trophic cascade: Biomanipulation in lakes: In lakes, trophic cascades are used to improve water quality through biomanipulation, a management practice in which humans intentionally remove whole species from ecosystems. The goal of biomanipulation is to reduce the concentration of harmful phytoplankton, such as toxic blue-green

biomarker, a measurable and quantifiable biological parameter that serves as an indicator of a particular physiological state. In a medical context, a biomarker is a substance whose detection indicates a particular disease state or a response to a therapeutic intervention. Examples include the

biomass, the weight or total quantity of living organisms of one animal or plant species (species biomass) or of all the species in a community (community biomass), commonly referred to a unit area or volume of habitat. The weight or quantity of organisms in an area at a given moment is the

materials science: Materials for medicine: These materials, known as biomaterials, include synthetic polymers and, to a lesser extent, biological polymers, metals, and ceramics. Specific applications of biomaterials range from high-volume products such as blood bags, syringes, and needles to more challenging implantable devices designed to augment or replace a diseased human organ. The latter…

Biombo, region located in western Guinea-Bissau. Biombo region surrounds (but does not administratively include) Bissau, the national capital. The regional capital is located at Quinhámel. The western and northern borders of the region are formed by the Mansôa River, which flows east-west and

Jaime Torres Bodet: …employed Japanese verse forms in Biombo (1925; “The Folding Screen”). He was the first editor (1928–31) of Contemporáneos, a cultural and literary magazine influential among Mexican poets.

biome, the largest geographic biotic unit, a major community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions. It includes various communities and is named for the dominant type of vegetation, such as grassland or coniferous forest. Several similar biomes constitute a

biome: Several similar biomes constitute a biome type—for example, the temperate deciduous forest biome type includes the deciduous forest biomes of Asia, Europe, and North America. “Major life zone” is the European phrase for the North American biome concept.

biomechanics, antirealistic system of dramatic production developed in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s by the avant-garde director Vsevolod Meyerhold. Meyerhold drew on the traditions of the commedia dell’arte and kabuki and on the writings of Edward Gordon Craig for his system, in which the

biomechanics, in science, the study of biological systems, particularly their structure and function, using methods derived from mechanics, which is concerned with the effects that forces have on the motion of bodies. Ideas and investigations relating to biomechanics date back at least to the

ethics: Abortion, euthanasia, and the value of human life: …with the endpoints of the human life span. The question of whether abortion or the use of human embryos as sources of stem cells can be morally justified was exhaustively discussed in popular contexts, where the answer was often taken to depend directly on the answer to the further question:…

animal disease: Animals in research: the biomedical model: What do you think? Explore the ProCon debate

complementary and alternative medicine: Historical perspectives: …care became increasingly centered on biomedicine, and a division of labor proliferated. Some doctors, for example, specialized in surgery, whereas others focused on areas such as infectious disease, human development, or mental health. In addition, beginning in the 19th century, scientists discovered ways to isolate and synthesize the active ingredients…

chemical analysis: Ion-selective electrodes: Biomembrane electrodes are similar in design to gas-sensing electrodes. The outer permeable membrane is used to hold a gel between the two membranes. The gel contains an enzyme that selectively catalyzes the reaction of the analyte. The internal ion-selective electrode is chosen to respond to…

Cambrian Period: Extinction events: …to define biostratigraphic units called biomeres. (Such units are bounded by sudden nonevolutionary changes in the dominant elements of a phylum.) Each of the Cambrian biomere events eliminated several trilobite families, which collectively contained most of the genera and species that were living on the continental shelves. Less attention has…

biometrics, measures of individuals’ unique physical characteristics or behavioral traits that are typically used in automated recognition technology to verify personal identity. Physical characteristics used include fingerprints, faces, retinas, and voice patterns. Biometric authentication may be

biometrics, measures of individuals’ unique physical characteristics or behavioral traits that are typically used in automated recognition technology to verify personal identity. Physical characteristics used include fingerprints, faces, retinas, and voice patterns. Biometric authentication may be

