anatomist: A scientist who studies the organs and tissues of animals (including humans). They may characterize the body or its parts on the basis of structure, function or even genetics.
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.
bond: (in chemistry) A semi-permanent attachment between atoms — or groups of atoms — in a molecule. It’s formed by an attractive force between the participating atoms. Once bonded, the atoms will work as a unit. To separate the component atoms, energy must be supplied to the molecule as heat or some other type of radiation.
carcass: The body of a dead animal.
chemical: A substance formed from two or more atoms that unite (bond) in a fixed proportion and structure. For example, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to one oxygen atom. Its chemical formula is H2O. Chemical also can be an adjective to describe properties of materials that are the result of various reactions between different compounds.
customs: (in regulation) This is the term for a government office that reviews goods leaving one country and coming into another. There often is a tax — call a duty — that importers or exporters must pay to bring these goods into a nation. But not all good can be imported or exported. Laws often ban the movement across borders of special goods (such as an endangered species or technology that can be used for spying). Customs agents will be on the lookout for such contraband crossing national borders and confiscate any that they find.
database: An organized collection of related data.
endangered: An adjective used to describe species at risk of going extinct.
extinct: An adjective that describes a species for which there are no living members.
extinction: The permanent loss of a species, family or larger group of organisms.
global warming: The gradual increase in the overall temperature of Earth’s atmosphere due to the greenhouse effect. This effect is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons and other gases in the air, many of them released by human activity.
ivory: The hard, cream-colored substance that makes up the tusk of any of several animals, including an elephant, narwhal or walrus.
laser: A device that generates an intense beam of coherent light of a single color. Lasers are used in drilling and cutting, alignment and guidance, in data storage and in surgery.
mammal: A warm-blooded animal distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, the secretion of milk by females for feeding their young, and (typically) the bearing of live young.
materials scientist: A researcher who studies how the atomic and molecular structure of a material is related to its overall properties. Materials scientists can design new materials or analyze existing ones. Their analyses of a material’s overall properties (such as density, strength and melting point) can help engineers and other researchers select materials that are best suited to a new application.
permafrost: Soil that remains frozen for at least two consecutive years. Such conditions typically occur in polar climates, where average annual temperatures remain close to or below freezing.
poach: (in ecology) To illegally hunt and take a wild animal or plant. People who do this are referred to as poachers.
population: (in biology) A group of individuals (belonging to the same species) that lives in a given area.
prehistoric: An adjective for something that happened tens of thousands to millions of years ago, periods before people began deliberately recording events.
Raman spectroscopy: A tool that helps provide what is effectively a fingerprint of the chemicals present in some sample.
Siberia: A region in northern Asia, almost all of which falls within Russia. This land takes its name from the language of the Tatar people, where Siber means sleeping land. This region is vast. It has become famous for its long, harsh winters, where temperatures can fall to −68° Celsius (−90° Fahrenheit).
software: The mathematical instructions that direct a computer’s hardware, including its processor, to perform certain operations.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
sperm whale: A species of enormous whale with small eyes and a small jaw in a squarish head that takes up 40 percent of its body. Their bodies can span 13 to 18 meters (43 to 60 feet), with adult males being at the bigger end of that range. These are the deepest diving of marine mammals, reaching depths of 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) or more. They can stay below the water for up to an hour at a time in search of food, mostly giant squids.