Ancient stellar collision makes waves: BBC News Review reviews

July 1, 2022



The story:
The collision of two dead stars has been watched for the first time by an international team of researchers. The event gave off gravitational waves, ripples in space and time that were first predicted by Albert Einstein.

The collision happened 130 million years ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth, but its light and waves have only now reached us. One researcher described it as the first full picture of one of the most violent, cataclysmic events in the universe.

[Cover image: GETTY IMAGES]

Key words and phrases:

sparking
causing to begin

ripple
small wave(s) of something

comb through
examine thoroughly

Learn more here http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/newsreview

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20 Comments
  1. Reply
    Kim Sejeong (김세정) Kpop July 1, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    I really love BBC learning English channel, it's really helpful for me!!!!!!!!!

  2. These all videos that BBC make are very very very very very very very very cool!

  3. Thank you

  4. Mr Dan explanation is stunning and entertaining too

  5. sparking/ ripple/ comb through: this channel is sparking a lot of attention for me so I am trying to ripple and comb through every video in my learning English every single day.

  6. love the way you explain the meaning <3

  7. Dan's way of teaching is impressive!👍👍

  8. Thnx

  9. Reply
    Tran Tham Thuy Hang July 1, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    Love Neil, Dan & BBC English

  10. I love your website bbc learning english , definitely it's useful website

  11. Reply
    RunDul Entertainment July 1, 2022 at 12:32 pm

    Can we use these words for essay writing ?

  12. I love BBC LE

  13. I will comb through your videos that will spark my English knowledge…

  14. Actually your way of teaching new words and phrases is so effective, it spread ripples of interest through the learners.

  15. So amazing 👌 perfect

  16. Thank God Dan is back.

  17. Nice program as always. Thank you!

  18. Hello and welcome to News Review the program where we show you how to use the language from the latest news stories in your everyday English.

    Hi, I'm Neil. Joining me today is Dan.
    Hi, Dan.

    Hello everyone.

    So what's the story today?

    Our story is about real life star wars.

    Real life star wars. well what could be more exciting than that.
    Let's find out more from this BBC World service news bulletin.

    So basically REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY LONG TIME AGO
    two dead stars smashed together and this resulted in waves and gravities being given off
    However because these two stars were so far away from us, it has taken really long time for these waves to reach Earth and we have just recently observed them.
    But this is significant because it basically proves something that Albert Einstein predicted and of course it helps our continuing study of astrophysics.
    So pretty cool.

    ( )

    You've been searching around the internet at this story and looking up expressions and language we need to talk about it.
    What have you found?

    I've got for you this week
    SPARKING, RIPPLE, COMB THROUGH

    Sparking, ripple and come through.
    Let's start with your first headline then please.

    Our first headline comes from Washington Post and says:
    Scientists detect gravitational waves from a new kind of nova, sparking a new era in astronomy.

    Sparking: meaning causing to begin.

    That's right. are you a smoker Neil?

    I'm not a smoker.

    What do smokers carry with them apart from cigarette?

    Yes.uhhh, often they would carry a lighter

    A lighter. when you activate a lighter, what happens?

    You sort of press a wheel and there spark flies out and then gas comes up and then lights is lit by the spark.

    Exactly. so the spark is a small piece of fire or in some cases it can be electricity, I mean.
    it's a small pieces of energy let's say.
    which then ignites the gas and causes the gas to burn which is the reaction you want.
    The spark makes the gas begin burning.
    To spark something is to make something begin.
    That's very nice as a newsy word because it's short and dramatic and obviously it has an image of fire which you know probably sells more news papers
    But an example would be the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked World War One.
    and you could also say 'triggered or began'
    But also what's really nice is that you can use it on a everyday basis. For example, you can spark an argument with somebody.
    If you want to be more informal, you can spark off an argument with somebody that's a phrasal verb.

    OK before you spark off an argument with me,
    I think we should move on to our next headline.

    Very well. our next headline comes from Wired dot com and says:
    NEUTRON STARS COLLIDE, AND ASTOROPHYSICS FEELS THE RIPPLE

    Ripple: a small wave of something.

    Exactly. now as a child Neil, did you ever throw stones into a pond or body of water?

    Not just as a child but an adult, one of my favorite activities.

    Ok, so then you will be the expert to tell me
    what happens when the stone hits the water?

    You get a series of waves in a circle spreading out.

    Moving out from where the stone hits.
    so those are called Ripples. each one of those circles is a ripple , ripples together.
    and Ripple can be a verb. it can mean to move in a… like a wave across or through something.
    And we use the example of water but it doesn't have to be water.
    We can talk about a ripple of sound or we can talk about gravity apparently from this article we learned that gravity can also ripple ( ).
    when you shake a bed sheet you get that wonderful ripple of ( ).

    But as a metaphor, we can talk about a laughter.
    or other emotions rippling.
    Imagine that you're in a crowd.
    The crowd is like a large body of water, Let's say a lake.
    If somebody does something funny one side of crowd the people immediately next to them would see or possibly begin laughing.
    The laughter would cause other people to look and they would also begin laughing.
    So the laughter move across the crowd like ripples on a pond.
    We can also talk about news. news ripple across country.
    and muscles apparently can ripple.
    think Arnold Schwarzenegger, body building.

    I can tell what's gonna happen next that the shirt come off
    NO NO I don't wanna see your rippling muscle

    Let's move on to our final headline.

    Alright. our final headline comes from First Post dot com and says:
    The neutron star collision detected by LIGO has left behind a debris field for scientist to comb through.

    Comb through: examine thoroughly
    Now Dan I'm a little bit confused here.
    because I thought Combing was to do with hair.
    and there's no hair in this story.
    We've got stars hitting each other.
    What's going on?

    Have you ever had nits?

    Nits you mean those little creature live in your hair.

    Usually children

    It makes me to start scratching as well.

    I know what you mean ( ).

    Yeah. those little things. so. If you're familiar with the concept then you will also know in order to get rid of them you have to search the hair very very thoroughly with a nit comb which is extremely find tooth version of an ordinary comb.
    And this examination ( ) very careful searching through is to try to find out, find, excuse me, all of the insects.
    So you comb through the hair looking for something.
    and this searching or examining thoroughly is exactly what Comb through mean.

    It's associated with a large amount of research
    or searching very thoroughly for something through a lot of other examples.
    Maybe lots of filing. For example.

    So a search for a criminal, for example.

    Exactly. Police might comb through a neighborhood in order to find criminal.
    Ohh, you know those people who walk along beaches?

    Yeah. you mean beach combers

    I do, what did they do?

    They searched the beach very thoroughly for things that might be of interest or value.

    Treasure.

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  19. Love it! Great programme to study English! Appreciate your working!

  20. Great shot guys. ..obrigada

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