Castor, multiple star having six component stars, in the zodiacal constellation Gemini. The stars Castor and Pollux are named for the twins of Greek mythology. (List of Brightest Stars as Seen from Earth) Castor’s combined apparent visual magnitude is 1.58. It appears as a bright visual binary, of

haptoglobin: …a colourless protein of the α-globulin fraction of human serum (liquid portion of blood plasma after the clotting factor fibrinogen has been removed) that transports hemoglobin freed from destroyed red blood cells to the reticuloendothelial system, where it is broken down. Three common types—numbered 1-1, 2-1, and 2-2—and three uncommon…

bleeding and blood clotting: Platelets and their aggregation: …types of internal granules: the alpha granules, the dense granules, and the lysosomes. Each of these granules is rich in certain chemicals that have an important role in platelet function. For example, dense granules contain large quantities of calcium ions and adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Upon release from the platelet, ADP…

Ras Algethi, red supergiant star, whose diameter is nearly twice that of Earth’s orbit. It lies in the constellation Hercules and is of about third magnitude, its brightness varying by about a magnitude every 128 days. It is 380 light-years from Earth. The name comes from an Arabic phrase meaning

radioactivity: Alpha decay: …rate formula (6) is the hindrance factor. The existence of uranium-235 in nature rests on the fact that alpha decay to the ground and low excited states exhibits hindrance factors of over 1,000. Thus the uranium-235 half-life is lengthened to 7 × 108 years, a time barely long enough compared…

therapeutics: Biological response modifiers: Interferon-α is produced by a recombinant DNA process using genetically engineered Escherichia coli. Recombinant interferon-α appears to be most effective against hairy-cell leukemia and chronic myelogenous leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma, AIDS-associated Kaposi sarcoma, and chronic hepatitis C

iron: Occurrence, uses, and properties: …is a transition to paramagnetic alpha iron, which is also body-centred cubic in structure. Below 773 °C (1,423 °F), alpha iron becomes ferromagnetic (i.e., capable of being permanently magnetized), indicating a change in electronic structure but no change in crystal structure. Above 773 °C (its Curie point), it loses its…

Regulus, brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Leo and one of the brightest in the entire sky, having an apparent visual magnitude of about 1.35. It is 77 light-years from Earth. The name Regulus, derived from a Latin word for king, reflects an ancient belief in the astrological importance

Vega, brightest star in the northern constellation Lyra and fifth brightest in the night sky, with a visual magnitude of 0.03. It is also one of the Sun’s closer neighbours, at a distance of about 25 light-years. Vega’s spectral type is A (white) and its luminosity class V (main sequence). It will

human nervous system: Muscle spindles: Called alpha (α) efferents, these fibers have either a static or a dynamic effect. The physiologically important point is that most of the motor supply to the muscle spindles is largely independent of that of the ordinary muscle fibers, and only a small part is obligatorily…

Betelgeuse, second brightest star in the constellation Orion, marking the eastern shoulder of the hunter. Its name is derived from the Arabic term bat al-jawzāʾ, which means “the giant’s shoulder.” Betelgeuse is one of the most luminous stars in the night sky. It is a variable star and usually has

human behaviour: Central nervous system processing: The dominant rhythm is the alpha wave, which reaches its maximum frequency in adolescence and begins to slow gradually after young adulthood. This slowing may be related to disease processes (particularly vascular disease) and to basic aging processes. The older adult’s central nervous system appears to be in a state…

alpha particle, positively charged particle, identical to the nucleus of the helium-4 atom, spontaneously emitted by some radioactive substances, consisting of two protons and two neutrons bound together, thus having a mass of four units and a positive charge of two. Discovered and named (1899) by

astronomical map: Star names and designations: …article “the”: Aldebaran (“the Follower”), Algenib (“the Side”), Alhague (“the Serpent Bearer”), and Algol (“the Demon”). A conspicuous exception is Albireo in Cygnus, possibly a corruption of the words ab ireo in the first Latin edition of the Almagest in 1515. Most star names are in fact Arabic and are…

titanium processing: Alpha and beta phases: The atoms of pure titanium align in the solid state in either a hexagonal close-packed crystalline structure, called the alpha (α) phase, or a body-centred cubic structure, called the beta (β) phase. In the pure metal, transformation from the alpha to…

