Life Cycle, Processes & Properties, WAD-ZYG

None of us are born looking exactly the way that we do today; this is because humans, like other species, undergo a series of changes as they mature and age, in accordance with their biological life cycle. This process can look very different across different species. In many simple organisms and in higher animals, the life cycle is completed within a single generation, while in most plants, the life cycle is multigenerational.
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Life Cycle, Processes & Properties Encyclopedia Articles By Title

Waddington, C.H.
C.H. Waddington was a British embryologist, geneticist, and philosopher of science. Waddington graduated in geology......
warm-bloodedness
warm-bloodedness, in animals, the ability to maintain a relatively constant internal temperature (about 37° C [99°......
wart
wart, a well-defined growth of varying shape and size on the skin surface caused by a virus, most commonly one......
Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome
Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, a rare type of septicemia (blood poisoning) of rapid and severe onset, marked......
West Nile virus
West Nile virus, virus belonging to the family Flaviviridae, related to viruses that can cause yellow fever and......
whale vocalization
whale vocalization, process used by whales that produces any of several vocal sounds that assist in communication......
whalebone
whalebone, series of stiff keratinous plates in the mouths of baleen whales, used to strain copepods and other......
What Causes Allergies?
Allergic reactions are caused by substances known as allergens. These substances can be found in a variety of sources......
What Eats Snakes?
Although snakes are predators, they are also themselves eaten by other creatures, making them secondary consumers......
What was the impact of COVID-19?
On February 25, 2020, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided it was time to level......
whiplash
whiplash, injury to the cervical spine and its soft tissues caused by forceful flexion or extension of the neck,......
white nose syndrome
white nose syndrome, disease affecting hibernating bats in North America that is caused by the growth of a white......
whooping cough
whooping cough, acute, highly communicable respiratory disease characterized in its typical form by paroxysms of......
Why Are Bees Important?
Bees are crucial to our world for several reasons, primarily due to their role as pollinators. The approximately......
Why Are Plants Green?
Plants are green because of a pigment found in the chloroplasts of plant cells called chlorophyll. It plays a crucial......
Why Are There Different Blood Types?
Different blood groups are the result of genetic variations that determine the presence or absence of specific......
Why Do Beavers Build Dams?
Beavers are quite the clever architects when it comes to safeguarding their homes. They build dams to raise the......
Why Do Cats Like Catnip?
The aromatic leaves of the catnip (Nepeta cataria), a herb of the mint family, are known to be particularly exciting......
Why Do Cats Purr?
While purring is often associated with a cat’s contentment, such as when they are being petted or snuggled up in......
Why Do Gorillas Beat Their Chests?
Chest beating is a powerful tool in the gorilla’s communication arsenal. Both males and females engage in this......
Why Do Humans Have Eyebrows?
Eyebrows are like the unsung heroes of the face, quietly doing their job of protecting the eyes from the glare......
Why Do Salmon Die After Spawning?
Salmon are biologically programmed to die after spawning, a phenomenon known as semelparity. This is a reproductive......
Why Do Snakes Shed Their Skin?
As snakes grow, their skin does not grow with them. Instead, they periodically shed their outer layer of skin to......
Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?
There are several theories about why zebras have stripes. Scientists believe that one of the main reasons is camouflage......
Willadsen, Steen
Steen Willadsen is a Danish embryologist who was the first to clone a mammal from embryonic cells in a technique......
Wilmut, Ian
Ian Wilmut was a British developmental biologist who was the first to use nuclear transfer of differentiated adult......
Wilson disease
Wilson disease, a rare hereditary disorder characterized by abnormal copper transport that results in the accumulation......
Wilson, Edmund Beecher
Edmund Beecher Wilson was an American biologist known for his researches in embryology and cytology. In 1891 Wilson......
wilt
wilt, common symptom of plant disease resulting from water loss in leaves and stems. Affected parts lose their......
witches’-broom
witches’-broom, symptom of plant disease that occurs as an abnormal brushlike cluster of dwarfed weak shoots arising......
woolly bear
woolly bear, Caterpillar of a tiger moth. The larva of the Isabella tiger moth (Isia isabella), known as the banded......
workaholism
workaholism, compulsive desire to work. Workaholism is defined in various ways. In general, however, it is characterized......
wound
wound, a break in the continuity of any bodily tissue due to violence, where violence is understood to encompass......
xanthinuria
xanthinuria, rare inherited disorder of purine metabolism that results from a deficiency in the enzyme xanthine......
xenophobia
xenophobia, fear and contempt of strangers or foreigners or of anything designated as foreign, or a conviction......
xeroderma pigmentosum
xeroderma pigmentosum, rare, recessively inherited skin condition in which resistance to sunlight and other radiation......
XYY-trisomy
XYY-trisomy, relatively common human sex chromosome anomaly in which a male has two Y chromosomes rather than one.......
Yanagimachi, Ryuzo
Ryuzo Yanagimachi was a Japanese-born American scientist whose team cloned the second live mammal, a mouse, and......
yaws
yaws, contagious disease occurring in moist tropical regions throughout the world. It is caused by a spirochete,......
yellow fever
yellow fever, acute infectious disease, one of the great epidemic diseases of the tropical world, though it sometimes......
yersiniosis
yersiniosis, acute gastrointestinal infection caused by the bacterium Yersinia enterocolitica and characterized......
yolk
yolk, the nutritive material of an egg, used as food by a developing, embryonic animal. Eggs with relatively little,......
Zellweger syndrome
Zellweger syndrome, congenital disorder characterized by complete absence or reduction in the number of peroxisomes......
Zika fever
Zika fever, infectious mosquito-borne illness, typically mild in humans but capable in utero of causing brain anomalies......
zoonotic disease
zoonotic disease, any of a group of diseases that can be transmitted to humans by nonhuman vertebrate animals,......
zoophilia
zoophilia, sexual attraction of a human toward a nonhuman animal, which may involve the experience of sexual fantasies......
zygote
zygote, fertilized egg cell that results from the union of a female gamete (egg, or ovum) with a male gamete (sperm).......

Life Cycle, Processes & Properties Encyclopedia Articles By Title