Learning English Podcast - January 02, 2025
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Welcome to Learning English, a daily 30-minute program from the Voice of America. I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. This program is designed for English learners, so we speak a little slower and we use words and phrases especially written for people learning English.

Coming up today, stories from Mario and me. Later, John Russell and Ana Mateo bring us the technology report. And we close the show with the lesson of the day. Here's Mario.

Indonesia has the world's largest known supply of nickel and major supplies of valuable minerals, including cobalt and bauxite. However, the mining industry there is being criticized for not protecting the environment and some Indonesian island people.

the southeast asian country is involved in mining that produces materials important to the manufacture of stainless steel and electric vehicle batteries among other things indonesia is aiming to expand its mining and processing industries

but the development could face opposition from international and local groups nickel processing centres are becoming more common in parts of indonesia sometimes the plants are near the sea where many boats line up to carry ore a mineral combination that contains nickel

sometimes these plants are near schools or places where local people fish or farm the world resources institute based in washington d c says from two thousand one to twenty twenty one point four million hectares of trees were cut down around the world

indonesia is estimated to have had the highest loss amanda hurowitz is a director with mighty earth the environmental group is also based in washington d c hurowitz said that on the island of cabayena mining companies have cleared three thousand seven hundred hectares of forest

in the last twenty-two years fishermen who used to fish off the island have said the waters are filled with sediment from the mines people in farming communities also say they are affected they say sugar-cane sugar-palms and clove trees do not grow well any more

amal susanto is a sugar-palm farmer he said that's the effect the growth of the sugar-palm trees will not be as good because of the influence of mining susanto lives in an area where permits have been approved but mining has not yet begun

people living in the area have reported health problems some told the associated press ap that they suffered from itchy skin sore throat and other difficulties

the indonesia-based non-profit group satya bumi sent water dust and shellfish from the area to a laboratory this year the group said the results showed dangerous levels of nickel lead and cadmium these substances are linked to mining

katherine schilling is an assistant professor and biology researcher at columbia university in new york city she studied the lab results schilling told the a p if people on this island are using the river water as drinking water you cannot escape basically any of the exposure to those toxic metals

cabana is not the only place affected to the north on a larger island toro bulu is another place where mining damage can be seen the mining problems continue although indonesia's constitutional court ruled in march of this year

that small islands such as cabana should have special protection however a researcher from satyabumi said the government is still approving mining permits the group mighty earth said one hundred fifty hectares of forest have been cleared on cabana since april first

and it said over half of that was on land controlled by the mining company Tonia Mitra Sejatera. The company and Indonesia's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources did not answer requests for comment from the AP. I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.

Scientists have used ancient genes to learn more details about contact between Neanderthals and humans tens of thousands of years ago. Results of two recent studies estimate the two groups likely met and began mating about 45,000 years ago.

Modern humans, also known as Homo sapiens, began in Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago and later started spreading to Europe, Asia, and other places. Scientists believe that at some point, they met and mated with Neanderthals.

The mixing of these groups had a major influence on humans' genetic code. However, scientists do not know exactly when or how the two groups interacted, but the two new studies provide some additional details about the timing of this contact.

One group of scientists examined genetic material from three female and three male Homo sapien individuals who lived around 45,000 years ago. Reuters news agency reported that research involved the oldest genes from Homo sapiens ever examined, or sequenced.

Some of the jeans came from bones found in a cave in the central German village of Vranice. Other material came from a woman believed to have lived at around the same time in a cave in a mountainous area of what is now the Czech Republic.

Researchers estimated the period of mixing between Neanderthals and humans at about 49,000 to 45,000 years ago. The findings were recently published in a study in Nature.

A second group of researchers examined genetic material from 300 present-day and ancient Homo sapiens. This included 59 individuals who lived between 2,000 and 45,000 years ago.

That study, published in the journal Science, estimated the period of mixing at about 50,500 to 43,500 years ago.

The scientists said their new findings on the mixing and mating of the groups suggested the activities happened a little more recently than thought in the past. They believe the contact continued over many generations. Priya Morjani was co-writer of the study appearing in Science.

She is an assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She told Reuters, "...genetic data from these samples really helps us paint a picture in more and more detail."

The team noted that it is difficult to know the exact nature of the interactions between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals based on the examined data. The researchers also could not confirm exactly where the mixing and mating happened. However, they believe it was most likely somewhere in the Middle East.

