Science terms starting with M

758 terms

  1. monolayer A single layer of cells growing on a surface.
  2. monolignols The building blocks of lignin that undergo polymerization.
  3. Monolithic Fabricated as a single structure.
  4. monomer (MAH-nuh-mer) A molecule that can join with other identical monomers to form a larger structure called a polymer.
  5. Monomictic Lakes and reservoirs which are relatively deep, do not freeze over, and undergo a single stratification and mixing cycle during the year.
  6. monomorphic Absence of variation for a marker, gene, chromosome, or genetically determined trait in a population.
  7. Mononucleocyte A cell containing a single nucleus. Generally refers to a white blood cell.
  8. monophyletic A group of organisms that are assumed to have originated from the same ancestor.
  9. monoploid See: haploid.
  10. monosaccharide A simple sugar (e.g. glucose, fructose). See:.
  11. monosomic A form of aneuploidy in which a diploid organism lacks one member of a homologous chromosome pair.
  12. Monosomy Possessing only one copy of a particular chromosome instead of the normal two copies. See also cell, chromosome, trisomy
  13. Monostatic Radar A radar that uses a common antenna for both transmitting and receiving.
  14. monozygotic twin One of a pair of twins derived from a single fertilized egg. Synonym: identical twin.
  15. Monsoon A thermally driven wind arising from differential heating between a land mass and the adjacent ocean that reverses its direction seasonally.
  16. Montane The highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures, and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent…
  17. Monthly Climatological Report This climatological product is issued once a month by each National Weather Service office. It is a mix of tabular and narrative information.
  18. Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer The Montreal Protocol and its amendments control the phaseout of ozone depleting substances production and use.
  19. Morbid map A diagram showing the chromosomal location of genes associated with disease.
  20. Morning Glory An elongated cloud band, visually similar to a roll cloud, usually appearing in the morning hours, when the atmosphere is relatively stable.
  21. Morning glory spillway A circular or glory hole form of a drop inlet spillway. Usually free standing in the reservoir and so called because of its resemblance to the morning…
  22. morphogen A substance that stimulates the development of form or structure in an organism.
  23. morphogenesis The development, through growth and differentiation, of form and structure in an organism.
  24. morphogenic response The effect on the developmental history of a plant or its parts exposed to a given set of growth conditions or to a change in the environment.
  25. Morphology (mor-FAH-loh-jee) The science of the form and structure of organisms (plants, animals, and other forms of life).
  26. Mortality The state of being mortal (destined to die). Mortality also refers to the death rate, or the number of deaths in a certain group of people in a certain…
  27. Mortar A stone bowl or bowl-shaped depression (such as in a rock) in which seeds, berries, nuts, meats, and other items are ground or pulverized with a pestle…
  28. Morula A solid mass of cells that resembles a mulberry and result from the cleavage of an ovum.
  29. MOS Model Output Statistics - the Hydrometeorological Center (HPC) produces a short range (6 to 60 hours) MOS guidance package generated from the NGM, GFS…
  30. Mosaic A web browser popular before the introduction of Netscape and Internet Explorer.
  31. Mosses Low-growing, nonvascular plants that are common to moist habitats.
  32. Mostly Clear When the 1/8th to 2/8ths of the sky is covered by with opaque (not transparent) clouds.
  33. Mostly Cloudy When the 6/8th to 7/8ths of the sky is covered by with opaque (not transparent) clouds. Same as Considerable Cloudiness .
  34. Mostly Sunny When the 1/8th to 2/8ths of the sky is covered by with opaque (not transparent) clouds Same as Mostly Clear, except only applicable during daylight hours.
  35. Mothballed capacity A power plant that is out-of-service, but is being maintained in such a condition that an operator can bring it back into service.
  36. mother plant See: donor plant.
  37. MOTIF A conserved sequence of nucleotides or amino acids that can be associated with some function of, respectively, a length of DNA or a protein.
  38. Motor In medicine, having to do with the movement of body parts.
  39. Motor efficiency The ratio of energy delivered by a motor to the energy supplied to it during a fixed period or cycle.
  40. Motor gasoline A complex mixture of relatively volatile hydrocarbons, with or without small quantities of additives, obtained by blending appropriate refinery streams to…
  41. Motor Speed The number of revolutions that the motor turns in a given time period (i.e. revolutions per minute, rpm).
  42. Mount Pinatubo A volcano in the Philippine Islands that erupted in 1991. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo ejected enough particulate and sulfate aerosol matter into the…
  43. Mount Wilson Magnetic Classifications In solar-terrestrial terms, a classification system for sunspots: Alpha: Denotes a unipolar sunspot group.
  44. Mountain Wave The wavelike effect, characterized by updrafts and downdrafts, that occurs above and behind a mountain range when rapidly flowing air encounters the…
  45. Mountain Wind System The system of diurnal winds that forms in a complex terrain area, consisting of mountain-plain, along-valley, cross-valley and slope wind systems.
