Thursday, July 19, 2018

What are megaticks, cripplers and plastics?

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These are terms used by twitchers — bird-watchers particularly interested to collect sightings of rare or showy birds. Whereas birders, in...
Saturday, June 30, 2018

What does “U.S. Ex. Ex.” stand for?

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The term “ U.S. Ex. Ex. ” (or simply “ Ex. Ex. ”) is shorthand for “ U.S. Exploring Expedition .” This 1838-1842 expedition also became kn...
Wednesday, June 6, 2018

What is a horsetail fall?

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Horsetail Falls in the Sierra Nevada (June 3, 2018) A horsetail fall is a waterfall , the water of which maintaining contact with th...
Friday, May 25, 2018

What is the name of our sun's “mother” star?

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Many of us grew up learning that a star comes and goes—ending its “ life ” by supernovae explosion or as a red giant turning into a white d...
Friday, March 30, 2018

When to drop the “ad” and “ab” prefixes

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The prefixes ad and ab are generally used with the meaning toward and away from , respectively. But not within every context is the mean...
Saturday, March 10, 2018

What is the wood-wide web?

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The expression wood-wide web is a play on the term world-wide web . Both terms refer to communication networks. But in the case of the woo...
Saturday, December 9, 2017

What is a pre-Darwinian Darwinist?

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The term “A pre-Darwinian Darwinist ” refers to a researcher or scientist who foretook evolutionary ideas in his (or her) writings before C...