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irreversible(adj)
irreversibility(n)
sentence:The rare, yet serious, neurological disorder is irreversible.

definition:incapable of being reversed.

synonym: non-reversible, nonreversing

own sentence: The consequence of doing that experienment is irreversible.

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cognitive(adj)
cognition(n)

sentence:Morton, however, argued that studying the sheep over time will allow scientists to better understand the cognitive breakdown caused by Huntington’s disease, saying, “This could advance our prospects for getting a therapy."

definition:In science, cognition is the set of all mental abilities and processes related to knowledge: attention, memory& working memory, judgement resoning problem solving.

synonym:recongnitive

own sentence: This issue is mainly about our cognitive functions

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Scientists tried to show some photos of celebrities and famous people to sheep, and see if sheep can recongnize different people's faces and correctly choose the ones showed before .
Q2
The experienments are quite interesting since it's trying to test some human capabilities on animals. And the purpose of trying to find some connections of brain to solve deadly disease is so intriguing. But, if I have a chance to participate in such experienment, I won't try it. Because I feel a little uncomfortable with sheep.
Q3
Personally, I'm not so sure what the ethical issue is. But, I guess it's about does the sheep which are called as "animal models" matter or not.

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Question 1:
They did the experiment of whether the sheep can discern the different faces. In the experiment, the researchers gave some reward for the sheep if they were able to recognize the face correctly.

question2:
I think it is interesting to do the experiments with animals. If I had chance, I would be willing to do such experiments, because in the passage, the author shows that understanding how comparable brain structures function will help researchers develop a cure. This experiment will help people solve some deadly disease. It will be a huge success in biology field.

question3:There are some arguments about the feasibility of the study. The disease comes from people, so using the sheep to study may not have a effective result. Thus it is better to have study on human in order to solve the disease.

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derive(verb)

Sentence： Bekoff cites both an ethical issue in engineering sheep with a degenerative disease and a biological issue in how effective results derived from animal studies can be for human patients.

Definition: 1.to receive or obtain from a source or origin (usually followed byfrom).

2.to trace from a source or origin

3.to reach or obtain by reasoning; deduce; infer.

Adj： derived
Synonym: evolve

Own sentence：The myth of Zeus derived from Greek.

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Impair （verb）

Sentence： It impairs a person’s ability to walk, talk, and think.

Definition：to make or cause to become worse; diminish in ability, value, excellence, etc.; weaken or damage:
noun:  impairment
Synonym: damage

Own sentence: The hurricane attacked the USA and impaired lots of houses.

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vocabulary 2: substitute            speech: verb     definition: to use something new or different instead of something else     origin: When the image of one of the sheep’s handlers, a frequent treat dispenser outside the experiment, was substituted for a celebrity……      adjective: substitutable  synonym: replace       my own sentence: No one can substitute my parents in my mind.

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vocabulary 2: substitute            speech: verb     definition: to use something new or different instead of something else     origin: When the image of one of the sheep’s handlers, a frequent treat dispenser outside the experiment, was substituted for a celebrity……      adjective: substitutable  synonym: replace       my own sentence: No one can substitute my parents in my mind.

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vocabulary 1: discern  speech: verb   definition:  to notice or understand something by thinking about it carefully          origin:The research team was interested in seeing whether sheep would be able to discern different faces.   adjective: discernible  synonym: recognize  my own sentence: We should learn to discern and analyze the essentials of complicated questions.

# data[].attributes.subject
vocabulary 1: discern  speech: verb   definition:  to notice or understand something by thinking about it carefully          origin:The research team was interested in seeing whether sheep would be able to discern different faces.   adjective: discernible  synonym: recognize  my own sentence: We should learn to discern and analyze the essentials of complicated questions.

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discipline: science summary: The article shows some different kinds of experiments that sheep are able to recognize people’s face. Scientists are trying to study people’s disease by using animals to some tests….Although there is a continuous debate about the ethic of the approach, scientists are still trying to study people.                         my response: The topic of the article is really interesting. It is my first time to know that sheep are able to recognize people’s face. That is an amazing story. If I have an opportunity, I prefer to take part in those experiments

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discipline: science summary: The article shows some different kinds of experiments that sheep are able to recognize people’s face. Scientists are trying to study people’s disease by using animals to some tests….Although there is a continuous debate about the ethic of the approach, scientists are still trying to study people.                         my response: The topic of the article is really interesting. It is my first time to know that sheep are able to recognize people’s face. That is an amazing story. If I have an opportunity, I prefer to take part in those experiments

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Q1: What experiment did those scientists do to sheep?

