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


kph
Symbol for kilometres per hour

Krebs cycle
Final part of the chain of biochemical reactions by which organisms break down food using oxygen to release energy (respiration). It takes place within structures called mitochondria in the body's cells, and breaks down organic molecules in a series of small steps, producing energy-rich molec...

krypton
Colourless, odourless, gaseous, non-metallic element, atomic number 36, relative atomic mass 83.80. It is grouped with the noble gases (rare gases) in Group 0 of the periodic table, and was long believed not to enter into reactions, but it is now known to combine with fluorine under certain conditions; it remains inert to all other reagents...

krill
Any of several Antarctic crustaceans, the most common species being Euphausia superba. Similar to a shrimp, it is up to 5 cm/2 in long, with two antennae, five pairs of legs, seven pairs of light organs along the body, and is coloured orange above and green beneath. It is the most abundant animal, numbering perhaps 600 trilli...

Krebs, Hans Adolf
German-born British biochemist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1953 for his discovery of the citric acid cycle, also known as the Krebs cycle, the final pathway by which food molecules are converted into energy in living tissues. He was knighted in 1958. Krebs first be...

Kronstadt uprising
Revolt in March 1921 by sailors of the Russian Baltic Fleet at their headquarters in Kronstadt, outside Petrograd (now St Petersburg). On the orders of the leading Bolshevik, Leon Trotsky, Red Army troops, dressed in white camouflage, crossed the ice to the naval base and captured it on 18 March. The leaders were subsequently shot

Krafft-Ebing, Richard, Baron von
German pioneer psychiatrist and neurologist. He published Psychopathia Sexualis (1886)

Kraków
City in Poland, on both banks of the River Vistula, 300 km/190 mi south of Warsaw; population (2003 est) 733,100; urban agglomeration 781,300. It is an industrial centre producing railway wagons, agricultural machinery, paper, clothing, chemicals, and tobacco. One of Eastern Europe's largest iron and steel plants is in the nearby in...

Krasnodar
(city) Capital ci ty, economic and cultural centre of Krasnodar krai (territory), Russian Federation; population (1996 est) 648,000. The city stands on the River Kuban, 250 km/155 mi south of Rostov-on-Don, in the centre of a highly fertile agricultural region. Its industries in...

Krasnoyarsk
(city) Capital, economic and cultural centre of Krasnoyarsk krai (territory), in central Siberia, Russian Federation; population (2002) 909,300. Situated on the Yenisey River and the Trans-Siberian Railway, Krasnoyarsk played a key role in the opening up and industrial development of S...

Kreisler, Fritz
Austrian violinist and composer. He was a US citizen from 1943. His prolific output of recordings in the early 20th century introduced a wider public to classical music from old masters such as Johann Sebastian Bach and François Couperin to moderns such as Manuel de Falla and Sergei Rachmaninov. He also composed and recorded romantic pieces in...

kremlin
Click images to enlargeCitadel or fortress of Russian cities. The Moscow kremlin dates from the 12th century, and the name `the Kremlin` was once synonymous with the Soviet government

Krishna
Eighth avatar (incarnation) of the Hindu god Vishnu. The devotion of the bhakti movement is usually directed towards Krishna; an example of this is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Many tales are told of Krishna's mischievous youth; he appears in the epic Mahabharata and the Puranas
Krivoy Rog
City in south-central Ukraine on the Ingulets River, 130 km/81 mi southwest of Dnipropetrovs'k; population (1990) 717,000. The district surrounding Krivoy Rog is rich in iron ore, and the city's industries centre on metallurgical products. Mining machinery, cement, and foodstuffs are also produced. Exploitation of the iron-o...

Kruger,
(Stephanus Johannes) President of the Transvaal 1883–1900. He refused to remedy the grievances of the uitlanders (English and other non-Boer white residents) and so precipitated the Second South African War

Krupp
German steelmaking armaments firm, founded in 1811 by Friedrich Krupp (1787–1826) and developed by his son Alfred Krupp by pioneering the Bessemer steelmaking process. The company developed the long-distance artillery used in World War I, and supported Hitler's regime in preparation for World War II, after which the head of the firm, A...

Kristallnacht
Night of 9–10 November 1938 when the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA) militia in Germany and Austria mounted a concerted attack on Jews, their synagogues, homes, and shops. It followed the assassination of a German embassy official in Paris by a Polish-Jewish youth. Subsequent measures included German legislation against Jews owning businesses or ...

