3-D: Short for three-dimensional. This term is an adjective for something that has features that can be described in three dimensions — height, width and length.
accelerator: (in physics) Also known as a particle accelerator, this massive machine revs up the motion of subatomic particles to great speed, and then beams them at targets. Sometimes the beams are used to deliver radiation at a tissue for cancer treatment. Other times, scientists crash the particles into solid targets in hopes of breaking the particles into their building blocks.
analytical chemistry: A field that focuses on ways to separate materials into their parts or elements.
anthropologist: A social scientist who studies humankind, often by focusing on its societies and cultures.
application: A particular use or function of something.
archaeology: (also archeology) The study of human history and prehistory through the excavation of sites and the analysis of artifacts and other physical remains. Those remains can range from housing materials and cooking vessels to clothing and footprints. People who work in this field are known as archaeologists.
artifact: Some human-made object (such as a pot or brick) that can be used as one gauge of a community’s culture or history.
atom: The basic unit of a chemical element. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that contains positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.
boron: The chemical element having the atomic number 5. Its scientific symbol is B.
bottleneck: Some narrowing of a structure (like the neck on a soft-drink bottle) that will slow the passage of anything moving through the structure at that particular site. This can also be applied to some condition that serves to slow a process.
bronze: A metallic alloy that consists primarily of copper and tin, but may include other metals. It is harder and more durable than copper.
cavity: (in geology or physics) A large rigid pocketlike structure.
celestial: (in astronomy) Of or relating to the sky, or outer space.
colleague: Someone who works with another; a co-worker or team member.
component: Something that is part of something else (such as pieces that go on an electronic circuit board or ingredients that go into a cookie recipe).
conservator: A person in charge of protecting and/or restoring valuable items.
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.
Cretaceous: A geologic time period that included the end of the Age of Dinosaurs. It ran from roughly 145.5 million years ago until 65.5 million years ago.
develop: To emerge or to make come into being, either naturally or through human intervention, such as by manufacturing.
digital: (in computer science and engineering) An adjective indicating that something has been developed numerically on a computer or on some other electronic device, based on a binary system (where all numbers are displayed using a series of only zeros and ones).
dinosaur: A term that means terrible lizard. These reptiles emerged around 243 million years ago. All descended from egg-laying reptiles known as archosaurs. Their descendants eventually split into two lines. Many large dinosaurs died out around 66 million years ago. But some saurischians lived on. They are now the birds we see today (and who have now evolved that so-called “bird-hipped” pelvis).
electric charge: The physical property responsible for electric force; it can be negative or positive.
electron: A negatively charged particle, usually found orbiting the outer regions of an atom; also, the carrier of electricity within solids.
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.
engine: A machine designed to convert energy into useful mechanical motion. Sometimes an engine is called a motor.
fabric: Any flexible material that is woven, knitted or can be fused into a sheet by heat.
femur: In humans, the large bone in the upper leg. It is commonly known as the thighbone. In tetrapods (creatures with four limbs), it’s the large bone in the upper hind limbs.
fiber: Something whose shape resembles a thread or filament.
fossil: Any preserved remains or traces of ancient life. There are many different types of fossils: The bones and other body parts of dinosaurs are called “body fossils.” Things like footprints are called “trace fossils.” Even specimens of dinosaur poop are fossils. The process of forming fossils is called fossilization.
fuel cell: A device that converts chemical energy into electrical energy. The most common fuel is hydrogen, which emits only water vapor as a byproduct.
glass: A hard, brittle substance made from silica, a mineral found in sand. Glass usually is transparent and fairly inert (chemically nonreactive). Aquatic organisms called diatoms build their shells of it.
hydrogen: The lightest element in the universe. As a gas, it is colorless, odorless and highly flammable. It’s an integral part of many fuels, fats and chemicals that make up living tissues. It’s made of a single proton (which serves as its nucleus) orbited by a single electron.
insight: The ability to gain an accurate and deep understanding of a situation just by thinking about it, instead of working out a solution through experimentation.
lead: A toxic heavy metal (abbreviated as Pb) that in the body moves to where calcium wants to go (such as bones and teeth). The metal is particularly toxic to the brain. In a child’s developing brain, it can permanently impair IQ, even at relatively low levels.
lithium: A soft, silvery metallic element. It’s the lightest of all metals and very reactive. It is used in batteries and ceramics.
lizard: A type of reptile that typically walks on four legs, has a scaly body and a long tapering tail. Unlike most reptiles, lizards also typically have movable eyelids. Examples of lizards include the tuatara, chameleons, Komodo dragon, and Gila monster.
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).
muscle: A type of tissue used to produce movement by contracting its cells, known as muscle fibers. Muscle is rich in protein, which is why predatory species seek prey containing lots of this tissue.
neutron: A subatomic particle carrying no electric charge that is one of the basic pieces of matter. Neutrons belong to the family of particles known as hadrons.
NIST: Short for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, a U.S. government research agency founded in 1901 (as the National Bureau of Standards). Its name changed to NIST in 1988. Over the years, NIST has become a major center for research in the physical sciences. One of its enduring functions is the development of new and more precise ways to measure things, from time and electricity to the size of an atom and wavelengths of light. With facilities in Gaithersburg, Md., and Boulder, Colo., it employs some 2,900 people.
nucleus: Plural is nuclei. (in physics) The central core of an atom, containing most of its mass.
opaque: Unable to see through, blocking light.
paleontology: The branch of science concerned with ancient, fossilized animals and plants. The scientists who study them are known as paleontologists.
particle: A minute amount of something.
physicist: A scientist who studies the nature and properties of matter and energy.
plague: (verb) A common term for being beset by unpleasant conditions, events or circumstances — ones that cause serious impacts.
proton: A subatomic particle that is one of the basic building blocks of the atoms that make up matter. Protons belong to the family of particles known as hadrons.
quantum: (pl. quanta) A term that refers to the smallest amount of anything, especially of energy or subatomic mass.
radiation: (in physics) One of the three major ways that energy is transferred. (The other two are conduction and convection.) In radiation, electromagnetic waves carry energy from one place to another. Unlike conduction and convection, which need material to help transfer the energy, radiation can transfer energy across empty space.
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 one or more subatomic particles. This emission of energy is by a process known as radioactive decay.
recruit: (verb) To enroll a new member into some group or organization. It could be into the military. Or it could be into participating in a research group to test some drug, behavior or environmental condition.
scanner: A machine that runs some sort of light (which includes anything from X-rays to infrared energy) over a person or object to get a succession of images. When a computer brings these images together, they can provide a motion picture of something or can offer a three-dimensional view through the target. Such systems are often used to see inside the human body or solid objects without breaching their surface.
sediment: Material (such as stones and sand) deposited by water, wind or glaciers.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
technology: The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry — or the devices, processes and systems that result from those efforts.
tissue: Made of cells, it is any of the distinct types of materials that make up animals, plants or fungi. Cells within a tissue work as a unit to perform a particular function in living organisms. Different organs of the human body, for instance, often are made from many different types of tissues.
transparent: Allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen. Or information that lets others understand the otherwise hidden people, processes and impacts behind some product, action or proposal.
vascular: Adjective for a vessel or system of vessels that in animals carry fluids, such as blood and lymph. In plants, the term refers to the xylem and phloem through which water, sap and nutrients move.
vertebrate: The group of animals with a brain, two eyes, and a stiff nerve cord or backbone running down the back. This group includes amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and most fish.
X-ray: A type of radiation analogous to gamma rays, but having somewhat lower energy.
