| | - biological warfare
- (from the article "Defining Weapons of Mass Destruction") Biological weapons (BW) encompass pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) that cause diseases and toxins that are derived from organisms such as plants, snakes, and insects. Anthrax and smallpox are examples ...
- biological weapon
- any of a number of disease-producing agents-such as bacteria, viruses, rickettsiae, fungi, toxins, or other biological agents-that may be utilized as weapons against humans, animals, or plants. [3 Related Articles]
- Biological Weapons Convention
- international treaty that bans the use of biological weapons in war and also prohibits all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, or transfer of such weapons. The convention was signed in London, ... [2 Related Articles]
- biology
- study of living things and their vital processes. The field deals with all the physicochemical aspects of life. As a result of the modern tendency to unify scientific knowledge and ... [25 Related Articles]
- biology, philosophy of
- (from the article "nature, philosophy of") The sharp increase in understanding of biological processes that has occurred since the mid-20th century has stimulated philosophical interest in biology to an extent unprecedented since the first formulation of ...
- bioluminescence
- the emission of light by an organism or by a test-tube biochemical system derived from an organism. It could be the ghostly glow of bacteria on decaying meat or fish, ... [28 Related Articles]
- biomarker
- (from the article "Alzheimer disease") Today improved detection and treatments for Alzheimer disease are areas of concentrated scientific investigation. Early detection relies on the discovery of biomarkers (physiological changes specific to and indicative of a ...
- biomass
- the weight or total quantity of living organisms of one animal or plant species (species biomass) or of all the species in the community (community biomass), commonly referred to a ... [11 Related Articles]
- biomaterials
- (from the article "materials science") ...requires surgical intervention in order to assist, augment, sustain, or replace a diseased organ, and such procedures involve the use of materials foreign to the body. These materials, known as ...
- Biombo
- region located in western Guinea-Bissau. Biombo region surrounds (but does not administratively include) Bissau, the national capital. The regional capital is located at Quinhamel.
- biome
- the largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions. It includes various communities and is named for the dominant type ... [1 Related Articles]
- biome type
- (from the article "biome") ...life forms and environmental conditions. It includes various communities and is named for the dominant type of vegetation, such as grassland or coniferous forest. Several similar biomes constitute a biome ...
- biomechanics
- antirealistic system of dramatic production developed in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s by the avant-garde director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Meyerhold drew on the traditions of the commedia dell'arte and ... [2 Related Articles]
- biomembrane electrode
- (from the article "analysis") Biomembrane electrodes are similar in design to gas-sensing electrodes. The outer permeable membrane is used to hold a gel between the two membranes. The gel contains an enzyme that selectively ...
- biomere
- (from the article "Cambrian Period") ...to global marine regression. At least three later Cambrian events primarily affected low-latitude shelf communities and have been used in North America to define biostratigraphic units called biomeres. (Such units ...
- biometrics
- (from the article "police") In criminal investigations biometric analysis, or biometrics, can be used to identify suspects by means of various unique biological markers. Biometric devices can map minutiae in a single fingerprint and ...
- biometry
- (from the article "Social Protection") ...than 90 countries had ratified or acceded to the Trafficking Protocol to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, and many others were taking concrete steps to tackle the problem. ...
- biomorphic art
- (from the article "painting, Western") ...curve and bulge with their own life, a metamorphosis initiated by Picasso, became the international style of the early 1930s. The Spaniard Joan Miro gave it his own clarity and ...
- Bion
- minor Greek bucolic poet.
- Bion of Borysthenes
- Greek philosophical writer and preacher. He was a freed slave and the son of a courtesan and has been credited with originating the Cynic "diatribe," or popular discourse on morality, ...
- Biondi, Dick
- (from the article "Dick Biondi") The fast-talking wild man of Chicago radio, Dick Biondi called himself "The Screamer," "The Big Mouth," "The Big Noise from Buffalo," "The Wild Eye-tralian," and "The Supersonic Spaghetti Slurper." Praising ...
- Biondo, Flavio
- humanist historian of the Renaissance and author of the first history of Italy that developed a chronological scheme providing an embryonic notion of the Middle Ages.
