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biodiversity
biodiversity A portmanteau term, which gained popularity in the late 1980s, used to describe all aspects of biological diversity, especially including species richness, ecosystem complexity, and genetic variation....
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complexity
complexity in science, field of study devoted to the process of self-organization. The basic concept of complexity is that all things tend to organize themselves into patterns, e.g., ant colonies, immune systems, and human cultures; further, they go through cycles of growth, mass extinction, regene...
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Oedipus complex
Oedipus complex Freudian term, drawn from the myth of Oedipus , designating attraction on the part of the child toward the parent of the opposite sex and rivalry and hostility toward the parent of its own. It occurs during the phallic stage of the psycho-sexual development of the personality, appr...
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ligand
ligand , charged or uncharged molecule with one or more unshared pairs of electrons that can attach to a central metallic atom or ion to form an aggregate known as a complex ion (see chemical bond ). Some ligands that share electrons with metals form very stable complexes. Some common bases tha...
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George Meredith
George Meredith 1828-1909, English novelist and poet. One of the great English novelists, Meredith wrote complex, often comic yet highly cerebral works that contain striking psychological character studies. As a youth he attended a Moravian school in Germany and eventually became apprenticed to a L...
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transition elements
transition elements or transition metals, in chemistry, group of elements characterized by the filling of an inner d electron orbital as atomic number increases. This includes the elements from titanium to copper, and those lying in the columns below them in the periodic table . Many of the ...
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arabesque
arabesque [Fr.,=Arabian], in art, term applied to any complex, linear decoration based on flowing lines. In Islamic art it was often exploited to cover entire surfaces. The arabesque in modern usage derives from a Renaissance design which was Greco-Roman in inspiration.
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lignin
lignin , a highly polymerized and complex chemical compound especially common in woody plants. The cellulose walls of the wood become impregnated with lignin, a process called lignification, which greatly increases the strength and hardness of the cell and gives the necessary rigidity to the tree. I...
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natural selection
natural selection (‘survival of the fittest’) A complex process in which the total environment determines which members of a species survive to reproduce and so pass on their genes to the next generation. This need not necessarily involve a struggle between organisms....
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prosthetic group
prosthetic group non-amino acid portions of certain protein molecules. The key part of the prosthetic group may be either organic (such as a vitamin ) or inorganic (such as a metal) and is usually required for biological activity, especially when the prosthetic group is complexed with an enzyme...
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