Marco Rubio

Marco Antonio Rubio -LSB- ˈruːbioʊ -RSB- ( born May 28 , 1971 ) is an American politician and attorney , and the junior United States Senator from Florida . Rubio previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives .   Rubio is a Cuban American from Miami , with degrees from the University of Florida and the University of Miami School of Law . In the late 1990s , he served as a City Commissioner for West Miami and was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2000 , representing the 111th House district .   Later in 2000 , Rubio was promoted to be one of two majority whips , and in 2002 , he was appointed House Majority Leader by Speaker Johnnie Byrd . Subsequently , he was elected Speaker of the Florida House , serving as Speaker for two years beginning in November 2006 . Upon leaving the Florida legislature in 2008 due to term limits , Rubio started a new law firm , and also began teaching at Florida International University , where he continues as an adjunct professor .   Rubio successfully ran for United States Senate in 2010 . In the U.S. Senate , he chairs the Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans , Atmosphere , Fisheries , and Coast Guard , as well as the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere , Transnational Crime , Civilian Security , Democracy , Human Rights and Global Women 's Issues . He is one of four Latino Americans serving in the Senate .   In April 2015 , Rubio announced that he would forgo seeking reelection to the Senate to run for President . He suspended his campaign for President on March 15 , 2016 , after losing the Republican primary in his home state of Florida to Donald Trump . On June 22 , 2016 , he reversed his decision not to seek reelection to the Senate and announced a campaign for reelection citing the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting . Rubio was reelected after defeating Democrat Patrick Murphy in the 2016 general election .


Marcus Davis

Marcus Paul Davis ( born August 24 , 1973 ) , is a retired American professional mixed martial artist and former professional boxer who is perhaps best known for competing in the UFC . A professional MMA competitor from 2003 until 2014 , Davis also competed for Bellator MMA , the MFC , the Cage Fury Fighting Championships , and was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 2 .


Marine habitats

The marine environment supplies many kinds of habitats that support marine life . Marine life depends in some way on the saltwater that is in the sea ( the term marine comes from the Latin mare , meaning sea or ocean ) . A habitat is an ecological or environmental area inhabited by one or more living species .   Marine habitats can be divided into coastal and open ocean habitats . Coastal habitats are found in the area that extends from as far as the tide comes in on the shoreline out to the edge of the continental shelf . Most marine life is found in coastal habitats , even though the shelf area occupies only seven percent of the total ocean area . Open ocean habitats are found in the deep ocean beyond the edge of the continental shelf .   Alternatively , marine habitats can be divided into pelagic and demersal zones . Pelagic habitats are found near the surface or in the open water column , away from the bottom of the ocean . Demersal habitats are near or on the bottom of the ocean . An organism living in a pelagic habitat is said to be a pelagic organism , as in pelagic fish . Similarly , an organism living in a demersal habitat is said to be a demersal organism , as in demersal fish . Pelagic habitats are intrinsically shifting and ephemeral , depending on what ocean currents are doing .   Marine habitats can be modified by their inhabitants . Some marine organisms , like corals , kelp , mangroves and seagrasses , are ecosystem engineers which reshape the marine environment to the point where they create further habitat for other organisms .  __ TOC __


Marine life

Marine life , or sea life or ocean life , refers to the plants , animals and other organisms that live in the salt water of the sea or ocean , or the brackish water of coastal estuaries . At a fundamental level , marine life helps determine the very nature of our planet . Marine organisms produce much of the oxygen we breathe . Shorelines are in part shaped and protected by marine life , and some marine organisms even help create new land .   Most life forms evolved initially in marine habitats . Oceans provide about 99 percent of the living space on the planet . The earliest vertebrates appeared in the form of fish , which live exclusively in water . Some of these evolved into amphibians which spend portions of their lives in water and portions on land . Other fish evolved into land mammals and subsequently returned to the ocean as seals , dolphins or whales . Plant forms such as kelp and algae grow in the water and are the basis for some underwater ecosystems . Plankton , and particularly phytoplankton , are key primary producers forming the general foundation of the ocean food chain .   Marine vertebrates must obtain oxygen to survive , and they do so in various ways . Fish have gills instead of lungs , although some species of fish , such as the lungfish , have both . Marine mammals , such as dolphins , whales , otters , and seals need to surface periodically to breathe air . Some amphibians are able to absorb oxygen through their skin . Invertebrates exhibit a wide range of modifications to survive in poorly oxygenated waters including breathing tubes ( see insect and mollusc siphons ) and gills ( Carcinus ) . However , as invertebrate life evolved in an aquatic habitat most have little or no specialisation for respiration in water .   Altogether there are 230,000 documented marine species , including over 16,000 species of fish , and it has been estimated that nearly two million marine species are yet to be documented . Marine species range in size from the microscopic , including plankton and phytoplankton which can be as small as 0.02 micrometres , to huge cetaceans ( whales , dolphins and porpoises ) which in the case of the blue whale reach up to 33 metres ( 109 feet ) in length , being the largest known animal .


