The Angénieux retrofocus photographic lens is a wide-angle lens design that uses an inverted telephoto configuration. The popularity of this lens design made the name retrofocus synonymous with this type of lens. The Angénieux retrofocus for still cameras was introduced in France in 1950 by Pierre Angénieux.
Friday, April 8, 2022
Thursday, April 7, 2022
Nucleotides
Nucleotides are organic molecules consisting of a nucleoside and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both of which are essential biomolecules within all life-forms on Earth. Nucleotides are obtained in the diet and are also synthesized from common nutrients by the liver.
Nucleotides are composed of three subunit molecules: a nucleobase, a five-carbon sugar (ribose or deoxyribose), and a phosphate group consisting of one to three phosphates. The four nucleobases in DNA are guanine, adenine, cytosine and thymine; in RNA, uracil is used in place of thymine.
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Homochirality
Homochirality is a uniformity of chirality, or handedness. Objects are chiral when they cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, the left and right hands of a human are approximately mirror images of each other but are not their own mirror images, so they are chiral. In biology, 19 of the 20 natural amino acids are homochiral, being L-chiral (left-handed), while sugars are D-chiral (right-handed). Homochirality can also refer to enantiopure substances in which all the constituents are the same enantiomer (a right-handed or left-handed version of an atom or molecule), but some sources discourage this use of the term.
It is unclear whether homochirality has a purpose; however, it appears to be a form of information storage. One suggestion is that it reduces entropy barriers in the formation of large organized molecules. It has been experimentally verified that amino acids form large aggregates in larger abundance from an enantiopure samples of the amino acid than from racemic (enantiomerically mixed) ones.
It is not clear whether homochirality emerged before or after life, and many mechanisms for its origin have been proposed. Some of these models propose three distinct steps: mirror-symmetry breaking creates a minute enantiomeric imbalance, chiral amplification builds on this imbalance, and chiral transmission is the transfer of chirality from one set of molecules to another.
Monday, April 4, 2022
wet lab
A wet lab, or experimental lab, is a type of laboratory where it is necessary to handle various types of chemicals and potential "wet" hazards, so the room has to be carefully designed, constructed, and controlled to avoid spillage and contamination.
A dry lab might have large experimental equipment but minimal chemicals, or instruments for analyzing data produced elsewhere.
Sunday, April 3, 2022
Arschgeweih
Arschgeweih (German) n (strong, genitive Arschgeweihes or Arschgeweihs, plural Arschgeweihe)
- tramp stamp; arse antlers (lower-back tattoo popular among women) [from 2000s]
Saturday, April 2, 2022
knickpoint
In geomorphology, a knickpoint or nickpoint is part of a river or channel where there is a sharp change in channel slope, such as a waterfall or lake. Knickpoints reflect different conditions and processes on the river, often caused by previous erosion due to glaciation or variance in lithology. In the cycle of erosion model, knickpoints advance one cycle upstream, or inland, replacing an older cycle.
A knickpoint that occurs at the head (furthest upstream extent) of a channel is called a headcut. Headcuts resulting in headward erosion are hallmarks of unstable expanding drainage features such as actively eroding gullies.
Friday, April 1, 2022
skerry
A skerry is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack.
A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, hardy grasses. They are often used as resting places by animals such as seals and birds.
synanthrope
A synanthrope (from ancient Greek σύν sýn "together, with" and ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos "man") is an organism that evolve...
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A canary trap is a method for exposing an information leak by giving different versions of a sensitive document to each of several suspec...
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A synanthrope (from ancient Greek σύν sýn "together, with" and ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos "man") is an organism that evolve...
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A kouros (plural kouroi , Ancient Greek κοῦρος ) is the modern term given to those representations of male youths which first appear i...