Fomalhaut, the 18th star (excluding the Sun) in order of apparent brightness. It is used in navigation because of its conspicuous place in a sky region otherwise lacking in bright stars. It lies in the southern constellation Piscis Austrinus, 25 light-years from Earth. A white star, it has an

nervous system: Epinephrine and norepinephrine: …are divided into two types, α and β. These are further classified into subtypes α1, α2, β1, and β2.

Venus: Tesserae: …large elevated regions, such as Alpha Regio, are composed largely of tessera terrain. Such terrain appears extraordinarily rugged and highly deformed in radar images, and in some instances it displays several different trends of parallel ridges and troughs that cut across one another at a wide range of angles. The…

human behaviour: Central nervous system processing: The dominant rhythm is the alpha wave, which reaches its maximum frequency in adolescence and begins to slow gradually after young adulthood. This slowing may be related to disease processes (particularly vascular disease) and to basic aging processes. The older adult’s central nervous system appears to be in a state…

Antares, red, semiregular variable star, with apparent visual magnitude about 1.1, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius and one of the largest known stars, having several hundred times the diameter of the Sun and 10,000 times the Sun’s luminosity. It has a fifth-magnitude blue

Ida B. Wells-Barnett: …Black women’s suffrage group, Chicago’s Alpha Suffrage Club. From 1913 to 1916 she served as a probation officer of the Chicago municipal court. She was militant in her demand for justice for African Americans and in her insistence that it was to be won by their own efforts.

dementia with Lewy bodies: …of a protein known as alpha-synuclein—in the brain. Lewy bodies are named for German physician Friedrich Heinrich Lewy, who first described them (1912), in the context of Parkinson disease.

Aldebaran, reddish giant star in the constellation Taurus. Aldebaran is one of the 15 brightest stars, with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.85. Its diameter is 44 times that of the Sun. It is accompanied by a very faint (13th magnitude) red companion star. Aldebaran lies 65 light-years from

Polaris, Earth’s present northern polestar, or North Star, at the end of the “handle” of the so-called Little Dipper in the constellation Ursa Minor. Polaris will be closest to the north celestial pole in about 2100, and, because of the precession of Earth’s axis, in several centuries Polaris will

Spica, brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Virgo and one of the 15 brightest in the entire sky, having an apparent visual magnitude of 1.04. It is a bluish star; spectroscopic examination reveals Spica to be a binary with a four-day period, its two components being of the first and third

human behaviour: Central nervous system processing: The dominant rhythm is the alpha wave, which reaches its maximum frequency in adolescence and begins to slow gradually after young adulthood. This slowing may be related to disease processes (particularly vascular disease) and to basic aging processes. The older adult’s central nervous system appears to be in a state…

emphysema: …is an inherited deficiency of alpha-1 antitrypsin, an enzyme that normally protects the lungs from injury caused by cigarette smoke. Smokers who inherit an abnormal gene for alpha-1 antitrypsin from both parents often develop progressive, severe emphysema, especially in the lower lungs, beginning before the age of 40. Nonsmokers who…

nervous system: Epinephrine and norepinephrine: …are divided into two types, α and β. These are further classified into subtypes α1, α2, β1, and β2.

