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 Talk Talk - Communication terms
Category: General technical and industrial
Date & country: 28/05/2010, UK
Words: 18630


Bishop, Isabella
Married name of the travel writer Isabella Bird

Bierstadt, Albert
German-born US landscape painter. His spectacular panoramas of the American wilderness fell out of favour after his death until interest in the Hudson River School was rekindled in the late 20th century. A classic work is Thunderstorm in the Rocky Mountains (1859; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Taken by his parents to Amer...

biosensor
Device based on microelectronic circuits that can directly measure medically significant variables for the purpose of diagnosis or monitoring treatment. One such device measures the blood-sugar level of diabetics using a single drop of blood, and shows the result on a liquid crystal display within a few seconds. Biosensors typically contain thr...

binary form
Basic musical form in two sections (AB). Section A makes a musical statement but it sounds incomplete on its own. It is answered by section B, which creates the balance. In most binary pieces using the tonal language, the music modulates to the dominant key at the end of section A. Section B begins in the dominant and modulates back to the starting...

Bird, Isabella Lucy
British traveller and writer who wrote extensively of her journeys in the USA, Persia, Tibet, Kurdistan, China, Japan, and Korea. A fearless horsewoman, she generally travelled alone and in later life undertook medical missionary work. Her published works include The Englishwoman in America (1856), A Lady's Life in t...

biosphere
Narrow zone that supports life on our planet. It is limited to the waters of the Earth, a fraction of its crust, and the lower regions of the atmosphere. The biosphere is made up of all the Earth's ecosystems. It is affected by external forces such as the Sun's rays, which provide energy, the gravitational effects of the Sun and Moon, and c...

birth control
The use of contraceptives prevent pregnancy. It is part of the general practice of family planning

BioSphere 2
Ecological test project, a `planet in a bottle`, in Arizona, USA. Under a sealed glass and metal dome, different habitats are recreated, with representatives of nearly 4,000 species, to test the effects that various environmental factors have on ecosystems. Simulated ecosystems, or `mesocosms`, include savannah, desert, rainfore...

biofeedback
(medicine) In medicine, the use of electrophysiological monitoring devices to `feed back` information about internal processes and thus facilitate conscious control. Developed in the USA in the 1960s, independently by neurophysiologist Barbara Brown and neuropsychiatrist Joseph Kamiy...

biochemistry
Science concerned with the chemistry of living organisms: the structure and reactions of proteins (such as enzymes), nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids. Its study has led to an increased understanding of life processes, such as those by which organisms synthesize essential chemicals from food materials, store and generate energy, and pass...

biofuel
Click images to enlargeAny solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel produced from organic (once living) matter, either directly from plants or indirectly from industrial, commercial, domestic, or agricultural wastes. There are three main methods for the development of biofuels: the burning of dry organic wastes (such as househo...

bill of lading
Document giving proof of particular goods having been loaded on a ship. The person to whom the goods are being sent normally needs to show the bill of lading in order to obtain the release of the goods. For air freight, there is an airway bill

Bihari
A northern Indian people, also living in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, and numbering over 40 million. The Bihari are mainly Muslim. The Bihari language is related to Hindi and has several widely varying dialects. It belongs to the Indic branch of the Indo-European family. Many Bihari were massacred during the formation of Bangladesh, which t...

biomechanics
Application of mechanical engineering principles and techniques in the field of medicine and surgery, studying natural structures to improve those produced by humans. For example, mother-of-pearl is structurally superior to glass fibre, and deer antlers have outstanding durability because they are composed of microscopic fibres. Such natura...

biodynamic farming
Agricultural practice based on the principle of homeopathy: tiny quantities of a substance are applied to transmit vital qualities to the soil. It is a form of organic farming, and was developed by the Austrian holistic mystic Rudolf Steiner and Ehrenfried Pfiffer

bind over
In law, a UK court order that requires a person to carry out some act, usually by an order given in a magistrates' court. A person may be bound over to appear in court at a particular time if bail has been granted or, most commonly, be bound over not to commit some offence; for example, causing a breach of the peace

bit
In computing, a single binary digit, either 0 or 1. A bit is the smallest unit of data stored in a computer; all other data must be coded into a pattern of individual bits. A byte represents sufficient computer memory to store a single character of data, and usually contains eight bits. For example, in the ASCII code system used by most microco...

biological weathering
Form of weathering caused by the activities of living organisms – for example, the growth of roots or the burrowing of animals. Tree roots are probably the most significant agents of biological weathering as they are capable of prising apart rocks by growing into cracks and joints. Plants also g...

