This is VOA1, The Hits.

Coming up on the program, Andrew Smith and Jill Robbins have a story on a chemical used in air coolers that scientists say needs replacing.

Brian Lynn has this week's technology report on Google's antitrust trial and how it could change the internet search market.

Later, Andrew and Jill return to present the English lesson of the day, but first,

Jennifer Byrne owns a heating and air conditioning repair company in the American city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Air conditioning, or AC equipment, cools the air in a home.

To do this, the equipment uses a gas called a refrigerant.

While working on AC equipment in a house, Bern puts gas from the equipment into a special container.

The gas is known by an industrial name, R-410a.

Scientists say it traps 2,088 times more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

Because chemical refrigerants capture heat, some people say they need to be replaced with something else.

Some scientists are worried that the release of methane, carbon dioxide, and other gases is making the atmosphere warmer.

The Clean Air Act bars businesses from releasing refrigerants into the air on purpose.

Some companies are trying to find replacement gases that trap less heat, which might work almost as well.

Leaking A.C.

equipment in homes is one way the gases get into the atmosphere.

Cars are another source of these pollutants, said Eckhard Grohl.

He is an expert in refrigeration and head of mechanical engineering at Purdue University in the state of Indiana.

He said AC units in cars can leak.

He said that, on average, about 25 percent of refrigerant from all cars leak out every year.

There are more than 200 million gasoline cars in the U.S.

alone, Grohl said.

Using those numbers, Grohl said he estimates about 45 million kilograms of refrigerant is leaking into the atmosphere each year.

Supermarkets are the second largest source of leaks.

Long pipes carry refrigerant to coolers that store food.

Danielle Wright is head of the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council, a non-profit group based in Mill Valley, California.

It supports cleaner methods of cooling.

Wright said the average supermarket leaks about 25% of its refrigerant each year.

That number is based on a U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency report from 2005.

She criticized supermarkets, saying it's cheaper to leak the refrigerant than to build a leak-proof system.

Limiting leaks is important because the refrigerant can be reused.

Many businesses recycle refrigerant gas.

One such company, Agas, was founded in Britain in 1993.

The company has several centers in the U.S.

Refrigerants can be used many times over and can last for 30 years, said Mike Armstrong, president of Agas in the Americas.

The company takes in refrigerants and containers from around the U.S.

and other countries.

It processes the gas to be sold and used again.

He said his business is doing well.

This industry is probably going to increase four to five times in the next couple years, Armstrong said.

The chemical industry is also looking for a chemical to replace R-410A.

Some researchers have suggested carbon dioxide itself as a possibility.

But Grohl of Purdue University said that carbon dioxide has to be under high pressure to work as a refrigerant.

Completely different equipment would be necessary.

Right of the Sustainable Refrigeration Council supports the use of carbon dioxide.

This is kind of a low-hanging fruit.

It's a known technology, and it's market-ready," she said.

However, she said that reducing leaks from air conditioners is more difficult.

She said chemical and equipment manufacturers and existing building rules have slowed the growth of new refrigerants in the U.S.

But one manufacturer, Train Technologies, said it has been working hard on different choices.

Train says it has a refrigerant that is 78% less damaging to the environment than the current one.

The company says it will start using it in its equipment beginning in 2024.

And at Harvard University, researchers are working to develop a solid refrigerant instead of a gas.

Jared Mason, an assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University, is working on the project.

He said he is hopeful about using solid materials because they could be used in both large buildings and normal homes.

I'm Andrew Smith.

And I'm Jill Robbins.

A court in the United States is hearing evidence in a case against search engine provider Google.

The government accuses the company of using illegal methods to crush business competitors.

The U.S.

Department of Justice is leading the case against Google in a court in Washington, D.C.

The trial could change the way Google is permitted to do business in the future.

The case is one of the biggest antitrust trials in American history.

Antitrust is a term relating to laws designed to prevent illegal competition.

If the trial judge rules in favor of the government, the resulting punishment could lead to new online search possibilities for individual users and businesses.

Google's search engine earned a huge market share by helping people quickly connect to the wealth of information available on the Internet.

Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed the search technology in the late 1990s.

The Justice Department argues that Google has an unfair advantage in the market because its search engine is the default choice on the world's most popular smartphones and web browsers.

Witnesses from device makers, service providers, and Google recently testified about one way the company's search engine is able to remain the default choice.

They said the company pays an estimated $10 billion yearly to phone makers and other businesses in exchange for the default position.

In opening arguments, Justice Department lawyer Kenneth Dinser said,

This case is about the future of the Internet and whether Google will ever face meaningful competition in search.

Google has denied accusations that it uses unlawful methods to keep its huge market share.

