The long-term process through which a population of organisms accumulats genetic changes that enable its members to successfully adapt to environmental conditions
and to better exploit resources. It's but a continuous response to advantages presented by the changing environment, including the environment caused by the responses of other creatures.
It's an extremely slow process... unless there is
high stress to a species that results in a high deathrate
or in limited breeding, such as getting trapped on an
island, or the advent of a new predator (or food).
. . "Evolution created mind because it is a powerful way to analyze threats, co-ordinate groups of individually weak creatures into strong societies, & map the world around us to reflect & control danger & opportunity." ~Rupert Goodwins, ZDNet
. . "The Fossil Fallacy: the belief that a single fossil --one bit of data-- constitutes proof of a multifarious process or historical sequence.
. . "We know evolution happened not because of transitional fossils such as A. natans but because of the convergence of evidence from such diverse fields as geology, paleontology, biogeography, comparative anatomy and physiology, molecular biology, genetics, and many more. No single discovery from any of these fields denotes proof of evolution, but together they reveal that life evolved in a certain sequence by a particular process." ~Michael Shermer
EVOLUTION, CONVERGENT: describes the situation when animals that are distantly related --like the robber crab and an insect-- can evolve similar adaptations in response to natural selection. Independent but similar evolution of form and function in unrelated organisms. or: EVOLUTION, PARALLEL
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY: The human side of socio-biology. EO Wilson
EVOLUTIONARILY STABLE STRATEGY: --ESS--
is defined as a strategy, which, if most members of a
population adopt it, cannot be bettered by an alternate
strategy. From "The Selfish Gene", by Richard Dawkins.
EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY: ...is concerned
with the conditions that existed in ancestral environments,
the proximate mechanisms that evolved to deal with
conditions in this environment, and the function of these
evolved mechanisms in our current environment. ~Kruger, D.J.
EXISTENTIAL ANGST: the feeling of
anxiety that arises from not having an idea of one's purpose.
EXISTENTIALISM: a philosophical movement or tendency that influenced many diverse writers in the 19th and 20th centuries. It's impossible to define precisely, but one major theme is the stress on concrete individual existence and, consequently, on subjectivity, individual freedom, and choice. "...is nothing but an
attempt to draw all consequences from a consistent atheistic position." ~Sartre. [tho Kierkegaard developed a Xian ex'ism.] Man has freedom to chose, resulting in anguish & dispair.
EXOTIC: "from outside". Being or from or characteristic of another place or part of the world. (An "absolute" word. See list under "absolute".) exo- is from the Greek; meaning external. To remember it easily, it's the opposite of domestic. . It does NOT mean unusual. (Use "strange") There are no degrees of exotic --it either is or isn't. A common toothpick from Canada is exotic! (see Unique)
EXPONENTIAL INCREASE does not mean "fast." Term that describes the situation when, for example, simple organisms (e.g.) bacteria grow to a certain
size and then split into two organisms. One organism will
give rise to two; two will give rise to four; four to eight, etc.
. . A quantity has exponential growth, over time, if
the amount of growth from one moment to the next is in proportion to the amount itself. The difference is vastly greater in dealing with double digits.
EYELASH MITES! Demodex folliculorum, or the demodicid, is a tiny mite, less than 0.4 mm long, that lives in your pores and hair follicles, usually on the nose, forehead, cheek, and chin, and often in the roots of
your eyelashes. Almost everyone has 'em. They do you good, & no harm. See a file w great pix!
FABULOUS: ...as in fabricate --something made up. A lie, or exaggeration. A fiction.
FACTOR: --to find the smallest indivisible devisors of a number.
FAIR WITNESS:
- A profession described in "Stranger in a Strange
Land." One who, especially while alert, sees--knows--
reports--only what is, not images/ideas contaminated
with suppositions and expectancies. ...and uses language
designed to convey the truth without further contamination.
- A study I propose, intended to teach the scientific
method, personal understanding and connection... even reach
some degree of enlightenment. See the essay.)
FAITH: The trust placed in the value of
ignorance. The contrary of wisdom. (see "doubt" & "wisdom"
on this page, & the "On Faith &
Luther" page) . . Ambrose Bierce: "Belief without
evidence... in what is told by one who speaks without
knowledge, of things without parallel."
FALSIFY: A scientific principle that a
conjecture must be able to be proved wrong to be stated as
scientific. See the file.)
FATE: only that feeling of strong influence from our genes... those things we are driven towards without our own decision. Mislabeled as an "it is
written /predestination" superstition.
Feng Shui: ("phung schway", meaning
literally "wind water") A hodgepodge of superstitions and
unverified notions. A kind of architectural acupuncture:
wizards and magi insert themselves into buildings or
landscapes and use their metaphysical sensors to detect the
flow of good and bad "energy." Another New Age "energy" scam.
FERAL: Wild. Raised without civilization.
FISH-WATER: My phrase for "It's like water to a fish", meaning something that's always been there, and so pervasive/ubiquitous as to be unnoticed, and never examined, but is often used as a basis for larger
beliefs (risky). Something obvious, once seen, but almost
impossible to see/discover first. Invisible ubiquity.
FISSION: To split, esp a uranium atom, to produce energy, using a high-speed neutron. See fusion, just below.
FLUX: Flow.
FOLKSONOMIES: contain the information required to let us have multiple simultaneous categorizations.
FRAME DRAGGING: predicted in 1918, a new study confirms it. Any object with mass will warp the space-time around it, in much the same way as a heavy object deforms a stretched elastic sheet. If the object spins, another distortion is introduced, in the same way as the elastic sheet would be twisted by a spinning heavy wheel on it. Space around those bodies is being frame-dragged, & satellites are caught up in the deformation. A second object on the elastic sheet would be moved by the drag as the sheet is deformed. My hypothesis: I can imagine how the effect would create a force that pushes (coincidently) counter to gravity. (Mass creating G, but the mass's spin creating F-drag, creating "pull".) ...that vast numbers of frame-dragging Black Holes, stars, etc, twists space & accumulates, filling space with the inward force we attribute to the gravity of "dark matter/energy". (ok, but no more weird than "dark energy/matter!)
FREE RADICALS: typically are oxygen
molecules that lack an electron, often setting up a
corrosive chain reaction that can damage other cells.
FRENULUM: A strap of tissue linking the
tongue to the floor of the mouth.
FRUIT: Grows from a flower and contains
seeds, like a lemon or tomato.
FUSION: To meld together, esp hydrogen atom, to produce energy, using a high-temp/presure condition created in one of several ways: implosion via laser beams, or magnetically. Actually, the H used is two other isotopes: deuterium and tritium (add one or two neutrons to the H's one-proton neucleus). The former can be derived from water which is abundant and available everywhere. The latter can be produced from lithium, which is plentiful. A fusion operation could result in waste materials that are safe to handle in a relatively modest timescale (50-100 years), compared with the much longer lived radioactive waste (many thousands of years) produced as a direct result of splitting atoms in fission reactions. It has been calculated that after 100 years of post-operation radioactive decay, The proposed demo reactor in France will be left with about 6,000 tons of waste. When packaged, this would be equivalent to a cube with about 10m edges. See fission, just above.
FUTURE SHOCK: the distresses caused by
the speed of social and technological change. "The premature arrival of the future." Alvin Tofler's term, from the book of that name.
GAIA Theory: Sees the Earth as a system where the evolution of the organisms is tightly coupled to the evolution of their environment. Self-regulation of
climate and chemical composition are emergent properties of
the system. A math basis is exemplified in the model "Daisyworld".
Gaia: all life on Earth functioning symbiotically as a whole.
GM: genetic manipulation. Controversial, in that it may create hazardous foodstuffs.
GAMETE: A haploid sex cell, egg or
sperm, that contains a single copy of each chromosome.
GRBs: Gamma ray bursts shine briefly with the intensity of a million trillion suns. One or two a day go off, scattered throughout the cosmos.
. . GRBs are almost surely caused by supernovae. It's lucky that GRBs almost always come from outside our Galaxy. The radiation from such an event, were it to originate nearby, could produce a lethal dose of byproducts --particles called muons-- upon striking Earth's atmosphere.
GEOLOGICAL TIME DIVISIONS are: eon, era, period, and epoch, and age.
Phanerozoic Eon: 540 million years ago through today.
Proterozoic Eon: 2.5 billion years ago to 540 million years ago (MYA).
Archaeozoic Eon: 3.9 to 2.5 billion years ago.
Hadean Eon: 4.6 to 3.9 billion years ago.
Within EONs: two or more geological eras, which are
each hundreds of millions of years in duration.
Within ERAs: two or more geological periods.
Within PERIODs: two or more geological epochs: the smallest division of geologic time, (unless you count "age") lasting several million years.
Paleozoic Era ("ancient life") (540 to 248 MYA) saw an
explosion of new life forms. It ended with the largest mass
extinction in geologic history and was followed by the Mesozoic Era. It is divided into the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian Periods. It was followed by the Mesozoic Era, the time of the dinosaurs.
Carboniferous Period: from 360 to 280 MYA.
The Ordovician Period (or-da-VISH-ee-en) from 505 to
438 MYA. Primitive plants appear on land, as do the first
corals, primitive fishes, seaweed and fungi.
Cambrain Period, also called "The Age of Trilobites": 540 to 500 MYA.
Vendian or Ediacaran Period: 650 to 544 MYA; when the
earliest-known animals evolved.
The Holocene Epoch (meaning "entirely recent" in Greek) is
the most recent; from about 11,000 years ago until the present day.
Maastrichtian Epoch was the last part of the Cretaceous period.
Malm Epoch was the late (upper) part of the Jurassic period, about 159 to 144 MYA.
GENE: A locus on a chromosome that
encodes a specific protein or several related proteins. It
is considered the functional unit of heredity.
. . From The Selfish Gene, Dawkins: Any portion of a chromosomal material that potentially lasts for enough generations to serve as a unit of natural selection; &
sufficiently short for it to last, potentially, for long
enough for it to function as a significant unit of natural
selection. One gene may be regarded as a unit that survives
thru a large number of successive bodies. The gene is the basic unit of selfishness.
. When similar sequences are believed to be related to each other by evolutionary descent, they are said to be homologous. Paralogous genes is the term used for genes possessed by an individual which are related by duplication & divergence.
. . Pseudogenes without introns may result from incorporation of processed RNA messages back into genomic DNA by reverse transcription. Shuffling and reuse of exons appears to occur. The whole picture is therefore one of very considerable complexity.
. . Orthologous genes is the term used for genes shared by two individuals which are related by divergence following reproductive isolation.
GENE --"jumping gene": also called transposons or mobile elements. A connection between the variety in the brain's neurons and certain genes that can change their position in the genetic code. They're found in all living things. About 20% of the genetic code in mammals is of the jumping variety. But only a small fraction of these are "active" --which means they are able to successfully reinsert themselves into a new spot in the code. Active jumping genes have been observed in sperm and egg cells --possibly providing a small kick to evolution by instilling tiny alterations to the genetic make-up of the next generation. There is some evidence that the jumping genes actually target places in the code where they can make a difference. A possible answer to this Darwinian riddle is that there could be a definite advantage to a population in having programmed variability in its members. "If diversity was important, then the mechanism for creating diversity could be passed on."
GENE THERAPY: germ-line gene therapy involves manipulation of DNA in sperm and eggs (germ cells) and produces permanent, inheritable genetic
alterations. This contrasts with somatic gene
therapy, a more limited technique in which genes are introduced just into particular tissue cells or cell lines that will not be passed along to offspring.
GENOME: The "DNA map" --genetic complement contained in the chromosomes of a given organism. A genome is the complete set of genetic instructions for making an organism —-a master plan. The components of that plan, genes, are carried on DNA molecules that organize themselves into chromosomes. A side-by-side comparison shows at least 173 places on pig and human chromosomes where the genes match. Determining how genes line up on each DNA molecule in the swine genome, a process called sequencing.
. . Sequencing of the human genome was completed in 2003, and the first draft of the bovine, or cow, genome was finished in 04. The swine genome sequencing project is under way.
. . (related) EPI-GENOME: a layer of biochemical reactions that turns genes on and off. It plays a big part in health and heredity. By mapping the epigenome and linking it with genomic and health information, scientists believe they can develop better ways to predict, diagnose and treat disease.
. . The epigenome can change according to an individual's environment, and is passed from generation to generation. It's part of the reason why "identical" twins can be so different, and it's also why not only the children but the grandchildren of women who suffered malnutrition during pregnancy are likely to weigh less at birth. [Does this remind you of Lamarkian evolution?!]
GENUS: A category including closely
related species. Interbreeding between organisms within the same category can occur.
GEOENGINEERING: Like Terra-forming, but modifying an already-existing eco-system. Letely, aimed at ameliorating global warmimg with sulfur aerosols.
GEOMETRIC: See LOGARITHMIC (1, 10, 100,
1000....) ARITHMETIC merely adds the same # each time. An
arithmetic progression is a sequence in which each term is
derived from the preceding one by adding a given number, d,
called the common difference. A geometric progression is
one in which each term is derived by multiplying the
preceding term by a given number r, called the common
ratio.A harmonic progression is one in which the terms are
the reciprocals of the terms of an arithmetic progression.
GERM CELL (GERM LINE) GENE THERAPY: The
repair or replacement of a defective gene within the gamete-
forming tissues, which produces a heritable change
in an organism's genetic constitution.
GERMPLASM: the genetic information of a plant's hereditary makeup, and is the living tissue that can be used to grow new plants.
GHOST LINEAGE: a group of organisms that
are thought to exist because of a cladistic analysis, but
for which there is, as yet, no fossil evidence of existence.
GIGANTOPITHECUS: "gigantic ape" was the biggest primate that ever lived. A gorilla-like ape that weighed roughly 300 kg and was over 3 meters tall.
GIGANTOTHERMY: (ji-GANT-oh-therm-ee) is
the maintenance of a constant, relatively high body
temperature by having a large body for "insulation". Large animals have a relatively low surface area to volume ratio, so they retain heat better than smaller animals.
GLASSES: "In molecular terms, glasses are materials that form amorphous rather than crystalline solids upon cooling (ie, materials that vitrify). Although there are many plausible explanations for why materials vitrify rather than crystallize, there is no general rule. In fact, the reason why vitrification occurs may be different for different materials --including a combination of factors such as viscosity, heat of fusion, mixed bonding type, hydrogen-bonding, colligative effects and the effect of cooling rate. For most materials that vitrify, cooling rate is critical --meaning that if cooling rate is too slow, the material will crystallize rather than vitrify. Even metals can form glasses if cooled quickly enough.
. . The chemical bonding in crystalline silica shows the ordered regularity of a lattice, whereas vitreous silica has more the appearance of a random network. Most glass used for windows and drinking-vessels is soda-lime glass --made from 75% silica, 15% soda and 10% lime (calcium oxide)."
. . Thermal conductivity for glass is much less than for metal. In glassy materials, thermal conductivity drops as temperature decreases --the opposite to what happens in crystalline materials."
. . Our recent understanding of glassy materials, which exist as a state of matter between solid and liquid, isn't quite right.
. . One popular scientific idea is that matter turns from liquid to solid at a discrete point, but a new study suggests that the shift is continuous.
. . Glassy materials are tricky to define. They have the disordered configuration of a liquid, but at cool temperatures they're so viscous and the molecules flow so slowly that they exhibit the brittle characteristics of a solid.
GLUONS: Made up of only Quarks, the basic particles, themselves made up of Strings. Unlike photons, gluons interact strongly with one another, & carry the Strong Nuclear Force.
GOD: ...small "g": one of a million images conceived by the human mind... of a pervasive power that explains what man could not at that time.
. . Big "G": The special one of the above small-g's that a person believes in. To be fair, there are several dozen extant today, with countless variations. To the atheist: a "virtual idol".