Bill of Rights
(English) In Britain, an act of Parliament of 1689 that established Parliament as the primary governing body of the country. It made provisions limiting royal prerogative (the right to act independently of Parliament) with respect to legislation, executive power, money levies, courts, and the ...

Bishkek
Capital of Kyrgyzstan; population (1999) 750,300. Bishkek is situated in the valley of the River Chu north of the Kyrgyz Alatau mountain range, 180 km/112 mi west of Almaty in Kazakhstan. Among the goods produced here are textiles, agricultural machinery, and electrical and electronic goods. Food industries include meat-packing and toba...

birth rate
The number of live births per 1,000 of the population over a period of time, usually a year (sometimes it is also expressed as a percentage). For example, a birth rate of 20/1,000 (or 2%) would mean that 20 babies were being born per 1,000 of the population. It is sometimes called crude birth rate because it takes in the whole population, i...

biodiversity
Measure of the variety of the Earth's animal, plant, and microbial species, of genetic differences within species, and of the ecosystems that support those species. High biodiversity means there are lots of different species in an area. The maintenance of biodiversity is important for ecological stability and as a resource for research into, fo...

bit map
In computing, pattern of bits used to describe the organization of data. Bit maps are used to store typefaces or graphic images (bit-mapped or raster graphics), with 1 representing black (or a colour) and 0 white. Bit maps may be used to store a typeface or font, but a separate set of bit maps is...

biceps
Anatomical term for two muscles of the human body, one of the arm and one of the leg, although in popular use it generally denotes the muscle of the arm. The biceps brachii is the muscle on the upper arm, which flexes the shoulder, the elbow, and supinates the forearm. To extend the arm its antagonis...

bill
In birds, the projection of the skull bones covered with a horny sheath. It is not normally sensitive, except in some aquatic birds, rooks, and woodpeckers, where the bill is used to locate food that is not visible. The bills of birds are adapted by shape and size to specific diets, for example, shov...

biometrics
In computing, term applied loosely to the measurement of biological (human) data, usually for security purposes, rather than the statistical analysis of biological data. For example, when someone wants to enter a building or cash a cheque, their finger or eyeball may be scanned and compared with a fingerprint or eyeball scan stored earlier. Biometr...

Bird, Larry
US basketball player. Playing as a forward, he led the Boston Celtics to the US National Basketball Association (NBA) title in 1981, 1984, and 1986. He was voted the NBA's most valuable player for three consecutive years (1984–86). Beset by injuries from the late 1980s, he retired from basketball after leading the US `Dream Team`...

BIOS
Part of a computer's operating system that handles the basic input and output operation for standard computer hardware. For example, the BIOS reads the keystrokes from the keyboard, puts information on the display, and sends information to the printer. The small computer programs within the BIOS that carry out these tasks are called device driv...

bin Laden, Osama
Saudi-born, Afghanistan-based, Islamic fundamentalist terrorist leader who has masterminded a number of terrorist attacks directed at US targets since the early 1990s. He promotes jihad (holy war) against the USA with the aim of liberating Islam's three holiest places – Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. The 11 September 2001 destructio...

bisque ware
In ceramics, clay or earthenware pottery that has been fired once but not glazed. Unglazed, it maintains its dark red or tan colour

bioaccumulation
Build up of concentration of a pollutant in the animals at the end of a food chain. When one organism in a food chain eats another not only food chemicals are transferred, but any of the chemicals it contains. Some pollutants released as a result of human activity are very stable – or non-biodegradable. They do not break down nor can micro...

