Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) e-commerce, commerce conducted over the Internet, most often via the World Wide Web. E-commerce can apply to purchases made through the Web or to business-to-business activities such as inventory tran...

(Encyclopedia) corticosteroid drug kôrˌtəkōstârˈoid [key], any one of several synthetic or naturally occurring substances with the general chemical structure of steroids. They are used therapeutically to mimic...

(Encyclopedia) genetic testing, medical screening for genetic disorders, by examining either a person's DNA directly or a person's biochemistry or chromosomes for indirect evidence. Testing may be done to identify a...

(Encyclopedia) longevity lŏnjĕvˈĭtē [key], term denoting the length or duration of the life of an animal or plant, often used to indicate an unusually long life. The average human life-span of threescore and te...

(Encyclopedia) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), noninvasive diagnostic technique that uses nuclear magnetic resonance to produce cross-sectional images of organs and other internal body structures. The patient lies...

(Encyclopedia) laminitis lămˌənīˈtĭs [key], also called founder, inflammation of the lamina, the innermost layer of the hoof wall in horses, ponies, and donkeys. Although the condition usually affects only the...

(Encyclopedia) astigmatism əstĭgˈmətĭzˌəm [key], type of faulty vision caused by a nonuniform curvature in the refractive surfaces—usually the cornea, less frequently the lens—of the eye. As a result, lig...

(Encyclopedia) moon worship. Although the moon has not had great prominence in the history of religion, the worship of it has been known since earliest recorded time—in the oldest literatures of Egypt, Babylonia, ...

(Encyclopedia) Dugdale, Richard Louis dŭgˈdāl [key], 1841–83, American social investigator, b. Paris. While inspecting (1874) county jails for the New York Prison Association, he developed data for his famous s...

(Encyclopedia) Bolsonaro, Jair Messias, 1955–, Brazilian political leader. Bolsonaro served in the army from 1973 to 1988, mostly during a period of military dictatorship; he rose to the rank of captain. Running a...