(Spanish: "Volcanic Axis"), volcanic mountain range traversing central Mexico from Cape Corrientes on the west coast, southeast to Jalapa and Veracruz on the east coast. The nation's cultural-historical centre, the ...
(Nd), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table. Neodymium is silvery-white colour and tarnishes in air to form an oxide which chips, exposing the metal ...
school of anthropological thought concerned with long-term, directional, "evolutionary" culture change and with the regular patterns of development that may be seen in unrelated, widely separated cultures. Neoevolutionist anthropology, a ...
latest of the two divisions of the Cenozoic Era (66.4 million years ago to the present). The Neogene includes the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (23,700,000 to 1,600,000 years ago) and ...
genus of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae), containing two species of perennial South American herbs. Both are native to Brazil and have purple flowers.
any of a group of German scholars that arose around 1875; their chief tenet concerning language change was that sound laws have no exceptions. This principle was very controversial because ...
final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans. It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in ...
chemical element, inert gas of Group 0 (noble gases) of the periodic table, used in electric signs and fluorescent lamps. Colourless, odourless, tasteless, and lighter than air, neon gas occurs ...
influential 20th-century Protestant theological movement in Europe and America, known in Europe as crisis theology and dialectical theology. The phrase crisis theology referred to the intellectual crisis of Christendom that ...
by the one great philosophical and religious genius of the school, Plotinus. The ancient philosophers who are generally classified as Neoplatonists called themselves simple "Platonists," as did the philosophers of ...
any of a class of elastomers, or rubberlike synthetic organic compounds of high molecular weight (polymers), made by chemical combination of the simpler compound 2-chloro-1,3-butadiene (chloroprene); it is used in ...
conodont, or small toothlike phosphatic fossil of uncertain affinity, that is characterized by a main terminal cusp, varying numbers of subsidiary cusps or denticles that may be completely fused, and ...
in Greek legend, the son of Achilles, the hero of the Greek army at Troy, and of Deidamia, daughter of King Lycomedes of Scyros; he was sometimes called Pyrrhus, meaning ...
Italian literary and cinematic movement, flourishing especially after World War II, seeking to deal realistically with the events leading up to the war and with the social problems that were ...
genus of about 40 species of epiphytes (plants that are supported by other plants and have aerial roots exposed to the humid atmosphere) of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae) native to ...
city, seat (1839) of Newton county, southwest Missouri, U.S. It lies in the Ozark Mountains, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Joplin. Founded in 1839, its name, of Osage ...
river rising north of Council Grove in Morris county, Kan., U.S., and flowing generally southeast into Oklahoma, where it is also known as the Grand, to join the Arkansas River, ...
genus of extinct brachiopods (lamp shells) found as fossils in Late Carboniferous to Permian marine rocks (the period of time from the Late Carboniferous to the end of the Permian ...
any of a group of poets who sought to break away from the didactic-patriotic tradition of Latin poetry by consciously emulating the forms and content of Alexandrian Greek models. The ...
one of the six major biogeographic areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. It extends south from the Mexican desert into South America as ...
country of Asia, lying along the southern slopes of the Himalayan mountain ranges. It is a landlocked country located between India to the east, south, and west and the Tibet ...
town, southwestern Nepal. It is situated in the Tarai, a low, fertile plain northeast of Nanpara, India. Nepalganj is a trading centre for rice, wheat, corn (maize), oilseeds, and hides ...
the body of writings in the Nepali language of Nepal. Before the Gurkha (Gorkha) conquest of Nepal in 1768, Nepalese writings were in Sanskrit and Newari as well as Nepali ...
an order of carnivorous plants, belonging to the class Magnoliopsida, also called dicotyledon (characterized by two seed leaves). The order consists of three families: the Droseraceae, containing the sundews and ...
genus of flowering plants commonly called pitcher plants that belong to the family Nepenthaceae, order Nepenthales. About 80 species are known, mostly native to Southeast Asia and Australasia. The common ...
the most common feldspathoid mineral, an aluminosilicate of sodium and potassium (Na3KAl4Si4O16). It is sometimes used as a substitute for feldspars in the manufacture of glass and ceramics. Nepheline is ...
medium- to coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock, a member of the alkali-syenite group (see syenite) that consists largely of feldspar and nepheline. It is always considerably poorer in silica and richer ...
silica-poor (basic) lava that contains nepheline and pyroxene and is usually completely crystallized. Despite its wide geographic distribution and occasional extensive local development, it is a very rare rock. Known ...
in analytical chemistry, methods for determining the amount of cloudiness, or turbidity, in a solution based upon measurement of the effect of this turbidity upon the transmission and scattering of ...
city, seat (1882) of Juab county, north-central Utah, U.S. Located at the southern end of the Wasatch Range, the city was founded as an agricultural colony in 1851 and was ...
unit of the excretory system in many primitive invertebrates and also in the amphioxus; it expels wastes from the body cavity to the (usually aquatic) exterior. The evolution of nephridia ...
