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sense

(Encyclopedia)sense, faculty by which external or internal stimuli are conveyed to the brain centers, where they are registered as sensations. Sensory reception occurs in higher animals through a process known as t...

sidewinder

(Encyclopedia)sidewinder, common name for a rattlesnake, Crotalus cerastes, found in the deserts of the SW United States. This 2-ft (60-cm), pale yellow and pink snake is named for its curious method of locomotion....

Poisson, Siméon Denis

(Encyclopedia)Poisson, Siméon Denis sēmāôNˈ dənēˈ pwäsôNˈ [key], 1781–1840, French mathematician and physicist. From 1802 he taught at the École polytechnique, Paris, and was also on the faculty of sc...

touch

(Encyclopedia)touch, tactile sensation received by the skin, enabling the organism to detect objects or substances in contact with the body. End organs (nerve endings) in the skin convey the impression to the brain...

actinometer

(Encyclopedia)actinometer ăkˌtənŏmˈətər [key], instrument used to measure the heating power of radiation. Actinometers are used chiefly in meteorology to measure solar radiation as transmitted directly by th...

O'Faoláin, Seán

(Encyclopedia)O'Faoláin, Seán shôn ōfălˈən [key], 1900–1991, Irish writer. The relation of the individual to society was often the theme of his novels and stories. He frequently wrote about Ireland, analyz...

Nernst, Walther Hermann

(Encyclopedia)Nernst, Walther Hermann välˈtər hĕrˈmän nĕrnst [key], 1864–1941, German physicist and chemist, a founder of modern physical chemistry. After doing outstanding research on osmotic pressure and...

cataract

(Encyclopedia)cataract, in medicine, opacity of the lens of the eye, which impairs vision. In the young, cataracts are generally congenital or hereditary; later they are usually the result of degenerative changes b...

curium

(Encyclopedia)curium kyo͝orˈēəm [key], artificially produced radioactive chemical element; symbol Cm; at. no. 96; mass no. of most stable isotope 247; m.p. about 1,340℃; b.p. 3,110℃; sp. gr. 13.5 (calculate...

radiation

(Encyclopedia)radiation rāˌdēāˈshən [key], term applied to the emission and transmission of energy through space or through a material medium and also to the radiated energy itself. In its widest sense the te...