GOLDEN RATIO: or Golden Mean --the ratio for length to width of rectangles: 1.61803 to 1. (or 1 to .618 --yes, the same 3 digits...) Also called "phi", named for the Greek sculptor Phidias. The Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to be 4,600 years old, which was long before the Greeks. Its dimensions are also based on this ratio. Beauty in various measurements of the human face & body is said to be ideal at .7 to 1. e.g waist-to-hip width.
. . Other fundamental constants of mathematics: e = 2.718...
The digits of pi and e never end, nor has anyone detected an orderly pattern in their arrangement. We know the value of pi to over a trillion digits.
GONDWANALAND: One part of ancient Pangaea ("all-Earth") -the all-in-one supercontinent. Continents split and re-combined (in different ways) several times!
GRAVITON: a hypothetical elementary particle having no mass and no charge. We can think of the gravitational attraction between two objects as the exchange of gravitons. Gravitons are analogous to photons. Gravitons and photons —-both massless-— travel at the speed of light. ~April Holladay
GRAVITY: extends infinitely, & weakens with distance --specifically, by the inverse square of the distance. We're still waiting for a real theory to connect it with the other forces. [Gs vary equator to poles. poles: 1.0020 G, to .997959 at the equator. A standard ton wud be 1002 kg to 997.96 kg.]
GROK: to deeply understand. From Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land".
GREEN REVOLUTION: Disasterous advances
in genetics, petrochemicals, and machinery that culminated
in a dramatic increase in crop productivity during the
third quarter of the 20th century. Permitted an increase in
population where they were not ready to control it.
GREENHOUSE EFFECT: The rise in
temperature of any planet, due to the accumulation of large
molecules in its atmosphere that reflect heat (in all
directions, actually). The biggest and most efficient
molecules (CFCs, e.g.) are unknown in nature. Venus has a
runaway effect, yielding 900F. See the file.)
GUILT: Shame is more a public
humiliation; guilt more a private, internal one. See the file.)
GURU: essential requirements: An aura of infallibility, a package of fairly easily understandable metaphysical ideas to attract your disciples, hints of much more intriguing esoteric truths which will only be revealed to the select few, and a program of self-improvement to be prescribed to those who want to achieve Enlightenment. Obviously, only those who show unquestioning devotion to the Guru will succeed in this endeavor. [clipt from somewhere]
GYMNOSPERMS: ("naked seeds") are seed-bearing plants that that don't produce flowers. They release pollen into the air to the female ovule, causing
fertilization. Their seeds develop without a protective
covering. The earliest gymnosperms were seed ferns from the
Devonian period (408-360 million years ago). Conifers (like pines, redwoods, and fir), gingkos, seed ferns, cycadeoids, and cycads are gymnosperms.
GYPSUM: Hydrous Calcium Sulfate. CaSO4-2H2O (Plaster of Paris (Paris, the Greek man; not the French city))
HABITAT: The kind of locality in which a
plant or animal naturally grows or lives.
HABITUATION: Used in psychology/physiology, generally to refer to sense organs (receptors) where they cease to respond to a stimulus after
constant stimulation in which the stimulus proves non-threatening.
HALF-LIFE: The characteristic time taken
for the activity of a particular radioactive substance to
decay to half of its original value --that is, for half the atoms present to disintegrate into a different element (or isotope). Half-lives vary from less than a millionth of a second... to billions of years. Also applicable to the disintegration of molecules -- eg, pesticides.
HAPTICS: adj. Of or relating to the sense of touch; tactile. Tele-: an immersive tactile environment to operate on a virtual body. Haptic interfaces let people interact with 3-D environments via the sense of
touch --via force-feedback. Imagine a surgeon operating from a different continent.
HAYFLICK LIMIT: A rule that human cells divide a finite number of times before they die. More bluntly: "No intervention will slow, stop or reverse the aging process."
HEAVY WATER: Deuterium oxide, O2O. Water in which the hydrogen is replaced by "heavy hydrogen" or deuterium. Because of the very low neutron absorption cross-section of deuterium, heavy water makes an excellent
moderator and is used in e.g. CANDU (Canadian Deuterium
Uranium Reactor) and SGHWR (Steam Generator Heavy Water
Reactor) nuclear reactors. It is present in ordinary water at one part in about 5000.
HEDONISM: The "follow the pleasure"
principle --that the greatest good is in the greatest pleasure for the most people.
HEMATITE: Fe2O3, is about 70% metal, the
most important ore of iron. It occurs in nature in red to
reddish-brown earthy masses and in steel-gray to black
crystalline forms. The Martian dots are gray, sperical, &
so small that a collection may act like a liquid. The
"blueberries" are believed to be mineral "concretions" that
form within rocks due to water action and then fall out
onto the martian surface as rock weathers away. Terran red
powdered hematite is used as a pigment (ocher) and as rouge in polishing.
HERESY: The opposite of orthodoxy.
Extreme orthodoxy will see any slight deviation as heresy.
A Heretic is often a rebel who sees reality, not as
authorities say it is, but as it actually is.
HETEROMORPHIC: "different shape".
HEURISTICS: shortcuts, rules of thumb, stereotypes and biases.
HIGGS BOSON: the so-called God particle, which according to the Standard Model of particle physics, is responsible for generating the mass of all other particles. It's being searched for diligently, awaiting a stronger collider instrument.
HUYGENS: how' -hens, but the how is almost Ha-uu, & the hens is almost kkkens. [ the most difficult pronouncer I've seen!] Dutch astronomer. The name, also, of a Saturn probe.
HOLONOMY: The whole being somehow contained in each of its parts.
HOLY BOOKS:
- Jewish:
- The Torah: Law, THE Law, esp of Moses. The bedrock of
Jewish faith and law. The Talmud is more the source for
proper living.
- Buddhist: Nothing canon, of course, but consult Watts,
- Hindu: Upanishads: A class of speculative treatises
about the nature of man & the universe. It is of the latter
part of Vedic Literature.
. . BHAGAVAD-GITA --Song of
God.
- Tao: Tao Te Ching --teaching on the power of The Way.
- ISLAM: Koran
- Christian: Bible
HOMEOSTASIS: The coming to (or back to)
an organism's "normal" balanced internal conditions.
HOMOGENEOUS: Uniform. (oppo of hetero-)
HOMINIDS: (family Hominidae) the group
that includes humans, close ancestors and relatives --eg
apes.
Lemurs evolved about 50 MYA.
Ardipithecus ramidus: 4.4 MYA
Australopithecus afarensis: 4 to 2.7 MYA
Australopithecus africanus: 3.0 to 2.0 MYA
Australopithecus robustus: 2.2 to 1.0 MYA
Homo habilis: 2.2 to 1.6 MYA
Homo erectus: 2 to 0.4 MYA
Homo sapiens neandertalensis: 200,000 to 30,000 years ago.
Homo sapiens sapiens: 30,000 years ago to the present.
HOMOPLASY: the similarity of characteristics found in different species that are NOT from common descent. Examples include the wings of insects
and the wings of pterosaurs. These characters derive from
convergent evolution, parallel evolution, or character reversal.
HUMAN: see HOMINIDS
HUYGENS: how'-hens, but the how is
almost Ha-uu, the hens is almost kkkens. Sorry!
HYDROXYL RADICALS: one atom of
hydrogen, one of oxygen. (OH) Damages /ages the human body.
HYPERCORRECTION: The tendency to make an
error in speech by trying too hard to be correct; as in "I
feel badly" & "...made for you & I." Many adverbs: "awfully
lot", "seldomly used", "tested positively", "open widely"!
HYPERNUCLEI: atomic nuclei combining not
just the usual protons and neutrons but also rare particles
called hyperons. About 100,000 have been created. They're
incredibly short-lived, surviving for less than a billionth of a second.
HYPERNOVAE: Now and then, astronomers
detect unfathomable discharges of energy from deep space.
The bursts are brief, and they're still trying to figure
out what causes them. The leading speculation is that when
a star explodes as a supernova, a lot of the energy escapes
along two narrow beams that shoot out along the axis of the
star's rotation. If a beam is aimed at Earth, the chance
observation boosts an otherwise "normal" supernova to hypernova status.
HYPOCRITE: A hypocrite takes a topic he knows about & lies to others. . A bigot takes a topic he refuses to know about & lies about it to others and himself. -jkh
HYPOTHESIS: should not have conclusions
that fly in the face of existing scientific knowledge. It should:
. . increase the range of phenomena explained or
reduce the number of facts we need to explain all understood phenomena.
. . be written in a robust, logically consistent way.
(It should be supported by the data presented with it.)
. . be accompanied by methods detailed enough for a
competent scientist to replicate the experiment.
HYPOXIA: (as in hypo-oxygen) --insufficient oxygen in air or water to sustain life.
ICES: "There are more solid forms of water than of any other known substance. Below about 2,700 atmospheres of pressure crystalline ice is known as ice I, but above 2,700 atmospheres there are at least 13 other crystal forms
. . Ice I exists in two crystal forms: hexagonal ice (ice Ih) and cubic ice (ice Ic). Cubic ice can be formed by deposition of water vapor onto a solid surface in the temperature range of -140ºC to -120ºC. Below -140ºC the water vapor molecules do not have enough energy to organize themselves into crystals and therefore lie where they land on the surface in an amorphous (vitrified) form. Hexagonal ice does not transform into a cubic or amorphous form when cooled.
. . The hexagonal crystal of ice resembles the Hexagonal Close-Packed (HCP) structure of metals such as cobalt, but is much less dense. Cubic ice has a crystal structure like that of diamond, whereas hexagonal ice is more like graphite.
. . Similar to metals, water freezes by a process of nucleation and nucleus-growth into a polycrystalline material composed of many grains.
. . Like polycrystalline metals, ice deforms by dislocation -- preferentially along slip planes. In the temperature range of -3ºC to -40ºC ice is perfectly elastic for a maximum stress of 10 atmospheres applied no faster than 5 atmospheres per second. The rate of pressure application is noteworthy. Although the bonds between layers are stronger in hexagonal ice than they are in graphite, ice can nonetheless deform plastically under sustained pressure by the sliding of layers -- like cards in a deck of cards. This kind of deformation by sustained stress maintained over long periods is known as creep -- and it partly explains glacier movement. Hexagonal ice ceases to show any plastic properties below -70ºC. Like other brittle materials low temperature ice can show great resistance to stress or impact up to a certain threshold and then shatter -- with no intermediate plastic deformation."
ICHNITES: (IK-nites) Also known as trace
fossils or ichnofossils, these are fossilized footprints,
nests, dung, gastroliths, burrows, stomach contents, etc., but not actual body parts.
ICONOCLAST: An icon-breaker. ie: non-conformist, rebel, heretic.
IDENTITY: Self-image. The biggest question. See the essays.
IGNEOUS: formed when molten rock cools.
IGNORANCE: To be unaware, even purposely, and subconsciously. It isn't automatically derogatory, merely: not in possession of all the relevant
facts. Very different than stupidity. Ignorance can be completely cured, sometimes with a single easy word. Stupidity can merely be influenced slightly.
A "stupid" person may have intelligence, but still seems
unable to learn, even when presented with the relevant facts, and strong supporting evidence, and chooses instead to cater instead to beliefs based on feelings, fantasies, wishes and desires, and continues to believe and espouse
unsupported views, conjecture, whims and wishes.
IMPLICIT: A meaning contained WITHIN a statement --if only implied-- but understandable. A potential seen within a physical thing. IMPLICITLY: w/o doubt. EXPLICIT: completely expressed in clear & concrete terms. A fully-formed thot/plan.
INSOLATION: The input from the sun that contributes to the energy balance --as to the inside of a home [vs the insUlation it fails at]. 200 watts per square meter or so reaches the earth's surface.
INSTINCTS: 1. automatic reflex-like connections.
2. strong innate tendencies toward certain behaviors in certain situations.
INTRINSIC: referring to the essential nature or makeup of a thing. Originating from and included within an organ or part. Opposite: EXTRINSIC: a nature NOt a part of the thing. Something acting upon a part from outside it. (Like implicit/explicit above)
INTELLIGENCE: See "knowledge" for distiction/contrast.
INTERPLANETARY SUPERHIGHWAY: a route between planets (or moons) which utilizes the gravity of any body to de/accelerate, thus requiring significantly less fuel than conventional trajectories. It's commonly slower, tho.
INTERSEXUAL: Formerly "HERMAPHRODITE". A person or other animal with sex organs --to various degrees-- of both genders. Plants often have both organs, complete; ie: self-fertilizing.
INTUITION: Quickly-available knowledge without conscious thought or attempt at recall. I'd call it (at best) a surfacing of subconscious efforts on the
problem. Useful, real, but not just guessing, which will
*always average 50-50 (on a 2-choice test on unknowns).
When it doesn't, it's from a "confounding factor" --usually a poorly done experiment.
ION: a charged atom. ...has lost or gained
one or more orbital electrons, thus becoming electrically charged.
IONIZATION: The process by which neutral atoms of molecules are divided into pairs of oppositely charged particles known as ions.
ISOBARIC: A process done at constant pressure.
ISOCHORIC: A process done at constant volume.
ISOTHERMAL: A process done at constant temperature.
ISOTOPES: Atoms of the same element having
different atomic weights due to differences in the number
of neutrons in their nuclei. Isotopes have the same atomic
number but different mass numbers. (A useful working
definition is "atoms that are the same outside but different inside").
ISOTROPIC: Identical in all directions. ISO- meaning "same".
ISOTOPE: iso = same. Same element,
different weight, because of different number of neutrons.
e.g.: U238, C14.
ITERATE: To repeat. To RE-do that
(REiterate) is four times. Shall I reiterate that again? (8!)
Joy: Exuberant pleasure. Joy is poisoned
by limits. Small pleasures may be obtained within fences,
but joy may not be found within bounds. Joy is always "unbounded".
"JUNK SCIENCE": mostly a term used by
those who want to disparage facts that they want not to be true.
Life: #1: A system is alive if it
obtains energy and vital substances from a changable
environment, returns wastes and other toxins to that
environment, and maintains the internal chemical and
temperature conditions necessary to continue this process.
Darwinists would add: the ability to reproduce (except
mules, etc); and Gaians would add: the tendency to
influence their surroundings. The boundry line between life
and the inanimate environment can't be clearly drawn.
Lovelock: "There is merely a hierarchy of intensity..."
#2: "...a property of the organization of
matter, rather than a property of the matter which is so
organized." (Christopher Langton, organizer of first
conference on Artificial Life.) Or, to put it another way:
Life is not a condition imposed upon matter, it's a
condition caused by the organization of matter.
K-T BOUNDARY: the event that divides the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods, occurring 65.51 million years ago. (spelled w a K in German)
KARMA: simply means "action." The idea is that of reciprocity of good & evil acts --nothing to do with reincarnation, as is popularly thot.
KARST LANDSCAPES: Terrain that include sinkholes and related cave features.
KATABATIC: winds caused by the flow of cold air off a plateau, make some coastal antarctic sites the windiest places in the world.
KENOSIS: the deliberate decision of God not to disturb the natural order. [an easy out...]
KERATIN: a fibrous protein; eg our
nails, hair, bull's horns, feather quills, shrimp shells and horse hoofs.
KINETIC: force-based, as distinct from kinematic: motion-based.
KNOWLEDGE: The mere store of facts.
Intelligence is the ability, first, to TEST the incoming facts, meld them with previous facts, and use them, perhaps in a synergetic combination.
KNOWN: to the extreme religious right-wing, it means "something they *want to be true".
KUDOS: SINGULAR & plural. "I give you a kudos." (see "cohort")
KUIPER BELT: (pronounced KOY-per, tho more popularly KY-per) a ring
of icy objects (KBOs) beyond the orbit of Neptune, about the mass of all the planetisimals (asteroids) put together. Best-known, but NOT the largest: Pluto/Charon.
KWASHIORKOR: Caused by a low protein intake, it leaves children with flaky skin, thinning hair and an enlarged liver. Doctors describe it as the severest form of malnutrition. In a perverse reversal of other forms of intense hunger, a sufferer's stomach swells to almost pot-belly proportions. It scars for life.
