Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Green Revolution, term referring mainly to dramatic increases in cereal-grain yields in many developing countries beginning in the late 1960s, due largely to use of genetically improved varieties. Beg...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 Lymphatic system lymphatic system lĭmfătˈĭk [key], network of vessels carrying lymph, or tissue-cleansing fluid, from the tissues into the veins of the circulatory system. The lymphatic sy...

(Encyclopedia) lead poisoning or plumbism plŭmˈbĭzˌəm [key], intoxication of the system by organic compounds containing lead. These enter the body by respiration (of dust, fumes, or sprays) or by ingestion of f...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 CE5 cysteine sĭsˈtēn [key], organic compound, one of the 20 amino acids commonly found in animal proteins. Only the l-stereoisomer participates in the biosynthesis of mammalian protein...

(Encyclopedia) Hawking, Stephen William, 1942–2018, British theoretical physicist, b. Oxford, England, grad. University College, Oxford, 1962, Ph.D. Trinity Hall, Cambridge, 1966. In 1962 Hawking was diagnosed as ...

(Encyclopedia) vitamin, group of organic substances that are required in the diet of humans and animals for normal growth, maintenance of life, and normal reproduction. Vitamins act as catalysts; very often either t...

(Encyclopedia) Mullis, Kary Banks, 1944–2019, American biochemist, b. Lenoir, N.C., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1972. Mullis was a researcher with Cetus Corp., Emeryville, Calif., from 1979 to 1986 and wi...

(Encyclopedia) Murad, Ferid, 1936–, American pharmacologist, b. Whiting, Ind., M.D., Ph.D. Western Reserve Univ. (now Case Western Reserve Univ.), 1965. Murad taught at the Univ. of Virginia (1975–81), Stanford ...

(Encyclopedia) necrotizing fasciitis, a quickly progressing infection of the skin that spreads along the fascia, the tissue that covers the muscles. (Necrotizing infections that spread along the outer skin layers ar...

(Encyclopedia) bighorn or Rocky Mountain sheep, wild sheep, Ovis canadensis, of W North America, formerly plentiful in mountains from SW Canada to N Mexico. Indiscriminate hunting, disease, and scarcity of food enor...