Judaism: Pilgrim Festivals: …to non-Jews before Passover (mekhirat ḥametz), repurchasing the foodstuffs immediately after the holiday.

Mechitarist, member of the Congregation of Benedictine Armenian Antonine Monks, a Roman Catholic congregation of monks that is widely recognized for its contribution to the renaissance of Armenian philology, literature, and culture early in the 19th century and particularly for the publication of

Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje: His classic work Mekka, 2 vol. (1888–89), reconstructs the history of the holy city and sheds light on the origins of Islam, early traditions and practices, and the first Islamic communities. The second volume, translated into English as Mekka in the Latter Part of the 19th Century (1931),…

Taza: …by Imazighen (Berbers) of the Meknassa group (about the time of the late 7th-century Arab-Muslim conquest), who gave alliance to the Idrīsid dynasty in 790 and later joined with the Fāṭimids of Al-Qayrawān. The Almoravids took over Taza in 1074 and were replaced by the Almohads in 1132. In 1248…

Meknès, city, north-central Morocco. It lies about 70 miles (110 km) from the Atlantic Ocean and 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Fès. One of Morocco’s four imperial cities, it was founded in the 10th century by the Zanātah tribe of the Meknassa Imazighen (Berbers) as Meknassa al-Zaytūn (“Meknès of

Meknès, city, north-central Morocco. It lies about 70 miles (110 km) from the Atlantic Ocean and 36 miles (58 km) southwest of Fès. One of Morocco’s four imperial cities, it was founded in the 10th century by the Zanātah tribe of the Meknassa Imazighen (Berbers) as Meknassa al-Zaytūn (“Meknès of

Mekong River: Irrigation and flood control: …under the auspices of the Interim Committee for Coordination of Investigations of the Lower Mekong Basin (Mekong Committee), organized in 1957 by Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and South Vietnam. (After 1975 Vietnam replaced South Vietnam on the committee, and Cambodia ceased to participate, although Cambodia has resumed membership since 1991.) The…

Apichatpong Weerasethakul: Weerasethakul’s later feature films included Mekong Hotel (2012) and Rak ti Khon Kaen (2015; Cemetery of Splendor). He also directed a segment in Ten Years Thailand (2018).

Mekong River, river that is the longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world. It has a length of about 2,700 miles (4,350 km). Rising in southeastern Qinghai province, China, it flows through the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan

Southeast Sulawesi: Geography: Mekongga mountains are parallel ranges in the northwestern part of the province; the latter rises to an elevation of 9,117 feet (2,779 metres) at Mount Mekongga, a volcanic peak. Rift valleys with steep sides are common. The low-lying eastern and western coastal margins are comparably…

Mekong River, river that is the longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world. It has a length of about 2,700 miles (4,350 km). Rising in southeastern Qinghai province, China, it flows through the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan

the Mekons: …as Fear and Whiskey (1985), The Mekons Rock’n’Roll (1989), Curse of the Mekons (1991), and I Love Mekons (1993), featuring songs informed by leftist political sentiments and laced with sardonic humour. The Mekons (some of whom relocated to the United States) continued to record and perform into the 21st century,…

the Mekons, British rock group that exemplified punk rock’s do-it-yourself ethos. Principal members were Jon Langford (b. October 11, 1957, Newport, Gwent [now in Newport], Wales), Tom Greenhalgh (b. November 4, 1956, Stockholm, Sweden), Sally Timms (b. November 29, 1959, Leeds, West Yorkshire,

Makrān, division of Balochistān province, Pakistan. Administratively it comprises Turbat, Gwādar, and Panjgūr districts and has an area of 23,460 sq mi (60,761 sq km). It is bounded by the Siāhān range (north), which separates it from Khārān district, by Kalāt and Las Bela districts (east), the

Makran, coastal region of Baluchistan in southeastern Iran and southwestern Pakistan, constituting the Makran Coast, a 600-mi (1,000-km) stretch along the Gulf of Oman from Raʾs (cape) al-Kūh, Iran (west of Jask), to Lasbela District, Pakistan (near Karāchi). The name is applied to a former

Mekri carpet, floor covering handwoven in the Turkish town of Mekri (modern Fethiye), noted for its unusual prayer rugs. They are sometimes called Rhodes carpets, even though there is no evidence that carpets were ever made on that island. Mekri carpets are mainly small prayer rugs that have two

Spice Girls: …England), Scary Spice (byname of Melanie Janine Brown; b. May 29, 1975, Yorkshire, England), and Baby Spice (byname of Emma Lee Bunton; b. January 21, 1976, London, England).