Karl Pearson: …Galton, Pearson founded the journal Biometrika, the first journal of modern statistics.

probability and statistics: Biometry: The English biometric school developed from the work of the polymath Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin. Galton admired Quetelet, but he was critical of the statistician’s obsession with mean values rather than variation. The normal law, as he began to call it, was…

regenerative medicine: …seeding cells onto natural or biomimetic scaffolds (see tissue engineering). Natural scaffolds are the total extracellular matrixes (ECMs) of decellularized tissues or organs. In contrast, biomimetic scaffolds may be composed of natural materials, such as collagen

bone: Bone resorption and renewal: …material (osteoid) and its subsequent mineralization. Osteoblasts elaborate matrix as a continuous membrane covering the surface on which they are working at a linear rate that varies with both age and species but which in large adult mammals is on the order of one micron per day. The unmineralized matrix…

biomolecule, any of numerous substances that are produced by cells and living organisms. Biomolecules have a wide range of sizes and structures and perform a vast array of functions. The four major types of biomolecules are carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins. Among biomolecules,

biomonitoring, the measurement of chemical compounds or their metabolites (versions of the compounds that are transformed in the body) in biological specimens. Biomonitoring measurements can be conducted on nonhuman biological samples, such as plants and animals, but use of the term is primarily

Western painting: Fantasy and the irrational: Biomorphic abstraction, in essence the method of Tanguy, extended the resources of Surrealism, and the Chilean Roberto Matta, who began painting in 1938, used it with dramatic effect. A poetic version of the style, rooted in an emotional response to landscape, was evolved in England…

Frank Gehry: Stardom and later works: …decade include the brightly coloured Biomuseo (2014), a biodiversity museum in Panama City, Panama, and a number of buildings for Facebook (2015 and 2018) in Palo Alto, California.

Bion was a minor Greek bucolic poet. The Lament for Bion, written by an Italian pupil of the poet, suggests that he lived in Sicily. The 17 surviving fragments of Bion’s Bucolica, mostly concerned with love and only occasionally with bucolic themes, strike a playful, sometimes sententious note.

Bion of Borysthenes was a Greek philosophical writer and preacher. He was a freed slave and the son of a courtesan and has been credited with originating the Cynic “diatribe,” or popular discourse on morality, whose style may have influenced that of the Christian sermon. Few of his writings

Dick Biondi: The fast-talking wild man of Chicago radio, Dick Biondi called himself “The Screamer,” “The Big Mouth,” “The Big Noise from Buffalo,” “The Wild Eye-tralian,” and “The Supersonic Spaghetti Slurper.” Praising his energy, presentation, and appeal to young listeners, pioneer radio programmer Mike Joseph called Biondi…

Flavio Biondo was a humanist historian of the Renaissance and author of the first history of Italy that developed a chronological scheme providing an embryonic notion of the Middle Ages. Biondo was well educated and trained as a notary before he moved in 1433 to Rome, where he was appointed

Christina Aguilera: …returned to dance pop with Bionic (2010), though the album was considered a commercial disappointment, as was its follow-up, Lotus (2012). Her 2018 release, Liberation, earned glowing reviews. She later contributed the songs “Haunted Heart” and “Loyal Brave True” to the soundtracks for Addams Family (2019) and Mulan (2020), respectively.…

bionic eye, electrical prosthesis surgically implanted into a human eye in order to allow for the transduction of light (the change of light from the environment into impulses the brain can process) in people who have sustained severe damage to the retina. The retina is a light-sensitive tissue

The Bionic Woman, American television show, a spin-off of science-fiction thriller The Six Million Dollar Man, about a bionically enhanced secret agent. The show aired for three seasons, first from 1976 to 1977 on ABC and then from 1977 to 1978 on NBC. The show’s eponymous character, Jamie Sommers

bionics, science of constructing artificial systems that have some of the characteristics of living systems. Bionics is not a specialized science but an interscience discipline; it may be compared with cybernetics. Bionics and cybernetics have been called the two sides of the same coin. Both use

ecology, study of the relationships between organisms and their environment. Some of the most pressing problems in human affairs—expanding populations, food scarcities, environmental pollution including global warming, extinctions of plant and animal species, and all the attendant sociological and