LAGRANGIAN POINT: any of 5 areas of stability at
which a small body, under the gravitational influence of
two large bodies, will remain somewhat stationary relative to them.
LEDs: The future of lighting. Extremely efficient. Becoming available now, esp in flashlites. I love mine! ...has a crank-generator, needs a solar panel.
LEXICOGRAPHY: The art and craft of writing dictionaries.
LIQUEFACTION: the process of soil turning from a solid into a liquid as the result of shaking.
LIFE: Lovelock even includes rock to the
Earth's core, as it "participates". Less generally: that
which grows, reproduces, etc, based on DNA patterns.
. . For a long time, scientists classified all life
forms as plant or animal. That classification system
expanded as more life forms were discovered. Eventually, biologists divided life into five kingdoms —-plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and protists.
. . A more recent approach divides life into three
domains: bacteria, eukarya — which includes plants, fungi,
animals and others — and archaea, which means ancient.
. . Archaea, similar to bacteria, is likely the least understood of the domains.
LIGHTSPEED: (in a vacuum); c; The speed
at which any electromagnetic radiation propagates in a vacuum; defined as 299,792,458 m/s. (299,792.5 km/sec.) It was wisely suggested that the meter be ever so slightly redefined to round out to that figure, but somehow, it wasn't adopted. It's still based on the size of the lopsided Earth.)
LITERAL: That the meaning of the
statement is exactly what is said. If it's
literally raining cats & dogs, you may step in a poodle!
LINNEAN SYSTEM: a method of classifying
organisms based on a simple hierarchical structure.
Organisms are divided into groups (Taxa --plural of taxon)
using the following system: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order,
Family, Genus and Species.
. . A genus contains one or more species.
. . A
group of similar genera (the plural of genus) forms a
family.
. . A group of similar families forms an order. (etc)
Kingdom is the highest grouping of similar organisms --
contains one or more phyla (plural of phylum). Life on
Earth is divided into five kingdoms: Animalia (animals),
Plantae (plants), Fungi, Protista (protozoans and
eucaryotic algae), and Monera (prokaryotes: blue-green algae and bacteria).
. . For living animals or plants, the definition of a
species depends on the ability of members to interbreed and
produce offspring that can interbreed. For dinosaurs, where
only fossil remains exist, this primary criterion is
unavailable and the designation of species and other
classification levels is much more arbitrary and thus more
likely to change as more material is found.
LITERALISM: An IMPORTANT DISTINCTION:
Don't confuse literalism (if I can't see it, it must not
exist) with intellectual rigor (I'm not going to
wholeheartedly embrace this until there is evidence for it).
LOGARITHMIC: [Gr.,=relation number] A
graph scale where each successive unit represents a ten-
fold increase (where you'd expect double). A logarithm is a
power to which a base, actually 10 [it doesn't have to be
10], must be raised to produce a given number. --'power' is
the same as 'exponent.' . eg: Log of 1000 is 3. A number
associated with a positive number, being the power to which
a third number, called the base, must be raised in order to
obtain the given positive number. For example, the
logarithm of 100 to the base 10 is 2.
LOGARITHMIC PHASE: (log or exponential
growth phase). BIO. The steepest slope of the growth curve -
-the phase of vigorous growth during which ccell number doubles every 20-30 minutes.
LOVE: the assurance of empathic caring
and passion for and from someone whose happiness is
stimulated by your own. Or; dispassionately: the visceral
reactions to chemicals/hormones released by the body in
response to genetic reproduction imperatives.
LUCA: The "last universal common
ancestor" --presumed to be a bacterium.
LUCK: A purposeless, unpredictable,
random, but seemingly related circumstance. A series of
coincidences. A memory of only those occurences that seem unusual & related.
MACHOs: (MAssive Compact Halo Objects) old matter wrapped up in hard-to-spot packages --cold, dim stars that aren't readily observable with present technology. See Dark Matter
MAGIC: Belief in what's impossible but seems to have happened, but hasn't! A MIRACLE being: something good, extremely unusual, seemingly inexplicable, and beyond your control or influence. The connotation is
that a miracle is a beneficial thing and done for your benefit by various supernatural powers. But the odds "require" miracles. See the essay.)
MAGMA: Sub-surface lava. The melted rock
that makes up almost all of the Earth. (All but the eggshell-thin surface.)
MAGNETAR: an adolescent stage of neutron stars, but only 10% of neutron stars will go through the magnetar stage –-ruling out some theories that all pulsars spend some time as magnetars. They come from the death of very massive stars, which may mean that the dozen or so magnetars so far seen may be all there is --right now. There could be many more "dead" magnetars in the galaxy. They're only a few dozen K in diameter.
. . The newest discovery: a star that originally had a mass 30 to 40 times that of Sol. Such a hefty beginning would help explain the difference between magnetars and their close cousins, pulsars. Pulsars are stellar corpses that serve as the radio lighthouses of the galaxy. Spinning around several times a second, they flash the galaxy with a beam of radio waves. Magnetars are similar, but they flash X-rays, and at a slower rate –-about once every 10 seconds. They also occasionally let out a burst of gamma rays. On Dec 27, 04, a huge explosion halfway across the galaxy packed so much power it briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere. Had this happened within 10 light-years of us, it would have severely damaged our atmosphere and possibly have triggered a mass extinction. Named SGR 1806-20, it spins once on its axis every 7.5 seconds, and it is surrounded by a magnetic field more powerful than any other object in the universe. Millions of neutron stars fill the Milky Way galaxy. A dozen or so are ultra-magnetic neutron stars --magnetars. The magnetic field around one is about 1,000 trillion gauss, strong enough to strip information from a credit card at a distance halfway to the Moon.
. . A rotating magnet gives off energy, and the greater the magnetic field, the faster the energy loss. Magnetars exhibit rapid deceleration, which implies a huge magnetic field. Gaensler has estimated that after 10,000 years, a magnetar will slow down enough to turn off its X-ray flash. The stellar wind would have been five times faster than Sol’s wind of charged particles --the source of space weather and the Northern Lights-- and a million times denser. The implied energy is 25 million times that of our solar wind.
MAGNETOTACTIC: I just love the word. You can tell what it means without ever having encountered it before! (The ability to feel magnetism, as in a migrating bird.)
MAGNITUDE: First magnitude is the mean
of the twenty-one brightest stars in the sky. The faintest stars normally visible to the unaided eye on a clear, dark night are said to be of sixth magnitude.
. . Sixth magnitude stars shine 1/100 as bright as first magnitude stars --a difference of five magnitudes corresponds to a difference in brightness of a factor of
100. The scale is logarithmic. A difference of one
magnitude corresponds to a difference in brightness of 2.512. Thus second magnitude stars are said to be 2.512 times brighter than third magnitude stars and 2.512 x 2.512 = 6.31 times brighter than fourth magnitude stars, and so on.
MANIFEST DESTINY: "We will be able to
steal it in the future, therefore it is rightfully ours now."
MANTLE: The region of the Earth's interior that lies between the crust and the core. It accounts for approximately 80% of the Earth's volume. It consists largely of peridotite, an igneous rock composed mainly of the minerals olivine and pyroxene.
MARSUPIALS: Mammals found in Australia,
whose young are born in a very undeveloped state and are
usually sheltered in a pouch or marsupium containing the teats of the mammary glands.
MATTER --states of We'll skip the common 3: Solid, Liquid, Gas. Next would have to be:
4: PLASMA --seen more often than people realize.
Neuclei have separated from their electrons by hi-temp.
Over 99% of the universe is composed of plasma. neon signs,
fluorescent lights, and nature's own lightning.
5: SUPERFLUID --Helium3, eg, which exhibits zero viscosity.
6: BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES --super cooled materials
that exist only within a fraction of absolute zero. All the
atoms are in the same quantum-mechanical state. BECs are
super cooled materials that exist only within a fraction of absolute zero. This weird state is one in which all the atoms attain the same quantum-mechanical state.
7: COLLAPSED --neutron stars --electrons pushed into the
neucleus, turning each electron-proton pair into a neutron.
One cc of neutron star material weighs about 100 million tons.
8: In the CONDENSED states of the 2D (thin-field)
electron system, at extreme conditions of low temperature
and high magnetic field, there is good circumstantial evidence of a transition to a solid state in which electrons form a triangular lattice.
9: SUPERCRITICAL --Above a certain temperature, the critical temperature, and above a certain pressure (the critical pressure), the boundary between gas and liquid
disappears. Above this point --called the critical point--
the substance acts like a gas in some ways and like a liquid in some ways. The substance is now is a fourth state called the supercritical state. Carbon dioxide in the supercritical state is a useful solvent --used in "dry-cleaning".
10: Liquid Crystalline State
... thru 500: If you're really interested in more states, see
this file. : "a huge family of different liquid crystalline states of matter [1] (nematic, cholesteric, blue phase I, II, and blue fog, smectic A, B, C, C*, D, I, ...). There are over 200 qualitatively different types of crystals, not to mention the
quasicrystals. The origin of quasicrystalline order remains in question. No proven explanation clarifies why a material favors crystallographically forbidden rotational symmetry and translational quasiperiodicity when at nearby compositions, it forms more conventional crystal structures. Icosahedral and decagonal alloys are now widely recognized to be quasicrystalline.
. . Intermetallic.
. . There are disordered states of matter like spin glasses, and states like the fractional quantum hall effect with excitations of charge e/3 (like quarks)."
QUARK-GLUON: For nearly two decades, nuclear and
particle physicists have been searching for experimental
evidence of a new state of deconfined hot quark-gluon matter. A deconfined quark phase is predicted by numerical solutions of quantum chromodynamics.
. . GLASSY AND RUBBERY STATES: scientists still argue
about whether these count as states or not --perhaps better
thot of as different kinds of solid states. When plastic is
warm, it's soft and flexible --rubbery. But when it gets cold enough --the glass transition temperature-- it becomes brittle, ie, the glassy state.
. . Glasses are amorphous solids, meaning that the
atoms are not arranged in any repeating pattern. When a
liquid is cooled very slowly it tends to form a crystal,
while cooling quickly usually results in amorphous phases.
Glasses are distinguished from elastomers by being brittle.
. . Colloids and Solutions are not "states", they're combinations of states.
MATTER --STATES OF, MAGNETIC
- Diamagnetic: A diamagnetic compound has all of its
electron spins paired, giving a net spin of zero. ...weakly repelled by a magnet.
- Paramagnet: A paramagnetic compound will have some
electrons with unpaired spins. ...weakly attracted by a magnet.
- Ferromagnet: In a ferromagnetic substance, there are
unpaired electron spins, which are held in alignment by a
process known as ferromagnetic coupling. Ferromagnetic
compounds, such as iron, are strongly attracted to magnets.
- Ferrimagnet: Ferrimagnetic compounds have unpaired
electron spins, which are held in an pattern with some up
and some down. This is known as ferrimagnetic coupling. In a ferrimagnetic compound, there are more spins held in one direction, so the compound is attracted to a magnet.
. . In 1997, researchers in Australia discovered yet another form of carbon: a spidery, fractallike composition they dubbed nanofoam. At the March '04 meeting of the American Physical Society, the group reported that this gossamer substance is ferromagnetic (like iron), the only type of pure carbon that is magnetic.
- Antiferromagnetic: When unpaired electrons are held in
an alignment with an equal number of spins in each direction, the substance is strongly repelled by a magnet. This is referred to as an antiferromagnet.
- Superconductor: Materials which will be repelled by
magnetic fields because the magnetic field is excluded from
passing through them. This property of superconductors is
used to test for the presence of a superconducting state.
MDRA (or MDRA) Minimum Daily Requirement --Affection. (My own term. See also: TSA)
MEIOSISA specialized form of cell division that reduces the chromosome number of the daughter cells by half. Gametes produced in this way are said to be haploid, i.e. they carry only half the normal (diploid)
chromosome number of the adult. It accounts for most of the
heritable variation and inherited differences between
living organisms. The reduction division process by which
haploid gametes and spores are formed, consisting of a single duplication of the genetic material followed by two mitotic divisions. See mitosis.
MEME Richard Dawkins: memes are to cultural concepts what genes are to genetic concepts. Ideas that spread rapidly across cultures.
. . A meme is a concept, idea, image... A sucessful meme would be a song that runs through your head --you hum it and others pick up on it. Like genes, there aren't good or bad except in the concept that successful ones keep being passed on. [Think of urban myths].
. . Dawkins and others refer to religions as
memeplexs because they are a complex mixture of memes
[think trinity, original sin, resurection, virgin birth etc.].
. . This isn't very exacting, but that seems to be
the nature of the beast. The best book on the subject I am
aware of is Susan Blackmore's _The Meme Machine_. ~Matt (~slothrop_tyrone)
MEMS Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems. MEMS are tiny components made by etching away parts of a silicon wafer or adding tiny layers. As small as a grain of pollen, MEMS are larger than the nanoworld. They are employed in such things as microaccelerometers, the devices that activate automotive airbags. Optical MEMS are used in many home theater systems. Soon: NEMS... Nano-
MERCURY 1: A planet. 2: A very heavy element, liquid at high room temp, solid metal at low. methyl- is the element's most poisonous form. Fish consumption warnings have been issued when there is just 1 nanogram per liter.
METABOLIC PATHWAY A chain of reactions
involving a whole series of enzymes acting in sequence, in
the breakdown and synthesis of cell components.
METALS "-solidify as crystals. A pure metal will typically crystallize at a temperature which is lower than the temperature at which it will melt. The difference between melting and minimum solidification temperature is referred to as the maximum undercooling. Maximum undercooling is only 80ºC for lead, but is 330ºC for platinum. The undercooling phenomenon is due to the way pure metals crystallize.
. . When a metal solidifies, many crystalline nuclei form and grow simultaneously until the crystals have absorbed all of the remaining liquid atoms. As a result, a block of metal is described as polycrystalline."
META-SYMBIOSIS! Gaia is one --every living planet is another. I've coined the word to match "endo-symbiosis". Symbiosis means mutual benefit; and meta-
symbiosis takes our understanding beyond that of a mere pair of beneficiaries, or of merely local action. It is the scale above single creatures, one that unites them into the "Gaia being".
There seems to be a continuous scale. At the microscopic end, there is Dr. Margulis' Endo-symbiosis. between the parts of our cells.Skip up to "Endo". Even further down in scale, genes too can be seen as proteins which are symbiotic with each other. See the file "Who Are You?")
METHANE: CH4. A flamable gas 20 times as efficent as CO2 at greenhouse-warming.
METRIC SYSTEM: An INTEGRATED system of measurements. 98% of the world uses it. The "traditional" English measures are NOT a system --they are a conglomeration/collection of unrelated measures. There's not an increment of ten between ANY of them! EG:
. . DISTANCE: METER. Originally, one forty-millionth of the Earth's circumference. Later: the distance between two marks on a Platinum-Iridium bar kept in Sevre, France.
Now: a certain frequency of light given off by a laser. (see LightSpeed) / (A nanometer measures one-billionth of meter. A micrometer, also known as a micron, is one- millionth of a meter --1/1000 of a mm. Then: milli-, centi-, deci-, METER, deca-, hecta-, kilo-. The same prefixes serve for all measures.)
. . VOLUME: LITER: 10 cents cubed. STERE: a cubic meter (a kiloliter).
. . WEIGHT: GRAM: equal to about half of a dime.
. . PRESSURE: DYNE: 100,000 Dynes in a Newton. Newton: 0.101972 kg.
. . TEMP: Celcius: based logically on water freezine at 0, & boiling at 100!
METHANE: CH4. An explosive
gas --also a major greenhouse contributor. From
fermentation of humus (compost) without oxygen. Also... no,
including, surprisingly, huge amounts from bovine
flatulence and termites. (both have to do with man's destruction.)
METHANOGENS: Bacteria that convert organics to methane and CO2.
