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Holocene epoch
Holocene epoch or Recent epoch, most recent of all subdivisions of geologic time, ranging from the present back to the time (c.11,000 years ago) of almost complete withdrawal of the glaciers of the preceding Pleistocene epoch . During the Holocene epoch, the sculpturing of the earth's surface ...
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crypt
crypt [Gr.,=hidden], vault or chamber beneath the main level of a church, used as a meeting place or burial place. It undoubtedly developed from the catacombs used by early Christians as places of worship. Early churches were commonly built over the tombs of martyrs. Such vaults, located beneath th...
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fetus
fetus term used to describe the unborn offspring in the uterus of vertebrate animals after the embryonic stage (see embryo ). In humans, the fetal stage begins seven to eight weeks after fertilization of the egg, when the embryo assumes the basic shape of the newborn and all the organs are present...
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gametophyte
gametophyte , phase of plant life cycles in which the gametes, i.e., egg and sperm, are produced. The gametophyte is haploid, that is, each cell contains a single complete set of chromosomes, and arises from the germination of a haploid spore. In many lower plants, the gametophyte phase is the domin...
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thymus gland
thymus gland , mass of glandular tissue located in the neck or chest of most vertebrate animals. In humans, the thymus is a soft, flattened, pinkish-gray organ located in the upper chest under the breastbone. It is relatively large in the newborn infant (about the size of the baby's fist), and conti...
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Robert Hutchings Goddard
Robert Hutchings Goddard 1882-1945, American physicist and rocket expert, b. Worcester, Mass., grad. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (B.S., 1908), Ph.D. Clark Univ., 1911. From 1914 he was associated with Clark Univ., becoming a professor of physics in 1919. Goddard designed and built early high al...
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Xining
Xining or Sining , city (1994 est. pop. 569,800), capital of Qinghai prov., W China, on the Xining River. For centuries it has been the major commercial hub on the caravan route to Tibet, trading in wool, hides, salt, and timber. More recently it has developed as a processing (flour-milling, woo...
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embryo
embryo , name for the developing young of an animal or plant. In its widest definition, the embryo is the young from the moment of fertilization until it has become structurally complete and able to survive as a separate organism. Embryology, the scientific study of embryonic development, deals wi...
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aria
aria , elaborate and often lengthy solo song with instrumental accompaniment. In the 16th cent. it was a melody improvised over a strophic bass line, and a distinction was made between instrumental, vocal, and dance arias. the use of the term to indicate instrumental music was continued by such comp...
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Ionic order
Ionic order , one of the early orders of architecture . The spreading scroll-shaped capital is the distinctive feature of the Ionic order; it was primarily a product of Asia Minor, where early embryonic forms of this capital have been found. In the Ionian colonies of Greece on the southwestern sh...
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