Carolyn R. Bertozzi: She coined the term bioorthogonal chemistry to describe the use of click reactions—quick, simple chemical reactions—to study living cells. In particular, she showed that such reactions could be carried out inside living cells to map molecules and cell function, without disturbing normal cellular chemistry. For her groundbreaking contributions to…

pharmaceutical industry: Biopharmaceutical studies: In addition to the animal toxicity studies outlined above, biopharmaceutical studies are required for all new drugs. The chemical makeup of the drug and the dosage form of the drug to be used in trials must be described. The stability of…

Björk: For the ethereal Biophilia (2011), Björk used tablet computers to help her compose songs, which were released, in addition to conventional formats, as a series of interactive iPhone and iPad apps.

biophilia hypothesis: Wilson in his work Biophilia (1984), which proposed that the tendency of humans to focus on and to affiliate with nature and other life-forms has, in part, a genetic basis.

biophilia hypothesis, idea that humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life. The term biophilia was used by German-born American psychoanalyst Erich Fromm in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness (1973), which described biophilia as “the passionate love

biophilia hypothesis: Biophilia and technology: Both perspectives were offered in The Biophilia Hypothesis (1993), a work coedited by Wilson and American social ecologist Stephen R. Kellert. Among the collection of views the work presented were those of American biologists Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan and Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil, who considered the possibility that the…

biophilia hypothesis: The human relationship with nature: …nature comes from studies of biophobia (the fear of nature), in which measurable physiological responses are produced upon exposure to an object that is the source of fear, such as a snake or a spider. These responses are the result of evolution in a world in which humans were constantly…

biophysics, discipline concerned with the application of the principles and methods of physics and the other physical sciences to the solution of biological problems. The relatively recent emergence of biophysics as a scientific discipline may be attributed, in particular, to the spectacular

Vandana Shiva: In her 1997 book, Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge, she charged that these practices were tantamount to biological theft. Shiva expounded upon her ideas on corporate trade agreements, the exponential decrease in the genetic diversity of crops, and patent law in Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the…

bioplastic, moldable plastic material made up of chemical compounds that are derived from or synthesized by microbes such as bacteria or by genetically modified plants. Unlike traditional plastics, which are derived from petroleum, bioplastics are obtained from renewable resources, and some

biopoiesis, a process by which living organisms are thought to develop from nonliving matter, and the basis of a theory on the origin of life on Earth. According to this theory, conditions were such that, at one time in Earth’s history, life was created from nonliving material, probably in the sea,

genetically modified organism: Role of GMOs in environmental management: …microbially produced biodegradable plastic called Biopol (polyhydroxyalkanoate, or PHA). The plastic was made with the use of a GM bacterium, Ralstonia eutropha, to convert glucose and a variety of organic acids into a flexible polymer. GMOs endowed with the bacterially encoded ability to metabolize oil and heavy metals may provide…

bioelectricity: Bioelectric potentials are generated by a variety of biological processes and generally range in strength from one to a few hundred millivolts. In the electric eel, however, currents of one ampere at 600 to 1,000 volts are generated. A brief treatment of bioelectricity follows. For…

universal grammar, theory proposing that humans possess innate faculties related to the acquisition of language. The definition of universal grammar has evolved considerably since first it was postulated and, moreover, since the 1940s, when it became a specific object of modern linguistic research.

biopsy, medical diagnostic procedure in which cells or tissues are removed from a patient and examined visually, usually with a microscope. The material for the biopsy may be obtained by several methods and with various instruments, including aspiration through a needle, swabbing with a sponge,

metabolic disease: Disorders of amino acid metabolism: …result from impaired metabolism of biopterin, an essential cofactor in the phenylalanine hydroxylase reaction, may not consistently respond to therapy.