Krakatoa
Volcanic island in Sunda Strait, Indonesia, that erupted in 1883, causing 36,000 deaths on Java and Sumatra from the tidal waves that followed. The island is now uninhabited

Krishna Menon, Vengalil Krishnan
Indian politician who was a leading light in the Indian nationalist movement. He represented India at the United Nations 1952–62, and was defence minister 1957–62, when he was dismissed by Nehru following China's invasion of northern India

Kristiansen, Ingrid
Norwegian athlete, an outstanding long-distance runner of 5,000-metre, 10,000-metre, marathon, and cross-country races. She won many of the world's leading marathons. In 1986 she knocked 45.68 seconds off the world 10,000-metre record. She was the world cross-country champion in 1988 and won the London marathon 1984–...

Krasnodar
(territory) Krai (territory) in the southwestern Russian Federation; area 83,600 sq km/32,278 sq mi; population (1996) 5,044,000 (54% urban). The capital is Krasnodar, and Armavir, Novorossiysk, Maikop, and Sochi are other cities. The territory is in northwestern Caucasia, adja...

Krasnoyarsk
(territory) Krai (territory) in the Russian Federation, in central Siberia; area 2,401,600 sq km/927,258 sq mi (including Arctic Ocean Islands); population (1996) 3,106,000 (74% urban). The capital is Krasnoyarsk and Kansk and Norilsk are other cities. The territory stretches s...

Krenz, Egon
East German communist politician. A member of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED) from 1955, he joined its politburo in 1983 and was a hardline protégé of Erich Honecker, succeeding him as party leader and head of state in 1989 after widespread pro-democracy demonstrations. Pledging a `new course`, Krenz opened the c...

Krajina
Region on the frontier between Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina; the chief town is Knin. Dominated by Serbs, the region proclaimed itself an autonomous Serbian province after Croatia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Krajina was the scene of intense inter-ethnic fighting during the civil war in Croatia 1991–92 and, f...

Kravchuk, Leonid
Ukrainian politician, president 1990–94. Formerly a member of the Ukrainian Communist Party (UCP), he became its ideology chief in the 1980s. After the suspension of the UCP in August 1991, Kravchuk became an advocate of independence and market-centred economic reform. Faced with a rapidly deteriorating economic situation in 1993, he assum...

Kremer, Gerhard
Flemish mapmaker and mathematician, see Mercator, Gerardus

Kroc, Ray(mond A)
US restaurateur. By 1960 he had 228 McDonald's restaurants with profits of US$37 million/£23 million. He controlled all facets of franchising, even establishing Hamburger University in Elk Grove, Illinois, and requiring that all franchise owners attend to learn how to prepare the food. He was chairman of the board of McDonald's...

Krym'
Ukrainian name for Crimea

Kriti
Greek for Crete, an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea

Krung Thep
Thai name for Bangkok, the capital of Thailand

Kryvyy Rih
Ukrainian name for Krivoy Rog, a city in south-central Ukraine

kudu
Either of two species of African antelope. The greater kudu (T. strepsiceros) is fawn-coloured with thin white vertical stripes, and stands 1.3 m/4.2 ft at the shoulder, with head and body 2.4 m/8 ft long. Males have long spiral horns. The greater kudu is found in bush country from Angola to Ethiopia. The similar less...

Kuhn, Thomas Samuel
US historian and philosopher of science, who showed that social and cultural conditions affect the directions of science. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) argued that even scientific knowledge is relative, dependent on the paradigm (theoretical framework) that dominates a scientific field at the time. Such paradigms...

Kublai Khan
Mongol emperor of China from 1259. He completed his grandfather Genghis Khan's conquest of northern China from 1240, and on his brother Mangu's death in 1259 established himself as emperor of China. He moved the capital to Khanbalik or Cambuluc (now the site of Beijing) and founded the Yuan d...