Marine mammal

Marine mammals are aquatic mammals that rely on the ocean and other marine ecosystems for their existence . They include animals such as seals , whales , manatees , sea otters and polar bears . They do not represent a distinct taxon or systematic grouping , but rather have a polyphyletic relation due to convergent evolution . They are also unified by their reliance on the marine environment for feeding .   Marine mammal adaptation to an aquatic lifestyle vary considerably between species . Both cetaceans and sirenians are fully aquatic and therefore are obligate water dwellers . Seals and sea-lions are semiaquatic ; they spend the majority of their time in the water , but need to return to land for important activities such as mating , breeding and molting . In contrast , both otters and the polar bear are much less adapted to aquatic living . Their diet varies considerably as well ; some may eat zooplankton , others may eat fish , squid , shellfish , sea-grass and a few may eat other mammals . While the number of marine mammals is small compared to those found on land , their roles in various ecosystems are large , especially concerning the maintenance of marine ecosystems , through processes including the regulation of prey populations . This role in maintaining ecosystems makes them of particular concern as 23 % of marine mammal species are currently threatened .   Marine mammals were first hunted by aboriginal peoples for food and other resources . Many were also the target for commercial industry , leading to a sharp decline in all populations of exploited species , such as whales and seals . Commercial hunting lead to the extinction of † Steller 's sea cow and the † Caribbean monk seal . After commercial hunting ended , some species , such as the gray whale and northern elephant seal , have rebounded in numbers ; conversely , other species , such as the North Atlantic right whale , are critically endangered . Other than hunting , marine mammals can be killed as bycatch from fisheries , where they become entangled in fixed netting and drown or starve . Increased ocean traffic causes collisions between fast ocean vessels and large marine mammals . Habitat degradation also threatens marine mammals and their ability to find and catch food . Noise pollution , for example , may adversely affect echolocating mammals , and the ongoing effects of global warming degrade arctic environments .


Marine pollution

Marine pollution occurs when harmful , or potentially harmful , effects result from the entry into the ocean of chemicals , particles , industrial , agricultural and residential waste , noise , or the spread of invasive organisms . Eighty percent of marine pollution comes from land . Air pollution is also a contributing factor by carrying off pesticides or dirt into the ocean . Land and air pollution have proven to be harmful to marine life and its habitats .   The pollution often comes from non point sources such as agricultural runoff , wind-blown debris and dust . Nutrient pollution , a form of water pollution , refers to contamination by excessive inputs of nutrients . It is a primary cause of eutrophication of surface waters , in which excess nutrients , usually nitrogen or phosphorus , stimulate algae growth .   Many potentially toxic chemicals adhere to tiny particles which are then taken up by plankton and benthos animals , most of which are either deposit or filter feeders . In this way , the toxins are concentrated upward within ocean food chains . Many particles combine chemically in a manner highly depletive of oxygen , causing estuaries to become anoxic .   When pesticides are incorporated into the marine ecosystem , they quickly become absorbed into marine food webs . Once in the food webs , these pesticides can cause mutations , as well as diseases , which can be harmful to humans as well as the entire food web .   Toxic metals can also be introduced into marine food webs . These can cause a change to tissue matter , biochemistry , behaviour , reproduction , and suppress growth in marine life . Also , many animal feeds have a high fish meal or fish hydrolysate content . In this way , marine toxins can be transferred to land animals , and appear later in meat and dairy products .