METROSEXUAL: straight men who are into
designer clothes, love art and fashion and even enjoy shopping.
MICROBIAL MATS: (biofilms). Layered
groups or communities of microbial populations. Studied by Margolis.
MIND: The electro-chemical operations of the brain.
MIRACLE: A statistically-required
coincidence, mislabeled by 1 or more True Believers.
Statistics also require harmful coincidences, but note the
lack of even a word for it. See "Magic" & the essay..
MITOCHONDRIA: micro-organisms within all
cells except bacteria, that convert food to energy. They
contain a strands of their own DNA (passed down only
maternally) that are separate from the cell nucleus where
the body's genes reside, and, in Margulis' hypothesis (see ENDO...), were originally independent creatures that were "swallowed" by the larger cells, & survived there because they contributed synergetically.
MITOSIS: The process of cell
multiplication by simple division of the nucleus. Each
chromasome duplicated and the resulting duplicates separate
so that one goes into each daughter nucleus. As a result, the two daughter nuclei have an identical complement of chromosomes and hence of genes. See meiosis.
MOJO: (1) a narcotic, especially
morphine; or (2) "magic, the art of casting spells, [or] a
charm or amulet used in such spells." ...luck, etc., as of
magical or supernatural origin. The word is thought to be of Creole origin.
MONEY: a formal token of delayed reciprocal altruism. (R.Dawkins)
MONOCULTURE: The agricultural practice
of cultivating crops consisting of genetically similar organisms. When disease strikes ...& it will --the entire crop (including humans) is exposed to pandemic.
MOOT: ...as in "moot point" --a debatable point, not one that doesn't matter. A moot was a place to go to debate. However, the changed meaning is nearly universal, & involves no standard root --like "uni-" or "exo-"-- so let it go.
MORULA: a very early embryo that has developed to about eight cells.
MYRIAD: Ten thousand. It's an exact number, not just "lots".
MYTH: an idea or an image in terms of which people make sense of the world. (Alan Watts) It does *not necessarily mean false.
MYTHOS: myth•os 1. the underlying system of beliefs, esp. those dealing with supernatural forces, characteristic of a particular cultural group.
MUSCLE-HEAD: :-) . when faced with
something jammed, stuck or knotted, and thought is
required, a muscle-head will just push harder --"get a bigger hammer".
MUSICAL MESSAGE: subconscious communique to the conscious, embedded in a bit of lyrics. [if not just a passing radio] Pay attention! Did one phrase stand out?
MUTAGEN: Any agent or process that can cause mutations.
MUTUALISTIC INTERACTIONS, in which
species provide services to one another, are abundant in
nature. Examples are everywhere: from the mitochondria,
once free-living bacteria that provide energy (from burning
sugars with oxygen) to every cell in our body, to fungi
that enable plants to take up nitrogen from the soil, to
ants interacting with caterpillars, providing them with protection in trade for food.
. . In a mutualistic interaction, the two species
benefit most from coordinating - when one is "generous" and
the other "selfish". Benefits to each are less than optimal
in other cases --when both are selfish, or both generous.
. . When pairings of selfish-selfish or generous-generous occur in some cases, then evolutionary change might happen. If there are many pairings of the type
generous-generous, the faster evolving species will quickly
evolve to be selfish, and thus the population will evolve
to benefit the fast evolver. If, on the other hand, there
are mostly pairings of the type selfish-selfish, the faster evolving species will quickly evolve to become generous (since the generous-selfish is better than selfish-selfish) and thus the population will evolve to benefit the slow evolver.
MUTATION: An alteration in DNA structure or sequence of a gene.
MYCORRHIZAE: Fungi that form symbiotic
relationships with roots of more developed plants.
MYSTERY: The challenge of a thing not
understood. A purposeful combination of handy (often profitable) mis-understandings.
MYSTIC: feels awe at things not
understood, and wants to know of more things that
are not understood. (See "Spiritual")
MYTH: an old story that may or may not be based on fact.
NANOBACTERIA: 100 times smaller than typical bacteria and have been found in kidney stones, arterial plaques and ovarian cancers. But scientists have yet to agree whether the particles actually cause the diseases or how they infect humans. Also unknown is whether the particles are life forms or an unknown type of crystal --a rift that has sparked one of the biggest controversies in modern microbiology.
NANOBOT: A hypothetical robot of microscopic proportions, built with nanotechnology. Such robots could assemble molecules one by one and are
postulated to need self-replicating capabilities, as
thousands of nanobots would be required to make anything on
a size humans could use. (But what'll tell 'em to STOP?!)
NANOMETER: A billionth of a meter --a
hundred-thousandth of the diameter of a human hair, or the
width of 10 hydrogen atoms! (yes, that means a hair is 10,000 H-atoms wide.)
NANOTECHNOLOGY: The science of making products out of components or molecules that measure less than 100 nanometers (a nanometer is a billionth of a meter). Sometimes called molecular manufacturing. The technology is only in its nascent stages.
. . Theorist K. Eric Drexler invented the word in the 80s to describe a then-theoretical molecular manufacturing process involving parts or devices with dimensions of 1 to 100 nm, a size range he dubbed nanoscale. Today, Drexler laments that his word has become practically meaningless, and he leads a crusade to limit the scope of "nanotechnology" to nanoscale objects built from the bottom up with molecular building blocks, as opposed to devices created from the top down through miniaturization.
. . The bottom-up distinction focuses on the strange influence of quantum effects on structures built at the molecular scale. In nature, quantum forces are normally confined to the insides of atoms and the bonds between them. But when molecules are assembled in new ways from the bottom up, quantum effects can give them bizarre but very useful physical properties. Examples include an exceptional electrical conduction or resistance, a high capacity for storing or transferring heat, and even an ability to behave like semiconductors.
. . Common usage even stretches the term to include MEMS (microelectrical mechanical systems)—a class of microscopic devices machined using techniques borrowed from microchip production, including motors, gear systems, gyroscopes, and accelerometers that deploy car airbags. Dwarfed by dust mites, MEMS are ultrasmall by almost any standard, but they loom as much as 1,000 times as large as nanoscale objects. ~Jim Akin, Ziff Davis
NANOTUBE, CARBON: One of the most important materials of nanotechnology, a nanotube is a kind of molecule made of a lattice of carbon atoms --like the benzene sphere, but a cylindrical "buckyball". The
cylindrical structure not only is light and extremely
strong, but also has superconducting properties that let it
transmit electricity with no energy loss. Many sizes.
. . Common in candle-flame, etc, but they can now be grown at low temperatures --a key discovery. The molecules emit electrons when an electric current is applied to them. An array of cells composed of carbon nanotubes could be used to "paint" images on a screen, & can be made to emit light (photons). . Not to be confused with Carbon-fiber.
. . NANOTUBES are carbon cylinders 1 or 2 nanometers in diameter and structurally similar to seamless rolls of chicken wire. Carbon nanotubes (CNs) can serve as nanowires in molecular computers, thanks to a quantum property called electron tunneling, which lets them propagate electrical signals at scales where ordinary current flow is impossible.
. . Carbon nanotubes conduct electricity far better than metals. In fact, nanotubes exhibit what's called ballistic conductivity, which means that electrons are not scattered or impeded by obstacles. Nanotubes, which measure only a few billionths of a meter thick, are also far thinner than metal interconnects can be made.
. . CNs are stronger than Kevlar and more durable than diamonds; adding them in even small fractions can enhance fibers and composite materials significantly. CNs don't corrode, and they won't burn under normal conditions. They make plastics electrically conductive. Charcoal was a key additive to auto tires long before anyone knew it provides nanoparticles that stabilize rubber polymers. ~Jim Akin, Ziff Davis
NARCOLEPSY: the chronic inability to stay awake, lately traced to malfunction of orexin neurons, which can also lead to obesity. An attack can be felt coming, seconds before a collapse, but it's still too dangerous for sufferers to drive. A family of dogs has been bred, that help research.
NATURAL SELECTION: The major --of many-- theories of Evolution (including one in the bible). The principal mechanism of evolutionary change suggested by Darwin in 1858. Survival of the fittest --the trend in a population toward traits/genes that provide a survival or reproductive advantage. The theory asserts that, of the range of different individuals that make up the population of a
given species, those individuals which are better suited to
their immediate environment will have a better chance of
surviving to contribute more offspring to the succeeding generation. This will mean that over a period of time, the gene composition of the population will change and the better suited will predominate. See also mutation, evolution.
NATURE: Things as they are--or were, before man's interference.
NEOTONY: the gestational course of
development of an organism. (Neotony recapitulates ontogeny.")
NEUTRALINO: The leading particle candidate for dark matter. It has the mass of about 100 protons and interacts only weakly with normal matter.
NEUTRINO: The "ghost" particle, once thot to be massless. Now, the range: Electron neutrino: < 2.2 eV. Tau neutrino: < 28 MeV (upper limits). They can zip thru the Earth with seldom a collision.
. . Neutrinos, once in thermal equilibrium, were supposedly freed from their bonds to other particles about two seconds after the Big Bang. Since then, they should have been roaming undisturbed through intergalactic space, some 200 of them in every cubic centimeter of our Universe, altogether a billion of them for every single atom.
. . Their presence is noted indirectly in the Universe's expansion. However, though they are presumably by far the most numerous type of material particle in existence, not a single one of those primordial neutrinos has ever been detected. In the 1950s, neutrinos were detected in nuclear reactors.
NEUTRON: An elementary particle with mass of 1 atomic mass unit approximately the same as that of the proton (approximately 1.67 x 10-27 kg). Together with protons, neutrons form the nuclei of all
atoms. Being neutral, a neutron can approach a nucleus
without being deflected by the positive electric field, so it can take part in many types of nuclear interaction. In isolation neutrons are radioactive, decaying with a half-life of about 12 minutes by beta emission into a proton.
. . Neutrons are made of three fundamental particles called quarks, and decay into protons when a "down" quark turns into an "up" quark. The rate at which neutrons turn into protons determined how much of each was created in the first seconds after the big bang, and it also dictates the amount of helium in the universe today.
NEUTRON STAR: made entirely of neutrons, the electrically neutral particles in atomic nuclei. They measure just a few miles across and are so dense that a teaspoonful of neutron-star matter weighs about a billion tons.
. . QUARK STAR: a bizarre kind of star, consisting of phenomenally dense material in which the particles that make up atomic nuclei have fallen apart. Scientists have speculated that these stars might exist, but have never seen convincing evidence for them.
. . Gamma-ray bursts seem to be associated with a certain type of supernovae, called type Ic, in which the parent stars have already become quite compact. The g-ray flashes are produced as the supernovae throw out jets of material that move at almost the speed of light. But although only a few have so far been spotted, not all type-Ic supernovae generate these bursts.
. . Paczyn Acuteski and Haensel say that the supernovae difference could depend on whether the explosion produces a neutron star or whether this superdense core contracts even more, bursting open the neutrons themselves to create a soup of quarks, the particles from which they are made. "The transition from a neutron star to a quark star takes time." He and Haensel estimate that it should take a few minutes. That is precisely the kind of delay between the weak precursor flashes reported, which would appear as the neutron star is formed, and the main g-ray bursts, which would come slightly later as it turns into a quark star.
NICHE: The place where an animal lives
in its habitat and its role in that habitat.
NITROGEN FIXATION: The conversion of
atmospheric nitrogen to biologically usable nitrates.
NOUMENON: The thing seen/perceived. NOUMENAL: The real cause-&-effect world, as distinct from the moral or spiritual. [new'-men-on]
NUCLEAR: Just a pronouncer... Say "CLE".
"NEW-CLE-r". There is no "Q" in it. Ike couldn't say it, &
it messed people up ever after.
NUCLEOTIDE: A building block of DNA and
RNA, consisting of a nitrogenous base, a five-carbon sugar,
and a phosphate group. Together, the nucleotides form
codons, which when strung together form genes, which in
turn link to form chromosomes.
NUCLEUS: BIO: The membrane-bound region
of a eukaryotic cell that contains the chromosomes.
OBSESSION: "when the feeling that the
obsessed object or subject gives you is so intense that you
would curtail rational thought or action to continue to
hold the belief system that it's part of. The obsession
becomes a part of one's identity and is hard to extricate."
by UU club's Missa70.
OCCAM'S RAZOR: Yes, there was a Mr
Occam. This is similar/same as the Principle/Law of
Parsimony: The simplest explanation is most likely to be the truth. (But not always! *Obviously, the Earth does not spin. Obvious = easily seen.) See Parsimony.
OIL: Peak oil is the point where oil production begins to decline, when we've taken all the easily accessible oil from the ground, and it becomes increasingly expensive to get at what's left.
OMNIVORE: Plant and flesh-eating animal.
ONCOGENE: A gene that contributes to
cancer formation when mutated or inappropriately expressed.
ONTOGENY: the evolutionary course of
development of an organism. (Neotony recapitulates ontogeny.")
OPINION --SELF: That image/feeling of ego
that develops from social interaction, rather than the "natural-self" that would develop in isolation. [Tho it can be argued that isolation is not natural.]
ORBIT: The line thru which a body "falls" around another --more g-dominate-- body. The far end of an orbit is called the "apoasis"; the near end: "periapsis".
ORGANELLES: The internal sub-units of
eukaryotic cells. Structures found in the cell (e.g.
mitochondria, ribosomes, nucleus, but not vacuoles). A cell
structure that carries out a specialized function in the
life of a cell. Thot to originally have been independent creatures.
ORNI-: "bird".
ORTHODOXY: The tyranny of Conformity.
The social pressure used to keep people submissive and
unquestioning. Originally, "Orthos" was Greek, meaning
"straight". The combining form's literal meanings: Ortho-:
right, correct. -dox: opinion. Therefore, it was the first
"political correctness". It is not just an oppression of
speech, but of our very thoughts. It's "in agreement with"
not nature, but with authority. The opposite of Heresy.
(See the file.)
ORTHOSIS: Unlike a prosthesis, it doesn't replace missing limbs. Instead, it attaches to a paralyzed limb and may eventually enhance healthy ones.
OVIPAROUS: animals that hatch from eggs. see viviparous.
OWL: Overwhelmingly Large Telescope.
OXYTOCIN: A sex hormone. In her book "The Oxytocin Factor" (not -toxin), Kerstin Uvnäs-Moberg shows that oxytocin is secreted into the blood by the pituitary gland during sex, particularly orgasm, and plays a role in pair bonding, an evolutionary adaptation for long-term care of infants.
OZONE: O3 . . A molecule of 3 atoms of Oxygen --extremely reactive, toxic. But in the right place.... it screens Earth from UV radiation, in a
layer 15-50 Km up. CFC's and other chemicals break it up, letting more UV thru, which increases skin cancer and cataracts, and injures crops. It can kill micro-organisms on fruit, vegetables and in bottled drinks.
. . The molecule is constantly being made and destroyed in the stratosphere, which exists from about 10km to 40km above the Earth. In an unpolluted atmosphere, this cycle of production and decomposition is in equilibrium. But a number of human-produced chemicals, such as the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used as refrigerants, in aerosol sprays, as solvents and in foam-blowing agents, have risen into the stratosphere where they are broken down by the Sun's rays. Chlorine atoms released from these chemicals then act as catalysts to decompose ozone.
. . Unfortunately, it's synergetic with drought, acid rain and other pollutions; also makes crops more vunerable to insects.
PACHY-: (packy) thick, as in pachyderm --thick skinned-- elephant.
PAGAN: originally: country-person. It covers many descriptions now, from Gaian respect for nature --to a superstitious belief in "witch/magic" stuff.
. . PAGANUS: Latin; pagus --country dweller. The modern meaning had developed in the Latin by the 4th century AD. The term appears in English in the 14th century.
PALEO-: "ancient".
PALEOMAGNETISM: what remains in volcanic rock from the time it solidified, maintaining its magnetic orientation. This reveals what movements the land has made.
PALEONTOLOGY: The study of the fossil
record of past geological periods and of the phylogenetic
relationships between ancient and contemporary plant and animal species.