Kubrick, Stanley
US film director, producer, and screenwriter. His work was eclectic in subject matter and ambitious in scale and technique. It includes Paths of Glory (1957), Dr Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), and Full Metal Jacket&...

kulak
Russian term for a peasant who could afford to hire labour and often acted as village usurer. The kulaks resisted the Soviet government's policy of collectivization, and in 1930 they were `liquidated as a class`, with up to 5 million being either killed or deported to Siberia

Kumasi
Second-largest city in Ghana, capital of Ashanti region, situated 160 km/100 mi from the coast within the forest zones and 180 km/112 mi northwest of the capital and port of Accra; population (2000) 1,171,300. Kumasi is a major centre of Ghana's transport system, with an airport, as well as road and rail communications. It trade...

Kunming
Capital of Yunnan province, China, on Lake Dianchi, about 2,000 m/6,500 ft above sea level; population (2000) 2,547,300. Situated in a fertile plain 640 km/400 mi southwest of Chongqing, it is an important trading centre between the far west and central and south China. Industries include engineering and the manufacture of tyres, chemic...

Kuomintang
Original spelling of the Chinese nationalist party, now known (outside Taiwan) as Guomindang

Kurdistan
Mountain and plateau region in southwest Asia near Mount Ararat, where the borders of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan meet; area 193,000 sq km/74,600 sq mi; total population 25–30 million. It is the home of the Kurds and is the area over which Kurdish nationalists have traditionally fought to win sovereignty. It ...

Kuala Lumpur
Capital of the Federation of Malaysia; population (2000 est) 1,297,500. The city lies in a central position on the Malay Peninsula at the confluence of the Kelang and Gombak rivers, 40 km/25 mi from the west coast. Malaysia's leading commercial and industrial centre, Kuala Lumpur developed after 1873 with the expansion of tin and rubber...

Kuril Islands
Chain of about 50 small islands belonging to Russia, stretching from the northeast of Hokkaido, Japan, to the south of Kamchatka, Russia, area 14,765 sq km/5,700 sq mi; population (1990 est) 25,000. The islands include many volcanoes, 35 of which are still active; there are also many hot springs. Offshore is the Kuril Trench, one of the...

Kursk
(city) Capital city, economic and cultural centre of Kursk oblast (region), western Russian Federation, on the banks of the River Seim, and bordered on the west by Ukraine; population (1996 est) 442,000. It has engineering, chemical, textile, and light industries, and is an important railw...

Kutuzov, Mikhail Illarionovich
Commander of the Russian forces in the Napoleonic Wars. He commanded an army corps at Austerlitz and the army in its retreat in 1812. After the burning of Moscow that year, he harried the French throughout their retreat and later took command of the united Prussian armies

Kulturkampf
German word for a policy introduced by Chancellor Bismarck in Germany in 1873 that isolated the Catholic interest and attempted to reduce its power in order to create a political coalition of liberals and agrarian conservatives. The alienation of such a large section of the German population as the Catholics could not be sustained, and the policy w...

Kun, Béla
Hungarian politician. He created a Soviet republic in Hungary in March 1919, which was overthrown in August 1919 by a Western blockade and Romanian military actions. The succeeding regime under Admiral Horthy effectively liquidated both socialism and liberalism in Hungary

kudzu
Japanese creeper belonging to the legume family, which helps fix nitrogen (see nitrogen cycle) and can be used as a feed crop for animals, but became a pest in the southern USA when introduced to check soil erosion. (Pueraria lobata, family Leguminosae.)

Kuwait
Country in southwest Asia, bounded north and northwest by Iraq, east by the Gulf, and south and southwest by Saudi Arabia. Government Under its 1962 constitution, Kuwait has a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, headed by an emir from the al-Sabah dynasty. The constitution vests executive powe...

kung fu
Chinese art of unarmed combat, one of the martial arts. It is practised in many forms, the most popular being wing chun, `beautiful springtime`. The basic principle is to use attack as a form of defence

Kurd
Member of a people living mostly in the Taurus and Sagros mountains of eastern Turkey, western Iran, and northern Iraq in the region called Kurdistan. The Kurds have suffered repression in several countries, most brutally in Iraq, where in 1991 more than 1 million were forced to flee their homes. They speak an Indo-Iranian language and are pred...

Kuwait
(city) Chief port and capital of the state of Kuwait, on the southern shore of Kuwait Bay; population (2005) 32,400. The city is also the capital of the governorate of Kuwait; population (2000 est) 382,400. Kuwait is a banking and investment centre which grew rapidly in size and import...