The researchers noted most modern humans still have genetic material from Neanderthals that accounts for an estimated 1-2% of their DNA. They said modern-day genetic traits linked to skin color, hair color, and even nose shape can relate back to the Neanderthals.

Our genetic makeup also includes links to another group of human ancestors called Denisovans. Morjani noted that the history of Neanderthals living outside Africa for thousands of years likely gave them a greater ability to deal with climate and diseases in new environments.

Some of their genes may have been beneficial to modern humans, she added. Rick Potts is director of the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. He was not involved in the new research.

Potts told the Associated Press he hopes future genetic studies can help scientists learn even more details about the interactions of Neanderthals and modern humans. He said, out of many really compelling areas of scientific investigation, one of them is, well, who are we? I'm Katie Weaver.

Artificial intelligence, AI, tools that permit people to produce online reviews have put sellers, service providers, and buyers in unfamiliar territory. Public protection groups and researchers say.

False or fake reviews have long appeared on many popular websites, such as Amazon and Yelp. The reviews are often traded on private social media groups between fake review dealers and businesses willing to pay.

Sometimes, businesses get good reviews in exchange for offering buyers rewards, such as gift cards. But AI tools, popularized by OpenAI's ChatGPT, permit people to produce reviews faster and in greater numbers, technology industry experts say.

Fake reviews are found across a wide range of industries, from e-commerce and travel to services such as home repairs, medical care, and music lessons. The Transparency Company is a technology company and public protection group that uses software to detect fake reviews.

The company said it started to see AI-generated reviews appear in large numbers in mid-2023. The reviews have increased quickly ever since. For a recently released report, the transparency company examined 73 million reviews in three areas, home, legal, and medical services.

nearly fourteen per cent of the reviews were likely fake the company expressed a high degree of confidence that two point three million reviews were partly or entirely ai produced

Last September, the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, took legal action against the company behind an AI writing tool and content producer called Writer. The FTC accused Writer of offering a service that could pollute the marketplace with fake reviews.

The FTC, which banned the sale or purchase of fake reviews in 2024, said some of Ryder's buyers used the tool to produce hundreds and perhaps thousands of reviews. The reviews appeared in support of garage door repair companies, sellers of copied designer handbags, and other businesses.

Major companies are developing policies for how AI-generated content fits into their systems for removing fake reviews. Some companies already employ special programs and investigative teams to find and remove fake reviews.

Still, the companies are giving users some ability to use AI. Spokespeople for Amazon and Trustpilot, for example, said they would permit buyers to post AI-assisted reviews as long as the buyers represent their true experience. Yelp has taken a more cautious approach.

saying its rules require reviewers to write their own reviews. The Coalition for Trusted Reviews, which Amazon, Trustpilot, Glassdoor, TripAdvisor, Expedia, and Booking.com launched last year, said that even though people may put AI to illegal use,

The technology also presents an opportunity to push back against those who seek to use reviews to mislead others. The FTC's rule banning fake reviews, which took effect in October, permits the agency to fine businesses and individuals who take part in fake reviews.

Tech companies hosting such reviews are protected from the penalty. This is because they are not legally responsible under U.S. law for the content that outsiders post on their websites. Tech companies, including Amazon, Yelp, and Google, have sued fake review dealers. They accuse of selling fake reviews on their sites.

The company say their technology has blocked or removed a large number of suspect reviews and suspicious accounts. However, some experts say they could be doing more. Their efforts thus far are not nearly enough, said Kay Dean, a former federal criminal investigator.

who runs a public protection group called Fake Review Watch. If these tech companies are so committed to eliminating review fraud on their platforms, why is it that I, one individual who works with no automation, can find hundreds or even thousands of fake reviews on any given day?

Consumers can try to find fake reviews by watching out for a few possible warning signs. Researchers say overly good or bad reviews are suspect. Highly specialized terms that repeat a product's full name or model number are another possible clue.

When it comes to AI, research done by Balazs Kovacs, a Yale professor, has shown that people cannot tell the difference between AI-created and human-written reviews. Some AI detectors may also be fooled by shorter texts, which are common in online reviews, the study said.

However, there are some AI clues that online shoppers and service seekers should keep in mind. Panagram Labs says reviews written with AI are often longer, highly structured, and include empty descriptors. Empty descriptors include general phrases and attributes or characteristics.