Bismillah
Muslim ceremony to mark the beginning of a child's learning about Islam. It takes place at the age of four to five, the same age at which the angel Jibra'il (Gabriel) visited Muhammad. The child is asked to recite the Sura Fatiha (the opening verses of the Koran, or Quran or Qur'an), and some other suwar (chapters) th...

bluebell
Click images to enlargeName given in Scotland to the harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), and in England to the wild hyacinth (Endymion nonscriptus), belonging to the lily family (Liliaceae)

bladderwort
Any of a large group of carnivorous aquatic plants. They have leaves with bladders (hollow sacs) that trap small animals living in the water. (Genus Utricularia, family Lentibulariaceae.)

blackthorn
Densely branched spiny European bush. It produces white blossom on bare black branches in early spring. Its sour plumlike blue-black fruit, the sloe, is used to make sloe gin. (Prunus spinosa, family Rosaceae.)

blackberry
Prickly shrub, closely related to raspberries and dewberries. Native to northern parts of Europe, it produces pink or white blossom and edible black compound fruits. (Rubus fruticosus, family Rosaceae.)

bleaching
Decolorization of coloured materials. The two main types of bleaching agent are oxidizing bleaches, which bring about the oxidation of pigments and include the ultraviolet rays in sunshine, hydrogen peroxide, and chlorine in household bleaches; and reducing bleaches, which bring about reduction and include sulphur dioxide. Bleach is used in ind...

blood
Fluid pumped by the heart, that circulates in the arteries, veins, and capillaries of vertebrate animals forming the bloodstream. The term also refers to the corresponding fluid in those invertebrates that possess a closed circulatory system. Blood carries nutrients and oxygen to each body cell and r...

blind spot
Area where the optic nerve and blood vessels pass through the retina of the eye. No visual image can be formed as there are no light-sensitive cells in this part of the retina. Thus the organism is blind to objects that fall in this part of the visual field

blastula
Early stage in the development of a fertilized egg, when the egg changes from a solid mass of cells (the morula) to a hollow ball of cells (the blastula), containing a fluid-filled cavity (the blastocoel). See also embryology

bluebuck
Any of several species of antelope, including the blue duiker Cephalophus monticola of South Africa, about 33 cm/13 in high. The male of the Indian nilgai antelope is also known as the bluebuck. The bluebuck or blaubok, Hippotragus leucophaeus, was a large blue-grey South African antelope. Once abundant...

bluebird
Three species of a North American bird, genus Sialia, belonging to the thrush subfamily, Turdinae, order Passeriformes. The eastern bluebird Sialia sialis is regarded as the herald of spring as it returns from migration. About 18 cm/7 in long, it has a reddis...

blowfly
Any fly of the genus Calliphora, also known as bluebottle, or of the related genus Lucilia, when it is greenbottle. It lays its eggs in dead flesh, on which the maggots feed

blesbok
African antelope Damaliscus albifrons, about 1 m/3 ft high, with curved horns, brownish body, and a white blaze on the face. It was seriously depleted in the wild at the end of the 19th century. A few protected herds survive in South Africa. It is farmed for meat

bloodhound
Breed of dog that originated as a hunting dog in Belgium in the Middle Ages. Black and tan in colour, it has long, pendulous ears and distinctive wrinkled head and face. It grows to a height of about 65 cm/26 in. Its excellent powers of scent have been employed in tracking and criminal detection from very early times

blenny
Any fish of the family Blenniidae, mostly small fishes found near rocky shores, with elongated slimy bodies tapering from head to tail, no scales, and long pelvic fins set far forward

bleak
Freshwater fish Alburnus alburnus of the carp family. It is up to to 20 cm/8 in long, and lives in still or slow-running clear water in Britain and Europe. In Eastern Europe its scales are used in the preparation of artificial pearls

blacksnake
Any of several species of snake. The blacksnake Pseudechis porphyriacus is a venomous snake of the cobra family found in damp forests and swamps in eastern Australia. The blacksnake, Coluber constrictor from the eastern USA, is a relative of the European grass snake, growing up to 1.2 m/4 ft long, and witho...

blackcap
Warbler Sylvia atricapilla, family Muscicapidae, order Passeriformes. The male has a black cap, the female a reddish-brown one. The general colour of the bird is an ashen-grey, turning to an olive-brown above and pale or whitish-grey below. About 14 cm/5.5 in long, the blackcap likes wooded areas, and is a sum...

blackbird
Bird Turdus merula of the thrush family, Muscicapidae, order Passeriformes, about 25 cm/10 in long. The male is black with a yellow bill and eyelids, the female dark brown with a dark beak. It lays three to five blue-green eggs with brown spots in a nest of grass and moss, plastered with mud, built in thickets or creeper&...

