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Any member of the grass family (Poaceae or Gramineae) that produces edible grains usable as food by humans and livestock. Cereals are important cultivated crops. Common cereals include rice, wheat, barley, oats, maize (corn), sorghum, rye, and…

Planets beyond our solar system. For millennia, humankind has known about most of the major planets in our solar system because these worlds are visible to the naked eye. Exoplanets, however, were not indisputably known until 1995, when astronomers…

A space telescope mission dedicated to detecting exoplanets. The tenth mission launched under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Discovery Program, Kepler was the agency’s first mission dedicated to the search for planets…

The planet fourth outward from the Sun and the planet most like Earth in terms of geology, climate, and suitability for life. Mars is nicknamed the "Red Planet" for its reddish hue (Fig. 1). Besides Earth, Mars is the most-studied world in the solar…

The apparent change in direction of a source of light caused by an observer's component of motion perpendicular to the impinging rays.To visualize the effect, first imagine a stationary telescope (illus.a) aimed at a luminous source such as a star,…

The closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way Galaxy. The name of the Andromeda Galaxy (Fig. 1) derives from its appearance in the constellation of Andromeda. The galaxy is also known as M31 and NGC 224, based on its entries in two widely used…

Vegetables that are prevalent in Asian cuisines, but less well known in Western diets. Asian vegetables (Fig. 1), also referred to as Asian greens or oriental vegetables, are very important in Asian countries, but are not as popular in North America…

A white, crystalline compound, 1-aspartyl-1-phenylalanine methyl ester (APM), used as an artificial sweetener. Aspartame is composed of two amino acids: aspartic acid and phenylalanine [structure (1)]. Amino acid Artificial sweetener Aspartame…

A fermented beverage produced from grain. Beer is a generic term used to describe alcoholic beverages made from cereal grains, especially barley (Fig. 1), in the form of malt. Ale, lager, porter, and stout are different kinds of beer made by…

A gravitationally bound, condensed body whose mass is too small to sustain nuclear fusion reactions in its core. Brown dwarfs are often likened to "failed stars." The approximate mass range for brown dwarfs is between 13 and 80 times the mass of…

An algorithm that gives a name to each day. These day names are generally distinct, but not always. For example, the day of the week is a calendar, in a trivial sense, with infinitely many days having the same day name. The design of calendars has…

A force whose line of action is always directed toward a fixed point. The central force may attract or repel. The point toward or from which the force acts is called the center of force. If the central force attracts a material particle, the path of…

Light emitted by a high-speed charged particle when the particle passes through a transparent, nonconducting, solid material at a speed greater than the speed of light in the material. The blue glow observed in the water of a nuclear reactor, close…

Products derived from the seeds of the tropical tree Theobroma cacao. The cacao tree (Fig. 1) grows within a narrow belt along both sides of the Equator. There are three basic varieties: Criollo, which was native to Central and South America;…

Keeping perishable products at low temperatures to extend shelf life. Cold storage vastly retards the natural deterioration of perishable products at higher temperatures. Time and temperature are the key factors that determine how well foods (see…

A quantitative measure of a star's color. Even a casual look at the night sky reveals the stars to be colored. From spectral analysis and the laws of radiation, it has been known since early in the twentieth century that such color is closely…

The Southern Cross, a small southern constellation. Because of the absence of a star at the center of the cross, this constellation really looks like a kite (see illustration). To its side, the Coalsack is a giant dark silhouette of dust against the…

Equipment used in the production and processing of milk and milk products, including milking machines, cream separators, coolers, pasteurizers, homogenizers, butter-making equipment, evaporators and dryers, and related items of equipment. Dairy…

A unit of time equal to the period of rotation of Earth. Different sorts of day are distinguished, according to how the period of rotation is reckoned with respect to one or another direction in space. A day is normally defined as 86,400 SI (Système…

Potable alcoholic beverages, each obtained by distilling an alcohol-containing liquid and further treating the distillate to obtain a beverage of specific character. Classification The various distilled spirits are classified according to (1) the…

A star whose state of evolution resembles that of the Sun. The term “dwarf star” derives from the early work of Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell, who distinguished two kinds of stars: large ones, called giants (or supergiants), and smaller…

Any substance taken into the body primarily for providing nourishment. Chosen carefully, foods can provide all of the essential nutrients required for the normal functioning of the human body. In this context, food is necessary to provide energy, to…

A subdiscipline in the field of microbiology concerned with the study of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that grow in or are transmitted by foods. Food microbiology is a broad field that can include not only microbiology, but also sanitation,…

An acute gastrointestinal or neurologic disorder caused by bacteria (or their toxic products), viruses, or harmful chemicals in foods. In general, food poisoning (foodborne illness) is a condition resulting from the consumption of food or water…

Grasses and legumes that make up grasslands and are consumed by grazing livestock. The grasslands represent an ancient renewable natural resource. They form 25% of the world's vegetation and occupy the largest area of any single plant type. They…

A hardy perennial, Allium sativum, of Asiatic origin and belonging to the plant order Asparagales. Garlic is grown for its pungent bulbs (see illustration). Segments of these are used primarily for seasoning. Europeans have grown garlic for probably…

