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pheromones

(Encyclopedia)pheromones, any of a variety of substances, secreted by many animal species, that alter the behavior of individuals of the same species. Sex attractant pheromones, secreted by a male or female to attr...

zinnia

(Encyclopedia)zinnia, any species of the genus Zinnia of the family Asteraceae (aster family), native chiefly to Mexico, though some range as far north as Colorado and as far south as Guatemala. The common zinnia o...

Benedict's solution

(Encyclopedia)Benedict's solution, deep-blue alkaline solution used to test for the presence of the aldehyde functional group, −CHO. The substance to be tested is heated with Benedict's solution; formation of a b...

Ahaz

(Encyclopedia)Ahaz āˈhăz [key], d. c.727 b.c., king of Judah (c.731–727 b.c.), son of Jotham. His reign marked the end of the real independence of Judah. A coalition of Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Syria attac...

Carter, Gary Edmund

(Encyclopedia)Carter, Gary Edmund, 1954–2012, American baseball player, b. Culver City, Calif. A superb catcher and clutch-hitting right-handed slugger, he played in the majors for 19 years. Drafted (1972) by the...

beryl

(Encyclopedia)beryl bĕrˈĭl [key], mineral, a silicate of beryllium and aluminum, Be3Al2Si6O18, extremely hard, occurring in hexagonal crystals that may be of enormous size and are usually white, yellow, green, b...

bloodletting

(Encyclopedia)bloodletting, also called bleeding, practice of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease. General bloodletting consists of the abstraction of blood by incision into an artery (arterioto...

Thorfinn Karlsefni

(Encyclopedia)Thorfinn Karlsefni thôrˈfĭn kärlˈsĕvnē [key], fl. 1002–15, Norse leader of an attempt to colonize North America. He appeared in Greenland in 1002 and married Gudrid, widow of one of the sons ...

mulberry

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Red mulberry, Morus rubra mulberry, common name for the Moraceae, a family of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, often climbing, mostly of pantropical distribution, and characterized by ...

salamander

(Encyclopedia)salamander, an amphibian of the order Urodela, or Caudata. Salamanders have tails and small, weak limbs; superficially they resemble the unrelated lizards (which are reptiles), but they are easily dis...