  46. Mountain-Plain Wind System A closed, large-scale, thermally driven circulation between the mountains and the surrounding plain.
  47. Mountainado A vertical-axis eddy produced in a downslope windstorm by the vertical stretching of horizontal roll vortices produced near the ground by vertical wind…
  48. Mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) Mouse embryonic fibroblast cells are used as feeder cells when culturing pluripotent stem cells.
  49. mouse model The use of special strains of mice to study a human disease or condition, and how to prevent and treat it.
  50. MOV Move
  51. Movable Bed A stream bed made up of materials readily transportable by the stream flow.
  52. Movable genetic element (See Transposon.)
  53. Movable Insulation A device that reduces heat loss at night and during cloudy periods and heat gain during the day in warm weather.
  54. Moveable Bed Streams These are most common in the arid West, where steep slopes and lack of vegetation result in a lot of erosion.
  55. MOVG moving
  56. MR more
  57. MRF Medium Range Forecast model, the medium-range computer model run by the United States (NOAA).
  58. MRGL Marginal
  59. mRNA See Messenger RNA.
  60. MRNG Morning
  61. MRU Abbreviation for minimum recognition units. See: dAb.
  62. MS connectors Surface delays for use when shooting with detonating cord.
  63. mscf One thousand standard cubic feet.
  64. MSG Message
  65. MSL (Mean Sea Level) - The arithmetic mean of hourly water elevations observed over a specific 19-year tidal epoch.
  66. MSLP Mean sea level pressure
  67. MST Mountain Standard Time
  68. MSTLY Mostly
  69. MSTR Moisture
  70. MT Main Tank
  71. MTBE Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) is an ether compound used as a gasoline blending component to raise the oxygen content of gasoline.
  72. MTC (Massachusetts Technology Collaborative) MTC is the state's quasi-public development agency for renewable energy and the innovation economy, which is responsible for one-quarter of all jobs in…
  73. mtDNA Abbreviation for mitochondrial DNA.
  74. MTN Mountain
  75. MTNS Mountains
  76. MTS Mountains
  77. Muck Eight card decks used in Baccarat, 416 cards in total.
  78. Mud Generally, any soil containing enough water to make it soft. A mixture of soil and water in a fluid or weakly solid state.
  79. Mud Slide Fast moving soil, rocks and water that flow down mountain slopes and canyons during a heavy downpour of rain.
  80. Mudflat A mud-covered, gently sloping tract of land alternately covered and left bare by water. The muddy, nearly level bed of a dry lake.
  81. Mudstone Fine-grained sedimentary rock formed from hardened clay and silt that lacks the thin layers typical of shale.
  82. Muggy A subjective term for warm and excessively humid conditions.
  83. Mulch Material spread on the ground to reduce soil erosion and evaporation of water. Any substance spread or allowed to remain on the soil surface to conserve…
  84. MULI Most Unstable Lifted Index - Lifted Index (LI) calculated using a parcel from the pressure level that results in the Most Unstable value (lowest value) of…
  85. multi-copy Describing plasmids which replicate to produce many copies per host bacterial cell.
  86. Multi-locus probe A probe that hybridizes to a number of different sites in the genome of an organism. (See Probe.)
  87. Multi-stage pump A pump that has more than one impeller.
  88. Multi-Zone System A building heating, ventilation, and/or air conditioning system that distributes conditioned air to individual zones or rooms.
  89. Multicell Thunderstorm These thunderstorms are organized in clusters of at least 2-4 short-lived cells.
  90. Multifactorial or multigenic disorder See: polygenic disorder
  91. multigene family A set of genes (not necessarily mapping to the same genomic location) that are related in nucleotide sequence and/or that produce polypeptides with…
  92. multigenic Trait controlled by several genes, as opposed to monogenic. Synonym: polygenic.
  93. Multijunction Device A high-efficiency photovoltaic device containing two or more cell junctions, each of which is optimized for a particular part of the solar spectrum.
  94. Multijunction solar cell A photovoltaic device comprised of two or more semiconductor materials or cell junctions, each capable of producing electricity with the photovoltaic…
  95. multimer A protein made up of more than one polypeptide chain.
  96. multiple alleles The existence of more than two alleles at a locus in a population.
  97. multiple arbitrary amplicon profiling A collective term for a number of related polymerase chain reaction techniques, all of which use arbitrary primers, and which generate a number of…
  98. Multiple arch dam A buttress dam, the upstream part of which comprises a series of arches.
  99. multiple cloning site (Abbreviation: MCS). See: polylinker.
  100. Multiple Doppler Analysis The use of more than one radar (and hence more than one look angle) to reconstruct spatial distributions of the 2D or 3D wind field, which cannot be…