Spice Girls: …England), Sporty Spice (byname of Melanie Jayne Chisholm; b. January 12, 1974, Liverpool, England), Posh Spice (byname of Victoria Adams [later Victoria Beckham]; b. April 7, 1975, Hertfordshire, England), Scary Spice (byname of Melanie Janine Brown; b. May 29, 1975, Yorkshire, England), and Baby Spice (byname of Emma Lee Bunton;…

Liberia: Ethnic groups and languages: Kwa, and Mel (southern Atlantic). The Mande are located in the northwest and central regions of Liberia and also in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Prominent among them are the Vai, who invented their own alphabet and who, in addition, use Arabic and English; the Kpelle,…

South Asian arts: Theoretical developments: These scales were called mela in the South and mela or thata in the North.

Ganges River: People: …where a bathing festival, or mela, is held in January and February; during the ceremony hundreds of thousands of pilgrims immerse themselves in the river. Other holy places for immersion are at Varanasi and at Haridwar. The Hugli River at Kolkata also is regarded as holy.

Pomponius Mela was the author of the only ancient treatise on geography in classical Latin, De situ orbis (“A Description of the World”), also known as De chorographia (“Concerning Chorography”). Written about 43 or 44 ce, it remained influential until the beginning of the age of exploration, 13

tenorite, copper oxide mineral (CuO) found as gray-to-black metallic crystals as a sublimation product on lavas. Melaconite, the massive variety, is common as earthy deposits in the oxidized zone of copper lodes. Crystals of tenorite have been identified at Mount Vesuvius and Mount Etna, Italy, and

tintype, positive photograph produced by applying a collodion-nitrocellulose solution to a thin, black-enameled metal plate immediately before exposure. The tintype, introduced in the mid-19th century, was essentially a variation on the ambrotype, which was a unique image made on glass, instead of

Indonesia: Muslim kingdoms of northern Sumatra: …to the better-protected harbour of Malacca on the southwest coast of the Malay Peninsula. Javanese middlemen, converging on Malacca, ensured the harbour’s importance.

Melaka, town and port, Peninsular (West) Malaysia, on the Strait of Malacca, at the mouth of the sluggish Melaka River. The city was founded about 1400, when Paramesvara, the ruler of Tumasik (now Singapore), fled from the forces of the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit and found refuge at the site,

books of Kings, two books of the Hebrew Bible or the Protestant Old Testament that, together with Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and 1 and 2 Samuel, belong to the group of historical books (Deuteronomic history) written during the Babylonian Exile (c. 550 bc) of the Jews. (In most Roman Catholic

paperbark tree, any of several small trees belonging to the genus Melaleuca, in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), characterized by their whitish papery bark. They are native to Australia and nearby islands. Melaleuca quinquenervia, also called punk tree and tea tree, grows to a height of 8 metres (25

tea tree oil: …essential oil derived from the tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia), a species of tall shrub or tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) originally native to the Bungawalbin Valley in New South Wales, eastern Australia. Tea tree oil historically was used by Australian Aboriginal peoples in herbal remedies. Today, it is commonly…

tree: Tree bark: …bark of the punk, or cajeput, tree (Melaleuca leucadendron). Other types of bark include the commercial cork of the cork oak (Quercus suber) and the rugged, fissured outer coat of many other oaks; the flaking, patchy-coloured barks of sycamores (Platanus) and the lacebark pine (Pinus bungeana); and the rough

tea tree oil, essential oil derived from the tea tree (Melaleuca alternifolia), a species of tall shrub or tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae) originally native to the Bungawalbin Valley in New South Wales, eastern Australia. Tea tree oil historically was used by Australian Aboriginal peoples in

paperbark tree: Melaleuca quinquenervia, also called punk tree and tea tree, grows to a height of 8 metres (25 feet); it has spongy white bark that peels off in thin layers. M. leucadendron, also called river tea tree, is sometimes confused with the former; its leaves provide cajeput oil, used for…

Zambezi River: Physiography: …Inhamissengo River and the smaller Melambe River. North of the main delta the Chinde River separates from the Zambezi’s main stream to form a navigable channel leading to a shallow harbour.