It says its search engine is wildly popular across the world

because it offers users a high level of quality.

Google lawyers have also argued that any users not happy with its search services can easily change to competitors.

But industry experts point out that many users choose to keep Google as the default so they do not have to take additional steps to change it.

Research has shown that because of this ease, very few people change the default setting of Google.

The chief executives from two privacy-centered search engines, DuckDuckGo and Neva, have argued that the default system favors Google and hurts their businesses.

Niva closed its operations earlier this year.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also testified that Google has established a strong hold over users over the years.

You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, and you search on Google," Nadella said.

He added that the only way to break this dependence is to remove Google as the default choice.

To solve this problem, industry experts say the judge may order a requirement for smartphones and web browsers to present a series of search engines to users during the setup process.

This is already being done in Europe, but research shows that so far most European users are still choosing to go with Google.

Florian Schaub is a professor of information at the University of Michigan who has studied people's online behavior.

He says the fairest result in the trial would be a total ban on default agreements between technology companies.

Schaub spoke to the Associated Press.

He said the current search environment is being shaped by the big companies that control the space.

He added, what the government can do is inject some neutralism into this and give consumers some actual choices.

Earlier this month, a Justice Department lawyer accused Google in court of using unfair methods to push up Internet advertising prices.

The government argues that Google now controls the digital tool that nearly every major website publisher uses to sell ads on their websites.

The Justice Department accuses Google of using unfair methods to control online auctions that connect buyers and sellers of online advertising.

By making small changes to the auction system, Google can drive ad prices up to make more money, government lawyers say.

Advertisers and website publishers have long criticized Google's ad business as being too complex and secretive.

I'm Brian Lynn.

Brian Lynn joins me now to talk more about the technology report.

Thanks for being here, Brian.

Sure, Dan.

Glad to be here.

This week, you reported on a trial involving Google that accuses the company of using unfair methods that hurt competition.

How likely is it that Google will lose the case and face some kind of legal action?

Well, at this point, it still remains a very open question.

Some experts point out the difficulty of winning a case against such a big established company.

But others note the Justice Department has collected some good evidence to support their case and that the judge could issue new orders against Google.

Also, there is no shortage of opposition to Google's business practices in the industry and also in the U.S.

Congress.

So this existing support for taking some action against Google may persuade the judge.

In the report, you noted that some chief executives of major technology companies have either spoken out about the trial or testified in court.

What can you tell us about that?

Yes, one of the biggest names was Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, and he complained in court that Google has built up a following largely by paying for being the default search engine on devices and web browsers.

And of course, Microsoft's Bing search engine is a major competitor to Google.

So Nadella has called on the court outright to remove this default status, as have the heads of some other more privacy-centered search engines that we mentioned in the report.

All right.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Thanks again for being here, Brian.

You're welcome, Dan.

Thank you.

Hello!

My name is Anna Mateo.

My name is Andrew Smith.

And I'm Jill Robbins.

You're listening to The Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast.

Welcome to the part of the show where we help you do more with our series, Let's Learn English.

The series shows Ana Mateo in her work and life in Washington, D.C.

Ana feels lucky to be in Washington because many special events take place in the city.

In a previous lesson of the day, we followed Ana as she visited a festival for the famous English playwright, William Shakespeare.

And in today's lesson, Ana goes to another festival.

This time, in Lesson 24 of the Let's Learn English series, Anna goes to a folklife festival.

A festival is a special program of events that usually celebrates a particular topic.

For example, a festival might celebrate traditions connected to a national holiday or the culture of a particular nationality.

Or festivals might celebrate topics such as books, old cars, or a particular style of music.

Festivals often take place outdoors in public places.

Folklife refers to traditional aspects of a culture such as music, dance, clothing, and food that have lasted for several generations.

And the word folk simply means people.

U.S.

President Joe Biden uses this word a lot when he gives a speech, but he adds the letter S to it.

Talking to the people, he will often begin a sentence by saying, folks, let's listen to a few examples.

Folks, all my time in public office, I've been referred to as middle-class Joe.

Folks, this just didn't happen.

Together, we made it happen.

Because the word sounds a little less formal, President Biden probably uses it to show that he can connect with all kinds of people.

But Jill, you know what?

I think we have digressed away from Anna.

Yes, I think we have.

To digress means to start talking about things less closely related to the main topic.

So, let's come back to Anna and the Folklife Festival.

The official name of the event is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

The Smithsonian is a large group of museums, education, and research centers created by the U.S.

government.

Now let's listen to Anna in Lesson 24.

I was at work, and I wanted a break.

So I walked and walked and walked and walked.

Then I saw something.