black beetle
Another name for cockroach, although cockroaches belong to an entirely different order of insects (Dictyoptera) from the beetles (Coleoptera)

black widow
North American spider Latrodectus mactans. The male is small and harmless, but the female is 1.3 cm/0.5 in long with a red patch below the abdomen and a powerful venomous bite. The bite causes pain and fever in human victims, but they usually recover

blasphemy
Written or spoken insult directed against religious belief or sacred things with deliberate intent to outrage believers

Black Muslims
Religious group founded in 1930 in the USA. Members adhere to Muslim values and believe in economic independence for black Americans. Under the leadership of Louis Farrakhan and the group's original name of the Nation of Islam, the movement has undergone a resurgence of popularity in recent years. In October 1995 more than 400,000 black males a...

Bloomsbury Group
Intellectual circle of writers and artists based in Bloomsbury, London, which flourished in the 1920s. It centred on the house of publisher Leonard Woolf and his wife, novelist Virginia Woolf. Typically modernist, their innovative artistic contributions represented an important section of the English avant-garde. The circle included the artists...

bloom
Whitish powdery or waxlike coating over the surface of certain fruits that easily rubs off when handled. It often contains yeasts that live on the sugars in the fruit. The term bloom is also used to describe a rapid increase in number of certain species of algae found in lakes, ponds, and oceans. Algal blooms may be natural but are often the result...

blubber
Thick layer of fat under the skin of marine mammals, which provides an energy store and an effective insulating layer, preventing the loss of body heat to the surrounding water. Blubber has been used (when boiled down) in engineering, food processing, cosmetics, and printing, but all of these products can now be produced synthetically

blood pressure
Pressure, or tension, of the blood against the inner walls of blood vessels, especially the arteries, due to the muscular pumping activity of the heart. Abnormally high blood pressure (hypertension) may be associated with various conditions or arise with no obvious cause; abnormally low blood pressure (hypotension) occurs in shock and after exc...

blackcurrant
Variety of currant

blood group
Any of the types into which blood is classified according to the presence or otherwise of certain antigens on the surface of its red cells. Red blood cells of one individual may carry molecules on their surface that act as antigens in another individual whose red blood cells lack these molecules. The two main antigens are designated A and B. These ...

Blücher, Gebhard Leberecht von
Prussian general and field marshal, popularly known as `Marshal Forward`. He took an active part in the patriotic movement, and in the War of German Liberation defeated the French as commander-in-chief at Leipzig in 1813, crossed the Rhine to Paris in 1814, and was made prince of Wahlstadt (Silesia). In 1815 he was defeated by Nap...

Black Hole of Calcutta
Incident in Anglo-Indian history: according to tradition, the nawab (ruler) of Bengal confined 146 British prisoners on the night of 20 June 1756 in one small room, of whom only 23 allegedly survived. Later research reduced the death count to 43, assigning negligence rather than intention

Blyton, Enid Mary
English writer of children's books. She used her abilities as a trained teacher of young children and a journalist, coupled with her ability to think like a child, to produce books at all levels which, though criticized for their predictability and lack of characterization, and more recently for social, racial, and sexual stereotyping, satisfy ...

Blunt, Anthony Frederick
English art historian and double agent. As a Cambridge lecturer, he recruited for the Soviet secret service and, as a member of the British Secret Service 1940–45, passed information to the USSR. In 1951 he assisted the defection to the USSR of the British agents Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (1913–1983). He was the author of many respec...

blues
African-American music that originated in the work songs and Negro spirituals of the rural American South in the late 19th century. It is usually of a slow to moderate speed and characteristic features include a 12-bar (sometimes 8-bar or 16-bar) construction and a syncopated melody line that often includes `blue notes` (q...

Blue Ridge Mountains
Mountain range in southeastern USA, and part of the Appalachian Mountains system. The Blue Ridge Mountains run from northwest Georgia to West Virginia. The highest summit (and also the highest point in eastern USA) is Mount Mitchell; height 2,037 m/6,684 ft. The geologically complex Blue Ridge range, which includes some of the oldest (Preca...

blue riband
The highest distinction in any sphere. The Blue Riband of the Atlantic is held by the vessel making the fastest crossing without refuelling. The trophy was first presented by Harold Hales MP in 1935. The Queen Mary won it in 1938 and held the record until the SS United States created a new record of 3 dy 10 hr ...