Vitaly Komar and Alex Melamid: Komar and Melamid both grew up in Moscow. Their educations followed the same path: they attended the Moscow Art School from 1958 to 1960 and then the Stroganov Institute of Art and Design, where they began their collaborative work. Rather than following the dictates of Socialist Realism,…

melamine, a colourless crystalline substance belonging to the family of heterocyclic organic compounds, which are used principally as a starting material for the manufacture of synthetic resins. Melamine is rich in nitrogen, a property that is similar to protein. Melamine can be manufactured from

melamine-formaldehyde resin, any of a class of synthetic resins obtained by chemical combination of melamine (a crystalline solid derived from urea) and formaldehyde (a highly reactive gas obtained from methane). A complex, interlinked polymer that cures to a clear, hard, chemically resistant

melamine-formaldehyde resin, any of a class of synthetic resins obtained by chemical combination of melamine (a crystalline solid derived from urea) and formaldehyde (a highly reactive gas obtained from methane). A complex, interlinked polymer that cures to a clear, hard, chemically resistant

community ecology: Gene-for-gene coevolution: …wild flax (Linum marginale) and flax rust (Melampsora lini) in Australia. Local populations of flax plants and flax rust harbour multiple matching genes for resistance and avirulence. The number of genes and their frequency within local populations fluctuate greatly over time as coevolution continues. In small populations, the resistance genes…

Melampus, in Greek mythology, a seer known for his ability to understand the language of animals. The Bibliothēke (“Library”) erroneously attributed to Apollodorus of Athens relates that Melampus received his supernatural abilities from two snakes that he raised after their parents had been killed

bridge: Suspension bridges: …1888 by the Austrian academic Josef Melan, deflection theory explains how deck and cables deflect together under gravity loads, so that, as spans become longer and the suspended structure heavier, the required stiffness of the deck actually decreases. Deflection theory especially influenced design in the 1930s, as engineers attempted to…

Malaysia: Sarawak: …the traditional territory of the Melanau. The Melanau are especially known for their production of starch from the sago palms that surround their villages. Culturally and linguistically linked to certain inland peoples to the southeast, the Melanau purportedly moved to the coast from the interior centuries ago. The dialects of…

melancholia, formerly the psychological condition known as depression. The term now refers to extreme features of depression, especially the failure to take pleasure in

Lars von Trier: …couple’s relationship, and the haunting Melancholia (2011), in which a chaotic wedding and attendant familial discord are set against a planet’s impending collision with Earth. His next film, Nymphomaniac, was released in two volumes (2013). It chronicled the carnal activities of a single woman—played by several actresses at different ages—from…

humour: …sanguis, “blood”), phlegmatic, choleric, or melancholic. Each complexion had specific characteristics, and the words carried much weight that they have since lost: e.g., the choleric man was not only quick to anger but also yellow-faced, lean, hairy, proud, ambitious, revengeful, and shrewd. By extension, “humour” in the 16th century came…

humour: … (yellow bile), and melancholy (black bile); the variant mixtures of these humours in different persons determined their “complexions,” or “temperaments,” their physical and mental qualities, and their dispositions. The ideal person had the ideally proportioned mixture of the four; a predominance of one produced a person who was sanguine…

Julia O’Faolain: …Man in the Cellar (1974), Melancholy Baby (1978), and Daughters of Passion (1982). O’Faolain’s novel Godded and Codded (1970; also published as Three Lovers) concerns a young Irish woman’s sexual adventures in Paris. O’Faolain probed women’s roles in Women in the Wall (1975), a fictional account of Queen Radegund, who…

Philipp Melanchthon was a German author of the Augsburg Confession of the Lutheran church (1530), humanist, reformer, theologian, and educator. He was a friend of Martin Luther and defended his views. In 1521 Melanchthon published the Loci communes, the first systematic treatment of the new

Albrecht Dürer: Development after the second Italian trip: Jerome in His Study, and Melencolia I—all of approximately the same size, about 24.5 by 19.1 cm (9.5 by 7.5 inches). The extensive, complex, and often contradictory literature concerning these three engravings deals largely with their enigmatic, allusive, iconographic details. Although repeatedly contested, it probably must be accepted that the…

