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nervous system

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Nerve cell CE5 Nervous system nervous system, network of specialized tissue that controls actions and reactions of the body and its adjustment to the environment. Virtually all members of ...

crocodile

(Encyclopedia)crocodile, large, carnivorous reptile of the order Crocodilia, found in tropical and subtropical regions. Crocodiles live in swamps or on river banks and catch their prey in the water. They have flatt...

horseshoe crab

(Encyclopedia)horseshoe crab, large, primitive marine arthropod of the family Limulidae, related to the spider and scorpion and sometimes called a king crab (a name also used for the largest of the edible true crab...

myrtle

(Encyclopedia)myrtle, common name for the Myrtaceae, a family of shrubs and trees almost entirely of tropical regions, especially in America and Australia. The family is characterized by leaves (usually evergreen) ...

laurel, in botany

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Sassafras, Sassafras albidum, a member of the laurel family laurel, common name for the Lauraceae, a family of forest trees and shrubs found mainly in tropical SE Asia but also abundant in tro...

water, desalination of

(Encyclopedia)water, desalination of, process of removing soluble salts from water to render it suitable for drinking, irrigation, or industrial uses. The principal methods used for desalination include distillatio...

Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez

(Encyclopedia)Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez älˈvär no͞oˈnyāth käbāˈthä dā väˈkä [key], c.1490–c.1557, Spanish explorer. Cabeza de Vaca [cow's head] was not actually a surname but a hereditary title...

Boone, Daniel

(Encyclopedia)Boone, Daniel, 1734–1820, American frontiersman, b. Oley (now Exeter) township, near Reading, Pa. The Boones, English Quakers, left Pennsylvania in 1750 and settled (1751 or 1752) in the Yadkin vall...

sea level

(Encyclopedia)sea level, the level of the sea, which serves as the datum used for measurement of land elevations and ocean depths. Theoretically, one would expect sea level to be a fixed and permanent horizontal su...

restaurant

(Encyclopedia)restaurant, a commerical establishment where meals can be bought and eaten. In the 16th cent. English inns and taverns began to serve one meal a day at a fixed time and price, at a common table, and u...