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abominable snowman

(Encyclopedia)abominable snowman or yeti yĕtˈē [key], humanlike creature so named because it is associated with the perpetual snow region of the Himalayas. A figure unknown except through tracks ascribed to it a...

bean weevil

(Encyclopedia)bean weevil, common name for a well-known cosmopolitan species of beetle (Acanthoscelides obtectus) that attacks beans and is thought to be native to the United States. It belongs to the family Bruchi...

microscope

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Compound microscope microscope, optical instrument used to increase the apparent size of an object. The electron microscope, which is not limited by the powers of optical lenses and light,...

information theory

(Encyclopedia)information theory or communication theory, mathematical theory formulated principally by the American scientist Claude E. Shannon to explain aspects and problems of information and communication. Whi...

homosexuality

(Encyclopedia)homosexuality, a term created by 19th cent. theorists to describe a sexual and emotional interest in members of one's own sex. Today a person is often said to have a homosexual or a heterosexual orien...

atavism

(Encyclopedia)atavism ătˈəvizəm [key], the appearance in an individual of a characteristic not apparent in the preceding generation. At one time it was believed that such a phenomenon was thought to be a revers...

Aristippus

(Encyclopedia)Aristippus ărĭstĭpˈəs [key], c.435–c.360 b.c., Greek philosopher of Cyrene, first of the Cyrenaics. He held pleasure to be the highest good and virtue to be identical with the ability to enjoy....

Ragnarok

(Encyclopedia)Ragnarok rägˈnərŏkˌ [key], in Norse mythology, the doom of the gods. According to prophecy the end of the world would follow a severe ice age, in which human civilization would be destroyed. Then...

Thetis

(Encyclopedia)Thetis thēˈtĭs [key], in Greek mythology, a nereid, mother of Achilles. She was loved by both Zeus and Poseidon, but because of a prophecy that her son would be greater than his father, the gods ga...

viroid

(Encyclopedia)viroid, microscopic infectious agent, much smaller than a virus, that infects higher plants such as potatoes, tomatoes, chrysanthemums, and cucumbers, causing stunted or distorted growth and sometimes...