Columbia Encyclopedia

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education

(Encyclopedia)education, any process, either formal or informal, that shapes the potential of a maturing organism. Informal education results from the constant effect of environment, and its strength in shaping val...

Nobel Prizes (table)

(Encyclopedia)Nobel Prizes

nucleic acid

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Replication of strands of DNA CE5 nucleic acid, any of a group of organic substances found in the chromosomes of living cells and viruses that play a central role in the storage and replica...

secret police

(Encyclopedia)secret police, policing organization operating in secrecy for the political purposes of its government, often with terroristic procedures. Many states, including Chile, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Romania,...

classification

(Encyclopedia)CE5 classification, in biology, the systematic categorization of organisms into a coherent scheme. The original purpose of biological classification, or systematics, was to organize the vast number...

archaeology

(Encyclopedia)archaeology ärkēŏlˈəjē [key] [Gr.,=study of beginnings], a branch of anthropology that seeks to document and explain continuity and change and similarities and differences among human cultures. ...

history

(Encyclopedia)history, in its broadest sense, is the story of humanity's past. It also refers to the recording of that past. The diverse sources of history include books, newspapers, printed documents, personal pap...

geography

(Encyclopedia)geography, the science of place, i.e., the study of the surface of the earth, the location and distribution of its physical and cultural features, the areal patterns or places that they form, and the ...

light

(Encyclopedia)light, visible electromagnetic radiation. Of the entire electromagnetic spectrum, the human eye is sensitive to only a tiny part, the part that is called light. The wavelengths of visible light range ...

radio

(Encyclopedia)CE5 A. AM transmitter B. AM receiver radio, transmission or reception of electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency range. The term is commonly applied also to the equipment used, especially...