Blue Mountains
(Australia) Part of the Great Dividing Range, New South Wales, Australia. The Blue Mountains consist of a sandstone plateau running almost parallel with the coast, 80–100 km/50–62 mi west of Sydney. The highest peak is Mount Beemarang (1,247 m/4,091 ft). The mountains are pop...

Bloomer, Amelia
US campaigner for women's rights. In 1849, when unwieldy crinolines were the fashion, she introduced a knee-length skirt combined with loose trousers gathered at the ankles, which became known as bloomers (also called `rational dress`). She published the magazine The Lily (1849–54), which campaigned for wom...

blood poisoning
Presence in the bloodstream of quantities of bacteria or bacterial toxins sufficient to cause serious illness

Blitzkrieg
Swift military campaign, as used by Germany at the beginning of World War II (1939–41). It was characterized by rapid movement by mechanized forces, supported by tactical air forces acting as `flying artillery` and is best exemplified by the campaigns in Poland in 1939 and France in 1940. The abbreviated Blitz was applied to the atte...

blindness
Complete absence or impairment of sight. It may be caused by heredity, accident, disease, or deterioration with age. Blind people can be trained to use echolocation and in certain cases blindsight to navigate around obstacles. Other aids include electronic devices that convert print to recognizable mechanical speech, and sonar devices. Globally, th...

blimp
Airship; any self-propelled, lighter-than-air craft that can be steered. A blimp with a soft frame is also called a dirigible; a zeppelin is rigid-framed

Blanqui,
(Louis) French revolutionary politician. He formulated the theory of the `dictatorship of the proletariat`, used by Karl Marx, and spent a total of 33 years in prison for insurrection. Although in prison, he was elected president of the Commune of Paris in 1871. His followers, the Bl...

Blake, William
English poet, artist, engraver, and visionary, and one of the most important figures of English Romanticism. His lyrics, often written with a childlike simplicity, as in Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), express a unique spiritual vision. In his `prophetic books`, including <...

Blunden, Edmund
(Charles) English poet and critic. He served in World War I and published the prose work Undertones of War (1928). His poetry is mainly about rural life. Among his scholarly contributions was the discovery and publication of some poems by the 19th-century poet John Clare

Blum, Léon
French socialist politician, parliamentary leader of the Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière (SFIO) in the inter-war period and the first socialist prime minister of France 1936–37, when his Popular Front government introduced paid holidays and the 40-hour working week in France. He was prime minister again in ...

blood test
Laboratory evaluation of a blood sample. There are numerous blood tests, from simple typing to establish the blood group to sophisticated biochemical assays of substances, such as hormones, present in the blood only in minute quantities. The majority of tests fall into one of three categories: haematology (testing the state of the blood itself)...

Blood, Thomas
Irish adventurer, known as Colonel Blood. In 1663 he tried to seize the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at Dublin Castle, and in 1670 he attempted to assassinate the Duke of Ormond in 1670, possibly on instructions from the Duke of Buckingham. In 1671 he and three accomplices succeeded in stealing the crown and orb from the Tower of London, but were cap...

Bloemfontein
Capital of the Free State (formerly Orange Free State) and judicial capital of the Republic of South Africa; population (2001) 645,400. Founded in 1846 and declared a municipality in 1880, the city produces canned fruit, glassware, furniture, plastics, and railway engineering. The economic growth of the city was was stimulated from the mid-...

Bliss, Arthur Edward Drummond
English composer and conductor. He became Master of the Queen's Musick in 1953. Among his works are A Colour Symphony (1922); music for the ballets Checkmate (1937), Miracle in the Gorbals (1944), and Adam Zero (1946); an opera The Olympians (...

Bligh, William
English sailor. He accompanied Captain James Cook on his second voyage around the world (1772–74), and in 1787 commanded HMS Bounty on an expedition to the Pacific. On the return voyage, in protest against harsh treatment, the crew mutinied. Bligh was sent to Australia as governor of New South Wales in 1805, where his discip...