a gem-quality silicate mineral in the tremolite-actinolite-ferrotremolite series of amphiboles. It is the less prized but more common of the two types of jade, usually found as translucent to opaque, ...
malignant renal (kidney) tumour of early childhood. In 75 percent of the cases, the tumour grows before the age of five; about two-thirds of the instances are apparent by two ...
branch of medicine concerned with the study of kidney functions and the treatment of kidney diseases. The first scientific observations of the kidney were made by Lorenzo Bellini and Marcello ...
functional unit of the kidney, the structure that actually produces urine in the process of removing waste and excess substances from the blood. There are about 1,000,000 nephrons in each ...
hardening of the walls of the small arteries and arterioles (small arteries that convey blood from arteries to the even smaller capillaries) of the kidney. This condition is caused by ...
group of signs of kidney malfunction, including a low level of albumin (a protein) and a high level of lipids (fats) in the blood, proteins in the urine, and the ...
third largest planet of the solar system and normally the eighth planet from the Sun. Because of its great distance from Earth, it cannot be seen with the unaided eye. ...
he was identified with the Greek Poseidon and thus became a deity of the sea. His female counterpart, Salacia, was perhaps originally a goddess of leaping springwater, subsequently equated with ...
radioactive chemical element of the actinide series in Group IIIb of the periodic table, first transuranium element to be artificially produced, atomic number 93. Though traces of neptunium have subsequently ...
set of artificially produced and unstable heavy nuclei that are genetically related through alpha and beta decay. It is one of four radioactive series (q.v.).
(Hebrew: "eternal light"), lamp that burns perpetually in Jewish synagogues before or near the ark of the Law (aron ha-qodesh). It reminds the congregation of the holiness of the Torah ...
town, Chita oblast (province), east-central Russia. The town lies along the Nercha River just above the latter's confluence with the Shilka. Nerchinsk was founded as a fort in 1654. Once ...
(1689), peace settlement between Russia and the Manchu Chinese empire that checked Russia's eastward expansion by removing its outposts from the Amur River basin. By the treaty's terms Russia lost ...
in Greek religion, any of the daughters (numbering 50 or 100) of the sea god Nereus (eldest son of Pontus, a personification of the sea) and of Doris, daughter of ...
third largest known moon of Neptune and the second to be discovered. It was detected photographically by the Dutch American astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper in 1949. It is named after ...
river flowing in Bosnia and Hercegovina and in Croatia. The Neretva River rises on Lebrsnik Mountain and flows northwest past Konjic to Jablanica (Jablanicko) Lake, then southwest via Mostar to ...
in Greek religion, sea god called by Homer "Old Man of the Sea," noted for his wisdom, gift of prophecy, and ability to change his shape. He was the son ...
in Mesopotamian religion, secondary god of the Sumero-Akkadian pantheon. He was identified with Irra, the god of scorched earth and war, and with Meslamtaea, He Who Comes Forth from Meslam. ...
Italian priest and one of the outstanding mystics during the Counter-Reformation and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory (now the Institute of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, also ...
South African prima ballerina renowned for her remarkable versatility of roles. After touring South Africa in 1942, she went to England in 1945, where she studied under Dame Marie Rambert.
shallow marine environment extending from mean low water down to 200-metre (660-foot) depths, generally corresponding to the continental shelf. Neritic waters are penetrated by varying amounts of sunlight, which permits ...
German scientist who was one of the founders of modern physical chemistry. His formulation of the third law of thermodynamics gained him the 1920 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Simply stated, ...
the fifth Roman emperor (AD 54-68), stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius. He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances and, on doubtful evidence, for his burning of ...
ancient Germanic goddess known from a report of her given by the Roman historian Tacitus, who in his Germania (late 1st century AD) refers to her as Terra Mater, or ...
Chilean poet, diplomat, and politician who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. He was perhaps the most important Latin American poet of the 20th century.
Italian engineer and architect, internationally renowned for his technical ingenuity and dramatic sense of design, especially as applied to large-span structures built of reinforced concrete. His important works include a ...
poet and diplomat, generally considered the most distinguished Mexican poet of the late 19th- and early 20th-century literary movement known as Modernismo. Nervo's introspective poetry, characterized by deep religious feeling ...
organized group of cells specialized for the conduction of electrochemical stimuli from sensory receptors through a network to the site at which a response occurs.
any of the diseases or disorders that affect the functioning of the human nervous system. Everything that humans sense, consider, and effect and all the unlearned reflexes of the body ...
system that conducts stimuli from sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord and that conducts impulses back to other parts of the body. As with other higher vertebrates, the ...
historic town and resort, eastern Bulgaria, on the Black Sea coast. Nesebur is situated on an island connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land. The Greek colony ...
lake, lying in the Highland council area, Scotland. With a depth of 788 feet (240 metres) and a length of about 23 miles (36 km), Loch Ness has the largest ...
