1word1day | Entries tagged with scientific

Today's word is brought to you by one of my erudite friends,

minoanmiss
~~~~~~~~~~~

Fasciation (pronounced /ˌfæʃiˈeɪʃən/, from the Latin root meaning "band" or "stripe"), also known as cresting, is a relatively rare condition of

abnormal growth in vascular plants in which the apical meristem (growing tip), which normally is concentrated around a single point and produces

approximately cylindrical tissue, instead becomes elongated perpendicularly to the direction of growth, thus producing flattened, ribbon-like,

crested (or "cristate"), or elaborately contorted tissue.[1] Fasciation may also cause plant parts to increase in weight and volume in some

instances.[2] The phenomenon may occur in the stem, root, fruit, or flower head.

You can read more and see some illustrations in this Wikipedia article

And there are lots more amazing illustrations in this article from MSN Lifestyle

med_cat

Something amusing to start your workweek ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The smoot /ˈsmuːt/ is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha by Oliver R. Smoot, who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.

One smoot is equal to Oliver Smoot's height at the time of the prank, 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m). The bridge's length was measured to be 364.4 smoots (2,035 ft; 620.1 m) "± 1 εar" with the "±" showing measurement uncertainty and spelled with an epsilon to further indicate possible error in the measurement. Over the years the "±" portion and "ε" spelling have gone astray in many citations, including some markings at the site itself, but the "±" is recorded on a 50th-anniversary plaque at the bridge's end.

Read more, and see the photos in this Wikipedia article

med_cat

Semelparous (adj.)

: reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime

semelparous salmon

Did you know?

The combining form -parous was first used in English by the 17th-century physician and writer Sir Thomas Browne, who wrote about organisms that were multiparous ("producing more than one at a birth"), oviparous ("producing eggs that develop outside the maternal body"), and viviparous ("producing living young instead of eggs from within the body"). The suffix is based on the Latin verb parere, meaning "to give birth to," which is also a relative of the word that gave us parent. Semelparous, the youngest offspring of -parous, was born in 1954. Its other parent is semel, the Latin word for "once."

I came across it the other day while reading about Australian marsupial mice: daily.jstor.org/death-and-mating/

sallymn

sanguivorous [sang-gwiv-er-uhs]

adjective:
feeding on blood, as a bat or insect

Examples:

There are no more than three species of bats known as vampire bats that prefer the taste of blood. Such bloodthirsty vampire bats are known as sanguivorous bats, but don’t worry, these vampire bats mostly feed on the blood of animals like cows, horses, and sheep. (How Do Vampire Bats Survive on a Diet of Blood?, LabXchange, June 2022)

Literally designed to eat a horse, their bite is both impressive and painful. The horsefly is a sanguivorous insect and therefore wants to bite you. (Joe Harker, Brits warned over summer invasion of ‘Dracula horseflies’ that can bite straight through clothes, LAD Bible, June 2023)

It seems like too much futile work in the heat of August - work bound to lead only to phony conclusions - to decipher how the sanguivorous have become the meat and drink of popular culture at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. (Ginia Bellafante, Necks Overflowing With Rivers of Metaphor, The New York Times, August, 2009)

The scientific name for these sanguinivorous creatures - Hirudo medicinalis - shows that they go way back as a medical treatment. (Leah Samuel, 7 creepy crawlies that could be the future of medicine, LAD Bible, December 2015)

Despite its masterfully renovated and pristinely white-painted facade, its porch-full of cutesy, grandmotherly knick-knacks, and its flower bed-bordered chlorophyllous lawn, the sanguinivorous spirit of this viscera-spattered abode of the anthrophophagi began to show through such a ruse of refurbishment. (Leon, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Horror Fiend’s TravelogueDeep Red Fall 2002)

Origin:

'blood-drinking,' 1821, from Latin sanguis 'blood' (see sanguinary) + -vorous 'eating, devouring.' Also sanguivorous, from the Latin genitive stem. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

sallymn

animalcule [an-uh-mal-kyool]

adjective:
1 a microscopic or minute organism, such as an amoeba or paramecium, usually considered to be an animal.