- bionics
- science of constructing artificial systems that have some of the characteristics of living systems. Bionics is not a specialized science but an interscience discipline; it may be compared with cybernetics. ... [1 Related Articles]
- biopharmaceutical
- (from the article "pharmaceutical industry") Biopharmaceutical studies
- biophysics
- discipline concerned with the application of the principles and methods of physics and the other physical sciences to the solution of biological problems. The relatively recent emergence of biophysics as ... [1 Related Articles]
- biopoiesis
- a process by which living organisms are thought to develop from nonliving matter, and the basis of a theory on the origin of life on Earth. According to this theory, ...
- biopsy
- medical diagnostic procedure in which cells or tissues are removed from a patient and examined visually, usually with a microscope. The material for the biopsy may be obtained by several ... [7 Related Articles]
- biopterin
- (from the article "metabolic disease") ...and with foods low in phenylalanine and protein can reduce phenylalanine levels to normal and maintain normal intelligence. However, rare cases of PKU that result from impaired metabolism of biopterin, ...
- biopyribole
- (from the article "amphibole") ...pointing chains of tetrahedrons. Combinations of these two basic structural units, or "modules," can produce all other minerals in the layer silicate and chain silicate groups. The term biopyribole has ...
- Biorhiza pallida
- (from the article "gall wasp") The so-called oak apple, a round, spongy, fruitlike object about 2.5 to 5 cm (1 to 2 inches) in diameter, is caused by the larvae of the gall wasp Biorhiza ...
- Biosatellite
- any of a series of three U.S. Earth-orbiting scientific satellites designed to study the biological effects of weightlessness (i.e., zero gravity), cosmic radiation, and the absence of the Earth's 24-hour ...
- Biosatellite 1
- (from the article "Biosatellite") ...plants and animals ranging from a variety of microorganisms to a primate. Such space laboratories were equipped with telemetering equipment with which to monitor the condition of the specimens. Biosatellite ...
- Biosatellite 2
- (from the article "Biosatellite") ...of microorganisms to a primate. Such space laboratories were equipped with telemetering equipment with which to monitor the condition of the specimens. Biosatellite 1 (1966) was not recovered. Biosatellite 2 ...
- Biosatellite 3
- (from the article "Biosatellite") ...success. It involved an assortment of biological experiments, including one concerned with mutations induced in the offspring of insects exposed to ionizing radiation in space. The flight of Biosatellite 3 ...
- biosequence
- (from the article "soil") The development of soils can be significantly affected by vegetation, animal inhabitants, and human populations. Any array of contiguous soils influenced by local flora and fauna is termed a biosequence. ...
- biosphere
- relatively thin life-supporting stratum of the Earth's surface, extending from a few kilometres into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the ocean. The biosphere is a global ecosystem composed ... [8 Related Articles]
- biostratigraphic unit
- (from the article "geochronology") ...made possible the formalization of the term Tertiary but also had a more far-reaching effect. The thousands of marine invertebrate fossils studied by Deshayes enabled Lyell to develop a number ...
- biostrome
- (from the article "bioherm") ...corals, echinoderms, gastropods, mollusks, and others; fossil calcareous algae are prominent in some bioherms. A structure built by similar organisms that is bedded but not moundlike is called a biostrome. ...
- Biot, Jean-Baptiste
- French physicist who helped formulate the Biot-Savart law, which concerns magnetic fields, and laid the basis for saccharimetry, a useful technique of analyzing sugar solutions. [5 Related Articles]
- Biot-Savart law
- in physics, a fundamental quantitative relationship between an electric current and the magnetic field it produces, based on the experiments in 1820 of the French scientists Jean-Baptiste Biot and Felix ... [2 Related Articles]
- biotechnology
- the use of biology to solve problems and make useful products. The most prominent area of biotechnology is the production of therapeutic proteins and other drugs through genetic engineering. [6 Related Articles]
- biotelemetry
- (from the article "ecology") ...maintain plants and animals under known conditions of light, temperature, humidity, and day length so that the effects of each variable (or combination of variables) on the organism can be ...
- bioterrorism
- (from the article "Health and Disease") In December 2002 U.S. Pres. George W. Bush announced a smallpox vaccination program to protect Americans in the event of a terrorist attack with the deadly virus. The plan called ...