Caravaggio: Successful artist and criminal: …Rome’s prostitutes and courtesans, notably Fillide Melandroni, a woman from Siena who served as his model for a number of pictures painted in the late 1590s: Martha and Mary Magdalene; the startlingly sadistic-erotic Judith Beheading Holofernes, in which she saws at the neck of the tyrant with her sword in…

coleopteran: Annotated classification: Family Melandryidae (false darkling beetles) Usually found under bark or logs; examples Penthe, Osphya; about 400 species in woodlands of temperate regions. Family Meloidae (blister beetles, oil beetles) Body fluids contain cantharadin, sometimes used as a drug (Lytta); several important plant pests (

woodpecker: …eat insects, but some (especially Melanerpes species) feed on fruits and berries, and sapsuckers regularly feed on sap from certain trees in some seasons. In spring the loud calls of woodpeckers, often augmented by drumming on hollow wood or occasionally on metal, are the sounds of males holding territories; at…

piciform: Reproduction: …11 different adults of the yellow-tufted woodpecker (M. cruentatus) were observed feeding young in three different nests in eastern Peru. Some of the adults fed young in two and even in all three nests. Andean flickers nest in loose colonies in banks and may be seen in groups of 10…

woodpecker: The red-headed woodpecker (M. erythrocephalus) is roughly the same size (19–23 cm [7.5–9 inches]) as the acorn woodpecker, but it is sparsely distributed in open woodlands, farmland, and orchards of temperate North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

woodpecker: The acorn woodpecker (M. formicivorus) is about 20 cm (8 inches) long and is found from the deciduous woodlands of western North America south to Colombia. It depends on acorns for winter food, storing a supply in holes it drills in the bark of trees. The…

Melanesian culture, the beliefs and practices of the indigenous peoples of the ethnogeographic group of Pacific Islands known as Melanesia. From northwest to southeast, the islands form an arc that begins with New Guinea (the western half of which is called Papua and is part of Indonesia, and the

Melanesian languages, languages belonging to the Eastern, or Oceanic, branch of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family and spoken in the islands of Melanesia. The Melanesian languages, of which there are about 400, are most closely related to the languages of Micronesia and Polynesia;

Melanesian pidgins, English-based pidgins that are used widely in Melanesia; in some areas they have evolved into expanded pidgins, having become local vernaculars comparable to the creoles spoken in the Caribbean and around the Indian Ocean. Although some linguists once characterized this part of

Melanesian pidgins, English-based pidgins that are used widely in Melanesia; in some areas they have evolved into expanded pidgins, having become local vernaculars comparable to the creoles spoken in the Caribbean and around the Indian Ocean. Although some linguists once characterized this part of

C.G. Seligman: His work The Melanesians of British New Guinea (1910) remains a basic source. Covering every important aspect of tribal life, it formed the basis for later work by the eminent British anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski.

R.H. Codrington: Codrington’s ethnographic work, The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folklore (1891), deals at length with the concepts of mana, magic, and related phenomena, and with social structure and secret societies.

Hans Conon von der Gabelentz: …time he was preparing Die melanesischen Sprachen . . . (1860–73; “The Melanesian Languages . . .”), dealing with the languages of the Fiji, New Hebrides, and other islands of the southwestern Pacific and showing their relation to Indonesian and Polynesian. He reputedly knew 80 languages, 30 of which he…

melanin, a dark biological pigment (biochrome) occurring in the skin, hair, feathers, scales, eyes, and some internal membranes of humans and other animals. Melanin is formed as an end product during metabolism of the amino acid tyrosine. The pigment is conspicuous in dark skin moles of humans; in

andradite: …a black colour, as in melanite. Andradite is typically found with grossular in contact-metamorphosed limestone. For details of chemistry and occurrence, see garnet.

scoter, (genus Melanitta), any of three species of sea duck of the family Anatidae. Within the divisions of true duck species, the scoter belongs in the diving duck group. Scoters are good swimmers and divers and are mainly marine except during the breeding season. The males are generally shiny

scoter: The white-winged, or velvet, scoter (M. deglandi, or fusca) is nearly circumpolar in distribution north of the Equator, as is the black, or common, scoter (M., or sometimes Oidemia, nigra). The black scoter is the least abundant in the New World. All three species of scoter…

scoter: The white-winged, or velvet, scoter (M. deglandi, or fusca) is nearly circumpolar in distribution north of the Equator, as is the black, or common, scoter (M., or sometimes Oidemia, nigra). The black scoter is the least abundant in the New World. All three species of scoter…

scoter: The black scoter is the least abundant in the New World. All three species of scoter feed mainly on marine animals such as clams; only about 10 percent of their diet is plant material. The three species may be seen feeding in mixed flocks.