The writing also often includes overused phrases or opinions like the first thing that struck me and game changer. I'm John Russell. And I'm Anna Mateo. And now it's time for the lesson of the day on the Learning English Podcast. My name is Jill Robbins, and I'm joined by Andrew Smith. Hi, Andrew. Hi, Jill.

Our lesson is based on our video series, Let's Learn English. The series shows Ana Mateo in her work and life in Washington, D.C. Here's Ana introducing herself. My name is Ana Mateo. In the series, Ana often makes mistakes. I think Ana's mistakes make her life more interesting.

Today, we're going to show several ways we use a common word when we want to avoid making mistakes. Jill, what do we do when we want to make sure we have not made a mistake? We check our work. That's right. And this common word, check, is what we're talking about today. In Lesson 9 of Let's Learn English, Anna does not want to make a mistake about the weather.

Here in Washington, D.C., the weather changes often. One day is cold and windy, but the next day is warm and sunny. So every day I check the forecast. Forecast means what the weather will probably be like today or in the near future. So we can use the verb check to make sure we don't make a mistake in the future.

Native speakers usually use this word very quickly in short phrases. We are going to give some examples. Listen carefully. What's the weather supposed to be like tomorrow? I don't know. Let me check. You can hear that Andrew combined the two words let me into one when he said lemme.

He also shortened the two words "don't know" into one when he said "dunno." Let's hear his answer one more time. I don't know. Let me check. When we ask or answer questions about checking, we also say short, fast phrases. Listen to this next example. Did you get a chance to look at the video I sent? I haven't checked it yet, but I'll look at it later today.

Jill used the present perfect tense in her answer. This is common in both questions and answers with the verb check. But if we are talking about a specific time or a specific time period, we'll say, did you check it? Quickly, like this. Did you check it? And if we want to know if someone checked it at any time in the past, we say, have you checked it?

And to make it more polite, we say, "Have you had a chance to check it?" What does that sound like if you say it quickly, Andrew? It sounds like this: "Have you had a chance to check it?" That is quick. And we can also just say, "I haven't checked it," or "I need to check it." In lesson 9, Anna checked the weather forecast. But there was something important she forgot to check.

Hello, phone? What is today's temperature? Today it is 18 degrees. 18 degrees? That is cold. 18 degrees Celsius. Oh, Celsius. That is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. That's warm. Yeah, it is warm. Excuse me, phone? Is it windy today?

No, it is not windy today. Is it sunny today? Yes, Anna, it is sunny. Excuse me, phone. Is it snowy today? It is not snowy. Thank you, phone. Today, the weather is warm and sunny. Great for seeing Washington, D.C.

It is not warm and sunny. It is cold and windy and snowy. Windy or Mexico City, Mexico. Oh, I see. Mexico. Washington weather changes often. Remember to check the forecast. The right forecast. Okay, thank you.

So I guess it doesn't help to check if you check the wrong thing. And that's why we have the expression to double check. Right. Double checking is a good idea. Especially if your name is Anna.

We hope you will check out more episodes of Let's Learn English from VOA Learning English. And if you are listening carefully, you will notice that Andrew just used a common phrasal verb in English, to check something out. Andrew, what's the difference between the verb check and the phrasal verb check something out?

To check something out just means you are looking at something because you think it might be interesting or useful or special in some way. So it's usually used for something you have not seen before. And check it out is an informal way of saying, hey, you should look at this. Or, hey, you might like learning more about this.

Native speakers say, "Check it out," when we want to show something new or interesting. Like if we see a funny video of cats on YouTube. Or a fun episode of Let's Learn English. That's right. We simply say, "Hey, check it out," and then show it. We should mention one other thing about the phrasal verb "check something out." Listeners should check the dictionary to see many other meanings of this phrasal verb.

There are several meanings to the phrasal verb check out. And if you don't believe us, just go to the dictionary and check for yourself. Sometimes all this checking makes me tired. Well, that's when you need a break. Check it out. Andrew, is this podcast about English or about cats? Mostly English, but a little bit about cats never hurts. I think it's time to say goodbye, Andrew. I guess you're right.

Thank you for listening to the Learning English Podcast. I'm Andrew Smith. And I'm Jill Robbins. And that's our show for today. But join us again tomorrow to keep learning English on the Voice of America. I'm Katie Weaver. And I'm...