Marine protected area

Marine protected areas ( MPA ) are protected areas of seas , oceans , estuaries or large lakes . MPAs restrict human activity for a conservation purpose , typically to protect natural or cultural resources . Such marine resources are protected by local , state , territorial , native , regional , national , or international authorities and differ substantially among and between nations . This variation includes different limitations on development , fishing practices , fishing seasons and catch limits , moorings and bans on removing or disrupting marine life . In some situations ( such as with the Phoenix Islands Protected Area ) , MPAs also provide revenue for countries , potentially equal to the income that they would have if they were to grant companies permissions to fish .   On 28 October 2016 in Hobart , Australia , the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources agreed to establish the first Antarctic and largest marine park in the world encompassing 1.55 million km2 ( 600,000 sq mi ) in the Ross Sea . Other large MPAs are in the Indian , Pacific , and Atlantic Oceans in certain exclusive economic zones of Australia and overseas territories of France , the United Kingdom and the United States , with major ( 990,000 km2 or larger ) new or expanded MPAs by these nations since 2012 -- such as Natural Park of the Coral Sea , Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument , Coral Sea Commonwealth Marine Reserve and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Marine Protected Area . When counted with MPAs of all sizes from many other countries , as of August 2016 there are more than 13,650 MPAs , encompassing 2.07 % of the world 's oceans , with half of that area -- encompassing 1.03 % of the world 's oceans -- receiving complete `` no-take '' designation .


Mark Begich

Mark Peter Begich ( -LSB- ˈbɛɡɪtʃ -RSB- born March 30 , 1962 ) is an American politician who was a United States Senator from Alaska from 2009 to 2015 . A member of the Democratic Party , he was Mayor of Anchorage from 2003 to 2009 .   Born in Anchorage , Begich is the son of former U.S. Representative Nick Begich Sr. . He was elected to the Anchorage Assembly at the age of 26 . He eventually served as chairman for three years , before leaving the Assembly in 1998 . Begich ran two unsuccessful campaigns for mayor in 1994 and 2000 before being elected in 2003 . In the 2008 Senate election , Begich narrowly defeated incumbent Ted Stevens , the longest-serving Republican member of the Senate of all time .   In the 2014 Senate election , Begich was narrowly defeated in his bid for reelection by former Alaska Attorney General Dan Sullivan . Following completion of his term in the U.S. Senate , he became a policy advisor on Native American affairs in the Washington , D.C.-based law firm of Sonosky , Chambers , Sachse , Endreson & Perry LLP .


Market failure

In economics , market failure is a situation in which the allocation of goods and services is not efficient . That is , there exists another conceivable outcome where an individual may be made better-off without making someone else worse-off . Market failures can be viewed as scenarios where individuals ' pursuit of pure self-interest leads to results that are not efficient -- that can be improved upon from the societal point of view . The first known use of the term by economists was in 1958 , but the concept has been traced back to the Victorian philosopher Henry Sidgwick .   Market failures are often associated with time-inconsistent preferences , information asymmetries , non-competitive markets , principal -- agent problems , externalities , or public goods , thus existence of a market failure is often the reason that self-regulatory organizations , governments or supra-national institutions intervene in a particular market . Economists , especially microeconomists , are often concerned with the causes of market failure and possible means of correction . Such analysis plays an important role in many types of public policy decisions and studies . However , government policy interventions , such as taxes , subsidies , bailouts , wage and price controls , and regulations ( including poorly implemented attempts to correct market failure ) , may also lead to an inefficient allocation of resources , sometimes called government failure .   Given the tension between , on the one hand , the undeniable costs to society caused by market failure , and on the other hand , the potential that attempts to mitigate these costs could lead to even greater costs from `` government failure '' , there is sometimes a choice between imperfect outcomes , i.e. imperfect market outcomes with or without government interventions . But either way , if a market failure exists the outcome is not Pareto efficient . Most mainstream economists believe that there are circumstances ( like building codes or endangered species ) in which it is possible for government or other organizations to improve the inefficient market outcome . Several heterodox schools of thought disagree with this as a matter of principle .   An ecological market failure exists when human activity in a market economy is exhausting critical non-renewable resources , disrupting fragile ecosystems services , or overloading biospheric waste absorption capacities . In none of these cases does the criterion of Pareto efficiency obtain .


Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System , after Mercury . Named after the Roman god of war , it is often referred to as the `` Red Planet '' because the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance . Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere , having surface features reminiscent both of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys , deserts , and polar ice caps of Earth .   The rotational period and seasonal cycles of Mars are likewise similar to those of Earth , as is the tilt that produces the seasons . Mars is the site of Olympus Mons , the largest volcano and second-highest known mountain in the Solar System , and of Valles Marineris , one of the largest canyons in the Solar System . The smooth Borealis basin in the northern hemisphere covers 40 % of the planet and may be a giant impact feature . Mars has two moons , Phobos and Deimos , which are small and irregularly shaped . These may be captured asteroids , similar to 5261 Eureka , a Mars trojan .   There are ongoing investigations assessing the past habitability potential of Mars , as well as the possibility of extant life . Future astrobiology missions are planned , including the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rovers . Liquid water can not exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure , which is about that of the Earth 's , except at the lowest elevations for short periods . The two polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water . The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap , if melted , would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 m . In November 2016 , NASA reported finding a large amount of underground ice in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars . The volume of water detected has been estimated to be equivalent to the volume of water in Lake Superior .   Mars can easily be seen from Earth with the naked eye , as can its reddish coloring . Its apparent magnitude reaches − 2.91 , which is surpassed only by Jupiter , Venus , the Moon , and the Sun . Optical ground-based telescopes are typically limited to resolving features about 300 km across when Earth and Mars are closest because of Earth 's atmosphere .


Mars ocean hypothesis

The Mars ocean hypothesis states that nearly a third of the surface of Mars was covered by an ocean of liquid water early in the planet 's geologic history . This primordial ocean , dubbed Paleo-Ocean and Oceanus Borealis , would have filled the basin Vastitas Borealis in the northern hemisphere , a region which lies 4 -- 5 km ( 2.5 -- 3 miles ) below the mean planetary elevation , at a time period of approximately 4.1 -- 3.8 billion years ago . Evidence for this ocean includes geographic features resembling ancient shorelines , and the chemical properties of the Martian soil and atmosphere . Early Mars would have required a denser atmosphere and warmer climate to allow liquid water to remain at the surface .


Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands , officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ ) , Pronunciations : * English : Republic of the Marshall Islands -LSB- ˈmɑrʃəl_ˈaɪləndz -RSB- * Marshallese : Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ ( -LSB- iconhahawweweylyeyPyayn_hahawwowohrhohKhuyn_mhhahahJyehlh -RSB- ) is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean , slightly west of the International Date Line . Geographically , the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia . The country 's population of 53,158 people ( at the 2011 Census ) is spread out over 29 coral atolls , comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets .   The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west , Wake Island to the north , Wake Island is claimed as a territory of the Marshall Islands , but is also claimed as an unorganized , unincorporated territory of the United States , with de facto control vested in the Office of Insular Affairs ( and all military defenses managed by the United States military ) . Kiribati to the southeast , and Nauru to the south . About 27,797 of the islanders ( at the 2011 Census ) live on Majuro , which contains the capital .   Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC , with inter-island navigation made possible using traditional stick charts . Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s , with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526 . Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed . The islands derive their name from British explorer John Marshall , who visited in 1788 . The islands were historically known by the inhabitants as `` jolet jen Anij '' ( Gifts from God ) .   The European powers recognized Spanish sovereignty over the islands in 1874 . They had been part of the Spanish East Indies formally since 1528 . Later , Spain sold the islands to the German Empire in 1884 , and they became part of German New Guinea in 1885 . In World War I the Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands , which in 1919 the League of Nations combined with other former German territories to form the South Pacific Mandate . In World War II , the United States conquered the islands in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign . Along with other Pacific Islands , the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands governed by the US . Self-government was achieved in 1979 , and full sovereignty in 1986 , under a Compact of Free Association with the United States . Marshall Islands has been a United Nations member state since 1991 .   Politically , the Marshall Islands is a presidential republic in free association with the United States , with the US providing defense , subsidies , and access to U.S. based agencies such as the FCC and the USPS . With few natural resources , the islands ' wealth is based on a service economy , as well as some fishing and agriculture ; aid from the United States represents a large percentage of the islands ' gross domestic product . The country uses the United States dollar as its currency .   The majority of the citizens of the Marshall Islands are of Marshallese descent , though there are small numbers of immigrants from the United States , China , Philippines , and other Pacific islands . The two official languages are Marshallese , which is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian languages , and English . Almost the entire population of the islands practises some religion , with three-quarters of the country either following the United Church of Christ -- Congregational in the Marshall Islands ( UCCCMI ) or the Assemblies of God .