amylase: Alpha-amylase is widespread among living organisms. In the digestive systems of humans and many other mammals, an alpha-amylase called ptyalin is produced by the salivary glands, whereas pancreatic amylase is secreted by the pancreas into the small intestine. The optimum pH of alpha-amylase is

titanium processing: Alpha and beta phases: …four classes: commercially pure, alpha, alpha-beta, and beta. Each class has distinctive characteristics. Pure titanium, although very ductile, has low strength and is therefore used when strength is not critical and corrosion resistance is desired. The alpha alloys are weldable and have good elevated-temperature strengths. The alpha-beta alloys are widely…

immune system: Structure of the T-cell receptor: …type of receptor is called alpha-beta because it is composed of two different chains, one called alpha and the other beta. A less common type is the gamma-delta receptor, which contains a different set of chains, one gamma and one delta. A typical T cell may have as many as…

tear gas: …tear gases are ω-chloroacetophenone, or CN, and o-chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile, or CS. CN is the principal component of the aerosol agent Mace and is widely used in riot control. It affects chiefly the eyes. CS is a stronger irritant that causes burning sensations in the respiratory tract and involuntary closing of the…

cristobalite: Cristobalite has two modifications: low-cristobalite, which occurs naturally up to 268° C (514° F) but is not stable; and high-cristobalite, which occurs above 268° C but is only stable above 1,470° C. Natural low-cristobalite usually occurs in sub-microcrystalline masses (see opal) or fibrous to columnar spherulites (see lussatite) in…

cancer: Molecular evaluation: …pancreatic or gastrointestinal cancers; and alpha-fetoprotein and chorionic gonadotropin, which can indicate testicular cancer. The diagnostic tests that are necessary to identify genetic alterations and tumour markers and thereby predict the efficacy of a drug are sometimes referred to as companion diagnostics.

helium dating: …the method is called the alpha-helium radioactive clock. Alpha particles are the nuclei of helium atoms emitted from the nucleus of the radioactive progenitor.

lactic acid, an organic compound belonging to the family of carboxylic acids, present in certain plant juices, in the blood and muscles of animals, and in the soil. It is the commonest acidic constituent of fermented milk products such as sour milk, cheese, and buttermilk. First isolated in 1780 by

fatty acid: … (an omega-6 fatty acid) and alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid). Those fatty acids are required, however, for cellular processes and the production of other necessary omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Thus, because they must be taken in through the diet, they are called essential fatty acids. Omega-6 and omega-3…

metabolism: Incomplete oxidation: …oxaloacetate; and the five-carbon compound α-oxoglutarate. The first, acetate in the form of acetyl coenzyme A, constitutes by far the most common product—it is the product of two-thirds of the carbon incorporated into carbohydrates and glycerol; all of the carbon in most fatty acids; and approximately half of the carbon…

radiation: Neutrons: …particles provides the basis for alpha-particle welding. The principle of such welding, invented by the Soviet chemist V.I. Goldansky, is to deposit a thin layer of a boron (or lithium) compound in the interface between diverse materials, which is thereafter irradiated with neutrons. The high-energy α-particles produced from the nuclear…

silica mineral: High quartz (β-quartz): …transition to ordinary quartz (low quartz) on cooling, and all ordinary quartz, when heated above the transition temperature, is transformed into high quartz. The transformation involves displacement of the linkage between the tetrahedrons; no bonds are broken.

thalassemia: Genetic defects of thalassemia: …the most severe form (homozygous α-thalassemia) usually causes premature birth, either stillborn or with death following within a few hours. It is thought that a primary thalassemia genetic mutation results in reduction in the rate at which α-, β-, or δ-chains are manufactured, the chains being otherwise normal. The relative…

tridymite: …three modifications: high-tridymite, middle-tridymite, and low-tridymite. Tridymite forms thin hexagonal plates that are generally twinned, often in groups of three; its name alludes to this habit. It commonly occurs in igneous rocks, more abundantly than cristobalite, as in the trachytes of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany; northern Italy; and in the Massif Central,…

Inger Christensen: The volume Alfabet (1981; Alphabet) builds on her earlier analogies between language and physical reality by applying alphabetic and numeric structures, such as the Fibonacci numbers, as principles of creative order.