PANGAEA: "All-Earth." . The unified
continent that re-broke only 200-250 Million yrs
ago. One part was Gondwanaland.
PANTHEISM: Panentheism (God is in everything, to be distinguished from "pantheism" - God is everything.) The world is either identical with God or in some way a self-expression of his nature.
. . 2(soft Pan...): A religious philosophy that holds there is no supernatural God(s); but rather, that the universe as a whole, possesses attributes traditionally attributed to divinity, such as: power, magnificence, grandeur, and omnipresence. [&, we'd add: *seeming to care. Compatable w Gaianism, if scientific.] A doctrine that equates God with the forces and laws of the universe.
PARASITE: Organism living in or on, and obtaining its food from, another organism (its host). Parasites may or may not be harmful to their host. What
is a parasite, anyway? An organism that feeds off
another organism of a different species or order, without
returning any benefit. But the human intestinal system has,
over a few million years, evolved to tolerate, or even make
use of the presence of many of them. Our toleration is
sometimes so active that without them to balance our counter-activity, we become ill. Many of these, even those we merely tolerate to the point of being ill without them, can no longer be defined as parasites. They're symbionts.
PAREIDOLIA: Spotting things that don't exist —eg on Mars or in clouds. A study in '05 found that humans are particularly susceptible to seeing human faces where there are none, because our knowledge of the human face is so ingrained in our brains. Seeing what one wants to see in ambiguous patterns or images --as religious people will see images of Jesus or the Virgin Mary in toast, stains, or clouds.
PARASITISM: The close association of two or more
dissimilar organisms where the association is harmful to at
least one. See Commensalism, Parasitism, Symbiosis.
PARSIMONY: the scientific idea that the
simplest explanation of a phenomenon is usually the best
one --the most likely --most probable. See Occam's Razor.
However, it may take genius and centuries to achieve that simplicity. (The original definition was almost unintelligible --"One should not multiply entities needlessly.")
PARTHENOCARPIC: literally: virgin fruit. The production of fruit without fertilization. The fruit is therefore seedless. eg: pineapples, naval oranges, and bananas. Even eggplant varieties exist.
PARTHENOGENESIS: "female source". Reproduction without males, without sperm --essentially resulting in self-cloning of the female. The barrier to parthenogenesis in mammals is thought to be genetic imprinting, in which some genes needed for embryonic development are turned off in the female genome but switched on in the male genome, and vice versa. Thus, for an embryo to grow properly, it must have one set of chromosomes with a female imprint and the other with a male imprint. Mouse eggs have been induced to replicate without fertilization, but they survive only briefly.
PATHOGEN: Organism which can cause disease in another organism.
PCBs: Polychlorinated Biphenyls. Anyone
who scrapes off old paint from a window frame, for
instance, may release PCBs. POPs build up in fatty tissues -
-the world's whale population is probably swwimming around
with tens of tons of POPs lodged in blubber. The Inuit hope
the ban will make traditional fatty foods, like seal or fish, less risky.
PEAK EXPERIENCE: Maslow's term. Almost
Nirvana on Earth. A rare natural high --mostly from a sense of accomplishment or experience of perfection in the environs.
PEGASIDS: hot giant Jupiter-like extrasolar planets with known masses between 110 and 430 times that of Earth and are large enough to cause a dip in starlight when they transit their stars.
PELAGIC: p-laj'ik) about the open seas or oceans. Or: living near the surface of the ocean, away from land. (benthic = deep)
PERFECTIONIST: One who can't understand the Law of Diminishing Returns.
PERMAFROST: Ever-frozen ground --mostly near the arctic circle (antarctic is more rocky & more deeply covered w ice). Gigatons of CO2 & methane that has been locked away for thousands of years will escape into the atmosphere when global warming thaws large patches of frozen ground in Alaska and Siberia. This vast carbon reservoir, contained in permafrost soil in northeastern Siberia alone, contains about 75 times more carbon than the amount released into the atmosphere each year by the burning of fossil fuels --500 billion tons. This will be an unstoppable viscious circle!
-PHAGE: (combining form) One that eats. eg: omniphage, which eats everything; bacteriophage. (even esophagus & sarcopagus (that "eats" a corpse)
PHEROMONE: A hormone-like substance that is secreted into the air for the purpose of attracting breeding partners of the same species (including humans). (tho pig saliva has human pheromones...)
PHOTOSYNTHESIS: A chemical process in biology that uses light to split CO2 to help make carbohydrate foods and oxygen.
PI: Probably an abbreviation of
periphery. Thanks to computers, we now know more than the
first six billion digits of pi; starting 3.141592653589793238
PHOTON: The particle/wave "carrying" light. It's 250,000 times lighter than an electron.
PHYLOGENETIC CODE: an alternative scheme of classification that puts greater weight on the position of particular organisms on the evolutionary tree, instead of naming them into discrete categories --genus and species and so forth. It's been an active debate ongoing since about 2001.
. . It's the idea that you downplay the importance of recognizing things as species and giving them discrete names. It would wreak great havoc in the public.
PHYLOGENY: The reconstruction of the
evolutionary history of organisms. A similar method is used with languages.
PIETY: The "right" approach to life. -- its counterfeit is piosity. (also devout, dutiful, loyal... but w tint of hypocrisy).
PION: tiny, weighing about one-seventh as much as a proton. Not to be confused with Prions.
PLACEBO EFFECT: The "psychological cure." A drug or treatment that has no direct effect, but that the "patient" believes does... produces a desirable effect.
PLAGUE SPECIES: one that will reproduce
in such numbers that it is sure to outrun the long-term food supply, thereby causing periodic population surges/crashes. e.g.: Mice, Locusts, Lemmings, Humans.
PLANCK LENGTH: one trillion-trillion-trillionth of a meter. About 10-33 centimeters.
PLANEMO: A new (unofficial) term as of June, 06. Planetary-mass objects. Planet-like objects floating alone through space, but more solid then brown dwarfs, which are bigger & H-rich, but not massive enough to start thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen.
PLANETISIMAL: Sagan's term. Wrongly called "asteroid", which means starlike. Only those 50 Km diameter or more are known, unless they come close. Dark
and tiny, they're hard to find. Pluto is the farthest, tho it may be better called a Kuiper Belt Object. The K-T (Cretatious-Tertiary) boundary hit (a June morning, 64M yrs ago) by a 'tisimal or comet wiped out the dinosaurs (99% certainty). See the file on Luna.)
PODIUM: A platform to stand ON --NOT BEHIND (that's a lectern. A dais is also a platform --perhaps higher & bigger, but not as big as a stage.)
POETRY: (or any art) is to understand a
profound emotion in yourself and attempt to reproduce that emotion in other people.
POIKILOTHERM: Animal whose body temperature
varies with that of the environment --also known as an ectotherm.
POLITICS: --from national to personal-- is the heirarchy of various powers that we try to use for more security in our supply of food, water, protection, and sex... & whatever luxuries we can get. "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." ~ Ernest Benn
POLITICALLY CORRECT: I see it as "ethical". Some people resent being told to do the right thing, & some others push it too hard.
POLYMATH: a person of great education and understanding, well-versed in a great many subjects. Think Jeopardy. Pronounce "polym", not "math".
POLYMER: A molecule composed of repeated subunits.
POLYTHEISM: many gods, and possibly, no limit to the number of gods allowed. See "Pan..."
POPs: Persistent Organic Pesticides/Pollutants. Notably DDT, aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, endrin and heptachlor. They do not deteriorate in
the environment, but are taken up by successive animals in
the food chain, increasing in concentration each time, particularly in organs like the kidneys & liver. Everyone on the planet has traces of POPs in their bodies. They can
cause cancer and damage the nervous, reproductive and
immune systems of people and animals. High levels of POPS
have been found in Inuit breast milk and POPs have even been blamed for deforming the sexual organs of female polar bears and making them look like hermaphrodites. The food
chain, BTW, is circular --bacteria eat the dead Lion. (See PCPs)
POPULATION: (over-). The world problem! See several essays.
POSTDICTION: Clever or imaginative people
try to see how a certain ambiguous phrase from the past actually predicted a (then) future event. It's easier and infinitely more accurate than prediction.
PRAY: "To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy." -Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
PRECOCIAL: birds, such as Australian Malee fowl, which hatch with their eyes open and covered with down and can survive on their own fairly quickly. See altricial.
PREDATOR/ PREY RATIO: Where there is something to eat, there will be something to eat it. The population of predators expands in a Malthusian way till
limited by lack of prey. Population of prey expands only
till predator population expands (after lag-time). The
ratio is said to be a good indicator that the dinosaurs (dino-aves) were warm-blooded.
PREJUDICE: Especially for the Fair Witness: a set of responses based on general conclusions, which are built on reality seen through the distortions and
filters of the needs, desires, and fears... of yourself and
others. An opinion formed about someone or something or
some group without the benefit of tested knowledge.
PRESBYOPIA: "Old sight". A condition caused by reduced elasticity of the eye's lens over time. Eventually the cornea —and other eye muscles that change lens shape to focus— can't overcome the lens' rigidity, & the lens gets "stuck" in one focus.
PRIME: Latin: first. Primal. Primeval.
PRIMATE: hominid, ape; "prime animal" --top of the line!
PRION: Proteinaceous infectious particle. A portion of a virus? Certain diseases —-including mad cow, scrapie in sheep, and the human
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease-— are believed to arise when a protein the body normally harbors folds into an abnormal shape, called a prion, and sets off a chain reaction of misfolds. When enough abnormal prions accumulate, they deposit plaque on the brain and eventually leave clumps of dead brain cells. Those are the diseases' hallmark spongy holes.
PROKARYOTE: A bacterial cell lacking a
true nucleus; its DNA is usually in one long strand. See Eukaryote.
PROMETHEANISM: a destructive
glorification of human power. -Canadian Protestant theologian Douglas Hall.
PROOF: Popularly, a piece of evidence that conclusively establishes a fact. In scientific circles, it's A proof --one that contributes
to the debate; forever subject to the rigors of peer review and replication. "Proof is derived through a convergence of evidence from numerous lines of inquiry --multiple, independent inductions, all of which point to an unmistakable conclusion." ~Michael Shermer
PROPRIOCEPTION: Proprioceptors are tiny sensors in your muscles, tendons, joints, and inner ear. Proprioceptors detect stretching, elongation, and other changes; this information is used by your brain to create an unconscious picture of your body and its parts in 3-D space. (Close eyes, touch nose)
PROSELYTIZE: to try to recruit or convert to another faith or religion. Convince of the truth or validity of something. To make a dictinction: Proselytizing intrudes and pushes to convert --Evangelizing explains a position and allows the person to decide for himself.
PRISONERS' DILEMMA: Suppose you and your gang have been arrested for armed robbery. If you all stick together and stonewall the police, you each get a couple of years in prison. But if you snitch on the others, you go free while everyone else gets 20 years. And if everyone turns on everyone else, you'll all get sentences nearly as long as that. The precise options and consequences can be spelled out in a "pay-off table" that displays the sentences to be handed down for each possible combination of moves by you and your accomplices. ~Adrian Cho
PSYCHOPATH/SOCIOPATH: Differentiate between the psychopath, born with faulty brain "wiring", and the sociopath, whose callous behavior results from poor parenting or the influences of deviant groups like gangs. One thing that experts agree on is that psychopaths lack human empathy, thus responsibility.
PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM: An hypothesis proposed by Stephen Jay Gould (died May, 02), that evolution proceeds in sudden jumps, more than as a steady progress.
QUAGGA: a recently-extinct relative of zebra & horse. The last, a mare, died in captivity in Amsterdam in 1883. The stripes evolved as protection from lions, & we saw the last of the "poorly-striped Zebras". Visible evolution! A couple thou ago, there may've been no "Zebras"!
QUANTUM COMPUTING: A hypothetical method
of computing that uses the unique properties of quantum
physics to solve problems. Nanotechnology could make quantum computing possible.
QUANTUM DOTS: are stable, nano-sized, water-soluble crystals made of a semiconductor material. At this size, materials behave differently, giving quantum dots unprecedented tunability and enabling applications to exploit its unique properties at the nanoscale. It's where nano and bio converge.
. . Also called a semiconductor nanocrystal, it's a semiconductor crystal whose size is on the order of just a few nanometers. They contain anywhere from 100 to 1,000 electrons and range from 2 to 10 nanometers, or 10 to 50 atoms, in diameter. 2 million quantum dots could be lined up end to end and fit within the diameter of a United States penny. Because the quantum dot has discrete energy levels, much like an atom, they are sometimes called "artificial atoms".
. . Quantum dots confine electrons, holes, or electron-hole pairs or so-called excitons to zero dimensions to a region on the order of the electrons' de Broglie wavelength. This can be contrasted to quantum wires, which are confined to a line; and quantum wells, which are confined to a planar region.
. . Quantum dots have the ability to fluoresce at different wavelengths (produce different colors). Natural phosphors emit light only at a wavelength/color determined by nature. Quantum dots can be tuned or tailored to suit specific applications, which include use as biosensors in life sciences, wavelength converters in LEDs, next-generation components in solar cells, and superior switching devices in photonics. In all of these applications, the use of quantum dots has produced better results at lower costs.
. . Because the quantum dot has discrete energy levels, much like an atom, they are sometimes called "artificial atoms". The energy levels can be controlled by changing the size and shape of the quantum dot, and the depth of the potential. The larger the dot, the more towards the red end of the spectrum the fluorescence is. The smaller the dot, the more towards the blue end it is.
QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT: two particles interact once, then still maintain a connection even if separated by a vast distance. A mysterious concept. Researchers can use lab techniques to create a weird relationship between pairs of tiny particles. After that, the fate of one particle instantly affects the other; if one particle is made to take on a certain set of properties, the other instantly takes on identical or opposite properties, no matter how far away it is and without any apparent physical connection to the first particle. It does work, even tho it "can't". Albert Einstein called it spooky. It could concievably permit a kind of teleportation of *effect.
. . CLIP: Popular accounts often present entanglement as an all-or-nothing property in which quantum particles are either entangled or not. Quantum information science has revealed that entanglement is a quantifiable physical resource, like energy, that enables information-processing tasks: some systems have a little entanglement; others have a lot. The more entanglement available, the better suited a system is to quantum information processing. Furthermore, researchers have begun to develop powerful quantitative laws of entanglement (analogous to the laws of thermodynamics governing energy), which provide a set of high-level principles for understanding the behavior of entanglement and describing how we can use it to do information processing.
. . Most systems lose their quantum nature as their size is increased. This quantum-to-classical transition occurs because large quantum systems generally interact strongly with their environment, causing a process of decoherence, which destroys the system's quantum properties.
. . Entangled objects behave as if they were connected with one another no matter how far apart they are--distance does not attenuate entanglement in the slightest. If something is entangled with other objects, a measurement of it simultaneously provides information about its partners. It is easy to be misled into thinking that one could use entanglement to send signals faster than the speed of light, in violation of Einstein's special relativity, but the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics stymies such efforts.
. . One could perform quantum cryptography with an entangled photon pair or an entangled pair of atomic nuclei or even a photon and a nucleus entangled together.
. . Researchers have not yet agreed as to the best way of quantifying entanglement. The most successful scheme thus far is based on the notion of a standard unit of entanglement, akin to a standard unit of mass or energy.
. . A new form of quantum entanglement - multipartite entanglement.
"QUANTUM LEAP": means the smallest possible change in something, but has come to mean a large one. The order of the dictionary definitions has now switched, with the popular usage first and the opposite, physics usage, second.
QUANTUM MECHANICS: The physics of ultra-tiny distances & masses, as opposed (unfortunately) to classical Einsteinian Relativity. Both are "correct" in their realms. But it tells us that repeating the same experiment will give different results.