Kung
Member of a small group of hunter-gatherer peoples of the northeastern Kalahari, southern Africa, still living to some extent nomadically. Their language belongs to the Khoisan family

Kuti, Fela Anikulapo
Nigerian singer, songwriter, and musician. He was a strong proponent of African nationalism and ethnic identity. His albums of big-band African funk, a sound he called `Afro-beat`, include Coffin for Head of State (1978), Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense (1987), and Underground Sys...

kumquat
Small orange-yellow fruit of any of several evergreen trees native to East Asia and cultivated throughout the tropics. The trees grow 2.4–3.6 m/8–12 ft high and have dark green shiny leaves and white scented flowers. The fruit is eaten fresh (the skin is edible), preserved, or candied. The oval or Nagami kumquat is the most common...

Kuchma, Leonid
Ukrainian p olitician, prime minister 1992–93 and president 1994–2004. A traditional Soviet technocrat, he worked his way up the hierarchy of the Communist Party. As prime minister, he established himself as a moderate reformer and succeeded Leonid Kravchuk as president. His programme for reform followed a considerably more pro-Western...

Kurdish language
Language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family, closely related to Farsi (Persian). It is spoken by the Kurds, a geographically divided ethnic group. Its numerous dialects fall into two main groups: northern Kurmanji and southern Kurmanji (also known as Sorani). Around 60% of Kurds speak one of the norther...

Kursk, Battle of
In World War II, an unsuccessful German offensive against a Soviet salient in July 1943. Kursk was the greatest tank battle in history and proved to be a turning point in the Eastern Front campaign. With nearly 6,000 tanks and 2 million troops involved the battle was hard fought, reaching its climax with the pitched battle on 12 July between 700 Ge...

Kumbh Mela
Hindu festival that takes place once every 12 years. It commemorates a 12-year celestial battle between gods and demons, over a pitcher (kumbh) containing the sacred nectar of immortality (amrit). The gods were victorious, but during the battle four drops of nectar were spilled. The month-long festival ...

Kuril'skiye Ostrova
Russian name for Kuril Islands, a chain of small islands belonging to Russia, between Japan and Kamchatka, Russia

Kusinagara
In Buddhist tradition, the place where the Buddha died. The Nirvana Temple, built in the 5th century AD, contains a reclining statue, 7 m/25 ft long, which shows the Buddha in his state of final repose as he died and reached nirvana

kwashiorkor
Severe protein deficiency in children under five years, resulting in retarded growth, lethargy, oedema, diarrhoea, and a swollen abdomen. It is common in developing countries with a high incidence of malnutrition. The term, derived from a Ghanaian word for a child who has been weaned due to the arrival of a new sibling, was introduced to medical li...

kW
Symbol for kilowatt

Kwannon
In Buddhism, a form, often regarded as female (and known to the West as `goddess of mercy`), of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Kwannon is the most important bodhisattva in all main schools of Buddhism, and is an attendant of Amida Buddha. Kwannon is sometimes depicted with many arms extending compassion. Images of Kwannon were originally...

Kwa Ndebele
Former black homeland in former Transvaal Province, South Africa; now partly in Mpumalanga and partly in Gauteng

KwaZulu
Former Black National State in former Natal Province, South Africa. In 1994 it became part of KwaZulu-Natal Province. It achieved self-governing status in 1971. In 1994 it was placed under a state of emergency in the run-up to the first multiracial elections, after mounting violence by th...

Kwangju
Capital of South Cholla province, southwestern South Korea; population (2002 est) 1,371,000. It is at the centre of a rice-growing region. Beverages, textiles, and motor vehicles are also important industries. The city dates from the 1st century BC and was a centre of administration and commerce from ancient times; it grew rapidly in mo...

KwaZulu-Natal
Province of the Republic of South Africa, formed from the former province of Natal and the former black homeland of KwaZulu; area 91,481 sq km/35,321 sq mi; population (2000 est) 8,857,600 (75% Zulu); it is the most populous province of the Republic. The towns of Ulundi and Pieter...

Kyd, Thomas
English dramatist. He was the author of a bloody revenge tragedy, The Spanish Tragedy (printed about 1590), which anticipated elements present in Shakespeare's Hamlet. His Pompey the Great (1594) was translated from the French of Robert Garnier. He probably wrote Solyman and Pers...