scoter: The surf scoter (Melanitta perspicillata) of North America breeds in the boreal forests and tundra of Canada and Alaska. It winters on coasts from Nova Scotia to Florida in the east and from the Aleutian Islands to southern California in the west. The white-winged, or velvet,…

frog and toad: Annotated classification: …archipelago, Philippines, and Ryukyu Islands), Melanobatrachinae (east-central Africa, India), Phrynomerinae (Africa), and Otophryninae (South America). Family Ranidae (true frogs) Miocene to present; 8 presacral vertebrae; vertebral column diplasiocoelous (mixed amphicoelous and procoelous); intercalary cartilages present or absent;

passeriform: Annotated classification: Family Melanocharitidae (berry-peckers) Small to medium-sized songbirds, 9–21 cm (3.5–8 inches), of uncertain affinities. Colours vary from drab olive to dramatic blue and gray with yellow, or yellow and black. Sexually dimorphic. Resemble small honeyeaters in general behaviour. Hover-glean small fruits and invertebrates. Some with small,…

igneous rock: Mineralogical components: …minerals are said to be melanocratic. These terms can be applied to the rocks, depending on the relative proportion of each type of mineral present. In this regard, the term colour index, which refers to the total percentage of the rock occupied by mafic minerals, is useful. Felsic rocks have…

melanocyte, specialized skin cell that produces the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. Birds and mammals possess these pigment cells, which are found mainly in the epidermis, though they occur elsewhere—e.g., in the matrix of the hair. Melanocytes are branched, or dendritic, and their

melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), any of several peptides derived from a protein known as proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and secreted primarily by the pituitary gland. In most vertebrates, melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) peptides are secreted specifically by the intermediate lobe of the

haddock, (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), valuable North Atlantic food fish of the cod family, Gadidae, that is often smoked and sold as “finnan haddie.” The haddock is a bottom dweller and a carnivore, feeding on invertebrates and some fishes. It resembles the cod and, like its relative, has a chin

assassin bug: Predatory behaviour: The black corsair (Melanolestes picipes), a black-coloured insect about 13 to 20 mm (0.5 to 0.8 inch) long and usually found under stones and bark, can inflict painful bites on humans. The masked hunter (or masked bedbug hunter; Reduvius personatus), when threatened, will also bite humans,…

melanoma, a spreading and frequently recurring cancer of melanocytes, specialized skin cells that produce the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. Since 2020, more than 325,000 new melanoma cases have been diagnosed worldwide each year. In the United States melanoma represents nearly 5

rice rat: …including arboreal rice rats (Oecomys), dark rice rats (Melanomys), small rice rats (Microryzomys), and pygmy rice rats (Oligoryzomys), among others. All belong to the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the “true” mouse and rat family Muridae within the order Rodentia.

silica mineral: Melanophlogite: Melanophlogite is a tetragonal or cubic silica mineral with a gas-hydrate structure containing many large voids. In nature these are filled with 6 to 12 percent by weight of compounds of hydrogen, carbon, and sulfur, which may be necessary for mineral growth. If these…

chromatophore: …their pigment, chromatophores are termed melanophores (black), erythrophores (red), xanthophores (yellow), or leucophores (white). The distribution of the chromatophores and the pigments they contain determine the colour patterns of an organism.

heron: …typical herons also include the black heron, Hydranassa (or Melanophoyx) ardesiaca, of Africa, and several species of the genus Egretta (egrets), such as the tricoloured heron (E. tricolor), of the southeastern United States and Central and South America, and the little blue heron (E. caerulea). The green heron (Butorides

toad: When molested, the small poisonous Melanophryniscus stelzneri of Uruguay bends its head and limbs over its body to display its bright orange hands and feet. This position may be a method of warning the intruder of the toxicity of the toad.

