented by TED speaker Luis Von Ahn from Guatemala.

5B Curiosity, cats and kids

1 Suggested answers

curious child / look / figure

tremendous success / noise / respect / amount of work
previous job / chapter / owner / marriage / experience
reliable person / information / service
treatable disease / condition / illness

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

adaptable workers / furniture

effective communication / treatment / way of doing something / strategy
innovative design / product / idea / approach
imaginative person / organization / project
beautiful painting / song / animal
hopeful sign / look / forecast
helpful advice / directions / person
practical person / solution / experience / use / advice / purpose / application
electrical goods / engineering / fault / equipment
social issues / problems / justice / conditions / environment / skills / background / contact

3
1 innovation
2 curious
3 pleasure
4 practical
5 use
6 social
7 cooperation
8 Collaboration

5 d (We run the risk of becoming less curious if we’re not careful.)

6
1 Disagrees (lines 4-5: Yet it’s widely agreed…and effective.)
2 Agrees (lines 10-12: Being curious requires us…to admit it.)
3 Disagree (lines 16-19: In science, basic curiosity-driven research…important benefits.)
4 Agrees (lines 25-26: Unsurprisingly, there are chemical…curious creatures. / lines 30-31:
…we may have developed a basic need to fight uncertainty…)
5 Disagrees (lines 36-38:…technology has become so sophisticated…things work anymore.)
6 Agrees (lines 47-50:…we accept the images of people…further with them.)
7 Disagrees (lines 56-59:…we end up inside our own little bubbles,…our pre-existing
beliefs.)

5C Mind-blowing!

2
a T
b F (They can have a positive effect but it hasn’t been proven yet.)
c F (The size of his brain was average or slightly smaller.)
d T
e F (Most of the time we use most of our brains.)
f F (They help you think.)
g T
h F (We use both sides of our brains in creative acts.)

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

3
1
b. It is claimed that computer training programmes can limit the effects of ageing on the brain.
d. It is estimated that the human brain is about 75 percent water.
e. It is well known that most of the time we only use ten percent of our brain capacity.
h. It has been generally accepted that creative people have a dominant right brain.
2
a. The heart was believed to be the centre of intelligence until the Middle Ages.
c. Einstein’s brain was said to be bigger than average, which explains his intelligence.
f. Doing exercise is thought to create chemicals that reduce your ability to think.
g. The part of the brain called the hippocampus is known to be connected with our sense of direction.
3
1 It is claimed / believed / well known / often said (that) + subject + base form of verb
2 Is / was said / believed / accepted / thought to + base form

GRAMMAR REFERENCE
3
1a is (generally / widely) accepted
1b accept
2a don’t know
2b is not known
3a think
3b is thought
4a were believed
4b believed

4
1 The brain is estimated to contain …
2 It was once thought (that) the brain became (or becomes)…
3 The brain is now known to develop …
4 It was once believed (that) the brain’s networks became (or become)…
5 Brain training activities are claimed to improve …
6 It is sometimes said (that) brain size affects …
7 It is still not really known …
8 Brain transplants are generally accepted to be …

6
1 to be
2 has been described
3 controlled
4 be understood
5 are sometimes carried out
6 is touched
7 has allowed
8 are believed

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

9 have
10 identify

7
 In the first sentence, research is the object of the verb do.
 In the second sentence, research becomes the subject of the passive verb can be done.
 In the third sentence, we use the structure get + something + past participle (done) so we
can make the person affected by an action (scientists) the subject of the sentence.

GRAMMAR REFERENCE
4
1 having*
2 are
3 be
4 done / conducted
5 to
6 cause
7 It
8 that
*getting isn’t appropriate because it’s a formal text.

GRAMMAR REFERENCE
5
1 is still not known / still isn’t known
2 were believed to be
3 had their brains scanned
4 were asked to talk about

8 Suggested answers
1 Their brains were scanned (by a machine / by researchers) while they were singing.
2 A new MRI scanner is being installed at the hospital.
3 The scientists’ research was evaluated (by a scientific advisory board).
4 My examination is going to be done / set later.
5 My dad’s head was looked at (by a specialist) when he was in hospital.

9 Suggested answers
1 The patient had his liver / her brain / her kidneys scanned.
2 I had my foot / eyes / head / heart / pet / vehicle examined.
3 They should have their brains / their blood / their computer system / their English tested.
4 The scientists are having the laboratory cleaned / disinfected / sterilized.
5 I’m going to have my injury examined / treated / checked.
6 The research centre is going to have a new science lab added / half its budget cut / a new
head installed.

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

5D Science is for everyone, kids included

DVD (About the speakers)

1 perception = b (a belief or how we understand or see something)
2 came up with = a (thought of or invented something)
3 observations = b (detailed viewings in order to study something)
4 submitted = b (given to someone or an organization)
5 journal = c (an academic magazine)

1
What are you reading? There are no words there. I said, read what you’re seeing. Right? It literally
says, ‘Wat ar ou rea in?’ Right? That's what you should have said. Right? Why is this? It’s because
perception is grounded in our experience. Right? The brain takes meaningless information and
makes meaning out of it, which means we never see what’s there, we never see information, we
only ever see what was useful to see in the past. All right? Which means, when it comes to
perception, we’re all like this frog. Right? It’s getting information. It’s generating behaviour that’s
useful.

5
1 Perception is grounded in our experience.
2 b
3 h
4 e
5 d
6 f
7 c
8 a
9 g
10 So armed with these two ideas, that science is a way of being and experiments are play, we
asked, can anyone become a scientist?

6 d

7
1 F
2 T
3 NS
4 T
5 T
6 NS
7 F
8 T

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

1 They got some experts to review and say positive things about it. It was then rejected again,
so in the end they got an expert to add commentary, references, etc.
2 The response was overwhelmingly positive: It was downloaded 30,000 times in the first
day. / It was the Editors’ choice in Science. / It’s the only paper that will ever be freely
accessible by Biology Letters, etc.
3
 Anyone has the potential to discover something new.
 A small question can lead to a big discovery.

11
a
1 reward = a (something good that happens because you did another thing)
2 bother = b (make the effort to do or try something)
3 link = a (connection or relationship)
4 adapt = c (change)
5 surrounded = c (have one thing on all sides)
6 a voice = b (an opportunity to say what someone thinks or feels)

DVD (WHILE WATCHING)

1 a don’t always see things properly because of expectations formed by our experiences
2 b science has a lot in common with games we play as children
3 d writing up the findings and submitting them to a journal

5E Conducting experiments

3 Suggested answers
1 define the purpose of the experiment
2 do your research
3 form your hypothesis
4 design your test
5 record and analyze the data
6 draw your conclusions

4 Suggested answers
1 It’s easier to prove hypotheses within hard sciences such as physics as they’re more easily
repeatable and the variables are easier to control. In softer / social sciences, there are far
more variables and cause and effect is far from being established definitively.
2 You often work out what’s right by a process of negative deduction.
3 Keeping a thorough record of method is crucial if the experiment is to be repeated.
4 ‘Proving’ a hypothesis once isn’t sufficient as things need to be repeatable and for the
results to be regularly identical.

Unit 5: Answer Key

Perspectives: Upper Intermediate

7
1 SR
2 S
3 SR
4 SR
5 SR
6 S
7 SR
8 SR
9 SR
10 SR

8 1, 3, 4, 5, 8

Unit 5: Answer Key