Cancer vaccine?: BBC News Review

0:00 Have scientists found a vaccine that can cure cancer?

0:04 This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

0:07 I'm Neil.

0:08 And I'm Sian.

0:09 Make sure you watch to the end to learn vocabulary about this story.

0:12 Don't forget to subscribe to our channel, like this video,

0:16 and try the quiz on our website.

0:18 Now, let's hear more about the story.

0:22 A cancer vaccine?

0:23 By 2030?

0:26 The husband-and-wife team who worked on the Covid jab

0:30 say the same technology could be used to treat cancer.

0:34 These vaccines tell the cells to produce a protein that can fight tumours.

0:41 The trials are in the early stages, but results have been encouraging, so far.

0:47 You've been looking at the headlines, Sian.

0:49 What's the vocabulary?

0:50 We have 'crack', 'hailed' and 'pioneers'.

0:54 This is News Review from BBC Learning English.

1:06 Let's have a look at our first headline.

1:08 OK, this one is from the BBC.

1:16 And, so, the headline is asking

1:20 whether the technology that was used to develop Covid vaccines

1:25 could also help in finding a vaccine or cure for cancer.

1:30 The company that's working on this

1:32 is BioNTech, but the word

1:34 we're looking at is 'crack'.

1:37 Now, I know this word 'crack'.

1:39 I can crack an egg or crack a plate.

1:43 It means it breaks.

1:45 What's the connection?

1:46 OK, so those examples are physical examples, literal examples,

1:50 of breaking something.

1:52 But here, 'crack' means to solve a problem, to find a solution to a problem.

1:59 Ah.

1:59 OK.

2:00 So, it's this technology that could solve

2:05 or crack the problem of cancer.

2:06 Can we use 'crack' in any other way like this?

2:09 Yeah.

2:09 So, we can talk about the police cracking a case.

2:13 So, this means they solve the case, they solve the crime, or a detective

2:18 like Sherlock, can crack a code.

2:21 So, that means he finds a solution.

2:24 He works out what the code means.

2:27 OK.

2:27 Well, I think we've cracked this explanation for our audience.

2:31 Let's look at that again.

2:40 Let's have a look at our next headline.

2:43 This one's from the Evening Standard.

2:53 The headline is saying

2:53 that a vaccine for cancer is being hailed by leading Covid

2:58 scientists.

2:59 Leading Covid scientists are the scientists who developed the covid vaccine,

3:04 but we're looking at the word 'hailed'.

3:06 What can you tell us?

3:07 Yes, so, 'hail' here is a verb,

3:10 and it means to praise or approve a person or an achievement,

3:15 and normally in a very public way.

3:18 Yes.

3:18 So, the headline is saying there's a lot of praise

3:21 for this potential cancer vaccine.

3:24 It is hailed as a possible cure.

3:28 And it's the scientists themselves who are praising themselves.

3:32 Exactly.

3:33 And this, word 'hail' is usually used in a passive form in headlines, and

3:39 that's because the thing that is hailed is often more important

3:43 than the people who are praising.

3:46 Yeah.

3:46 And, so, we can say that a film is hailed as a masterpiece, or

3:52 a company's profits are hailed as a sign of a success.

3:58 We hear this used a lot in news.

4:00 But, do we use 'hail' in our everyday English?

4:03 Not really.

4:04 It's quite a dramatic word.

4:06 So, it's not really used in informal chat.

4:08 It's more in headlines, and it has more impact because of that.

4:13 Well, I'm going to hail that explanation as a great success.

4:17 Let's have a look at it one more time.

4:26 Time for our next headline.

4:28 OK, this one is from The Times.

4:38 The headline says we can expect a cancer vaccine

4:43 by 2030.

4:44 The word we're looking at is 'pioneers'.

4:47 Now, Sian, when I imagine pioneers,

4:49 I can picture men with big beards and rifles,

4:54 walking off into the wilderness to claim a new land.

4:59 What's the connection?

5:00 Well, I'm not sure if the scientists have big beards, or look exactly like that,

5:05 but I imagine not.

5:06 But you're right.

5:07 A pioneer was someone who explored

5:10 or settled in a new area, particularly the US,

5:14 but nowadays, 'pioneer' is often used to mean a person who is first to develop

5:21 or use something new.

5:22 OK.

5:23 So, by Covid pioneers,

5:25 we mean the first people to develop a vaccine for Covid.

5:29 That's right.

5:30 So, we can use 'pioneer' in relation

5:33 to a new method, a new technique, or an area of knowledge.

5:37 For example, Marie Curie was a pioneer in physics and chemistry because

5:42 she discovered radioactivity.

5:44 And Steve Jobs was a technology pioneer.

5:48 Yes.

5:49 And, so,

5:50 the Covid vaccine pioneers are now hoping to become cancer vaccine pioneers.

5:57 Now, if I talk about my own life,

5:59 I do a small piece of work that I think is really important,

6:04 I have a new idea for a programme.

6:06 BBC Learning English.

6:07 Am I a pioneer?

6:08 Well, you could Neil, but it sounds a bit grand.

6:12 You're saying that you're a very important person.

6:15 In normal conversation, it's more likely just to say that you develop something,

6:19 or you invented something new.

6:22 We've been looking at the word as a noun.

6:24 Yes.

6:24 It's also a verb: 'to pioneer'.

6:26 So, you can pioneer something.

6:28 So, for example, BBC

6:30 Learning English is almost 80 years old, and 80 years ago,

6:35 we pioneered teaching English by radio.

6:38 But we weren't around then.

6:40 No, we weren't.

6:41 Let's have a look at that again.

6:51 We've had 'crack': Find a solution to something.

6:55 'Hailed': praised.

6:58 And; 'pioneered': The first people to develop or use something.

7:02 Don't forget there's a quiz on our website

7:04 bbclearningenglish.com.

7:07 Thank you for joining us,

7:08 and goodbye.

7:10 Goodbye.