Paper helmet

Transcript:

On the streets of London a helmet can save a cyclist's life.

Anirudha Surabhi knows this only too well. He was in a bike crash in 2009.

He had a lucky escape but his polystyrene helmet was destroyed.

Now he's come up with what he says is a safer model, which was inspired by the woodpecker.

His paper helmet is designed in a similar way to the bird's head and beak and offers protection by cushioning the cyclist's head.

Vocabulary:

cyclist - person who rides a bicycle lucky escape - fortunate avoidance of a dangerous situation polystyrene - a type of light plastic come up with - invented cushioning - protecting by absorbing shock

Exercise:

Use one of the words or phrases below to complete each of these sentences from news reports. Note that you may have to change the form of a word to complete the sentence correctly.

cyclist / lucky escape / polystyrene / come up with / cushioning

1. The phenomenon of large, distributed groups __________ better answers than individuals working on the same problem was explored in James Surowiecki's 2004 book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few.

2. A Canadian reportedly had a __________ as a polar bear mauling him was apparently scared off by the light from the man's mobile phone.

3. Often__________seek out quieter back roads for their journey, avoiding the heavy traffic and its dangers but adding "long-cuts". This, however feels like a direct A to B.

4. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut the key interest rate 0.5 points to 2.5%. The central bank's move is aimed at __________an economy that was just starting to emerge from recession.

5. Everyone has their favourite over-packaging bugbear be it the infamous shrink-wrapped coconut or bananas packaged singly on _________trays.

Answers:

1. The phenomenon of large, distributed groups coming up with better answers than individuals working on the same problem was explored in James Surowiecki's 2004 book The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> Tapping into the IT cloud crowd</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25714443" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

2. A Canadian reportedly had a lucky escape as a polar bear mauling him was apparently scared off by the light from the man's mobile phone.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> Canadian's phone 'scares off' polar bear attacker</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24022893" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

3. Often cyclists seek out quieter back roads for their journey, avoiding the heavy traffic and its dangers but adding "long-cuts". This, however feels like a direct A to B.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> How super? What cyclists make of superhighways</caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10648330" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

4. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut the key interest rate 0.5 points to 2.5%. The central bank's move is aimed at cushioning an economy that was just starting to emerge from recession.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> New Zealand slashes interest rate to aid quake recovery </caption><url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12695662" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>

5. Everyone has their favourite over-packaging bugbear be it the infamous shrink-wrapped coconut or bananas packaged singly on polystyrene trays.

<span xml:lang="en">Source: <link type="page"><caption> A month without plastic</caption><url href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7508321.stm" platform="highweb"/></link> </span>