Kyoto
Click images to enlargeFormer capital of Japan 794–1868 (when the capital was changed to Tokyo) on Honshu island, linked by canal with Lake Biwa, 510 km/317 mi west of Tokyo and 40 km/25 mi northeast of Osaka; population (2000 est) 1,468,000. Industries include electrical, chemical, and machinery plants&#...

Kyushu
Southernmost of the main islands of Japan, separated from Shikoku island by the Bungo Strait, from Honshu island by the Kammon Strait, and from Korea by the Korea Strait; connected to Honshu by bridge and rail tunnel; area 42,150 sq km/16,270 sq mi, including about 370 small islands; population (2000 est) 13,446,000. The capital is ...

Kyprianou, Spyros
Cypriot politician, president 1977–88. Foreign minister 1961–72, he founded the federalist, centre-left Democratic Front in 1976. Educated in Cyprus and the UK, he became a barrister in the UK in 1954. He became secretary to Archbishop Makarios in London in 1952 and returned with him to Cyprus in 1959. On the death of Makarios in 1977...

kyanite
Aluminium silicate, Al2SiO5, a pale-blue mineral occurring as blade-shaped crystals. It is an indicator of high-pressure conditions in metamorphic rocks formed from clay sediments. Andalusite, kyanite, and sillimanite are all polymorphs (see polymorphism)

Kyrgyzstan
Country in central Asia, bounded north by Kazakhstan, east by China, west by Uzbekistan, and south by Tajikistan. Government Under the 1993 constitution, as amended in 2003, there is a 75 member single-chamber legislature, to which deputies are elected for five-year terms by a majority system, which provides for a second, and exceptionally ...

Kyklades
Greek for the Cyclades, a group of about 200 islands in the Aegean Sea

Kyyiv
Ukrainian name for Kiev, the capital of Ukraine

Kyoto Protocol
International protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was agreed at Kyoto, Japan, in December 1997. It commits the 186 signatory countries to binding limits on carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping `greenhouse gases`, which many scientists believe contribute to global warming. For industria...

lanthanide
Any of a series of 15 metallic elements (also known as rare earths) with atomic numbers 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium). One of its members, promethium, is radioactive. All occur in nature. Lanthanides are grouped because of their chemical similarities (most are trivalent, but some can be divalent or tetravalent), their properties differing only sl...

lactose
White sugar, found in solution in milk; it forms 5% of cow's milk. It is commercially prepared from the whey obtained in cheese-making. Like table sugar (sucrose), it is a disaccharide, consisting of two basic sugar units (monosaccharides), in this case, glucose and galactose. Unlike sucrose, it is tasteless

lactic acid
Organic acid that occurs as colourless, almost odourless crystals or liquid, produced by certain bacteria during fermentation and by active muscle cells when they are exercised hard and are experiencing oxygen debt. An accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles may cause cramp. It occurs in yogurt, buttermilk, sour cream, poor wine, and certain pla...

labelled compound
Chemical compound in which a radioactive isotope is substituted for a stable one. The path taken by such a compound through a system can be followed, for example by measuring the radiation emitted. This powerful and sensitive technique is used in medicine, chemistry, biochemistry, and industry

lark
Any of a group of songbirds found mainly in the Old World, but also in North America. Larks are brownish-tan in colour and usually about 18 cm/7 in long; they nest on the ground in the open. The skylark (Alauda arvensis) sings as it rises almost vertically in the air. It is light brown and 18 cm/7 in long. (Family...

lapwing
Bird belonging to the plover family, also known as the green plover and, from its call, as the peewit. Bottle-green above and white below, with a long thin crest and rounded wings, it is about 30 cm/1 ft long. It inhabits moorland in Europe and Asia, making a nest scratched out of the ground, and is also often seen on farmland. (Species <...

lamprey
Any of various eel-shaped jawless fishes. A lamprey feeds on other fish by fixing itself by its round mouth to its host and boring into the flesh with its toothed tongue. Lampreys breed in fresh water, and the young live as larvae for about five years before migrating to the sea. (Family Petromyzontidae.)

lancelet
Any of a variety of marine animals about 2.5 cm/1 in long. They have no skull, brain, eyes, heart, vertebral column, centralized brain, or paired limbs, but there is a notochord (a supportive rod) which runs from end to end of the body, a tail, and a number of gill slits. Found in all seas, lancelets burrow in the sand but when disturbed swim f...