Martian

A Martian is a native inhabitant of the planet Mars . Although the search for evidence of life on Mars continues , many science fiction writers have imagined what extraterrestrial life on Mars might be like . Some writers also use the word Martian to describe a human colonist on Mars .


Martian polar ice caps

The planet Mars has two permanent polar ice caps . During a pole 's winter , it lies in continuous darkness , chilling the surface and causing the deposition of 25 -- 30 % of the atmosphere into slabs of CO2 ice ( dry ice ) . When the poles are again exposed to sunlight , the frozen CO2 sublimes , creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 400 km/h . These seasonal actions transport large amounts of dust and water vapor , giving rise to Earth-like frost and large cirrus clouds . Clouds of water-ice were photographed by the Opportunity rover in 2004 .   The caps at both poles consist primarily of water ice . Frozen carbon dioxide accumulates as a comparatively thin layer about one metre thick on the north cap in the northern winter only , while the south cap has a permanent dry ice cover about 8 m thick . The northern polar cap has a diameter of about 1000 km during the northern Mars summer , and contains about 1.6 million cubic km of ice , which if spread evenly on the cap would be 2 km thick . ( This compares to a volume of 2.85 million cubic km ( km3 ) for the Greenland ice sheet . ) The southern polar cap has a diameter of 350 km and a thickness of 3 km . The total volume of ice in the south polar cap plus the adjacent layered deposits has also been estimated at 1.6 million cubic km . Both polar caps show spiral troughs , which recent analysis of SHARAD ice penetrating radar has shown are a result of roughly perpendicular katabatic winds that spiral due to the Coriolis Effect .   The seasonal frosting of some areas near the southern ice cap results in the formation of transparent 1 m thick slabs of dry ice above the ground . With the arrival of spring , sunlight warms the subsurface and pressure from subliming CO2 builds up under a slab , elevating and ultimately rupturing it . This leads to geyser-like eruptions of CO2 gas mixed with dark basaltic sand or dust . This process is rapid , observed happening in the space of a few days , weeks or months , a rate of change rather unusual in geology -- especially for Mars . The gas rushing underneath a slab to the site of a geyser carves a spider-like pattern of radial channels under the ice .


Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place . Marvel superheroes such as the Avengers , the Fantastic Four and the X-Men are from this universe .   The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a `` multiverse '' consisting of thousands of separate universes , all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are , in a sense , `` Marvel universes '' . In this context , `` Marvel Universe '' is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity , which is known as Earth-616 or currently as Earth Prime .


Maryland

Maryland ( -LSB- ˈmɛrᵻlənd -RSB- ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States , bordering Virginia , West Virginia , and Washington , D.C. to its south and west ; Pennsylvania to its north ; and Delaware to its east . The state 's largest city is Baltimore , and its capital is Annapolis . Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State , the Free State , and the Chesapeake Bay State . The state is named after Henrietta Maria of France , the wife of Charles I of England .   One of the original Thirteen Colonies , Maryland is considered to be the birthplace of religious freedom in America , when it was formed by George Calvert in the early 17th century as an intended refuge for persecuted Catholics from England . George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the then-Maryland colonial grant . Maryland was the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution , and played a pivotal role in the founding of Washington , D.C. , which was established on land donated by the state .   Maryland is one of the smallest U.S. states in terms of area , as well as one of the most densely populated , with around six million residents . , Maryland had the highest median household income of any state , owing in large part to its close proximity to the nation 's capital and a highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing , services , and biotechnology .


Master's degree

A master 's degree ( from Latin magister ) is a second-cycle academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice . A master 's degree normally requires previous study at the bachelor 's level , either as a separate degree or as part of an integrated course . Within the area studied , master 's graduates are expected to possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics ; high order skills in analysis , critical evaluation , or professional application ; and the ability to solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently .


Mathematical model

A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language . The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling . Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences ( such as physics , biology , Earth science , meteorology ) and engineering disciplines ( such as computer science , artificial intelligence ) , as well as in the social sciences ( such as economics , psychology , sociology , political science ) . Physicists , engineers , statisticians , operations research analysts , and economists use mathematical models most extensively . A model may help to explain a system and to study the effects of different components , and to make predictions about behaviour .