QUARKS: THE elementary particle. (I know, I said it before... A-tom in Greek, means "can't cut") Quarks are confined inside a proton or a neutron, as if they were tied together by elastic strings. Just as electrons have an electrical charge and transmit their force via photons, quarks have a "color" charge and transmit their force via gluons. But one major difference is that gluons, unlike photons, interact strongly with one another.
. . Quarks are fundamental matter particles that are constituents of neutrons and protons and other hadrons. There are six different types of quarks: Up, Down, Top, Bottom, Strange, Charm. Each quark type is called a flavor. Each of the six "flavors" of quarks can have three different "colors". There are three quarks within a proton.
. . How do we know they are there? All our calculations depend on their existence and give the right answers for the experiments.
. . All particles that are built of quarks belong to one of two families: Mesons consist of a single quark and a single antiquark; baryons consist of three quarks. No one has yet detected a particle consisting of two quarks, or two quarks and an antiquark, nor a single isolated quark. Protons and neutrons are the lowest energy examples of baryons. Baryons and mesons are collectively known as hadrons. There are over 200 known hadrons.
. . Quarks and Leptons are the building blocks which build up matter, i.e., they are seen as the "elementary particles". In the present standard model, there are six "flavors" of quarks. They can successfully account for all known mesons and baryons (over 200). The most familiar baryons are the proton and neutron, which are each constructed from up and down quarks. Quarks are observed to occur only combinations of two quarks (mesons), three quarks (baryons), and the recently discovered particles with five quarks (pentaquark).
. . The up and down quarks are the most common and least massive quarks, being the constituents of protons and neutrons and thus of most ordinary matter.
. . When quarks are close together at extremely high energies, they act like free particles --a state called "asymptotic freedom."
QUASARS: super-bright galaxies (originally from "quasi-stellar", as they thought it wasn't possible for them to be so far away.) The energy released by black holes during a quasar phase powers a strong wind that prevents further material from falling into the black hole. 2005 results explain for the first time why the quasar lifetime is such a short phase compared to the life of a galaxy.
Q.E.D.: Quod Erat Demonstrandum (which
was to be demonstrated) That which was to be proved, is
proved. (also: Quantum Electro-Dynamics --the physical laws of the microscopic world.)
QUITE: Completely, wholly, entirely; to
the fullest extent or degree. Not "kind of".
RADIATION: emission of any energy,
including the Infra-red we emit (& mosquitoes see) --not
just harmful nuclear rad'n. Alpha, Beta, Gamma...
ALPHA: (4 protons & 2 electrons) Positively charged
particles emitted from the nucleus of an atom. Alpha
particles are relatively large, and very heavy. Due to this
strong (+) charge and large mass, an alpha particle cannot
penetrate far into any material. A sheet of paper or an
inch of air can usually stop most alpha particles.
BETA PARTICLES: (electron stream) Negatively charged
particles emitted from an atom. Beta particles have a mass
and charge equal to that of an electron. They are very
light particles (about 2,000 times less mass than a proton)
and have a charge of -1. Because of their light mass and
single charge, beta particles can penetrate more deeply
than alpha particles. A few millimeters of aluminum will stop most beta particles.
GAMMA RAYS: (just short of Xray) Short wavelength
electromagnetic radiation --of nuclear origin-- higher in
frequency and energy than visible and ultraviolet light.
Gamma rays are emitted from the nucleus of an atom. These
high energy photons are much more penetrating than alpha and beta particles. Emitted during transitions such as fission, radioactive disintegration and electron-position annihilation. They have much in common with X-rays.
RADIATION, IONIZING: Radiation which
removes orbital electrons from atoms, thus creating ion
pairs. Alpha and beta particles are more densely ionizing than gamma-rays or X-rays of equivalent energy. Neutrons do not cause ionization directly.
RAMAPITHECUS: "Rama's ape". An arboreal
primate; probably an ancestor of Orangutans.
"RED TIDE": a densely populated algae bloom that breeds in abundance and suffocates fish by sapping the water of oxygen while also producing toxins
that can paralyze fish and contaminate seafood. The algae
mainly feast on urban pollution, industrial discharges,
farming wastes and fertilizer run-off that are rich in
nitrogen and phosphorus, and which flow into coastal waters from rivers and streams.
RED QUEEN EFFECT (or Principle): A well
known effect in the arms race between host and parasite.
That: a species will gain the upper hand if it is able to
evolve countermeasures faster than its partner. New research claims that this is not so when considering mutualistic interactions between species. When
deciding who will gain most from the interaction, it pays
to move slowly. The quickly evolving species then adapts to the slow evolver's needs. For an evolutionary system, continuing development is needed just in order to maintain
its fitness relative to the systems it is co-evolving with.
This principle was proposed by the evolutionary biologist
L. van Valen (1973), and is based on the observation to
Alice by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" that "in this place it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."
. . The "Red King" Effect: When the slowest runner wins the coevolutionary race.
REDUCTION:
- Chemical: The removal of oxygen from Carbon, Hydrogen, Iron and other oxygen-"hungry" elements. A "living" atmosphere contains methane, etc.
- Logical: To break up scientific studies into
specialties, and sub-specialties, as opposed to Generalist.
We need Specialists to get deep into the details of a
certain study. But too much reductionism loses insights from the bigger, integrated picture. We need Generalists, as well as some of it in us all.
REGOLITH: (soft G) Soil with no organic matter.
REITERATE: to say something a fourth time. From "iterate", meaning to repeat.
RELIGION: From the Latin: "to tie, bind", perhaps to the worship of a god-image. . For us: "A framework for values". A corporate structure that (1) tries
to maintain its power, & (2) tries to maintain a base infrastructure for the practice of ritual that they think will enhance spirituality --or something resembling it, which is good enuf!
A distinction: Spirituality: a constellation of (ineffable) feelings. Whereas-- Religiosity: a constellation of (orthodox) beliefs and rules.
Philosopher Loyal Rue defines religion simply as "an integrated understanding of how things are (cosmology), and what things matter (morality)."
. . ...characterized by two factors: worship --in other words, some system of devotion directed toward one or more omniscient and supranatural beings-- and faith in the absence of material evidence. ~David Darling, SETI Institute
REVERENCE: [super-sized respect?] The virtue that keeps human
beings from trying to act like gods. When a group of musicians comes together and plays, and their egos ... drop away and they are simply serving the beauty of the music. ~PAUL WOODRUFF
RHINO-: nose (Rhino-ceros = nose-horn)
RITUAL: Ritual is "important" activity
built around symbols. It's a routine that's puffed up with importance.
RNA: (ribonucleic acid). An organic acid
composed of repeating nucleotide units of adenine, guanine,
cytosine, and uracil, whose ribose components are linked by phosphodiester bonds.
. . MicroRNA, or MiRNA, seems to stifle the production of proteins exclusively --a function opposite that of its better-known relative, messenger RNA, or mRNA, which translates instructions from genes to create proteins. It's predicted that miRNAs could regulate 30% of all human genes. A lab recently discovered an miRNA that can stop a gene from producing a protein that causes lung cancer.
. . Researchers estimate there could be anywhere from 200 to 1,000 miRNAs --the range is wide because miRNAs are so small, making them difficult to detect.
Another recently discovered RNA phenomenon, called RNA interference, or RNAi, which also blocks protein function.
. . RNAi is man-made and injected into cells (researchers suspect it also happens naturally in the body, but haven't yet defined the mechanism). "MiRNA comes from our own genes, whereas RNAi come from transposons or viruses --things we normally want to try to eliminate."
. . The Trilogy 2020 Single Molecule Analyzer is powerful enough to allow scientists to see tiny miRNAs one molecule at a time, without having to amplify their numbers, which is necessary in older technologies such as polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. The ability to study single molecules may allow extremely accurate diagnoses.
. . RNA is a chemical relative of DNA found in the nucleus and cytoplasm of cells. In addition to the messenger- and micro- varieties, it has several other iterations including transfer RNA and ribosomal RNA. Messenger RNAs are typically about 40 times longer than miRNAs.
. . siRNAs (small interfering RNAs): short stretches of RNA --the genetic counterpart of DNA that actually functions in cells-- specifically designed to interfere with certain genes.
RUMINANT: an animal that digests its
food by stages, thru several stomachs. eg: cows, sheep, antelopes, and camels.
SCHADENFREUDE: getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune.
SCHIZOPHRENOGENIC: [a JKH word] Crazy-making.
SCIENCE: The repeated observation,
recording, analysis--and repetition of that process by many
other experimenters--so as to bracket in on the truth of
nature. (Successively more accurate approximations.)(see scientific theory)
SCIENTIFIC METHOD. Reality Testing --the
time-proven proceedure to find out what reality is...
without the contamination of the preconceptions of the tester.
SCIENTIFIC THEORY.
The
progression: . idea (conjecture), Hypothesis, Theory, LAW.
- An idea is the first comprehension of a truth
(or falsehood). It exists only in one mind. When stated, a conjecture.
- A Hypothesis is published when the idea has
experimental proofs (that are still in vigorous contention).
- A Theory is a well-known set of proofs that have been extensively tested by a wide variety of professionals, many interrelationships have been found, and
from which many predictions can be made.
- A Law is a rare bird, and several are called that undeservedly. We don't even have a "theory of gravity", let alone a law. When we do (GUT: Grand Unified Theory), it'll be front-page news. Newton's "three laws of
motion" are wrong (call them "general statements"), now
that we have Relativity. E.G.: Evolution might be called a Law, but only if it's stated in extreme generality: "Things change." (see definition), as a law of gravity would be: "Things Fall". There are still many hypotheses and theories of evolution, and several/many may be correct at once. (e.g. many things cause wind.)
SCHRÖDINGER'S CAT: the innocent victim of a strange quantum thought experiment, has been alive and dead for nearly 70 years now. Its problems begin when it climbs into a box where a loaded gun is pointed at its head. A photon of light is then fired at a half-reflecting mirror called a beam splitter. If the photon passes through the mirror, it automatically triggers a light-sensing device, which fires the gun and shoots the cat dead. If, on the other hand, the mirror reflects the photon away, the cat lives on.
. . The trouble is, in the quantum world both possibilities occur simultaneously. Physicists refer to this as a "superposition of states". According to orthodox quantum theory, the superposition endures until someone looks into the box to see what has happened. The observation doesn't have to be direct. The photon might be seen to have arrived at one place or another, for example, allowing someone to infer the state of the cat. But whatever form it takes, this act of observation plays a critical role: it is the physical transmission of information during an observation that causes the superposition to collapse and seal the cat's fate. Physicists call this leakage of information "decoherence".
. . But what if there is no decoherence? What if the photon and the mirror and the gun and the cat remain completely isolated from the outside world? According to quantum mechanics, that can only mean that the cat is in a superposition of states. It is both alive and dead, and neither alive nor dead, and it remains in this peculiar condition indefinitely, until someone opens the box.
. . Another long-standing approach is the "many-worlds" interpretation of quantum mechanics, in which the entire Universe splits in two at the instant a photon hits a half-reflecting mirror. In one universe the photon passes through and the cat dies; in the other the photon is reflected and the cat is reprieved.
. . Does it really take the creation of an entire universe to kill one cat?
SECT: Those who follow a set of opinions
or beliefs... or a leader or authority. Followers of a particular creed in dissent from a church, thus a splinter group--split off or not. (See also the cult files)
SECULAR: Non-religious.
SECULAR HUMANISM: the doctrine emphasizing a person's capacity for self-realization through reason; rejects religion and the supernatural. Commonly, but not requisitely, a religious worldview based on atheism, naturalism, evolution, and ethical relativism.
SEMANTICS: the study of the meaning of words; or: the language used to achieve a desired effect on people.
SEQUENCING: See genome.
SEX: Many things. The reproductive process. Everything from the bonding expression of emotional feelings ... to the mere insertion of one feeling organ into another. --The process (social or physical) of achieving fertilization.
. . BISEXUAL: one who experiences attractions to
and/or fantasies about people of both genders. One could be
considered bisexual even if one does not act on said attractions and fantasies.
. . POLYAMOROUS: ("many loves") one who prefers a relationship style that explicitly allows the formation of romantic and/or sexual ties with more than one other person. The umbrella of polyamory includes (but is not limited to) open relationships, polyfidelitous arrangements, swinging arrangements, non-hierarchical poly arrangements, triads, quads, and line marriages. (POLYFIDELITOUS being an additional agreement of exclusivity within whatever number of people.)
SEX ADDICTION: a problematic image in the public eye. It does *not* mean any certain frequency or level of drive to engage in sex. There's far less difference between people's sex-drives than there is in their different suppressions of drive. The natural level of drive is *extremely* high, as it *is our biological prime directive --it is the suppression that is unnatural: a cultural overlay needed (to a debateable degree) for social peace. "Addiction" has more to do with Compulsive Disorder (disardor!) OR a deep need for unfulfilled (perhaps unfulfillable) affection --thus a self-esteem issue.
. . Being a basic need/drive, like air, water, food, shelter, etc, it cannot be a clear "addiction", as one is not "addicted" to breathing!
SCHADENFREUDE: [shah-den-freud-uh] getting pleasure from someone else's misfortune. Can this be behind sex-oppression?
SHAME: Shame is more a public humiliation; guilt more a private, internal one. See the essay.)
SIN: A curious take that occured to me: Sin is incongruity... not "at one" with your basic nature. ...Not of only one opinion/feeling about our actions. The greater the idealism we have, the greater & more often we feel "sin". This may lead to extremism. See the essay.)
SINGULARITY: 1: the infinitly small "object" at the center of a black hole.
. . 2: A time (2020?) when computers surpass human intelligence, leading "instantly" to changes that we cannot now predict or even comprehend. Can we control it at all? Can we influence "godlike slaves"? ...instill Asimov's 3 laws?
. . from http://www.singularity.org : "The rise of super intelligent life, created through the improvement of human tools by the acceleration of technological progress reaching the point of infinity."
. . ...the predictability of human technological development... past which present models of the future cease to give reliable or accurate answers, following the creation of strong artificial intelligence or the amplification of human intelligence. Futurists predict that after the Singularity, humans as they exist presently will cease to be the dominating force in scientific and technological progress, replaced with posthumans, strong AI, or both, and therefore all models of change based on past trends in human behavior will be obsolete.
SNOWBALL-EARTH THEORY: that the Earth --from poles to equator was frozen solid at one time. Snowball Earth events are much more severe than normal ice ages. They occur through a runaway process in which growing ice sheets reflect ever more sunlight back into space, resulting in further cooling and more ice. Eventually, the ice advances from the Poles virtually all the way to the Equator, trapping the planet in a deep freeze. Ended 600 Million years ago. Oceans were frozen 1.5 Km thick. Proposed by Dan Schrag & Paul Hoffman of Harvard. Temps
went down to -50C. Volcanos ended it 580-570 m ago,
initiating a biological explosion. See the file.
SOCIALIZED: having become respectful and empathic, rather than merely conforming.
SOCIO-BIOLOGY: The study of the "programming" within the DNA molecule, especially as relates to the Biological Reproductive Imperative, & how that effects individual & societal behaviors. The concept that much of our social action is heavily influenced by our genes. It's an attempt to find the evolutionary pressures which led to the evolution of social behavior in diverse groups of
animals. Of primary interest is that the species "needs" to reproduce.
. . Evolution accomplishes that with rewards for such actions (orgasm!). Males fulfill their purpose simply by mating with as many females as possible. For females, the strategy (evolutionary, not mental) is to get a mate who's best to build a nest & feed the chicks. Then find a mate with the best genes to pass along to her offspring. In humans, all this makes for interesting soap operas and police blotters.
SOCIOPATHY: The guiltless ignoring of social norms. Sometimes a predisposing brain condition; sometimes due to childhood traumas.
SOIL: Dirt plus an incredible variety
and amount of life (& recent life --humus), substantially eco-balanced in itself.
SOLIPSISM: The doctrine that 'existence'
--anything which would commonly be regarded as part of
reality-- is construed by the self merely as part of its
consciousness --perhaps not in existence otherwise. It is, by nature, untestable.