- biotic interaction
- (from the article "community ecology") Most communities contain groups of species known as guilds, which exploit the same kinds of resources in comparable ways. The name "guild" emphasizes the fact that these groups are like ...
- biotic potential
- the maximum reproductive capacity of an organism under optimum environmental conditions. It is often expressed as a proportional or percentage increase per year, as in the statement "The human population ...
- biotic similarity, coefficient of
- (from the article "biogeographic region") ...are not. An alternative method of determining biogeographic regions involves calculating degrees of similarity between geographic regions. Similarities of regions can be quantified using Jaccard's coefficient of biotic similarity, which ...
- biotin
- water-soluble, nitrogen-containing acid essential for growth and well-being in animals and some microorganisms. Biotin is a member of the B complex of vitamins. It functions in the formation and metabolism ... [7 Related Articles]
- biotite
- a silicate mineral in the common mica group. It is abundant in metamorphic rocks (both regional and contact), in pegmatites, and also in granites and other intrusive igneous rocks. For ... [8 Related Articles]
- biotransformation
- (from the article "poison") Biotransformation, sometimes referred to as metabolism, is the structural modification of a chemical by enzymes in the body. Chemicals are biotransformed in several organs, including the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin, ...
- bioturbation
- (from the article "Cambrian Period") ...animal diversification and a distinct increase in the complexity of animal behaviour near the beginning of the Cambrian Period. Other evidence from trace fossils indicates changes in Cambrian bioturbation, the ...
- Bioy Casares, Adolfo
- Argentine writer and editor, known both for his own work and for his collaborations with Jorge Luis Borges. His elegantly constructed works are oriented toward metaphysical possibilities and employ the ... [2 Related Articles]
- biozone
- stratigraphic unit consisting of all the strata containing a particular fossil and, hence, deposited during its existence. The extent of the unit in a particular place, on the local stratigraphic ... [14 Related Articles]
- Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act
- (from the article "Law, Crime, and Law Enforcement") ...courts because the courts lacked a uniform standard for judging and resolving them. Regarding political speech, the court decided in McConnell v. Federal Election Commission that the McCain-Feingold ban on ...
- bipartite life cycle
- (from the article "marine ecosystem") A characteristic of many marine organisms is a bipartite life cycle, which can affect the dispersal of an organism. Most animals found on soft and hard substrata, such as lobsters ...
- bipartite uterus
- (from the article "mammal") ...of the uterine horns (branches). A duplex uterus characterizes rodents and rabbits; the uterine horns are completely separated and have separate cervices opening into the vagina. Carnivores have a bipartite ...
- bipedalism
- (from the article "Anthropology and Archaeology") Key developments in 2007 in the field of physical anthropology included new evidence for contrasting hypotheses for the origins of human bipedalism. A research team from the United Kingdom proposed ...
- biphenyl
- an aromatic hydrocarbon, used alone or with diphenyl ether as a heat-transfer fluid; chemical formula, C6H5C6H5. It may be isolated from coal tar; in the United States, it is manufactured ...
- bipinnaria larva
- (from the article "echinoderm") ...band of the dipleurula larva of holothurians becomes sinuous and lobed, thus resembling a human ear, the larva is known as an auricularia larva. The dipleurula larva of asteroids develops ...
- biplane
- airplane with two wings, one above the other. In the 1890s this configuration was adopted for some successful piloted gliders. The Wright brothers' biplanes (1903-09) opened the era of powered ... [3 Related Articles]
- biplane angiocardiography
- (from the article "angiocardiography") ...pinched off where lesions, such as fatty deposits, line and obstruct the lumen of blood vessels (characteristic of atherosclerosis). The most frequently used angiocardiographic methods are biplane angiocardiography and cineangiocardiography. ...
- bipolar cell
- (from the article "photoreception") ...Ramon y Cajal in the 1890s. There are three layers of cells on the pathway from the photoreceptors to the optic nerve. These are the photoreceptors themselves at the rear ...
- bipolar cochlear neuron
- (from the article "ear, human") ...the greater number of them-about 95 percent-innervate the inner hair cells. The remainder cross the tunnel of Corti to innervate the outer hair cells. The longer central processes of the ...