amphibole: Crystal structure: The term biopyribole has been used to describe any mineral that has both I beams and sheetlike structures. The name comes from biotite (mica), pyroxene, and amphibole. Biopyriboles have chain widths and repeat sequences like pyroxenes (single-chain repeats), amphiboles (double-chain repeats), and triple-chain repeats. The latter are…

hazardous-waste management: Treatment: …case the process is called bioremediation.

gall wasp: Major species: …larvae of the gall wasp Biorhiza pallida. About 30 such larvae may develop in a single “apple,” or gall.

biological rhythm, periodic biological fluctuation in an organism that corresponds to, and is in response to, periodic environmental change. Examples of such change include cyclical variations in the relative position of Earth to the Sun and to the Moon and in the immediate effects of such

Birr, urban district and market town, County Offaly, Ireland, on the River Camcor. A monastery was founded there by St. Brendan of Birr (died c. 573). In 1620 Birr Castle, the principal stronghold of the O’Carrolls, and the surrounding area were granted to Lawrence Parsons of Leicestershire,

BIOS, computer program that is typically stored in EPROM and used by the CPU to perform start-up procedures when the computer is turned on. Its two major procedures are determining what peripheral devices (keyboard, mouse, disk drives, printers, video cards, etc.) are available and loading the

Biosatellite, any of a series of three U.S. Earth-orbiting scientific satellites designed to study the biological effects of weightlessness (i.e., zero gravity), cosmic radiation, and the absence of the Earth’s 24-hour day-night rhythm on several plants and animals ranging from a variety of

Biosatellite: Biosatellite 1 (launched Dec. 14, 1966) was not recovered because it failed to reenter Earth’s atmosphere. Biosatellite 2 (launched Sept. 7, 1967) was a complete success. It involved an assortment of biological experiments, including one concerned with mutations induced in the offspring of insects exposed…

Biosatellite: Biosatellite 2 (launched Sept. 7, 1967) was a complete success. It involved an assortment of biological experiments, including one concerned with mutations induced in the offspring of insects exposed to ionizing radiation in space. The flight of Biosatellite 3 (launched June 29, 1969), scheduled to…

Biosatellite: The flight of Biosatellite 3 (launched June 29, 1969), scheduled to last 31 days, had to be cut short when the trained pigtail monkey that was aboard became ill.

soil: Organisms: …and fauna is termed a biosequence. To return to the climosequence along the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges discussed above, the vegetation observed along this narrow foothill region varies from shrubs in the dry south to needle-leaved trees in the humid north, with extensive grasslands in between. In the middle…

BioShock, computer and console electronic game created by game developer 2k Boston/2k Australia and released in 2007. BioShock impressed critics with its detailed story line and innovative play, which helped earn the game a coveted top-20 slot on GameRankings.com, a Web site that tracks game

community ecology, study of the organization and functioning of communities, which are assemblages of interacting populations of the species living within a particular area or habitat. As populations of species interact with one another, they form biological communities. The number of interacting

biosolids, sewage sludge, the residues remaining from the treatment of sewage. For use as a fertilizer in agricultural applications, biosolids must first be stabilized through processing, such as digestion or the addition of lime, to reduce concentrations of heavy metals and harmful organisms

biosphere, relatively thin life-supporting stratum of Earth’s surface, extending from a few kilometres into the atmosphere to the deep-sea vents of the ocean. The biosphere is a global ecosystem composed of living organisms (biota) and the abiotic (nonliving) factors from which they derive energy

Biosphere 2, scientific research facility located in Oracle, Arizona, U.S., designed to emulate Earth’s environment (Biosphere 1) that was perhaps best known for two missions conducted in the early 1990s in which crews were sealed inside the enclosure to study survivability. The driving force for

biosphere reserve, in general, a discrete parcel of terrestrial, marine, or coastal ecosystems that is managed according to special regulations for the purpose of conserving habitats and biological communities within the context of highlighting how people live in balance with their environment.

