arid: A description of dry areas of the world, where the climate brings too little rainfall or other precipitation to support much plant growth.
arthritis: A disease that causes painful inflammation in the joints.
cancer: Any of more than 100 different diseases, each characterized by the rapid, uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. The development and growth of cancers, also known as malignancies, can lead to tumors, pain and death.
carbon: A chemical element that is the physical basis of all life on Earth. (in climate studies) The term carbon sometimes will be used almost interchangeably with carbon dioxide to connote the potential impacts that some action, product, policy or process may have on long-term atmospheric warming.
chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure.
Cold War: A term for political and military tensions between the United States and the former Soviet Union. It began shortly after the end of World War II and lasted for decades. It is called “cold” because no major military clashes broke out. But each side engaged in lots of spying and there were the occasional international incidents that led to the threat of nuclear war.
concentration: (in chemistry) A measurement of how much of one substance has been dissolved into another.
consumer: (n.) Term for someone who buys something or uses something. (adj.) A person who uses goods and services that must be paid for.
copper: A metallic chemical element in the same family as silver and gold. Because it is a good conductor of electricity, it is widely used in electronic devices.
defense: (in biology) A natural protective action taken or chemical response that occurs when a species confronts predators or agents that might harm it. (adj. defensive)
disrupt: (n. disruption) To break apart something; interrupt the normal operation of something; or to throw the normal organization (or order) of something into disorder.
ecosystem: A group of interacting living organisms — including microorganisms, plants and animals — and their physical environment within a particular climate. Examples include tropical reefs, rainforests, alpine meadows and polar tundra. The term can also be applied to elements that make up some an artificial environment, such as a company, classroom or the internet.
electronics: Devices that are powered by electricity but whose properties are controlled by the semiconductors or other circuitry that channel or gate the movement of electric charges.
element: A building block of some larger structure. (in chemistry) Each of more than one hundred substances for which the smallest unit of each is a single atom. Examples include hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, lithium and uranium.
environment: The sum of all of the things that exist around some organism or the process and the condition those things create. Environment may refer to the weather and ecosystem in which some animal lives, or, perhaps, the temperature and humidity (or even the placement of things in the vicinity of an item of interest).
extract: (v.) To separate one chemical (or component of something) from a complex mix. (noun) A substance, often in concentrated form, that has been removed from some source material. Extracts are often taken from plants (such as spearmint or lavender), flowers and buds (such as roses and cloves), fruit (such as lemons and oranges) or seeds and nuts (such as almonds and pistachios). Such extracts, sometimes used in cooking, often have very strong scents or flavors.
federal: Of or related to a country’s national government (not to any state or local government within that nation). For instance, the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health are both agencies of the U.S. federal government.
fluorescent: (v. fluoresce) Adjective for something that is capable of absorbing and reemitting light. That reemitted light is known as fluorescence.
fluorine: An element first discovered in 1886 by Henri Moissan. It takes its name from the Latin word meaning “to flow.” Very reactive, chemically, this element had little commercial use until World War II, when it was used to help make a nuclear-reactor fuel. Later, it was used as ingredients (fluorocarbons) in refrigerants and aerosol propellants. Most recently, it has found widespread use to make nonstick coatings for frying pans, plumbers’ tape, and waterproof clothing.
geographer: A scientist who studies Earth’s features and how the living and nonliving parts of the planet affect one another.
green: (in chemistry and environmental science) An adjective to describe products and processes that will pose little or no harm to living things or the environment.
greenhouse gas: A gas that contributes to the greenhouse effect by absorbing heat. Carbon dioxide is one example of a greenhouse gas.
groundwater: Water that is held underground in the soil or in pores and crevices in rock.
lesion: A tissue or part of the body that shows damage from injury or disease. Lesions come in all shapes and sizes, both inside the body and on its outside. A pus-filled wound on the skin is one example. Cells with holes in them or missing parts due to disease represent a totally different class of lesions.
magnet: A material that usually contains iron and whose atoms are arranged so they attract certain metals.
metal: Something that conducts electricity well, tends to be shiny (reflective) and is malleable (meaning it can be reshaped with heat and not too much force or pressure).