. . The solipsist can attach no meaning to the supposition that there could be thoughts, experiences, and emotions other than his own. In short, the true solipsist understands the word 'pain', for example, to mean 'my pain' - he cannot accordingly conceive how this word is to be applied in any sense other than this exclusively egocentric one. [Doesn't this sound like sociopathy? On the other hand, sure, your own feelings are all that you know for certain, & you can take the idea that other people have them, merely on trust.]
. . "Any resourceful schizophrenic can always maintain he can't be proven wrong. As a matter of fact, he can. [Just] beat the hell out of him and then ask why, if
the world is his creation, he created it in such a way that
he allows himself to have the hell beaten out of him." ~Ralph Estling
. . Of course, if your solipsist is also a masochist, you have a problem.
SOLITONS: discovered in the 1800s as water waves that propagate without losing their height for miles and miles.
. . Light has even been made to stand still. But most light packets will lose their shape when their speed is decreased --a fact that hurts their application in the telecommunication industry. The new packets, however, belong to a type of wave pattern, called a soliton, which has a robust shape that does not easily decay.
SOUL: The best I've seen, From T. Moore's "Care of The soul":
"'Soul' is not a thing, but a quality or a dimension
of experiencing life and ourselves. It has to do with
depth, value, relatedness, heart, and personal substance. I
do not use the word here as an object of religious belief
or as something to do with immortality. When we say that someone or something has soul, we know what we mean, but it is difficult to specify exactly what that meaning is." (Perhaps the spirit leads... and the soul calls us back?" Geo "Rishar". / "... that part of the self that is least 'self-ish.'" Jon Angel)
SPACE ELEVATOR: A revolutionary way of getting into space. Consisting of a (strong! Carbon-fiber) ribbon extending from Earth to orbit that can be ascended by mechanical means. The space elevator could ferry
satellites, spaceships, and pieces of space stations into
space via electric lifts clamped to the ribbon. No rockets would be required. Ultimately, the space elevator could serve as a means for human space travel. (See the file.)
SPAGHETTIFICATION: The effect on an
object that passes the event horizon of a black hole; it would be infinitely stretched in one direction and infinitely squeezed in two other directions, but tears apart as competence is passed.
SPECIATION: The origin of species. The production of new, reproductively isolated populations. The point when varieties of a species, who have diverged due to differing environments, can no longer interbreed to fertile
offspring. See also species, evolution and natural selection.
. . Ecological speciation: Species form as certain populations adapt --through natural selection-- to a specific environment, or niche.
. . Geographic speciation: Species from when populations are physically isolated.
SPECIES: A group of individuals whose members have the same main characteristics and are able to breed among themselves to produce fertile offspring.
SPINTRONICS: an emerging class of new electronic circuits that exploit the magnetic orientation of electrons and atoms --a quantum property called "spin." An electron's spin has two possible conditions, either "up" or "down." Aligning spins in a material creates magnetism. Most materials are non-magnetic because they have equal numbers of up and down electron spins, which cancel each other. But materials such as iron, or cobalt have an unequal numbers of up and down electron spins and are magnetic.
SPIRITUAL: A person's feelings of awe in
things understood, and of desire to have more things
studied and better understood, so as to improve our feeling
of connection with them. (See "Mystic") "Numinous" is synonymous (said the poet). Also; a bewilderment at the basic phenomenon of self-awareness.
SPIRITUALITY: The ineffable, visceral
feeling of connection with whatever you feel sustains you.
...and our place within it --a profound simplicity. Note
that this is a bit broader, in that it can include those feelings spurred by a belief in even ridiculous things. It is NOT a fear of the unknown.
...A distinction: Spirituality: a constellation of
(ineffable) feelings. Whereas-- Religiosity: a constellation of (orthodox) beliefs. A political overlay. S is R w/o the organized political heirarchy.
SPORE: an asexual reproductive cell. A form taken by certain microbes that enables them to exist in a dormant stage.
STANDARDS: a compromise that can obtain the agreement of the slowest, least innovative committee member /or authority of society. A lowest common denominator.
STANDARD DISCLAIMER #1: Throughout the
site, readers are not to take any statement to imply the
existence or non-existence of any image or aspect of a
god/God. As we think this cannot be known, we cannot state that we know, and are accordingly suspicious of any who say they do! It's similar to SD#2.
SD#2: Nothing is positively known and final.
Many things are called scientific "laws" by the public,
some of which really aren't even hypotheses. The Scientific Method
does not allow for final, unchangable formulations on any
aspect of nature, and is thus leery of calling them Laws or Theories. A Theory, to science, is about what the public calls a Law. (see "Scientific Theory" above)
STEM CELLS: master cells which give rise to new cells. So-called adult stem cells exist in various tissues. Then there are embryonic stem cells. These cells have the ability to produce cells that make any kind of tissue at all, and the hope is to train them to produce tissues and organs on demand. Can be used in genetic cures, as they have the ability to turn into any type of adult
cell. It's derived from wasted embryos, fetuses or
umbilical cords, as well as several kinds of a person's own tissue. The first two sources are not used to cure people --instead, they're thrown in the garbage.
STOCHASTIC: Greek. "Pertaining to chance", random. In statistics, stochastic models are based on random trials --deterministic models always produce the same output for a given input condition.
STOIC: (Greek philosophy. stoa=porch. Jes sittin' an' thinkin'.) Mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. So practice not minding.
STRAW MAN ARGUMENT: to make stuff up and
attribute it to someone, so you can make him look bad.
STRING THEORIES: "They're classified according to whether or not the strings are required to be closed loops, and whether or not the particle spectrum includes fermions. In order to include fermions in string theory, there must be a special kind of symmetry called supersymmetry, which means for every boson (particle that transmits a force) there is a corresponding fermion (particle that makes up matter). So supersymmetry relates the particles that transmit forces to the particles that make up matter.
. . Supersymmetric partners to to currently known particles have not been observed in particle experiments, but theorists believe this is because supersymmetric particles are too massive to be detected at current accelerators.
. . M theory is the theory whose low energy limit is the supergravity theory in eleven dimensions. However, many people have taken to also using M theory to label the unknown theory believed to be the fundamental theory from which the known superstring theories emerge as special limits."
. . Theoretical cosmic superstrings, which researchers described as ultra-thin tubes filled with ancient vacuum created in the early universe, can coil into galactic-sized, vibrating loops that emit gravitational waves as they decay into oblivion.
STROMATOLYTE: A dome-shaped colony of bacteria, half a meter across, on a sea-shore (or what was one, historically). The oldest "fossils" (Austrailia).
STRONG NUCLEAR FORCE: acts only inside a hadron --a proton or neutron. Within its effective range, it pulls harder on the quarks the farther apart they are. It is the strongest force known in the Universe. It is 60 times stronger than the ElectroMagnetic force when those forces act on quarks separated by the tiny distances (less than one-tenth of a trillionth of a meter) inside a nucleus. The gluon carries the strong nuclear force. ... When quarks are close together at extremely high energies, they act like free particles, a state they called "asymptotic freedom".
SUBLIMATION: A change of state, w heat input, directly from solid to gas. Verb: to sublime.
SUBLIMINAL: literally: beneath the
threshold. Unable to be seen... in effect: subconscious.
SUFFICE IT TO SAY...: This is correct, I
suppose, but it's sufficient to say that I hate, hate, hate it! Donno why.
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY: The phenomenon by
which, near absolute zero, a conductor conducts charge with zero resistance.
SUPERCONTINENTS: In "Jurassic Park" time, Earth had two --one called Laurasia that eventually split into Europe, Asia, and North America, and another called Gondwana that became Australia, Africa, Antarctica, and South America. Both supercontinents split apart from an even larger land mass, Pangea ("all-earth") --some 150 million years ago, during the late Jurassic period.
SUPERFLUIDITY: The phenomenon by which,
near absolute zero, a fluid can flow with zero viscosity. Its causes are associated with superconductivity. Helium-4 is cooled down to just two degrees above absolute zero (2 degrees Kelvin or -271 degrees Celsius), where it becomes a frictionless superfluid. To stay a superfluid, liquid helium-4 must be kept at about 2 degrees Kelvin, a temperature range offered in commercially-available instruments called cryostats.
. . Helium-3 must be kept much colder (about one-thousandth of a degree above absolute zero) in complicated refrigerators.
SUPERNOVA: Two types of stars generate supernovas. The first type, called a type 1a supernova is produced by a star's burned-out core. This stellar relic, called a white dwarf, siphons hydrogen from a companion star, thereby making it 1.4 times more massive than Sol [called the Chandrasekhar limit]. This excess bulk leads to explosive burning of carbon and other chemical elements that make up the white dwarf.
. . A star that is more than eight times as massive as Sol generates type 2. When the star runs out of nuclear fuel, the core collapses. Then the surrounding layers crash onto the core and bounce back, ripping apart the outer layers.
SUPERSTITION: The religion of feeble minds. Edmund Burke
The general root of superstition is that men observe
when things hit, and not what they miss, and commit to
memory the one, and forget the other. (Bacon)
A baseless belief in something you're afraid might be
true. Maybe a weak person will do something in his life
differently... just in case. This is the very definition of hypocrite.
To observe a simple reality in a complex system, and think you see a complex system in a simple reality --and assign an intention and motivation to the thing. JKH
SUPERSYMMETRY: (SUSY), an extension of the standard model of particle physics, which says that every known particle has a SUSY partner. No SUSY partners have yet been detected.
SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF: The willingness
to withhold questions about truth, accuracy, or probability
in something presented as either fact or fiction.
SUSTAINABLE AG/ECO: Managing our
practices to the point where no resources decline. Or...
Can we continue to do what we're doing, if we continue to do what we're doing?
. . Sustainable development meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs. (United Nations, 1987)
Think of it as extending the Golden Rule through time, so
that you do unto future generations, as you would have them do unto you.
SYMBIONT: A living thing in a symbiotic relationship. See below.
SYMBIOSIS: See also Endo-. A cooperative
system of two or more dissimilar organisms, with a benefit
for each. E.G.: Bees and flowering plants... Crocodiles
with their "toothpick" birds. Seed-bearing trees and the
birds that eat them, then scatter the seeds. (and some
seeds need to be "digested" before they can germinate.) See Commensalism, Parasitism.
SYMBOL: A symbol is a manufactured
distancing from the real thing. A safer substitute. (like a euphemism)
SYNAPSE: a small gap separating neurons. A billionth the size of a rice grain.
SYNDROME: a complex of signs and symptoms presenting a clinical picture of a disease or disorder. How many? The London Dysmorphology Database
contains information on 2,860 non-chromosomal, multiple congenital anomaly syndromes.
SYNERGY: 2+2 = 5, so to speak. Because
of greater efficiency--or of stimulation--the interaction
of two things so that the result is greater than the total
of their individual result. This is the "sneaky bomb" of earth-threatening change.
SYNESTHETES: Individuals in whom one sense triggers another. Their senses are connected, so as well as seeing a painting, the work also triggers sounds. They make up only about 1 to 2% of the population.
TACT: Tact is the interface between
suppression and honesty.(JKH) ...even as far as the
expression of feedback with obvious anger in the
foreground, but with obvious love in the background.
TAPHONOMY: "study of burial". The
science that studies the process of decay and fossilization.
TAXONOMY: the science of classifying
organisms into groups by structure, origin, common ancestor, etc. see LINNAEUS
TECTONICS: The study of continental-
plate motion. 'quakes, volcanoes, mountain-building.
TELEOLOGY: A suggestion of design or
ultimate purpose in nature. The assertion that existence has a purposeful plan. Considered taboo, scientifically. A cause that precedes effect (impossible).
. . The Greek term telos means "end" or "cut-off
point". Also: goal to which some activity is directed, or
the purpose. In philosophy, the science or doctrine that
attempts to explain the universe in terms of ends or final
causes. Teleology is based on the proposition that the universe has design and purpose. The term "teleological explanation", then, can be used to refer to either of two distinct things: (1) elucidating why something has the
(material and formal) properties it exhibits by pointing to the purposes it is designed to serve, or (2) inferring the purposes something serves by examining the properties (material and formal) it exhibits. We can give no adequate account of the objects we call "chairs" without taking into consideration what they are for.
. . Monotheistic Creationism, which holds the existence of an external deity who has designed the world, represents Dualistic Teleology. In Christian theology,
teleology represents a basic argument for the existence of
God, in that the order and efficiency of the natural world seem not to be accidental. If the world design is intelligent, an ultimate Designer must exist. This is the
so-called argument by design that was used by theologians right up until Darwin's day.
. . Again: In philosophy, term applied to any system
attempting to explain a series of events in terms of ends,
goals, or purposes. It is opposed to mechanism, the theory
that all events may be explained by mechanical principles
of causation. Aristotle argued that all nature reflects the
purposes of an immanent final cause. Frequently, teleologists have identified purpose in the universe with God's will. The teleological argument for the existence of
God holds that order in the world could not be accidental
and that since there is design there must be a designer. A
more recent evolutionary view finds purpose in the higher levels of organic life but holds that it is not necessarily based in any transcendent being.
. . Science in general is very hostile to teleology,
because of its metaphysical and theological implications.
TELOMERE: The end of a chromosome --like the aglet at the end of a shoelace. As they unravel, you age like an alarm clock!
TENET: One principle/dogma/doctrine within a creed. See CREED.
TERRITORIAL IMPERATIVE: See Socio-Biology. The need to dominate an area, to show one has won over other males, & have the best chance at mating.
TESTOSTERONE: A steroid hormone --mostly male-- that influences growth & sexual behavior. It does not directly cause aggression, but lowers the threshold for it. It can crystallize when dry. . C19H28O2 . It's produced
primarily in the testes --perhaps from sugar (I donno):
sucrose is C12H22O11. Grape sugars are ketone alcohols of the formula C6H12O6
THEIST: Theism is "a positive assertion that god does exist". [Arthur C. Clarke, in 3001: "Theists believe there's not more than one god; Deists believe there's not less than one god."]
THEOLOGY: the attempt to explain or defend the perfect benevolence of god despite the apparent presence of evil in the world. ~W. Sumner Davis
THEOLOGIAN: An uncommon individual who, though possessing finite abilities, has been called by God himself, who, though possessing infinite abilities, requires the assistance of a theologian in explaining Himself to the rest of us.
THERMODYNAMICS: the field of physics that studies the flow of energy from one place to another.
. . "Zeroth" law: Thermodynamic equilibrium. When two systems contact, energy will be exchanged between them unless they're already in equilibrium. Entropy --all objects "run down", tend toward an equal energy state.
. . First Law: the total energy of the system plus the environment is constant. Often simply stated as: energy is conserved.
. . Second law: systems tend towards greater disorder unless you feed the system energy from an outside source. TANSTAAFL
. . 3rd Law: All processes cease as temperature approaches absolute zero. (diminishing returns)
THEROPOD: A two-legged carnivore. [why end in "foot"?]
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT: logical imagination, rather than physical; used for investigation. e.g.: any "A" rather than "B".
. . Galileo showed that all bodies fall at the same speed with a brilliant thought experiment that started by destroying the then reigning Aristotelian account. The
latter holds that heavy bodies fall faster than light ones (H > L). But a heavy ball and light ball can be attached together to form a compound object (H+L); the combo, supposedly, must fall faster than the heavy ball alone. Yet the compound object must also fall slower, since the light part will act as a drag on the heavy part. Now we have a contradiction that sheds light.
. . In a thought experiment, there are no new data involved, nor is the conclusion derived from old data, nor is it some sort of logical truth. They can achieve their aim without being physically executed.
TIDAL WAVE: Tidal. They happen roughly twice a day, every day, everywhere. not to be confused with tsunamis (earthquake-generated) & storm surges (hurricane/storm low-air-pressure dome of water, perhaps 100 km wide & 1-5 meters deep).
TILTH: Soil health. Optimally, a self-balanced set of micro-organisms and a good mix of particle sizes (loam).