life: The biosphere: In The Biosphere (1926) Vernadsky outlines his view of life as a major geological force. Living matter, Vernadsky contends, erodes, levels, transports, and chemically transforms surface rocks, minerals, and other features of Earth. If the biosphere is the place where life is found, the biota (or…

geochronology: Stages and zones: …to develop a number of subdivisions of the Tertiary of the Paris Basin based on the quantification of molluskan species count and duration. Lyell noted that of the various assemblages of marine mollusks found, those from rocks at the top of the succession contained a large number of species that…

bioherm: …not moundlike is called a biostrome. Bioherms and biostromes occur in sedimentary rock strata of all geological ages, providing definitive information on paleoenvironments in the vicinity of their occurrence.

anabolism, the sequences of enzyme-catalyzed reactions by which relatively complex molecules are formed in living cells from nutrients with relatively simple structures. Anabolic processes, which include the synthesis of such cell components as carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids, require energy in

British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the central Indian Ocean, established in 1965. Since 1976 it has been coterminous with the Chagos Archipelago. Lying at the centre of the Indian Ocean region and out of the path of cyclonic storms, the territory is

Jean-Baptiste Biot was a French physicist who helped formulate the Biot-Savart law, which concerns magnetic fields, and laid the basis for saccharimetry, a useful technique of analyzing sugar solutions. Educated at the École Polytechnique, Biot was appointed professor of mathematics at the

Biot-Savart law, in physics, a fundamental quantitative relationship between an electric current I and the magnetic field B it produces, based on the experiments in 1820 of the French scientists Jean-Baptiste Biot and Félix Savart. A current in a loop produces magnetic field lines B that form loops

biogeography: …in the average composition of flora and fauna. It is thought that the present-day distribution patterns of plant and animal forms, as reflected in such biogeographic regions, are the result of many historical and current causes. These causes include present climatic and geographic conditions, the geologic history of the landmasses…

biotechnology, the use of biology to solve problems and make useful products. The most prominent area of biotechnology is the production of therapeutic proteins and other drugs through genetic engineering. People have been harnessing biological processes to improve their quality of life for some

ecology: Methods in ecology: Biotelemetry and other electronic tracking equipment, which allow the movements and behaviour of free-ranging organisms to be followed remotely, can provide rapid sampling of populations. Radioisotopes are used for tracing the pathways of nutrients through ecosystems, for determining the time and extent of transfer of…

ecoterrorism: …of terrorism, also known as bioterrorism, includes, for example, threats to contaminate water supplies or to destroy or disable energy utilities, as well as practices such as the deployment of anthrax or other biological agents.

angiosperm: Distribution and abundance: …and their almost complete worldwide distribution. The only area without angiosperms is the southern region of the Antarctic continent, although two angiosperm groups are found in the islands off that continent. Angiosperms dominate terrestrial vegetation, particularly in the tropics, although submerged and floating aquatic angiosperms do exist throughout the world.…

community ecology: Guilds and interaction webs: Most communities contain groups of species known as guilds, which exploit the same kinds of resources in comparable ways. The name “guild” emphasizes the fact that these groups are like associations of craftsmen who employ similar techniques in plying their trade. Guilds may…

biotic potential, the maximum reproductive capacity of an organism under optimum environmental conditions. It is often expressed as a proportional or percentage increase per year, as in the statement “The human population increased by 3 percent last year.” It can also be expressed as the time it

biogeographic region: Endemism: …can be quantified using Jaccard’s coefficient of biotic similarity, which is determined by the equation:

biotin, water-soluble, nitrogen-containing acid essential for growth and well-being in animals and some microorganisms. Biotin is a member of the B complex of vitamins. It functions in the formation and metabolism of fats and carbohydrates. A relatively stable substance, it is widely distributed in

biotite, a silicate mineral in the common mica group. It is abundant in metamorphic rocks (both regional and contact), in pegmatites, and also in granites and other intrusive igneous rocks. For chemical formula and detailed physical properties, see mica (table). Biotite is regarded as a mixture

toxin, any substance poisonous to an organism. The term is sometimes restricted to poisons spontaneously produced by living organisms (biotoxins). Besides the poisons produced by such microorganisms as bacteria, dinoflagellates, and algae, there are toxins from fungi (mycotoxins), higher plants

poison: Biotransformation: Biotransformation, sometimes referred to as metabolism, is the structural modification of a chemical by enzymes in the body. Chemicals are biotransformed in several organs, including the liver, kidneys, lungs, skin, intestines, and placenta, with the liver being the most important. Chemicals absorbed in the…