information processing: Acquisition and recording of information in analog form: …to be represented by an alphabet of graphic symbols. Combinations of a relatively small set of such symbols could stand for more complex concepts as words, phrases, and sentences. The invention of the written phonetic alphabet is thought to have taken place during the 2nd millennium bc. The pragmatic advantages…

alphabet, set of graphs, or characters, used to represent the phonemic structure of a language. In most alphabets the characters are arranged in a definite order, or sequence (e.g., A, B, C, etc.). In the usual case, each alphabetic character represents either a consonant or a vowel rather than a

calligraphy: Writing manuals and copybooks (16th to 18th century): …printed from engraved metal plates, Alphabet de plusiers sortes de lettres (“Alphabet of Several Sorts of Letters”). Although this title echoes the title of Cresci’s 1560 book, the works are different. Hamon devotes the first part of his book to various forms of the French secretary hand, a style he…

dance: Prominent notation methods: …this kind was published in Alphabet des mouvements du corps humain (1892; “Alphabet of Movements of the Human Body”), by Vladimir Stepanov, a dancer at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Stepanov’s system was used to record many ballets in the Mariinsky’s repertoire; the recordings were the basis of subsequent…

Judaism: Major medieval Hebrew collections: …of this type is The Alphabet of Ben Sira, extant in two recensions, probably of the 11th century. This is basically a collection of proverbs attributed to the famous sage of the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach). In one of the recensions the proverbs are…

Kamala Das: …English-language works included the novel Alphabet of Lust (1976) and the short stories “A Doll for the Child Prostitute” (1977) and “Padmavati the Harlot” (1992). Notable among her many Malayalam works were the short-story collection Thanuppu (1967; “Cold”) and the memoir Balyakalasmaranakal (1987; “Memories of Childhood”). Perhaps her best-known work…

dance: Prominent notation methods: …this kind was published in Alphabet des mouvements du corps humain (1892; “Alphabet of Movements of the Human Body”), by Vladimir Stepanov, a dancer at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Stepanov’s system was used to record many ballets in the Mariinsky’s repertoire; the recordings were the basis of subsequent…

alphabet rhyme, mnemonic verse or song used to help children learn an alphabet; such devices appear in almost every alphabetic language. Some of the early English favourites are about 300 years old and have served as models for countless variations. One is a cumulative rhyme to which there is a

Alphabet Inc. is an American technology conglomerate and holding company formed in 2015 as a strategic restructuring of Google and its various subsidiaries. Commonly referred to as Google’s parent company, Alphabet was created to implement Larry Page and Sergey Brin’s strategic goal of continuous

alphabet: Theories of the origin of the alphabet: …to explain the origin of alphabetic writing, and, since Classical times, the problem has been a matter of serious study. The Greeks and Romans considered five different peoples as the possible inventors of the alphabet—the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Cretans, and Hebrews. Among modern theories are some that are not very…

Walter Abish: In Alphabetical Africa (1974), the first of the 52 chapters (twice 26) consists solely of words beginning with “A,” the second chapter adds words beginning with “B,” and so forth through the alphabet and back again. His next book, Minds Meet (1975), contains short stories in…

William Frederick Poole: …was revised and enlarged as Poole’s Index to Periodical Literature (1887–1908).

Michael Frayn: Alphabetical Order (1976) concerns the dehumanization that occurs when a chaotic newspaper office is transformed by an overly efficient employee. In Make and Break (1980) a salesman loses his humanity though he gains business success. Frayn’s other plays included Donkeys’ Years (1977), Benefactors (1984), Here:…

X: …about 35 years to record Alphabetland (2020).

alphabet: Theories of the origin of the alphabet: …to explain the origin of alphabetic writing, and, since Classical times, the problem has been a matter of serious study. The Greeks and Romans considered five different peoples as the possible inventors of the alphabet—the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Cretans, and Hebrews. Among modern theories are some that are not very…

Saint Aelfheah ; feast day, April 19) was the archbishop of Canterbury who was venerated as a martyr after his murder by the Danes. Of noble birth, Aelfheah entered the Benedictine abbey of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, and later became a hermit at Bath, Somerset, where followers elected him abbot.