TO BE: together, seen as a verb, as is:
am, is, are, were, was. Try hard to minimize their use. (Don't be doing that.) In writing, search for uses of "-ing", & rephrase half of them. (Just be doing it. ~Nike)
TOLERATION:
an uncomfortable word
because of conflicting meanings. . Meaning #One: to permit
to exist --a thing, a happening, or a behavior. But
usually, the topic thing is beyond our rights to decide
about. History has many examples, however, of powers that took it upon themselves not to permit others to exist. Saint Bartholomew's Day, Rwanda, & the Nazis...
. . Meaning #Two: to be comfortable with a person of
differing belief. Very different thing.
TRADITIONALISM: artificially forcing an
unnatural cessation of change. Change is stabilizing; immobility is not. (Try to sit on an immobile bicycle!) Change happens; it's a natural drive.
TRANSGENIC: From 1982. An organism in which a foreign DNA gene (a transgene) is incorporated into its genome early in development. The transgene is present in both somatic and germ cells, is expressed in one or more
tissues, and is inherited by offspring in a Mendelian
fashion. The addition, removal, or changing of genes to
suit our purposes. Having chromosomes into which one or
more heterologous genes have been incorporated either artificially or naturally.
TRENDLINE: (obvious) a graphline, past & extrapolated.
TRIPLOID: having three sets of chromosomes instead of the normal two (diploid) and is, therefore, sterile. Extremely rare; the species must reproduce only by cloning, like the King's Holly plant.
TRITIUM: The isotope of hydrogen having an atomic mass number of 3.
TROJANS: A cloud of small bodies that co-orbit at the same distance as a planet --L4 is 60° preceding and L5 is 60° following. Because there are perturbations from other planets, bodies at the L1, L2 and L3 points will wander away over time: only the L4 and L5 points are stable. A HILL SPHERE is less a sphere than a ring. It is at the distance where all Trojan areas are found. The 5 flattened-oval regions center on the LaGrange-points.
. . Perturbations by other planets, principally Saturn, cause the Trojans to oscillate about the Lagrangian points in an arc about 45-80° from Jupiter with a period of 150-200 years. Most do not move in the plane of the planet's orbit, but rather in orbits inclined by up to 40°.
. . Amazingly, the Jupiter Trojan clouds have about as many objects in total as the main planetisimal belt. Number at L4 point = 1128 --at the L5 point = 921. Ttl: 2049.
. . Neptune's Trojan clouds are probably more populated than the Jupiter Trojan clouds [!!] but because of Neptune's extreme distance from the Sun, the Neptune Trojans are harder to detect.
. . JKH: It seems to me that L4 would have to be slightly inside Jupiter's [or any planet's] orbit, & L5 slightly further, in order to achieve a balance. Ah-ha!--I found this: "Their on-sky density would be greatest roughly five degrees sunward of the L4 position."
. . All four of the known Neptune Trojans reside in the planet's leading Lagrangian point. They are all about the same shade of pale red, suggesting that they share a similar origin and history.
. . There are also three known Mars Trojans, but searches have so far failed to uncover any similar objects in the orbits of any of the other planets.
. . An Earth-trojan search was done. A survey of the region near Earth's L4 (morning) Lagrange Point was conducted in May and July/August 2000, and two interesting asteroids were found, NEA 2000 PM8 and our provisionally named CFZ001. CFZ001 cannot be excluded from being an Earth Trojan. This object, of R magnitude 22, was easily detected.
TRUTH: Essentially, or effectively...
"truth" has meant the explanation that's sufficient
for the time or purpose. e.g.: at one time the world was
flat. It worked. Newton's three Laws worked for everything
they used them for... then. Recently, the atom was a "little solar system". "Sufficient" isn't good enough any more. The unschooled define "Truth" as "what-I-want-to-be-true"! Very different than "Faith" (see above).
* * TRUE BELIEVER One who believes things that have no proof (because he wants it to be true), and believes harder when shown disproof! He's the pseudo-intellectual version of a musclehead, who, when
something is caught, stuck, knotted or bound, pushes harder. See Bubba.
TRUISM An axiom. What we take for obvious --is either a well-said truth, or a lie so sacred that it has never dared be questioned.
T.S.A. Trusted Source of Affection --a person. Not
the same as a mate. It means more than "is s/he someone I trust to exceed the minimum average over the long term". It's: "is s/he someone I can go to *at *any *time for a bit of affection". Many married people do not feel their
mate is a trusted (steady, dependable) source of their MDAR.
TUNDRA land area where tree growth is inhibited by low temperatures and a short growing season. In the Arctic, the tundra is dominated by permafrost, a layer of permanently frozen subsoil. The only vegetation that can grow in such conditions are grasses, mosses and lichens. Forests of spruce trees and shrubs neighbor these tundra areas, and the boundary where they meet is called the treeline.
TURING TEST A person can't distinguish
between human and virtual (computer) agents. A "conversation" (typed, originally) in which the real human can't decide if the other party is a human or a computer.
But a critic of the test said, "It's like saying you want
to make a flying machine, so you produce something that is
indistinguishable from a bird. On the other hand, an
airplane achieves flight but it doesn't need to flap its wings."
UBIQUITOUS Exists everywhere.
ULTRAVIOLET, UV: Radiation between
violet and the "softest" X-rays. Just past the purple end
of human visibility. Carcinogenic, and causes cataracts. It's what the Ozone stopped.
UTAH EFFECT: Reaching a publicized
conclusion without timely peer review, thus "out on a limb". This is bad form, & very unscientific, often resulting in "laughing-stock" status.
UNIQUE: In the simplest term, it means "Only". . Almost opposite of diverse. "Uni-", a part of hundreds of other words, means ONE. One of a
kind. Do not destroy all those other words by using "unique" to mean "unusual". . There are no degrees of unique --either something is or it isn't the
only one of its kind. (This is a good test of dictionaries.) . . You need to know the language not to sound the fool, or to be a pro Fair Witness (See definition).
UNIVERSE, FLAT: The fabric of the Universe is "flat". This is confusing at first. To astronomers, flat means that the usual rules of geometry are observed - light not being bent by gravity travels in straight lines, not curves. But since Albert Einstein proposed that the Universe may be "curved", the debate has been open.
. . Scientific opinion has moved towards a flat Universe and the latest data confirm this with greater certainty than ever before. The prediction is that the Universe will continue its steady expansion, which started at the Big Bang, and will not collapse into a "Big Crunch".
. . If the density of the universe is less than the "critical density" which is proportional to the square of the Hubble constant, then the universe will expand forever. If the density of the universe is greater than the "critical density", then gravity will eventually win and the universe will collapse back on itself, the so called "Big Crunch". However, the results of the WMAP mission and observations of distant supernova have suggested that the expansion of the universe is actually accelerating which implies the existence of a form of matter with a strong negative pressure. Thus, there is a direct link between the geometry of the universe and its fate.
. . If the universe were open, the brightest microwave background fluctuations (or "spots") would be about half a degree across. If the universe were flat, the spots would be about 1 degree across. While if the universe were closed, the brightest spots would be about 1.5 degrees across.
. . Recent measurements (c. 2001) by a number of ground-based and balloon-based experiments, including MAT/TOCO, Boomerang, Maxima, and DASI, have shown that the brightest spots are about 1 degree across. We now know that the universe is flat with only a 2% margin of error.
UNGULATE: hoofed animal.
UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST (UU): A religious movement which features a lack of dogma, a belief in the inherent goodness of people, and the obligation for each member to seek out and develop his or her own system of beliefs and ethics.
VACUUM ENERGY: Quantum physics tells us that, contrary to appearances, empty space is a bubbling brew of "virtual" subatomic particles that are constantly being created and destroyed. The fleeting particles endow every cubic centimeter of space with a certain energy that, according to general relativity, produces an anti-gravitational force that pushes space apart.
VARIABLE: The (hopefully) *only factor in a scientific experiment that is allowed to change, thus making it attributable to the result.
VETTED/VETTING: 1891. (besides veterinary care): to submit a theory to expert/peer testing, appraisal or correction : EVALUATE
VICTORIANISM: A viscious circle of
repression vs expression. Each redoubles the "effort" after
the other cycle, till the breakdown of society, if no
milder revolt occurs. The inevitable result of repression
is the opposite of its purpose. The foolish call repression
"morality", which it is not. It is merely fear.
VIRTUE: the supposedly-undebatable good.
But the authoritarian virtuous has inflicted the greatest harm.
VITAMINS: organic substances needed in
small quantities for health and growth. They must be
obtained from food, as they cannot be produced by the body.
(tho D is produced indirectly, w sunlight. Does that make sunlight a vitamin? Nah.)
VIVIPAROUS: animals that bear their
young live, not hatched from eggs. see oviparous.
WALDEN TWO: B.F. Skinner's fiction
novel, akin to Callenbach's "Ecotopia".
WATERSHED: an area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains from it... goes into the same collective area or channel.
WEGENER, ALFRED: (1880-1930) the German
geologist and meteorologist, proposed the theory of
continental drift in his 1915 book, On the Origin of Continents and Oceans. He proposed the existence of the supercontinent Pangaea, and named it. ...froze to death while heading an expedition crossing the Greenland ice cap.
WHITE DWARF: the dying ember of a star --originally like Sol-- that has finally spent its nuclear fuel. It's tiny, not much bigger than Earth, but extremely dense, because gravity has squeezed its atoms so close together that all their electrons move freely throughout the whole core of the star. Because electrons are fermions, Pauli's exclusion principle prevents gravity from compressing the star any further. It shrinks only to the point where the electrons fill up the available quantum states as compactly as possible. Only if the star is so massive and its gravity so strong that electrons and protons merge into neutrons can the star shrink any further. Even a neutron star has its limits, because neutrons are also fermions, and the size of a neutron star, like that of a white dwarf, is determined by a contest between quantum theory and gravity. ~ http://www.newscientist.com , Ivan Semeniuk
WIKIs: prefix for a project that accumulates input from many people, adding and modifying other inputs. Most famously, the web's open-source Wiki-encyclopedia. See the site.)
WIMPs: Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. Truly dark matter, thought to be made of invisible particles --yet to be detected. Most of the mass in the universe is likely attributable to WIMPs, researchers suspect. See Dark Matter.
"Wing-In-Ground" (WIG): An effect that refers to the reduction in drag experienced by an aircraft as it approaches a height approximately twice a wingspan's length off the ground or other level surface such as the sea. A plane can fly as low as half a meter off the surface, hitting speeds of up to 300 km per hour and can carry up to 4 tons on takeoff. "It's as safe as ships, & five or six times faster. And it can carry much more weight than ordinary planes while costing half as much and using half as much fuel. This cuts back at least one third on fuel consumption."
WISDOM: The essence of wisdom is to
remain suspicious of what you want to be true. It begins with doubt. ~JKH
X-RAY CRYSTALLOGRAPHY: The study of the diffraction
pattern of X-rays that pass through a pure crystal of a
substance. It can discern atomic arrangements; eg: DNA.
YARKOVSKY EFFECT: a miniscule amount of force produced as a planetisimal absorbs energy from the Sun and re-radiates it into space as heat. Radiation produces a thrust.
ZEN: A profound response to the ordinary. "Devine Ordinariness".
An offshoot of Buddhism (Nepal/India), filtered thru
Chinese Taoism, that further evolved in Japan. While other
forms accreted local gods and demons and such, ZEN freed
itself of all imagination. One of the central teachings of
Buddhism is that all things are interconnected --hence a connection To Gaia.
Lotsa numbered concepts... "Three Worlds", "Three Treasures", "Four Noble Truths", "Five Precepts", and "Eightfold Path", "Ten Directions".
Buddha is a title--"the Enlightened One"--mostly referring to Siddhartha Gautama.
. . See also George Boeree's basic Buddhist dictionary.
BUDDHIST TERMS (not necessarily ZEN):
BUDDHA: a title --meaning "the Enlightened One"-- while most of us hear it as referring to this particular Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama).
DHARMA: Many meanings. Mostly, it's the
teachings of the Buddha himself. Also: a most-basic truth.
SANGHA: A Sanscrit word whose literal
meaning is "crowd or host", but is usually translated as
"community." Originally the disciples of the Buddha, but
the term expanded to cover any Buddhist monk or nun.
YUGEN: Japanese Zen word. Wandering on,
without thought of return. That "haiku-event" feeling that you don't need to define.
ZERO POINT ENERGY: Vibrational energy that molecules retain even at the absolute zero of temperature. There is much nonsense written about this --
seemingly by UFO types --but for an authoritative description (Cal State Physics Dept), see this file.
ZODIAC: See ECLIPTIC.
ZOOLOGY: The study of animals, but it's
pronounced ZO, to rhyme w SO. Yah, I said it wrong too.
ZOONOTIC DISEASES: they start in animals, usually chickens, and cross the species barrier to cause unique human infections.
ZOOPLANKTON: Small or microscopic
animals which live in enormous numbers in the sea or lakes.
they feed on phytoplankton (plant plankton) or other
zooplankton and are of economic importance as food for fish.
ZYGOTE: Fertilised ovum or ovule.
.
Terms for the Fair Witness.
REPORT: A verbal description of the FW's
official mental recording of an event.
Second-Order Linguistic terms for the FW.
- METAPHOR: "The world is a stage."
- SIMILE: . . . "This is like that."
- ANALOGY: A relationship not between the things,
so much as between two or more attributes of them. . . In
Logic: if they agree in one or more aspects, they'll likely agree on more.)
- ALLEGORY: (A presentation of a metaphoric meaning that's implied but not stated.)
.
The words below are technically discernable but generally beyond distinction.
- APHORISM: Literally, a definition or distinction. a short, pithy statement of wide interest. A sophisticated statement comprising the maximun wisdom in the fewest possible words. Extra points for being wise and wry.
- AXIOM/TRUISM: (a statement of self-evident
truth),
- MAXIM: (an axiom of the greatest
authority... or: a proverbial saying) that contains advice & admonition.
- EPIGRAM: (a bright, witty thought; terse and ingenious)
- PARABLE: (a short story from which a moral
or spiritual truth is taught)
- FABLE: . (gives a useful truth).
- SAYING: A more widely-known & "down-home" short piece of wisdom.
The PSEUDO-DICTIONARY
. . Original fun definitions (I also put these in http://www.pseudodictionary.com )
CLAVEN: A confidently given but doubtful
"fact", considering the source. (from the Cheers character)
DESPICION: The feeling toward something
despised.
. . e.g., I hold Microsoft in despicion.
DETHUSED: A feeling of lost energy for a project.
. . "I was hot for this, but what you said dethused me!"
HERETOFOREAFTER: the Lawyer's Heaven.
(May my ex's lawyer rest in peace... soon!)
MEGABYTAGE: As relates to footage. An amount of digital data.
e.g., I'd download it, but the megabytage is too high.
PRAVED: to be good, moral, nice.
Backformation of "depraved". A person is born praved, til corrupted by society.
RAMBUNCTUALIZE: to energize a child past
the point of controlability. "I almost had him quieted,
when his uncle rambunctualized him!"
SCRUTANEOUSLY: The way that one looks
when one scrutinizes something. e.g., He looked at me scrutaneously.
MISPRONOUNCED TERMS:
. . Clips from yourdictionary.com :
. . Potable: adjective meaning "drinkable", rhymes with "floatable"
. . Not perogative, prerogative. Not preemptory, peremptory. The old pre-/per- problem. Do not confuse this word with "preemptive".
. . Respite does not rhyme with despite; it's res'-pit.
. . If things are not going your way, do not lose
your tact --that would be tactless-- but take a different tack.
. . "I have a ways to go" should be "I have a way to go."
The article "a" does not fit well with a plural.
MISUSED TERMS:
. . FORT means a strong point; FORTE (for-tay') means LOUD!!
. . "EXOTIC" means foreign, & "UNIQUE" means it's the only one of its kind. See entries above & See the "Language" essay.)
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