Mathematics

Mathematics ( from Greek μάθημα máthēma , `` knowledge , study , learning '' ) is the study of topics such as quantity ( numbers ) , structure , space , and change . There is a range of views among mathematicians and philosophers as to the exact scope and definition of mathematics .   Mathematicians seek out patterns and use them to formulate new conjectures . Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proof . When mathematical structures are good models of real phenomena , then mathematical reasoning can provide insight or predictions about nature . Through the use of abstraction and logic , mathematics developed from counting , calculation , measurement , and the systematic study of the shapes and motions of physical objects . Practical mathematics has been a human activity from as far back as written records exist . The research required to solve mathematical problems can take years or even centuries of sustained inquiry .   Rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics , most notably in Euclid 's Elements . Since the pioneering work of Giuseppe Peano ( 1858 -- 1932 ) , David Hilbert ( 1862 -- 1943 ) , and others on axiomatic systems in the late 19th century , it has become customary to view mathematical research as establishing truth by rigorous deduction from appropriately chosen axioms and definitions . Mathematics developed at a relatively slow pace until the Renaissance , when mathematical innovations interacting with new scientific discoveries led to a rapid increase in the rate of mathematical discovery that has continued to the present day .   Galileo Galilei ( 1564 -- 1642 ) said , `` The universe can not be read until we have learned the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written . It is written in mathematical language , and the letters are triangles , circles and other geometrical figures , without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word . Without these , one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth . '' Carl Friedrich Gauss ( 1777 -- 1855 ) referred to mathematics as `` the Queen of the Sciences '' . Benjamin Peirce ( 1809 -- 1880 ) called mathematics `` the science that draws necessary conclusions '' . David Hilbert said of mathematics : `` We are not speaking here of arbitrariness in any sense . Mathematics is not like a game whose tasks are determined by arbitrarily stipulated rules . Rather , it is a conceptual system possessing internal necessity that can only be so and by no means otherwise . '' Albert Einstein ( 1879 -- 1955 ) stated that `` as far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality , they are not certain ; and as far as they are certain , they do not refer to reality . ''   Mathematics is essential in many fields , including natural science , engineering , medicine , finance and the social sciences . Applied mathematics has led to entirely new mathematical disciplines , such as statistics and game theory . Mathematicians also engage in pure mathematics , or mathematics for its own sake , without having any application in mind . There is no clear line separating pure and applied mathematics , and practical applications for what began as pure mathematics are often discovered .


Mauna Loa

Mauna Loa ( -LSB- ˌmɔːnə_ˈloʊ . ə -RSB- or -LSB- ˌmaʊnə_ˈloʊ . ə -RSB- Hawaiian : -LSB- - hawˈmɐwnə ˈlowə -RSB- Long Mountain ) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean . The largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume , Mauna Loa has historically been considered the largest volcano on Earth . It is an active shield volcano with relatively gentle slopes , with a volume estimated at approximately 18000 mi3 , although its peak is about 120 ft lower than that of its neighbor , Mauna Kea . Lava eruptions from Mauna Loa are silica-poor and very fluid , and they tend to be non-explosive .   Mauna Loa has probably been erupting for at least 700,000 years , and may have emerged above sea level about 400,000 years ago . The oldest-known dated rocks are not older than 200,000 years . The volcano 's magma comes from the Hawaii hotspot , which has been responsible for the creation of the Hawaiian island chain over tens of millions of years . The slow drift of the Pacific Plate will eventually carry Mauna Loa away from the hotspot within 500,000 to one million years from now , at which point it will become extinct .   Mauna Loa 's most recent eruption occurred from March 24 to April 15 , 1984 . No recent eruptions of the volcano have caused fatalities , but eruptions in 1926 and 1950 destroyed villages , and the city of Hilo is partly built on lava flows from the late 19th century . Because of the potential hazards it poses to population centers , Mauna Loa is part of the Decade Volcanoes program , which encourages studies of the world 's most dangerous volcanoes . Mauna Loa has been monitored intensively by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory since 1912 . Observations of the atmosphere are undertaken at the Mauna Loa Observatory , and of the Sun at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory , both located near the mountain 's summit . Hawaii Volcanoes National Park covers the summit and the southeastern flank of the volcano , and also incorporates Kīlauea , a separate volcano .


