academic: Relating to school, classes or things taught by teachers in formal institutes of learning (such as a college).
ADHD: Short for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This condition is characterized by an ongoing pattern of being impulsive (acting without thinking, for instance), inattentive (have trouble staying on task) or hyperactive (fidgeting excessively or seeming overly restless and talkative). Someone can have any or all of these symptoms — and often at a level that tends to get in the way of their functioning effectively.
arachnid: A group of invertebrate animals that includes spiders, scorpions, mites and ticks. Many have silk or venom glands.
attention: The phenomenon of focusing mental resources on a specific object or event.
audio: Having to do with sound.
autism: (also known as autism spectrum disorders ) A set of developmental disorders that interfere with how certain parts of the brain develop. Affected regions of the brain control how people behave, interact and communicate with others and the world around them. Autism disorders can range from very mild to very severe. And even a fairly mild form can limit an individual’s ability to interact socially or communicate effectively.
cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and functional unit of an organism. Typically too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Depending on their size, animals are made of anywhere from thousands to trillions of cells. Most organisms, such as yeasts, molds, bacteria and some algae, are composed of only one cell.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
dissect: (in biology) To open up animals or plants to view their anatomy.
diversity: A broad spectrum of similar items, ideas or people. In a social context, it may refer to a diversity of experiences and cultural backgrounds. (in biology) A range of different life forms.
ecology: A branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. A scientist who works in this field is called an ecologist.
engineer: A person who uses science and math to solve problems. As a verb, to engineer means to design a device, material or process that will solve some problem or unmet need.
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).
field: An area of study, as in: Her field of research is biology. Also a term to describe a real-world environment in which some research is conducted, such as at sea, in a forest, on a mountaintop or on a city street. It is the opposite of an artificial setting, such as a research laboratory.
focus: (in behavior) To look or concentrate intently on some particular point or thing.
laser: A device that generates an intense beam of coherent light of a single color. Lasers are used in drilling and cutting, alignment and guidance, in data storage and in surgery.
Ph.D.: (also known as a doctorate) A type of advanced degree offered by universities — typically after five or six years of study — for work that creates new knowledge. People qualify to begin this type of graduate study only after having first completed a college degree (a program that typically takes four years of study).
podcast: A digital audio or video series that can be downloaded from the Internet to your computer or smartphone. Some podcasts also are shows that are broadcast on radio, television or other media.
poison dart frog: A type of brightly colored frog (there are more than 100 different species of these) that belong to the Dendrobatidae family. They secrete a potent poison into their skin. Their bright coloring warns predators that they would provide a toxic lunch. The skin of at least one species can hold enough poison to kill up to 20,000 mice — or 10 adult men. They get their name from the fact that some hunters in the Amazon once used these poisons on the tips of their darts to immobilize their prey.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
spider: A type of arthropod with four pairs of legs that usually spin threads of silk that they can use to create webs or other structures.
steer: To guide the movement of something (a vehicle, a person or an idea) in some particular direction.
therapy: (adj. therapeutic) Treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder.
woo: The efforts of a male animal to court a female with the goal of gaining a mate.