- bipolar disorder
- mental disorder characterized by severe and recurrent depression or mania with abrupt or gradual onsets and recoveries. The states of mania and depression may alternate cyclically, one mood state may ... [13 Related Articles]
- bipolar transistor
- (from the article "semiconductor device") This type of transistor is one of the most important of the semiconductor devices. It is a bipolar device in that both electrons and holes are involved in the conduction ...
- bipropellant system
- (from the article "propellant") ...nitrate, or sodium nitrate). There are various liquid rocket propellants: monopropellants, such as nitromethane, which contain both oxidizer and fuel and are ignited by some external means; bipropellants, consisting of ...
- Biqa', Al-
- broad valley of central Lebanon, extending in a northeast-southwest direction for 75 miles (120 km) along the Litani and Orontes rivers, between the Lebanon Mountains to the west and Anti-Lebanon ... [2 Related Articles]
- biquaternion
- (from the article "Clifford, William Kingdon") Clifford developed the theory of biquaternions (a generalization of the Irish mathematician Sir William Rowan Hamilton's theory of quaternions) and then linked them with more general associative algebras. He used ...
- biradial symmetry
- (from the article "symmetry") In biradial symmetry, in addition to the anteroposterior axis, there are also two other axes or planes of symmetry at right angles to it and to each other: the sagittal, ...
- Birah, Al-
- (from the article "Birah, Al-") town in the West Bank that is associated with the town of Ramallah.association with RamallahRamallahtown in the West Bank, adjacent ...
- Birak
- oasis, western Libya, on the southeastern edge of Al-Hamra' Hammada, a stony plateau. One of the string of oases along the Wadi (seasonal river) ash-Shati', it is isolated from Sabha, ...
- Birak, Tall
- ancient site located in the fertile Nahr al-Khabur basin in Al-Hasakah governorate, Syria; it was inhabited from c. 3200 to c. 2200 BC. One of the most interesting discoveries at ... [1 Related Articles]
- biramous appendage
- (from the article "crustacean") ...among crustacean appendages, but it is thought that all the different types have been derived either from the multibranched (multiramous) limb of the class Cephalocarida or from the double-branched (biramous) ...
- Biratnagar
- town, southeastern Nepal, in the Terai, a low, fertile plain, north of Jogbani, India. The town is Nepal's principal industrial and foreign trade centre; manufactures include jute, sugar, and cotton. ...
- Birbhum
- district, West Bengal state, northeastern India. Its area (1,757 sq mi [4,550 sq km]) comprises two distinct regions. To the west lies an undulating, generally barren upland, part of the ...
- bircath sheva
- (from the article "amidah") ...the last 3 thanksgivings, but a special paragraph for the appropriate day replaces the usual 13 benedictions in the middle. Thus the amidah at these services has only 7 sections ...
- birch
- any of about 40 species of short-lived ornamental and timber trees and shrubs constituting the genus Betula (family Betulaceae), distributed throughout cool regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Ivory birch (family ... [10 Related Articles]
- birch beer
- (from the article "sweet birch") ...but denser and of deeper colour; both are used for veneer, flooring, furniture, doors, plywood, and vehicle parts. Sweet birch is a source of birch oil, formerly a substitute for ...
- birch fungus
- (from the article "Polyporales") The inedible birch fungus Polyporus betulinus causes decay on birch trees in the northern United States. Dryad's saddle (P. squamosus) produces a fan- or saddle-shaped mushroom. It is light coloured ...
- birch mouse
- any of 13 species of small, long-tailed mouselike rodents. Birch mice live in the northern forests, thickets, and subalpine meadows and steppes of Europe and Asia. Their bodies are 5 ...
- birch oil
- (from the article "sweet birch") ...close-grained wood is similar to that of yellow birch but denser and of deeper colour; both are used for veneer, flooring, furniture, doors, plywood, and vehicle parts. Sweet birch is ...
- Birch, James W. W.
- (from the article "Perak War") (c. 1874-76), rebellion against the British by a group of dissident Malay chiefs that culminated in the assassination in 1875 of James Birch, the first British resident (adviser) in Perak. ...
- Birch, John
- (from the article "John Birch Society") ...1958, by Robert H.W. Welch, Jr. (1899-1985), a retired Boston candy manufacturer, for the purpose of combating communism and promoting various ultraconservative causes. The name derives from John Birch, an ...