Apiales: Other families: …species in western Malesia; and Melanophylla, with seven species in Madagascar. Myodocarpaceae has 19 species in two genera, Delarbrea and Myodocarpus, all of which are located in New Caledonia.

short-horned grasshopper: Major genera and species: Melanoplus, the largest short-horned grasshopper genus, contains many of the most common and destructive grasshoppers of North America. These include the Rocky Mountain grasshopper or locust (M. spretus), the migratory grasshopper (M. sanguinipes), the two-striped grasshopper (M. bivittatus), and the red-legged grasshopper (M. femurrubrum).

locust: The Rocky Mountain locust and the migratory grasshopper (Melanoplus spretus and M. sanguinipes, respectively) destroyed many prairie farms in Canada and the United States in the 1870s. Many other species occasionally increase sufficiently in numbers to be called plagues.

gastropod: Classification: of families (Thiaridae, Pleuroceridae, Melanopsidae) especially abundant and varied in the Tennessee and Alabama river systems; 13 marine families, including worm shells (Vermetidae), horn shells (Potamididae), and button shells (Modulidae). Superfamily Strombacea Foot and operculum greatly modified and move with a lurching

catbird: The black catbird (Melanoptila glabrirostris) is found in coastal Yucatán.

fungus: Annotated classification: Order Melanosporales Mycoparasitic or saprotrophic; asci evanescent and unitunicate; perithecial or cleistothecial ascomata; included in subclass Hypocreomycetidae; example genus is Melanospora. Order Microascales Parasitic on plants; asci evanescent (quickly deteriorating), borne at different levels in perithecia with ostioles, or sometimes with a

scaleless dragonfish, any of the more than 180 species of marine fishes constituting the subfamily Melanostomiinae of the family Stomiidae (order Stomiiformes), with representatives inhabiting tropical regions of the major oceans. The name refers to the total absence of scales and the fierce

caiman: yacare) caimans; Melanosuchus, with the black caiman (M. niger); and Paleosuchus, with two species (P. trigonatus and P. palpebrosus) known as smooth-fronted caimans.

black caiman, (Melanosuchus niger), large caiman species best known as being the largest predator in the Amazon River basin and the largest member of the alligator family (Alligatoridae). The species is found in wetlands, flooded savannas, rivers, and other freshwater environments in northern South

mockingbird: …America to Patagonia, and the blue mockingbird (Melanotis) inhabits much of Mexico. The Galapagos mockingbird (Nesomimus) has various races or subspecies on the different islands, showing an adaptive radiation similar to, but not as extreme as, that found in the Galapagos finch.

melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH), any of several peptides derived from a protein known as proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and secreted primarily by the pituitary gland. In most vertebrates, melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) peptides are secreted specifically by the intermediate lobe of the

Codrus: …Codrus was the son of Melanthus of Pylos, who went to Attica as a refugee from the Dorian invaders (11th century bc). By defeating the Athenians’ enemies, the Boeotians, Melanthus won acceptance as king of Athens. After Codrus succeeded to his father’s throne, Attica was invaded by the Dorians. The…

melarsoprol, antiprotozoal drug formerly used in the treatment of late-stage African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness). Melarsoprol is an organoarsenic compound that was discovered in 1949. Its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier made it particularly effective against late-stage Gambian (or

Melas carpet, floor covering handwoven in the neighbourhood of Milâs (Melas) on the Aegean coast of southwestern Turkey. Normally of small size and dating from the 19th century, Melas carpets have unusually wide borders in relation to their narrow fields. In the prayer rugs the arch (which

shrew rat: Natural history: …earthworms at night, and the lesser Sulawesian shrew rat (Melasmothrix naso) exploits the same resource during the day.

Myrtales: Family distributions and abundance: Melastomataceae contains more than 4,960 species in 188 genera. Its members are found along the entire humid tropical belt but are most diverse in the New World, where two-thirds of the species are found. Its largest genus and one of the largest in the flowering…

melatonin, hormone secreted by the pineal gland, a tiny endocrine gland situated at the center of the brain. Melatonin was first isolated in 1958 by American physician Aaron B. Lerner and his colleagues at Yale University School of Medicine. They gave the substance its name on the basis of its

Brunei: Sultanate: …sultan encouraged Bruneians to adopt Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB; “Malay Islamic Monarchy”), the country’s official ideology. The movement, which celebrated traditional Bruneian values and called for more rigid adherence to traditional Islamic principles, was viewed with anxiety by non-Muslims, particularly members of the Chinese community. Nevertheless, for much of the…

Rhoma Irama: …focusing especially on the so-called Melayu music (also called orkes Melayu, literally “Malay orchestra”), a genre associated particularly with the urban areas of northern and western Sumatra. Melayu music was in itself a syncretic genre that drew heavily from the melodic style and instrumentation of Indian and Malaysian film music…