2 (archaic) a tiny animal, such as a mosquito.

Examples:

Rotifers are also known as 'wheel animalcules,' thanks to the Latin root of their name which relates to a rotating 'wheel' of tiny hairs at one end of their body. The 'animalcule' part refers to them being microscopic animals. (Amanda Kooser, Animal revived after being frozen for 24,000 years in Siberian permafrost, CNET, June 2021)

The red earth, like that of the Pampas, in which these remains were embedded, contains, according to Professor Ehrenberg, eight fresh-water and one salt-water infusorial animalcule; therefore, probably, it was an estuary deposit. (Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle)

For instance, I have been writing to the Dean, on College business, and began the letter 'Obscure Animalcule', and he is foolish enough to pretend to be angry about it, and to say it wasn't a proper style, and that he will propose to the Vice-Chancellor to expel me from the University: and it is all your fault! (Lewis Carroll, 'Letter to Agnes Hull' from Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll)

Here the tragedy is palpable. Indeed, too sadly so, and I dare apply but a flash of the microscope to the rageing dilemmas of this animalcule. (George Meredith, Rhoda Fleming)

Using a microscope of his own invention, van Leeuwenhoek had seen tiny creatures, invisible to the naked eye, living in lake water. Some of these 'animalcules' were so small, he later estimated, that 30 million of them would still be smaller than a grain of sand. (James Mitchell Crow, Zeros to heroes: Tall tales or the truth of tiny life?, New Scientist, September 2010)

(A 1795 hand-coloured illustration of van Leeuwenhoek's animalcules, click to enlarge)

Origin:

'very small animal,' especially a microscopic one, 1590s, from Late Latin animalculum (plural animalcula), diminutive of Latin animal 'living being'. In early use also of mice, insects, etc. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Animalcule comes from New Latin animalculum, 'small animal'. The animal- element comes from Latin animālis, meaning 'living' or, literally, 'airy, breathy'. The suffix -culum, 'small', also appears in disguise in the words canicular and osculate. Animalcule was first recorded in English in the 1590s. (Dictionary.com)

sallymn

iceblink [ahys-blingk]

noun:
a bright reflection of sunlight, esp. in polar regions, on the bottom of a low cloud, caused by ice on a distant expanse of water or land

Examples:

"When other means of reconnaissance are not available, travelers in the polar seas can use water sky and iceblink to get a rough idea of ice conditions at a distance," according to the US Government National Snow and Ice Data Center. (Lauren Cahn, 20 Majestic Photos of the Real-Life North Pole, Reader's Digest, August 2021)

At II pm the fog lifted a little and they saw to the west the reflection of the land ice and of the land projected on the sky in two strata, the 'iceblink,' all white, and the 'land-blink,' a yellowish white; then the fog veil became still thinner, and very elevated land appeared in the distance (Adrien de Gerlache, 'The North-East Coast of Greenland, beyond 77 Degrees N. Lat.', Bulletin of the American Geographical Society, Vol 38, No 12 (1906), pp.721-729)

              These hours of brightness polishing snowfield so she learns
              iceblink binocular as I slowly can adjust burns
              retina to control perceptions until sight discerns
              under and over glare
                     (Collin Sims quoted in Robert Macfarlane, Hen Harrier Poems by Colin Simms review - a remarkable tribute to an endangered bird, The Guardian, August 2015)

(Ice Islands with ice blink, watercolour by Georg Forster, made 1773; click to enlarge)

Origin:

ice + blink, translation of Dutch ijsblink or Danish isblink (Collins Dictionary)

1765–75; ice + blink; compare Dutch ijsblink Dictionary.com)

sallymn

cryptobiosis [krip-toh-bahy-oh-sis]

noun:
the reversible cessation of metabolism under extreme environmental conditions (as low temperature)