- birchbark canoe
- (from the article "canoe") ...made from pieces of bark sewed together with roots and caulked with resin; sheathing and ribs were pressed into the sheet of bark, which was hung from a gunwale temporarily ...
- Birchenough Bridge
- (from the article "Sabi River") ...waters about 370,000 acres (150,000 hectares), originally for sugar cultivation, later also for wheat, rice, cotton, and citrus fruit. The Sabi is crossed by the 1,080-foot (329-metre) single-span Birchenough Bridge, ...
- bird
- any of the 9,600 living species unique in having feathers, the major characteristic that distinguishes them from all other animals. A more elaborate definition would note that they are warm-blooded ... [83 Related Articles]
- Bird Center
- (from the article "McCutcheon, John T") At the Record McCutcheon began a series of pictures and text describing life in the fictional Illinois town he called Bird Center. The series, continued when he joined the Chicago ...
- bird dog
- (from the article "dog") ...the air. Both are able to distinguish one person from another even after a considerable passage of time. Hunting dogs-such as pointers, retrievers, and spaniels-are trained to scent birds and ...
- bird flower
- (from the article "angiosperm") Vertebrate pollinators include birds, bats, small marsupials, and small rodents. Many bird-pollinated flowers are bright red, especially those pollinated by hummingbirds (see photograph). Hummingbirds rely solely on nectar as their ...
- bird flu
- a viral respiratory disease (see respiratory disease: Viral infections) mainly of poultry and certain other bird species, including migratory waterbirds, some imported pet birds, and ostriches, that can be transmitted ... [20 Related Articles]
- Bird Island
- coral-covered sandbank only 15 feet (4.5 metres) high at low tide, located in the Caribbean Sea about 350 miles (560 km) north of Venezuela and 70 miles (110 km) west ...
- bird louse
- any of two groups of chewing lice (order Phthiraptera) that live on birds and feed on feathers, skin, and sometimes blood. Probably all bird species have these chewing lice. Although ...
- bird of prey
- any bird that pursues other animals for food. Birds of prey are classified in two orders: Falconiformes and Strigiformes. Diurnal birds of prey-hawks, eagles, vultures, and falcons (Falconiformes)-are also called ... [3 Related Articles]
- bird rug
- floor covering woven in western Turkey, carrying on an ivory ground a repeating pattern in which leaflike figures, erroneously described as birds, cluster around stylized flowers. The rugs first appear ... [1 Related Articles]
- bird stone
- abstract stone carving, one of the most striking artifacts left by the prehistoric North American Indians who inhabited the area east of the Mississippi River in the United States and ...
- bird's beak
- (from the article "molding") ...convex portion is uppermost. (2) The cyma reversa, or ogee-a projecting molding that is essentially a reversed cyma recta with ovolo above cavetto-is used for a crown or a base. ...
- bird's nest fungus
- (from the article "Basidiomycota") The common name bird's nest fungus includes species of the genera Crucibulum, Cyathus, and Nidularia of the family Nidulariaceae (order Agaricales), which contains about 60 species. The hollow fruiting body ...
- bird's-foot trefoil
- (Lotus corniculatus), perennial, spreading herbaceous plant, of the pea family (Fabaceae), native to Europe and Asia but introduced to other regions. Often used as forage for cattle, it is occasionally ... [1 Related Articles]
- bird's-foot violet
- (from the article "Viola") Among the most common North American species are the common blue, or meadow, violet (V. papilionacea) and the bird's-foot violet (V. pedata). The common blue violet grows up to 20 ...
- bird's-nest orchid
- (Neottia nidus-avis), European plant of the family Orchidaceae that lacks chlorophyll and obtains its food from decaying organic material with the help of mycorrhizae. Its numerous pale brown flowers are ...
- bird's-nest soup
- (from the article "swiftlet") The swiftlet is remarkable on two counts: the nest, made chiefly or entirely of saliva, is the basis of bird's-nest soup; and, with the oilbird (q.v.), certain swiftlets are the ...
- Bird, Brad
- (from the article "animation") ...traditionally animated films continue to be produced, most notably by Don Bluth (An American Tale, 1986), a Disney dissident who moved his operation to Ireland, and Brad ...
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