virus: Annotated classification: There are 3 known subfamilies: Alphaherpesvirinae, consisting of human herpes simplex viruses types 1 and 2, bovine mamillitis virus, SA8 virus and monkey B virus, pseudorabies virus, equine herpesvirus, and varicella-zoster virus; Betaherpesvirinae, composed of species of cytomegaloviruses; and Gammaherpesvirinae, composed of genera familiarly called Epstein-Barr

virus: Annotated classification: There are 3 known subfamilies: Alphaherpesvirinae, consisting of human herpes simplex viruses types 1 and 2, bovine mamillitis virus, SA8 virus and monkey B virus, pseudorabies virus, equine herpesvirus, and varicella-zoster virus; Betaherpesvirinae, composed of species of cytomegaloviruses; and Gammaherpesvirinae, composed of genera familiarly called Epstein-Barr

cryptarithm: Alphametics refers specifically to cryptarithms in which the combinations of letters make sense, as in one of the oldest and probably best known of all alphametics:

printing: Third generation of phototypesetters: electronic: Phototypesetters of this kind (called alphanumerical) have theoretical performance rates exceeding 3,000 characters per second, or more than 10,000,000 per hour, and should be able to approach 30,000,000. Speeds such as these exceed the production rate even of magnetic tape. Consequently, to work at its most efficient output, such a…

drug use: Opium, morphine, heroin, and related synthetics: …one-tenth as potent as morphine; alphaprodine (Nisentil) is one-fifth as potent as morphine but is rapid-acting; methadone, synthesized in Germany during World War II, is comparable to morphine in potency; levorphanol (Levo-Dromoran) is an important synthetic with five times the potency of morphine. These synthetics exhibit a more favourable tolerance…

al-Fārābī was a Muslim philosopher, one of the preeminent thinkers of medieval Islam. He was regarded in the medieval Islamic world as the greatest philosophical authority after Aristotle. Very little is known of al-Fārābī’s life, and his ethnic origin is a matter of dispute. He eventually moved

Jean-Luc Godard: Breathless and filmmaking style and themes: Alphaville (1965) features scenes from Metropolis (1927), whose director, Fritz Lang, plays a film director in Contempt. In these ways, Godard’s films become intellectual essays: in them, the acted, experienced fictions of earlier motion pictures are transformed into the illustrative ideological cinema of the late…

virus: Annotated classification: There are 2 recognized genera: Alphavirus and Rubivirus. Alphavirus consists of viruses transmitted by arthropods (exclusively mosquitoes); prototypes include Sindbis virus and eastern and western equine encephalitis viruses. Rubivirus contains non-arthropod-borne viruses, including the causative agent of German measles. Family

Saint Aelfheah ; feast day, April 19) was the archbishop of Canterbury who was venerated as a martyr after his murder by the Danes. Of noble birth, Aelfheah entered the Benedictine abbey of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, and later became a hermit at Bath, Somerset, where followers elected him abbot.

Alpheus River, river, the longest of the Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos), Greece, rising near Dhaviá in central Arcadia (Arkadía), with a course of about 70 miles (110 km). Leaving the plain of Megalópolis in a rugged gorge, above which it is known as the Elísson, the Alpheus turns

Andromeda: The brightest star, Alpheratz (from the Arabic for “horse’s navel”; the star was once part of the constellation Pegasus), has a magnitude of 2.1. Its most notable feature is the great Andromeda Galaxy, one of the nearest galaxies to Earth and one of the few galaxies visible to…

Arethusa: The river god Alpheus fell in love with Arethusa, who was in the retinue of Artemis. Arethusa fled to Ortygia, where she was changed into a spring. Alpheus, however, made his way beneath the sea and united his waters with those of the spring. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses,…

Alpheus River, river, the longest of the Peloponnese (Modern Greek: Pelopónnisos), Greece, rising near Dhaviá in central Arcadia (Arkadía), with a course of about 70 miles (110 km). Leaving the plain of Megalópolis in a rugged gorge, above which it is known as the Elísson, the Alpheus turns