Q2: Do you think it is interesting to do experiments with animals? Do you prefer to take part in those scientists? Why or why not?

Q3: Do you know the reason of existence of the ethic issue in the article?

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When sheep follow people, they may do it a little less blindly than we've always thought.

In a study performed by University of Cambridge researchers, sheep were shown black-and-white photos of four celebrities: Barack Obama, Emma Watson, TV journalist Fiona Bruce, and Jake Gyllenhaal.

"One of them is just a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal," lead researcher Jenny Morton said of one of the students who helped select the images. The photos used were somewhat random; they needed to be able to show various faces at different angles, so oft-photographed celebrities made a logical choice.

The research team was interested in seeing whether sheep would be able to discern different faces. Sheep are social animals that live in a flock, and they use a number of methods to communicate. Researchers suspected facial recognition, a complex brain task, might be one of them.

To test this, they trained the sheep to associate the image of one person, Barack Obama for example, with a food reward. They were shown both an image of Obama and another face next to it. When the sheep tapped the former president's image, it broke an infrared beam and dispensed the treat. Eight times out of ten, the eight sheep in the study knew which face to associate with food.

To truly test that the sheep were recognizing faces and not just familiar photos, the researchers also presented them with different images of each celebrity, including from skewed angles. When shown these different perspectives of each face, the sheep still recognized them more than half the time.

But it wasn't just the celebrity faces that the sheep recognized. When the image of one of the sheep's handlers, a frequent treat dispenser outside the experiment, was substituted for a celebrity, seven times out of ten the sheep consistently chose their handler. The study notes in this trial the animals did a "double take" looking at the stranger, then their handler, before finally choosing their handler. The results were published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Anecdotally, Morton said she knows the sheep recognize her face. While leading a film crew through the sheep's university pen early Wednesday morning, Morton saw the animals huddle in a corner away from the strangers. It was only when Morton herself called to them that they approached.

An Animal Approach to a Human Disease

While the study presented an interesting finding about how sheep think, the results lay more foundational research for understanding Huntington's disease. The rare, yet serious, neurological disorder is irreversible. It impairs a person's ability to walk, talk, and think. The World Health Organization estimates that between five to seven per 100,000 people are impacted in Western countries (where data is available.)

So far, there's no cure. If you have the genes, you will probably develop the disease. But Morton says understanding how comparable brain structures function will help researchers develop a cure.

Morton got the idea to study how sheep recognize faces because humans with Huntington's disease have difficulty recognizing faces. By better understanding sheep brains, medical researchers can use them to test therapies that may eventually be used on people, Morton hopes. ( Read about human "super recognizers" who never forget a face.)

Gene therapy has been suggested as a way to treat the disease-carrying genes in Huntington's patients. Morton and her team hope to next study a flock of sheep from Australia that have been genetically engineered to carrying Huntington's disease. By treating these sheep, she theorizes people could one day develop a human treatment.

Ethics of the Approach

"I think it's an extremely interesting and significant study," said Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus from the University of Colorado and evolutionary biologist whose book The Animals' Agenda argues for a more ethical treatment of animals.

"I'm a skeptic on how important these animal models are," he said. Bekoff cites both an ethical issue in engineering sheep with a degenerative disease and a biological issue in how effective results derived from animal studies can be for human patients.

How effectively studies performed on animals can be transferred to human patients has been a contentious debate for decades. One 2004 study from the FDA found 92 percent of drugs up for approval failed after first passing muster on animals.

"I'm a fan of studying people to learn about people," Bekoff said.

Morton, however, argued that studying the sheep over time will allow scientists to better understand the cognitive breakdown caused by Huntington's disease, saying, "This could advance our prospects for getting a therapy."

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When sheep follow people, they may do it a little less blindly than we've always thought. In a study performed by University of Cambridge researchers, sheep were shown black-and-white photos of four celebrities: Barack Obama, Emma Watson, TV journalist Fiona Bruce, and Jake Gyllenhaal.