lammergeier
Old World vulture with a wingspan of 2.7 m/9 ft. It ranges over southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia, in wild mountainous areas. It feeds on offal and carrion and drops bones onto rocks to break them and so get at the marrow. (Species Gypaetus barbatus, family Accipitridae.)

ladybird
Any of various small beetles, generally red or yellow in colour, with black spots. There are more than 5,200 species worldwide. As larvae and adults, they feed on aphids and scale-insect pests. (Family Coccinellidae, order Coleoptera.) Ladybirds have been used as a form of biological control sinc...

lacewing
Any of a group of insects found throughout the world. Lacewings take their name from the intricate veining of their two pairs of semitransparent wings. They have narrow bodies and long thin antennae. The larvae (called aphid lions) are predators, especially on aphids. (Families Hemerobiidae (brown la...

lac
Resinous incrustation produced by the female of the lac insect (Laccifer lacca), which eventually covers the twigs of trees in India and the Far East. The gathered twigs are known as stick lac, and yield a useful crimson dye; shellac, which is used in varnishes, polishes, and leather dressings, is manufactured commercially by...

larynx
In mammals, a cavity at the upper end of the trachea (windpipe) containing the vocal cords. It is stiffened with cartilage and lined with mucous membrane. Amphibians and reptiles have much simpler larynxes, with no vocal cords. Birds have a similar cavity, called the syrinx, found lower down the trachea, where it branches to form the bronchi. It is...

larva
Stage between hatching and adulthood in those species in which the young have a different appearance and way of life from the adults. Examples include tadpoles (frogs) and caterpillars (butterflies and moths). Larvae are typical of the invertebrates, some of which (for example, shrimps) have two or m...

lactation
Secretion of milk in mammals, from the mammary glands. In late pregnancy, the cells lining the lobules inside the mammary glands begin extracting substances from the blood to produce milk. The supply of milk starts shortly after birth with the production of colostrum, a clear fluid consisting largely of water, protein, antibodies, and vitamins. The...

lateral line system
System of sense organs in fishes and larval amphibians (tadpoles) that detects water movement. It usually consists of a row of interconnected pores on either side of the body that divide into a system of canals across the head

laver
Any of several edible purplish-red seaweeds, including purple laver (P. umbilicalis). Growing on the shore and in the sea, attached to rocks and stones, laver forms thin, roundish sheets of tissue up to 20 cm/8 in across. It becomes almost black when dry. (Genus Porphyra, family Rhodophyceae.)

langur
Any of various leaf-eating Old World monkeys that live in trees in South Asia. There are about 20 species. Langurs are related to the colobus monkey of Africa. (Genus Presbytis and other related genera.)

lamina
In flowering plants (angiosperms), the blade of the leaf on either side of the midrib. The lamina is generally thin and flattened, and is usually the primary organ of photosynthesis. It has a network of veins through which water and nutrients are conducted. More generally, a lamina is any thin, flat plant structure, such as the thallus of many seaw...

labellum
Lower petal of an orchid flower; it is a different shape from the two lateral petals and gives the orchid its characteristic appearance. The labellum is more elaborate and usually larger than the other petals. It often has distinctive patterning to encourage pollination by insects; sometimes it is extended backwards to form a hollow spur co...

Landsteiner, Karl
Austrian-born US immunologist who was awarded a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1930 for his discovery of the ABO blood group system in the period 1900–02. He also aided in the discovery of the Rhesus blood factors in 1940, and discovered the polio virus. In 1927 Landsteiner found that, in addition to antigens A and B, human bloo...

laxative
Substance used to relieve constipation (infrequent bowel movement). Current medical opinion discourages regular or prolonged use. Regular exercise and a diet high in vegetable fibre are believed to be the best means of preventing and treating constipation

labelling
In sociology, defining or describing a person in terms of his or her behaviour; for example, describing someone who has broken a law as a criminal. Labelling theory deals with human interaction, behaviour, and control, particularly in the field of deviance. Labelling has been seen as a form of social control in that labels affect both a person&...

lava
Click images to enlargeMolten magma that erupts from a volcano and cools to form extrusive igneous rock. Lava types differ in composition, temperature, gas content, and viscosity (resistance to flow). The three major lava types are basalt (dark, fluid, and relatively low silica content), rhyolite (light, viscous, high sil...