- Settore: Biology
- Number of terms: 15386
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Terrapsychology is a word coined by Craig Chalquist to describe deep, systematic, trans-empirical approaches to encountering the presence, soul, or "voice" of places and things: what the ancients knew as their resident genius loci or indwelling spirit. This perspective emerged from sustained ...
A hatred or distrust of humankind, as when people passing for environmental activists declare human beings a blight upon the planet. The implied dualism is older than Descartes.
Industry:Biology
Makers and maintainers of protoplasm; the basic living unit of all organisms except viruses. The cells of organisms other than bacteria are eukaryotes those containing a defined nucleus in which chromosomes contain the DNA recipes from which cells synthesize protein. Cells know what to do and which genes to turn on because of what surrounding cells do in reference to a chemical-directional gradient. In organisms of greater complexity cells specialize into a variety of tissues.
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Industry:Biology
Animali con colonna vertebrale La maggior parte degli animali sono vertebrati. Probabilmente si sono evoluti da un antenato simile a un verme che si è capovolto (così fa attualmente il pesce gatto capovolto). Vedere "Invertebrati".
Industry:Biology
A form of nucleic acid organized into pairs of double-helix molecules packaged into chromosomes carrying the genetic code. The molecules are made of linked nucleotides units with a sugar, a phosphate, and one of four base chemicals adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. These bases join like ladder rungs--always an A to a T and a C to a G--with the sugar-phosphate forming the outside "backbone" of the strand. The sequence of these nucleotides, with each group of three spelling one anino acid "codon," determines the kind of protein manufactured when translated by strands of RNA. (James Watson and Francis Crick discovered this structure in 1953.) RNA also aids in DNA's replication. Everything living carries the same gene code, one reason scientists are so confident we are all related biologically. Some DNA sequences are identical in humans and bacteria, a fact that underlines our common biological origins.
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Industry:Biology
A daptive changes in the genetic characteristics of a population over time--but this adaptation is not necessarily “improvement.” This entry says "Evolution" and not "Evolutionary Theory" because evolution is not a theory anymore. Evolutionary operations and outcomes have been observed directly, today, as well as indirectly through field studies, DNA research, evidence-dating techniques, the fossil record, etc. The animal equipped with a new and helpful feature is likelier to live long enough to pass it down than an animal without it.
Elephants in China are more frequently born tuskless, now, due to pressure from poaching. See Speciation for an example of a family of Asian butterflies branching into different species today. Genetic mutations, which are rare and usually harmful, play less of a role in evolution than Darwin believed, and cultural forces that reinforce selection for certain characteristics a larger role. (See Natural Selection and Sexual Selection.) According to biologist Richard Dawkins, the eye has evolved independently at least forty times, echo location four times, the venomous sting ten times, electrolocation several times, flapping flight four times, jet propulsion twice, and sound production for social purposes too many times to count. See Convergent Evolution, Taxonomy.
Industry:Biology
An arctic or subarctic treeless plain with frozen subsoil and small growth: some grasses, dwarf shrubs, lichens, mosses, sedges, and herbs. Often found at high latitudes between the tree line and the snow line.
Industry:Biology
Some natural, but more and more due to human interference (development, urbanization, agricultural exhaustion of soil, etc. ). In the U. S. , over 140 million acres are classified as HEL ("highly erodible land").
Industry:Biology
The high to mid-latitude biome characterized by coniferous forests inhabited by fir, pine, spruce, larch, and cedar standing on previously glaciated land. Stretches across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Industry:Biology
Rock compressed and cemented (lithification) from the weathered deposits of older rocks (clastic), from chemical precipitates, or from organic deposits. Limestone, chert, halite, chalk, shale, sandstone.
Industry:Biology
A mutually beneficial relationship between two species, like the Hawaiian squid and the luminous bacteria it carries in its stomach. The bacteria gets a home, and the squid is camouflaged by the light.
Industry:Biology