It was a festival, a big festival.

It's the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Yes, it was the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

Every year, the festival shows different cultures.

This year, one of the cultures was the Basque culture.

There was dancing and food and games.

I am dancing a traditional Basque dance.

At the festival, I danced a traditional Basque dance.

They are cooking traditional Basque food.

They cooked a lot of traditional Basque food.

They are playing a game.

It's a kind of handball.

What do they call it?

They call it pilota.

They played a game with their hands and a small ball.

It's a kind of handball, but this game is called pilota.

Ana learned new things about Basque culture.

Basque refers to a region and culture in the northeastern part of Spain.

There, the people speak both Spanish and the Basque language.

Andrew, our listeners might be interested to know that even though the Basque language is spoken by people in Europe, the language is not related to other European languages.

In fact, linguists, which means people who study languages, think the Basque language is older than the other languages in Europe.

That means people have been speaking Basque for a very long time.

Let's look at how Ana asked about the handball game they were playing.

She didn't know the name of the game.

When we don't know the name of something, we usually use the verb call to ask about it.

Listen.

What do they call it?

They call it pilota.

This is a very useful expression in English.

Although we sometimes say, what is the name of that place for a particular place, such as a restaurant?

For many other things, we say, what do you call it?

Or what is that called?

What is this called?

So if you are learning English and you don't know the name of an object or an activity, you can just say,

What do you call this?

And the answer, uses the passive form of the verb, is called listen.

It's a kind of handball, but this game is called pilota.

I'm Andrew Smith, and you're listening to the lesson of the day on the Learning English podcast.

In the lesson of the day, we like to give examples of how native speakers pronounce phrases when they are speaking quickly.

What do you call it?

Sounds like this when we say it quickly.

What do you call it?

We change the three words, what do you, to what do ya, when we speak quickly.

What do ya means what do you.

And our listeners should also notice that we don't really pronounce the letter T at the end of the phrase.

Instead of saying call it, we say call it with a held T. We talked about the held T in a previous lesson of the day when we compared the pronunciation of the verb can and its negative form, can't.

Now, listen to Jill and me give more examples of fast speech with the verb call.

Ready?

Listen.

What is this called?

What is that called?

What is it called?

What do you call it?

Let's look closely at one of those sentences.

Speaking slowly, I can say, what is it called?

But when I speak quickly, it changes to, what is it called?

What is becomes reduced to what is.

The letter T in what changes to a sound closer to the letter D.

And the word it goes by so fast that it becomes very reduced to just a vowel sound plus a very fast held T. It, it, it.

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it called?

We sometimes use the phrase, what do you call to make jokes?

For example, what do you call a police officer in bed?

A police officer in bed?

Uh, I don't know.

What do you call a police officer in bed?

An undercover cop.

That's pretty good.

When you're under the covers, you are lying under blankets in bed.

And cop is a short word for police officer.

Here's one for you, Jill.

What do you call something that goes up when the rain comes down?

An umbrella?

You got it.

You're pretty good at this.

Hey, thanks.

There's another detail from Lesson 24 of the Let's Learn English series we should mention.

When we use the simple past of regular verbs in English, we pronounce the "-ed ending three different ways, depending on the spelling of the verb.

We can hear Ana use the three different pronunciations.

Yesterday started like a usual work day.

I was at work, and I wanted a break.

So I walked and walked and walked and walked.

They played a game with their hands and a small ball.

It's a kind of handball, but this game is called pilota.

With the first examples, the verbs started and wanted

You can hear the extra syllable id, started, wanted.

We add this extra syllable when the verb ends in the letter T or D. With the verb walked, you can hear the sound of the letter T, walked.

We add the T sound when the verb ends in a voiceless consonant, like the letters K and P. Worked.

Stopped.

And the third way we pronounce is with the sound of the letter D. Played.

Called.

We add this when the verb ends with a voiced sound like a vowel or like the letter V. Love.

Let's listen to Anna use the three different pronunciations one more time.

Yesterday started like a usual work day.

I was at work and I wanted a break.

So I walked and walked and walked and walked.

They played a game with their hands and a small ball.

It's a kind of hand ball, but this game is called pilota.

Jill.

What do you call a podcast that has run out of time?

Overcast.

You mean it's cloudy?

No, you know, as in the lesson is over.

Oh, it's over.

Well, time flies when you're having fun.

You can learn more on our website, learningenglish.voanews.com.

You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

And thanks for listening to the Lesson of the Day on the Learning English Podcast.

I'm Jill Robbins.

And I'm Andrew Smith.

And that's our program for today.

Join us again tomorrow to keep learning English through stories from around the world.

I'm Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Dan Novak.