Examples:

"If you pour water on someone who has just died from dehydration, they will not sit up. But if you pour water on a dried-out tardigrade, in a matter of minutes it becomes a moving, feeding, reproducing animal." Known as 'cryptobiosis', this is a third state, between life and death. (P D Smith, Life's Edge by Carl Zimmer review - what does it mean to be alive?, The GuardianAugust 2021)

For the sake of their study, the team considered how the NASA Starlight program could enable interstellar biological studies using radiation-tolerant microorganisms capable of cryptobiosis. (Matt Williams, Will Water Bears be the First Interstellar Astronauts?, University Today, November 2021)

The microscopic organisms can go without water and oxygen for long periods of time in a state of suspended animation called cryptobiosis, in which their bodies dry up and their metabolisms shut down. (Aylin Woodward, There Could Be a Bunch of Tardigrades Alive on The Moon Right Now, Science Alert, August 2021)

The animal was named the multicellular animal, yes it was brought from this animal generation. It could live a maximum of 10,000 thousand years in cryptobiosis. (Aygen Marsh, Arctic Mysterious animal called “Wheel animalcule” present in 24,000 years in Siberian permafrost, Amico Hoops, June 2021)

Origin:

1920s (denoting the practice of living in concealed habitats): from crypto- 'concealed, secret' + Greek biōsis 'mode of life' (from bios ‘life’). (Lexico)

sallymn.livejournal.com

lacuna [luh-kyoo-nuh]

noun:
1 a gap or missing part, as in a manuscript, series, or logical argument; hiatus.
2 (Anatomy) one of the numerous minute cavities in the substance of bone, supposed to contain nucleate cells.
3 (Botany) an air space in the cellular tissue of plants.

Examples:

Following a doctrine of necessity invoked by the National Assembly to rescue Nigeria from impending constitutional crisis thrown up by a lacuna in the nation’s legal framework, the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan had to complete the remaining tenure of his principal under the invocation of the doctrine of necessity by the then David Mark-led Senate. (Umar, How Jonathan’s Candidacy Will Strengthen North-South Alliance, This Day, February 2022)

It was already known that these early vertebrates had bone cells, but we knew little about how the cells were connected to each other, as well as anything about the detailed structure of the lacuna, or cavities, in which the bone cells were located in the living animal. (Fossils provide new insights into the evolution of bones, Advanced Science News, April 2021)

Whereas with a cultured man there is no gap or lacuna between his opinions and his life. Both are dominated by the same organic, inevitable fatality. (John Cowper Powys, The Meaning of Culture)

Origin:

'blank or missing portion in a manuscript,' 1660s, from Latin lacuna 'hole, pit,' figuratively 'a gap, void, want,' diminutive of lacus 'pond, lake; hollow, opening'. The Latin plural is lacunae. The word has also been used in English from c 1700 in the literal Latin sense in anatomy, zoology, botany. The adjectival forms have somewhat sorted themselves: Mathematics tends to use lacunary (1857), natural history lacunose (1816), and lacunar is used in architecture of paneled ceilings (1690s), so called for their sunken compartments. Leaving lacunal (1846) for the manuscript sense. (Online Etymology Dictionary).

Exploring the etymology of lacuna involves taking a plunge into the pit - or maybe a leap into the lacus (that's the Latin word for 'lake'). Latin speakers modified lacus into lacuna and used it to mean 'pit,' 'cleft,' or 'pool.' English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century. It is usually pluralized as lacunae; however, lacunas is an accepted variant plural. Another English word that traces its origin to lacuna is lagoon, which came to us by way of Italian and French. (Merriam-Webster)

sallymn.livejournal.com

nomenclature [noh-muhn-kley-cher, noh-men-kluh-cher, -choor ]
noun:
1 Name, designation.

2 the act or process or an instance of naming

3 a a system or set of terms or symbols especially in a particular science, discipline, or art
3 b an international system of standardized New Latin names used in biology for kinds and groups of kinds of animals and plants

Examples:

Mercury isn’t alone in its whimsical nomenclature: Venus’s features are all named after famous women, and the moons of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare. (Kim Stanley Robinson, Dear MESSENGER: How unmasking Mercury brought art to life, National Geographic, 2019)

And I found out what dissimulators are: they simply pretend that they're not pretending to be defective. Or perhaps it's the other way around. The whole thing is very complicated. A probot is a robot on probation, while a servo is one still serving time. A robotch may or may not be a sabot. One vial, and my head is splitting with information and nomenclature. (Stanisław Lem, The Futurological Congress)

"What we call the vertex of the Brain is really its base: and what we call its base is really its vertex: it is simply a question of nomenclature." (Lewis Carroll, Sylvie and Bruno)

Looking over the nomenclature for the purpose of making an index, I was struck with the name Abrah applying to a ford. (Claude Reignier Conder, Tent Work in Palestine)

Origin:

Early 17th century from French, from Latin nomenclatura, from nomen 'name' + clatura 'calling, summoning' (from calare 'to call'). (Lexico)

Nomenclature comes straight from Latin nomenclatura 'assignment of names to things, mentioning things by name, a list of names.' In English, the original (Latin) sense dates to the early 17th century. At the same time, nomenclature acquired the sense 'a systematic assignment of names, as in botany or zoology' (as in binomial nomenclature ), and later in the same century, 'the technical terms within a science.'

The noun nomenklatura 'nomenclature' has existed in Russian since the early 19th century. Beginning in the Soviet Union in the 1930s, nomenklatura meant the list of names or category of people in the Soviet Union who held important positions in the bureaucracy, all of whom had to be approved by the Communist Party. English adopted nomenklatura in the late 1950s in discussing the bureaucracies of the Soviet Union and other Communist countries. (Dictionary.com)

In his 1926 'Dictionary of Modern English Usage', grammarian H W Fowler asserted that it was wrong to use nomenclature as a synonym for name; he declared that nomenclature could only mean 'a system of naming or of names.' It is true that nomenclature comes from the Latin nomenclatura, meaning 'the assigning of names,' but the name sense was the first to appear in English (it is documented as long ago as 1610), and it has been considered perfectly standard for centuries. (Merriam-Webster)

med_cat

More z-words are always good, right? ;)
~~
Zootrophic, adj.:

(physiology) Of or pertaining to the nourishment of animals.

Etymology:

zoo, from Ancient Greek ζῷον (zôion, “animal”) + trophic, from Ancient Greek τροφικός (trophikós, “pertaining to food or nourishment”), from τροφή (trophḗ, “food”).

(thanks to

duathir for pointing me to this word!)

med_cat

A spinthariscope is a device for observing individual nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor (see radioluminescence) or scintillator.

(A quality toy spinthariscope taken from a 1950s Chemcraft brand "Atomic energy" chemistry experimentation set)

Invention[edit]

The spinthariscope was invented by William Crookes in 1903.^[1]^[2] While observing the apparently uniform fluorescence on a zinc sulfidescreen created by the radioactive emissions (mostly alpha radiation) of a sample of radium bromide, he spilled some of the sample, and, owing to its extreme rarity and cost, he was eager to find and recover it.^[3] Upon inspecting the zinc sulfide screen under a microscope, he noticed separate flashes of light created by individual alpha particle collisions with the screen. Crookes took his discovery a step further and invented a device specifically intended to view these scintillations. It consisted of a small screen coated with zinc sulfide affixed to the end of a tube, with a tiny amount of radiumsalt suspended a short distance from the screen and a lens on the other end of the tube for viewing the screen. Crookes named his device from Greek σπινθήρ (spinth´ēr) "spark".

Toy spinthariscopes[edit]

Spinthariscopes were quickly replaced with more accurate and quantitative devices for measuring radiation in scientific experiments, but enjoyed a modest revival in the mid 20th century as children's educational toys.^[4] In 1947, Kix cereal offered a Lone Ranger atomic bomb ring in exchange for a box top and 0.15 USD that contained a small one.^[5]^[6]Spinthariscopes can still be bought today as instructional novelties, but they now use americium or thorium.

(Source: Wikipedia)

(thanks to acelightning for the word!)

theidolhands.livejournal.com

man·du·ca·tion [ˈmændjʊˌkeɪʃən]:
origin: (early 1600's) Latin; mandūcāre= to chew.