Cambrian Period: Fauna: …fossils indicates changes in Cambrian bioturbation, the churning and stirring of seafloor sediment by animal forms. Late Precambrian (Ediacaran) trace fossils from around the world are essentially surface trails that show little evidence of sediment burrowing. Quantitative study in the western United States has shown that a significant increase in…

Adolfo Bioy Casares was an Argentine writer and editor, known both for his own work and for his collaborations with Jorge Luis Borges. His elegantly constructed works are oriented toward metaphysical possibilities and employ the fantastic to achieve their meanings. Born into a wealthy family, Bioy

biozone, stratigraphic unit consisting of all the strata containing a particular fossil and, hence, deposited during its existence. The extent of the unit in a particular place, on the local stratigraphic range of the fossil plant or animal involved, is called a teilzone. The geological time units

pipa: …the contemporary pipa is the quxiang (“curved-neck”) pipa, which traveled from Persia by way of the Silk Road and reached western China in the 4th century ad. It had a pear-shaped wooden body with two crescent-shaped sound holes, a curved neck, four strings, and four frets. In performance it was…

Barack Obama: Spring scandals and summer challenges: …the Senate had passed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, based on a compromise that replaced the bulk of the automatic spending cuts required by sequestration with targeted cuts and raised discretionary spending (divided evenly between military and nonmilitary funding). The resulting budget was intended to last through the 2014…

Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), U.S. legislation that was the first major amendment of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) since the extensive 1974 amendments that followed the Watergate scandal. The primary purpose of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) was to

Joe Biden: Presidency: …the Senate passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, a drastically scaled-back ($550 billion) version of a wide-ranging infrastructure plan announced by Biden in March. Its smaller scale was made necessary by objections from Republicans and conservative Democrats to spending levels, tax increases on corporations and the wealthy, and…

marine ecosystem: Distribution and dispersal: …many marine organisms is a bipartite life cycle, which can affect the dispersal of an organism. Most animals found on soft and hard substrata, such as lobsters (see Figure 4), crabs, barnacles, fish, polychaete worms, and sea urchins, spend their larval phase in the plankton and in this phase are…

mammal: The female tract: Carnivores have a bipartite uterus, in which the horns are largely separate but enter the vagina by a single cervix. In the bicornate uterus, typical of many ungulates, the horns are distinct for less than half their length; the lower part of the uterus is a common chamber,…

bipedalism, a major type of locomotion, involving movement on two feet. The order Primates possesses some degree of bipedal ability. All primates sit upright. Many stand upright without supporting their body weight by their arms, and some, especially the apes, actually walk upright for short

lizard: Annotated classification: Amphisbaenia Family Bipedidae (two-legged worm lizards) Worm lizards with front limbs that are molelike. 1 genus, Bipes, is known and contains 3 species. Restricted to western Mexico and Baja California. Family Amphisbaenidae (worm lizards) Limbless, wormlike lizards that are found through much of the tropical world but are…

Peter Seeberg: …first book appeared in 1956, Bipersonerne (“Secondary Characters”), a novel about a collective of foreign workers in Berlin toward the end of World War II. These workers inhabit an unreal world, a film studio, at an unreal time, and their alienation gradually becomes symbolic of the human condition in general.…

biphenyl, an aromatic hydrocarbon, used alone or with diphenyl ether as a heat-transfer fluid; chemical formula, C6H5C6H5. It may be isolated from coal tar; in the United States, it is manufactured on a large scale by the thermal dehydrogenation of benzene. Biphenyl is slightly less reactive

coleopteran: Annotated classification: Family Biphyllidae (false skin beetle) About 200 species; mostly tropical; example Biphyllus. Family Byturidae (fruitworm beetles) Small, hairy; few genera; damage raspberry blossoms and fruit; example Byturus. Family Cerylonidae