A nearby neutron star that emits pulsed x-rays and gamma rays, steady optical radiation, and possibly radio and optical pulsations. Since the 1970s, it has been studied at a level of detail very unusual for a neutron star. As a result, not only are…

An important spice or condiment; also the plant from which it is obtained, Zingiber officinale, of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). The plant is a native of southeastern Asia. It is an erect perennial herb (see illustration) having thick, scaly,…

A small, opaque nebula seen in silhouette against a rich star field or a bright nebula. Globules were first cataloged in the 1920s. In 1947, B. J. Bok called attention to their potential significance for star formation, and since then they have been…

Crop plants that belong to the grass family (Poaceae or Gra­mineae), generally grown for their edible starchy seeds. Grain crops also are referred to as cereal crops and include wheat, rice, corn (maize), barley (see illustration), rye, oats,…

Measurement of the time dimension. In practice, horology is the search for a steady or repetitive action, and the design of an instrument to perform that action and to indicate (read out) a measure of the action. Until early in the twentieth…

Intensively managed plants cultivated for food or for esthetic purposes. Plant agriculture is divided traditionally into the fields of agronomy (herbaceous field crops, mainly grains, forages, oilseeds, and fiber crops), forestry (forest trees and…

A commercial dairy food made by freezing while stirring a pasteurized mix of suitable ingredients. The product may include milk fat, nonfat milk solids, or milk-derived ingredients; other ingredients may include corn syrup, water, flavoring, egg…

The three laws of planetary motion discovered by Johannes Kepler during the early years of the seventeenth century. Kepler, a German astronomer (Fig. 1), published the first two laws in 1609 in a book entitled Astronomia nova, and the third law in…

A mold that is one of the most widely used fungi in industry. Especially with regard to the Japanese way of life, Aspergillus oryzae, a type of koji mold (Fig. 1), is quite indispensable, being an essential substance of traditional foods and…

The Lion, a northern zodiacal constellation (see illustration). Its head and front legs are marked by stars tracing out a backward question mark (without a bottom dot), also known as the Sickle. The bright star Regulus is at the bottom of the…

The Scales, a southern zodiacal constellation (see illustration). It has no bright stars. Traditional pictures show a set of scales (a balance) with pans held by chains. Perhaps its name comes from the nearby constellation Virgo, who was the goddess…

A product obtained from the licorice plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra) of the legume family [Leguminosae (Fabaceae)]. Licorice (alternatively spelled as liquorice) is a perennial herb that grows wild and is cultivated in southern Europe and in western and…

Graphs of the intensity of radiation from astronomical objects as they change with time. Variations may be caused by the changing perspective from the Earth of two stars in orbit around each other, by pulsations that change an individual star's size…

The Lyre (a stringed musical instrument), a small northern constellation (see illustration). It is marked by the fifth brightest star in the sky, Vega. In Greek mythology, the god Mercury made the first lyre by placing strings across a turtleshell.…

A nonenzymatic chemical reaction involving condensation of an amino group and a reducing group, resulting in the formation of intermediates which ultimately polymerize to form brown pigments (melanoidins). It was named for the French biochemist…

An emulsified fatty food product used as a spread and a baking and cooking fat, consisting of an aqueous phase dispersed in the fat as a continuous phase. Hyppolyte Mège-Mouriés invented margarine in 1869 and won the prize offered by Louis Napoleon…

The phenomenon occurring when the Sun does not set, but only approaches the horizon at midnight. The effect occurs near the time of the summer solstice, on June 21, for latitudes north of the Arctic Circle. The same effect occurs near the time of…

Mammary secretions obtained from animals used as a food source or processed into food products. The general term milk refers to cow's milk. However, milk is also obtained from goats, sheep, and buffalo (Fig. 1). Buffalo Dairy cattle production Goat…

The first star recognized to have a periodic brightness variation. Mira (officially designated Omicron Ceti, in the constellation Cetus, the Whale) was discovered in 1596 by David Fabricius (or Fabricus), a clergyman and an amateur astronomer from…

The second-magnitude star that marks the bend in the handle of the Big Dipper, ζ Ursae Majoris. Mizar was the first telescopic visual binary to be discovered (1650), the first ever to be photographed (1857), and the first star discovered to be a…

A large and relatively dense cloud of cold gas and dust in interstellar space from which new stars are born. Molecular clouds consist primarily of molecular hydrogen (H2) gas, have temperatures in the range 10–100 K, and contain 1031–1036 kg of mass…

The sodium salt of glutamic acid (also known as MSG). It is used in foods to enhance flavors.The molecular structure is as follows. Spice and flavoring The crystal form is the monohydrate; that is the structure as represented above plus one…

Any of several units of time based on the revolution of the Moon around Earth.The calendar month is one of the 12 arbitrary periods into which the calendar year is divided. CalendarThe synodic month, the period of the lunar phases, is the average…

Any of a number of annual crucifer species of Asiatic origin belonging to the plant order Capparales. Mustards eaten as greens are Brassica juncea, B. juncea var. crispifolia, and B. hirta. Table mustard and mustard oils are obtained from B. nigra…