noun (adjective, manducatory)
1. Obsolete word for eating (feel free to make it relevant again).

2. Religious term for receiving communion: deeper spiritual bonding through symbolic gestures like the consumption of holy wafers or blessed wine (a reminder of the ultimate sacrifice of life for one's faith). *Actually, I heard this word in a 2013 episode of Father Brown, a priest everybody should get to know better.

3. Scientific term for the taking in of nutrients; mastication (you can thank me now for not repeating my earlier pun with a different word *cough*).

Why stop with ED-ucation, when you could have MAN-ducation as well!

theidolhands.livejournal.com

an·dro·phi·li·a [ˈandrɔfi-lē-ə]:
origin: (1946) Latin; Greek; an= human + dro= male + philia= loving.

noun (adjective, androphilic)
1. A love of men; the sexual attraction to males (regardless of one's own gender). May also be called "androsexuality".

2. In animals, towards humans, in a scientific capacity -- such as a pet preferring the company of males to females would be androphilic.

full set of flags here (note: "skoliosexual" describes attraction to non-binary people)
___

gy·no·phi·li·a (ˌgī-nə-fi-lē-ə) is the same, but with a preference for females.

These terms allow sexuality to be discussed beyond the typically binary boundaries of specific sexual labels such as heterosexual or homosexual; it focuses on attraction versus a description of the individual experiencing that attraction.

trellia-chan.livejournal.com

venter:

noun:

In zoology:

1. the abdomen or belly, the undercarriage of an animal
2. a bellylike cavity
3. a bellylike protuberance

In law:

1. the womb
2: a wife or mother who is the source of offspring
3. in venter, conceived but not yet born

Origin: Latin, venter meaning belly. First known use 1535-1545

Related: adj: ventral, of or related to the belly; abdominal

theidolhands.livejournal.com

ek·py·ro·tic [ĕk′pī-rŏt′ĭk]:
origin: (2001) Greek; ekpyrosis= "conflagration"

adjective
It is said that the universe began in a sudden flash, or bang, the BIG bang. But how will it end? Some say that it will expand and expand until the universe, like a person, runs out of fuel, growing cold; stagnant. Dead.

However, another theory compares it to the phoenix, coming into fiery explosion, then expiring, only to be born again, and again, and again. Swirling in a yin-yang of physics forever connected, feeding on one another for infinity: an ekpyrotic universe! The Endless Universe spells out the details in a book.

You know...sometimes romance is like this too.

med_cat

Jan 27, 2017

Lookups of chimera spiked on January 27, 2017, with the news that scientists had successfully combined the DNA of two disparate species into one viable embryo. The resulting embryo, called a chimera, lived to four weeks and represents a huge step toward the goal of growing replacement human organs in the lab.

By the 16th century 'chimera' was used to refer to any imaginary monster made of incongruous parts.

The word chimera dates back to the 14th century, where it was used to refer to a fire-breathing she-monster from Greek mythology. Homer describes her in The Iliad as

... a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire.
—translation from the Greek by Richmond Lattimore

She terrorized Lycia and was slain by the Greek hero Bellerophon and the Pegasus.

The fearsome creature lived on in people’s imaginations, and by the 16th century chimera was used to refer to any imaginary monster made of incongruous parts.

It seems an odd word for scientists to latch onto, but they did. In the early 20th century, botanists borrowed the word to refer to any plant that was made of two (or more) organisms from genetically distinct species, like grafted plants. Today’s scientific chimera refers to combining distinct genetic material in one organism, and is often used to refer to the insertion of human DNA into non-human cells or organisms (such as viruses).

Because chimera is borrowed into English from Greek, it retains a pronunciation that’s more in line with Greek conventions than English conventions: /kye-MIR-uh/. The Greek word that gave us chimera means “she-goat.”

(Source: Merriam-Webster Online, Trend Watch)

theidolhands.livejournal.com

zy·mo·lo·gy [ˈfɜːkɪn]:
origin: [1745] Greek; zymo- fermentation + -logy= study of.