Crusades: The Crusades of St. Louis: …arrival of Louis’s third brother, Alphonse of Poitiers. Sultan al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb’s death was followed by confusion in Cairo, which, after some argument, had become the Crusaders’ objective. In February 1250 Robert of Artois led a surprise attack on the Egyptian camp 2 miles (3 km) from Al-Manṣūrah, but, rejecting the…

Alfonsine Tables, the first set of astronomical tables prepared in Christian Europe. They enabled calculation of eclipses and the positions of the planets for any given time based on the Ptolemaic theory, which assumed that the Earth was at the centre of the universe. The introduction states that

Alfonso X was the king of Castile and Leon from 1252 to 1284. Alfonso’s father, Ferdinand III, conquered Andalusia and imposed tribute on the remaining Muslim states in Spain—Murcia and Granada. His mother, Beatrice, was granddaughter of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I. Alfonso, already known as

Moon: Effects of impacts and volcanism: …of the large old crater Alphonsus—are peppered with rimless eruption craters. Though the Moon shows both tension and compression features (low wrinkle ridges, usually near mare margins, may result from compression), it gives no evidence of having experienced the large, lateral motions of plate tectonics marked by faults in Earth’s…

alphorn, long horn played by Alpine herdsmen and villagers, sounded for intercommunication and at daily ceremonies and seasonal festivals. It is carved or bored in wood and overwound with birch bark. Some instruments are straight, reaching 12 feet (4 metres) in length; since the mid-19th century,

Zillertal Alps, segment of the eastern Alps on the Austrian-Italian border, extending northeastward for 35 miles (56 km) from Brenner Pass and the Ötztal Alps to the Hohe Tauern range. The Ziller River rises in the mountains and flows generally northward to the Inn River. The highest point among

Carnic Alps, range of the Eastern Alps, extending along the Austrian-Italian border for 60 miles (100 km) from the Pustertal (valley) and the Piave River (west) to the Gailitz (Italian Silizza) River (east). The mountains are bounded by the Dolomites (southwest), the Gail River and the Gailtaler

Dolomites, mountain group lying in the eastern section of the northern Italian Alps, bounded by the valleys of the Isarco (northwest), the Pusteria (north), the Piave (east and southeast), the Brenta (southwest), and the Adige (west). The range comprises a number of impressive peaks, 18 of which

Lepontine Alps, segment of the Central Alps along the Italian–Swiss border, bounded by the Simplon Pass and Pennine Alps (west-southwest), the Upper Rhône and Vorderrhein river valleys (north), Splügen Pass (Italian Passo dello Spluga) and the Rhaetian Alps (east-northeast), and the Italian lake

Orobie Alps, mountains that are part of the Alpine zone of Lombardy, northern Italy, south of the Valtellina (valley of the upper Adda River). Pizzo di Coca (10,010 feet [3,052 metres]) is the highest

Pennine Alps, segment of the central Alps along the Italian-Swiss border, bounded by the Great St. Bernard Pass and the Mont Blanc group (southwest), by the Upper Rhône Valley (north), by Simplon Pass and the Lepontine Alps (northeast), and by the Dora Baltea River valley (south). The highest point

Rhaetian Alps, segment of the Central Alps extending along the Italian-Swiss and Austrian-Swiss borders but lying mainly in Graubünden canton, eastern Switzerland. The mountains are bounded by the Lepontine Alps and Splügen Pass (west-southwest), the Hinterrhein River (west), the Lechtaler Alps

Ötztal Alps, eastern segment of the Central Alps lying mainly in the southern Tirol (western Austria) and partly in northern Italy. The mountains are bounded by the Rhaetian Alps and Reschenscheideck Pass (Italian Passo di Resia, west-southwest), the Inn River valley (north), the Zillertal Alps and

earthquake: Causes of earthquakes: …second belt, known as the Alpide Belt, passes through the Mediterranean region eastward through Asia and joins the Circum-Pacific Belt in the East Indies. The energy released in earthquakes from this belt is about 15 percent of the world total. There also are striking connected belts of seismic activity, mainly…

