An interesting study from the USA has suggested a "third state" exists after life and death. This mind-blowing concept suggests the cells in the organs of deceased bodies adopt new functions after the body dies. Scientists Peter Nobel and Alex Pozhitkov explained how cells transform after the host organism dies. They wrote: "These findings demonstrate the inherent plasticity of cellular systems and challenge the idea that cells and organisms can evolve only in predetermined ways." They added that the third state, "may play a significant role in how life transforms over time".
The scientists say there are two kinds of "biobot" in the functioning of the third state. Wiktionary.org says a biobot is: "A robot that is partly or wholly biological in nature [like] plant cells or animal cells that can perform tasks such as moving and reacting." One biobot is called a "xenobot". This divides cells into new multi-cellular organisms. Other biobots are "anthrobots". These self-assemble cells and move around. The scientists said xenobots exist "beyond the traditional boundaries of life and death". They added the bots could lead to personalized medicine in the future.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Third State - Level 4 or Third State - Level 6
Sources- https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a62244774/biobots-third-state/
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/biobot
- https://www.sciencealert.com/these-creatures-occupy-third-state-beyond-life-and-death-scientists-say
- https://metro.co.uk/2024/09/16/bodies-dont-die-scientists-discover-third-state-life-21614609/
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)