migraine: An intense headache that is often accompanied by nausea and vision changes. It typically only affects one side of the head at one time.
mineral: Crystal-forming substances that make up rock, such as quartz, apatite or various carbonates. Most rocks contain several different minerals mish-mashed together. A mineral usually is solid and stable at room temperatures and has a specific formula, or recipe (with atoms occurring in certain proportions) and a specific crystalline structure (meaning that its atoms are organized in regular three-dimensional patterns).
molybdenum: A chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The element does not occur naturally by itself on Earth. It typically appears as part of some mineral or other compound, such as molybdenum disulfide.
nausea: The feeling of being sick to one’s stomach, as though one could vomit.
neodymium: A chemical element which appears as a soft, silvery metal when it is pure. It is found in some minerals, and can be used to trace the source of mineral grains carried long distances by water or wind. Its scientific symbol is Nd.
ore: A naturally formed rock or mineral that contains a metal that can be extracted for some new use.
organic: (in chemistry) An adjective that indicates something is carbon-containing; also a term that relates to the basic chemicals that make up living organisms.
oxide: A compound made by combining one or more elements with oxygen. Rust is an oxide; so is water.
phosphor: A synthetic chemical that glows when excited by electrons. It typically is used (often in combination with others) to coat LEDs, fluorescent lamps or cathode-ray tubes to produce a desired color of light.
preliminary: An early step or stage that precedes something more important.
prospect: (n.) The vista (as in what’s in view) or the future of something (such as whether it’s going to be successful). (in geology) To hunt for a buried natural resource, such as oil, gems, precious metals or other valued minerals.
radioactive: An adjective that describes unstable elements, such as certain forms (isotopes) of uranium and plutonium. Such elements are said to be unstable because their nucleus sheds energy that is carried away by photons and/or and often one or more subatomic particles. This emission of energy is by a process known as radioactive decay.
range: The full extent or distribution of something. For instance, a plant or animal’s range is the area over which it naturally exists.
rare earths: (in Earth science) These are a group of metal elements that tend to be soft, bendable and chemically reactive.
recycle: To find new uses for something — or parts of something — that might otherwise be discarded, or treated as waste.
resident: Some member of a community of organisms that lives in a particular place. (Antonym: visitor)
risk: The chance or mathematical likelihood that some bad thing might happen. For instance, exposure to radiation poses a risk of cancer. Or the hazard — or peril — itself. (For instance: Among cancer risks that the people faced were radiation and drinking water tainted with arsenic.)
smartphone: A cell (or mobile) phone that can perform a host of functions, including search for information on the internet.
superconductor: Materials that have no resistance to the flow of electricity, typically only when they are cooled below a certain temperature. Superconductors also repel all magnetic fields, which allows them to float in the air when they are placed inside a strong magnetic field.
sustainability: (adj: sustainable) To use resources in a way that they will continue to be available in the future.
thorium: A naturally radioactive element which appears as a silvery metal when it is pure. It reacts chemically with air, turning black on its surface. It is found in some minerals, and can be used to trace the source of some mineral grains that are carried long distances by water or wind. Its scientific symbol is Th.
toxic: Poisonous or able to harm or kill cells, tissues or whole organisms. The measure of risk posed by such a poison is its toxicity.
transition: The boundary where one thing (paragraphs, ecosystems, life stage, state of matter) changes or converts into another. Some transitions are sharp or abrupt. Others slowly or gradually morph from one condition or environment to another.
uranium: The heaviest naturally occurring element known. It’s called element 92, which refers to the number of protons in its nucleus. Uranium atoms are radioactive, which means they decay into different atomic nuclei.
vegetation: Leafy, green plants. The term refers to the collective community of plants in some area. Typically these do not include tall trees, but instead plants that are shrub height or shorter.
vein: (in geology) A mineral or ore deposit in rock that typically runs a long distance and may contain enough material to be worth extracting, such as a silver vein.
waste: Any materials that are left over from biological or other systems that have no value, so they can be disposed of as trash or recycled for some new use.
wastewater: Any water that has been used for some purpose (such as cleaning) and no longer is clean or safe enough for use without some type of treatment. Examples include the water that goes down the kitchen sink or bathtub or water that has been used in manufacturing some product, such as a dyed fabric.