noun (zymologic, adjective)
The science of fermentation! To rot things as an art: soy sauce, miso, beer, cheese, pickles, sour dough, cured meats, etc; study of fermentation and ways to apply the knowledge.

One of my personal favorite zymologists (ya heard me) being "The Cheese Nun" (a.k.a. Sister Noella Maricellino), as Catholicism embraces the sciences, her work has led to brand new understandings of bacteria (mold) and the knowledge of very old microbial colonies that have become completely reliant on specific cheeses for their very existence!

If this topic excites you, then I also recommend Magnus Nilsson, a celebrated Norwegian chef making exciting advances by rotting/fermenting unexpected products for exceptionally long periods of time. By the same token he also tries to preserve and re-introduce traditional Nordic flavors back into our culture.

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Wild Tchoupitoulas

theidolhands.livejournal.com

chi·ral·i·ty [kī-rāl'ĭ-tē]:
origin: [1894] Greek; kheir= hand.

2 examples of mirror image twins, hands are chiral because they can't be superimposed.

noun (adjective: chiral)
A mirror image that is not identical when laid on top of one another.

This word is most commonly used in chemistry to describe molecules and as described yesterday in Enantiomer they serve a particular challenge within the human body. A chiral molecule is actually a different molecule -- the flipped version -- a molecule that comes PAIRED (or attached) with its chiral twin is known as an enantiomer.

Chirality within Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland

theidolhands.livejournal.com

en·an·ti·o·mer [ə-nan-tee-ə-mər]:
origin: [1660] Greek; enantíos= opposite + méros= part.

Two-faced: duplicating each side of the same human face as one.

noun
An optical isomer; two sets of atoms that are mirror images of one another, but do not overlap if placed on top of one another (common example: your right & left hand, identical but opposites, a.k.a. chirality).

Now, just because something looks alike,and is made up of the exact same substances, it does not mean they are alike; so, in a curiosity of chemistry (even of the universe itself), what is harmless in one arrangement can become deadly when simply flipped.

You know...like "evil" Star Trek?

The drug thalidomide is an example of a molecule possessing an enantiomer that went horribly wrong (due to that "flipped" nature), it was designed simply to help women struggling with morning sickness & sleep depravation, which it did effectively, yet it was also capable of causing an array of serious birth defects. Removing the harmful enantiomer that causes birth defects (while leaving the useful one that causes sleep intact) is ineffective, for the molecule may re-flip inside the body.

The thalidomide tragedy forced drug companies to reconsider enantiomers as separate molecules instead of different forms of the same drug. However, it's still effectively used to treat leprosy and cancer with the enforced use of birth control.

theidolhands.livejournal.com

a·po·gee [ˈapəjē]:
origin: [1500's] Greek; apo= "away from" + gáïos= "of the Earth" or "far away from Earth".

noun (adjective: apogeal, apogean, apogeic)
1. The zenith of an achievement; the apex after building up to a project or event. Antonym: perigee.

2. The farthest point in the orbit of an object (in the cosmos) in comparison to Earth, particularly the distance to the moon.

"Shag carpeting reached the apogee of its popularity in the 1970's, but is now considered outdated." - Merriam Webster

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Word of the Day!

Entries tagged with scientific

Saturday Word: Fasciation

Monday word: Smoot

Saturday word: Semelparous

Sunday Word: Sanguivorous

Sunday Word: Animalcule

Sunday Word: Iceblink

Sunday Word: Cryptobiosis

Sunday Word: Lacuna

Sunday Word: Nomenclature

Friday word: Zootrophic

Friday word: Spinthariscope

Invention[edit]

Toy spinthariscopes[edit]

Tuesday Word: Manducation

Saturday & Sunday Word: Androphilia & Gynephilia

Wednesday word: venter

Sunday Word: Ekpyrotic

Friday word: Chimera

Saturday Word: Zymology

Wednesday Word: Chirality

Tuesday Word: Enantiomer

Tuesday Word: Apogee

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