Blériot, Louis
French aviator. In a 24-horsepower monoplane of his own construction, he made the first flight across the English Channel on 25 July 1909

Blenheim, Battle of
In the War of the Spanish Succession, decisive victory on 13 August 1704 of Allied troops under Marlborough over French and Bavarian armies near the Bavarian village of Blenheim (now in Germany) on the left bank of the Danube, about 25 km/18 mi northwest of Augsburg. Although the war was to continue for a further eight years, Blenheim marked th...

bleeding
Loss of blood from the circulation; see haemorrhage

blast furnace
Smelting furnace used to extract metals from their ores, chiefly pig iron from iron ore. The temperature is raised by the injection of an air blast. In the extraction of iron the ingredients of the furnace are iron ore (iron(III) oxide), coke (carbon), and limestone (calcium carbonate). The coke is t...

Blashford-Snell, John
English explorer, soldier, and writer. His expeditions have included the first descent and exploration of the Blue Nile (1968); the journey north to south from Alaska to Cape Horn, the first crossing of the Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia (1971–72); and the first complete navigation of the Congo River, Africa (1974–75)

Blantyre
Chief industrial and commercial centre of Malawi, in the Shire highlands in the south of the country at the foot of Mchiru Mountain; population (1998) 502,100, (2007 calc) 778,800. The largest city in Malawi, it produces tea, coffee, rubber, tobacco, textiles, and wood products. The city originated in 1876 as a mission station operated by the C...

blank verse
In literature, the unrhymed iambic pentameter or ten-syllable line of five stresses. First used by the Italian Gian Giorgio Trissino in his tragedy Sofonisba (1514–15), it was introduced to England in about 1540 by the Earl of Surrey, who used it in his translation of Virgil's Aeneid. It was develo...

black hole
Object in space whose gravity is so great that nothing can escape from it, not even light. It is thought to form when a massive star shrinks at the end of its life. A black hole sucks in more matter, including other stars, from the space around it. Matter that falls into a black hole is squeezed to infinite density at the centre of the hole. Black ...

bluegrass
(plant) Dense spreading grass, which is blue-tinted and grows in clumps. Various species are known from the northern hemisphere. Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis), introduced to the USA from Europe, provides pa...

blue gum
Either of two Australian trees: Tasmanian blue gum (Eucalyptus globulus) of the myrtle family, with bluish bark, a chief source of eucalyptus oil; or the tall, straight Sydney blue gum (E. saligna). The former is widely cultivated in California and has also been planted in South America, India, parts of...

blastocyst
In mammals, the hollow ball of cells which is an early stage in the development of the embryo, roughly equivalent to the blastula of other animal groups

blueprint
Photographic process used for copying engineering drawings and architectural plans, so called because it produces a white copy of the original against a blue background. The plan to be copied is made on transparent tracing paper, which is placed in contact with paper sensitized with a mixture of iron ammonium citrate and potassium hexacyanoferrate....

Black and Tans
Nickname of a special auxiliary force of the Royal Irish Constabulary formed from British ex-soldiers on 2 January 1920 and in action in Ireland March 1920–December 1921. They were employed by the British government to combat the killing of policemen by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the military wing of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein g...

blackbuck
Antelope Antilope cervicapra found in central and northwestern India. It is related to the gazelle, from which it differs in having spirally-twisted horns. The male is black above and white beneath, whereas the female and young are fawn-coloured above. It is about 76 cm/2.5 ft in height

Blackburn
(city) Industrial city and administrative headquarters of Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority, northwest England, on the Leeds–Liverpool canal, 32 km/20 mi northwest of Manchester; population (2001) 105,100. Blackburn lies in the Calder valley, between the Rossendale upland to...

Black Country
Central area of England, to the west and north of Birmingham, incorporating the towns of Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton, and Sandwell. Heavily industrialized, it gained its name in the 19th century from its belching chimneys and mining spoil. Anti-pollution laws and the decline of heavy industry have changed the region's landscape. Coalmini...

Black Death
Great epidemic of plague, mainly the bubonic variant, that ravaged Europe in the mid-14th century. Contemporary estimates th at it killed between one-third and half of the population (about 75 million people) are probably accurate. The cause of the plague was the bacterium Yersinia pestis, transmitted by fleas that infeste...

black earth
Exceedingly fertile soil that covers a belt of land in northeastern North America, Europe, and Asia. In Europe and Asia it extends from Bohemia through Hungary, Romania, southern Russia, and Siberia, as far as Manchuria, having been deposited when the great inland ice sheets melted at the close of the last ice age. In North America, it extends from...