Alpine, city, seat (1887) of Brewster county, extreme western Texas, U.S., in a high valley with an altitude of 4,481 feet (1,366 metres), flanked by the Davis Mountains (north) and the Glass Mountains (east), 190 miles (306 km) southeast of El Paso. Founded in 1882 with the arrival of the railroad

accentor: The alpine accentor (Prunella collaris), which ranges from Spain and northwestern Africa to Japan, is at 18 cm (7 inches) long the largest and stoutest of the accentors. Both sexes are mostly brown with reddish-spotted flanks and a heavily stippled throat. In courtship the male warbles…

Asia: Central Asia and South Siberia: Alpine Asia—sometimes known as High Asia—includes the Pamirs and the eastern Hindu Kush, the Kunlun Mountains, the Tien Shan, the Gissar and Alay ranges, the Plateau of Tibet, the Karakoram Range, and the Himalayas. The Pamirs and the eastern Hindu Kush are

chough: …Isles to China, and the alpine chough (P. graculus), of high mountains from Morocco and Spain to the Himalayas. Both are about 38 cm (15 inches) long and glossy blue-black; the former is red-billed, the latter yellow-billed. These choughs are gregarious, have whistling calls, and are aerial acrobats. In the…

Mount Everest: Routes and techniques: …bring a more traditional “Alpine” style of climbing to the world’s highest peaks; by the 1980s this included even Everest. In this approach, a small party of perhaps three or four climbers goes up and down the mountain as quickly as possible, carrying all needed gear and provisions. This…

Mount Everest: Reconnaissance of 1921: …Geographical Society (RGS) and the Alpine Club—and these groups became instrumental in fostering interest in exploring the mountain. Bruce and Younghusband sought permission to mount an Everest expedition beginning in the early 1900s, but political tensions and bureaucratic difficulties made it impossible. Though Tibet was closed to Westerners, British officer…

club moss: Major genera and species: Alpine club moss (Diphasiastrum alpinum), with yellowish or grayish leaves, is native to cold woods and alpine mountains in northern North America and Eurasia. Ground cedar (D. digitatum), native to northern North America, produces fanlike branches resembling juniper branchlets.

ribes: Major species: …of ornamental value include the alpine currant (R. alpinum); buffalo currant; fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (R. speciosum); golden, or clove, currant (R. aureum), bearing spicy-fragrant yellow flowers; and R. viburnifolium, a sprawling evergreen.

mountain ecosystem: Flora: Alpine deserts are also widespread in the high mountains of Japan, in places with marked soil instability associated with the effects of recent volcanic activity. While the plants surviving in such places are varied, some, like the violet Viola crassa, are typical of these harsh…

interior design: Northern Europe: In the Alpine lands, where wood was cheap and plentiful, traditional medieval methods continued for a long time. Wooden floors and ceilings and panelled walls, or partly panelled with plain plaster above, were the general rule. The moldings were bold, but carving was usually in low relief…

Baden-Württemberg: The Alpine Foreland is a deep trough at the edge of the Alps stretching from the formerly volcanic area of the Hegau Mountains in the west to the meadows of the Allgäu in the east. Within its area lies the famous Lake Constance and numerous rolling…

Caucasus: Geology of Caucasus: …Earth’s crust known as the Alpine geosyncline, dating from the late Oligocene Epoch (about 25 million years ago), and the region thus reflects some of the same structural characteristics as the younger mountains of Europe. Northern and central Ciscaucasia have a platformlike construction, with a foundation of folded structures dating…

glacier: Mountain glaciers: In this discussion the term mountain glaciers includes all perennial ice masses other than the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. Those ice masses are not necessarily associated with mountains. Sometimes the term small glaciers is used, but only in a relative sense: a…

ibex: The European, or Alpine, ibex (C. ibex ibex) is typical. Adult males weigh around 100 kg (220 pounds), while females are about 50 kg (110 pounds). Males stand about 90 cm (3 feet) at the shoulder (females are about 10 cm [4 inches] shorter) and have…