Mauna Loa Observatory

The Mauna Loa Observatory ( MLO ) is an atmospheric baseline station on Mauna Loa , on the island of Hawaii .


Maunder Minimum

The Maunder Minimum , also known as the `` prolonged sunspot minimum '' , is the name used for the period starting in about 1645 and continuing to about 1715 when sunspots became exceedingly rare , as noted by solar observers of the time .   The term was introduced after John A. Eddy published a landmark 1976 paper in Science . Astronomers before Eddy had also named the period after the solar astronomers Annie Russell Maunder ( 1868 -- 1947 ) and E. Walter Maunder ( 1851 -- 1928 ) , who studied how sunspot latitudes changed with time . The period which the husband and wife team examined included the second half of the 17th century .   Two papers were published in Edward Maunder 's name in 1890 and 1894 , and he cited earlier papers written by Gustav Spörer . Because Annie Maunder had not received a university degree ( due to restrictions at the time ) , her contribution was not publicly recognized .   Spörer noted that , during a 28-year period ( 1672 -- 1699 ) within the Maunder Minimum , observations revealed fewer than 50 sunspots . This contrasts with the typical 40,000 -- 50,000 sunspots seen in modern times .   Like the Dalton Minimum and Spörer Minimum , the Maunder Minimum coincided with a period of lower-than-average European temperatures .


Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food . Humans have hunted and killed animals for meat since prehistoric times . The advent of civilization allowed the domestication of animals such as chickens , sheep , pigs and cattle . This eventually led to their use in meat production on an industrial scale with the aid of slaughterhouses .   Meat is mainly composed of water , protein , and fat . It is edible raw , but is normally eaten after it has been cooked and seasoned or processed in a variety of ways . Unprocessed meat will spoil or rot within hours or days as a result of infection with and decomposition by bacteria and fungi .   Most often , meat refers to skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues , but it may also describe other edible tissues such as offal . Meat is sometimes also used in a more restrictive sense to mean the flesh of mammalian species ( pigs , cattle , lambs , etc. ) raised and prepared for human consumption , to the exclusion of fish , other seafood , poultry , or other animals .


Media coverage of global warming

Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is mainly caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view, although a few organisations hold non-committal positions. Climate change communication research frequently studies the effectiveness of that media.  Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. However, most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues. Moreover, they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias.Despite recent trends in increased coverage on climate change, media coverage is not constant, and researchers wonder if the current increase in attention will be sustained.


Medieval Warm Period

The Medieval Warm Period ( MWP ) , Medieval Climate Optimum , or Medieval Climatic Anomaly was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region that may also have been related to other climate events around the world during that time , including China and other areas , lasting from about 950 to 1250 . It was followed by a cooler period in the North Atlantic and elsewhere termed the Little Ice Age . Some refer to the event as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly as this term emphasizes that effects other than temperature were important .   Despite uncertainties , especially for the period prior to 1600 for which data are scarce , the warmest period of the last 2,000 years prior to the 20th century in the Northern Hemisphere very likely occurred between 950 and 1100 . Proxy records show peak warmth occurred at different times for different regions , indicating that the Medieval Warm Period was not a time of globally uniform change . Temperatures in some regions matched or exceeded recent temperatures in these regions , but globally the Medieval Warm Period was cooler than recent global temperatures .   Possible causes of the Medieval Warm Period include increased solar activity , decreased volcanic activity , and changes to ocean circulation .


Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean , surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land : on the north by Southern Europe and Anatolia , on the south by North Africa , and on the east by the Levant . The sea is sometimes considered a part of the Atlantic Ocean , although it is usually identified as a separate body of water .   The name Mediterranean is derived from the Latin mediterraneus , meaning `` inland '' or `` in the middle of land '' ( from medius , `` middle '' and terra , `` land '' ) . It covers an approximate area of 2.5 million km2 ( 965,000 sq mi ) , but its connection to the Atlantic ( the Strait of Gibraltar ) is only 14 km wide . The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Gibraltar and Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa . In oceanography , it is sometimes called the Eurafrican Mediterranean Sea or the European Mediterranean Sea to distinguish it from mediterranean seas elsewhere .   The Mediterranean Sea has an average depth of 1500 m and the deepest recorded point is 5267 m in the Calypso Deep in the Ionian Sea . The sea is bordered on the north by Europe , the east by Asia , and in the south by Africa . It is located between latitudes 30 ° and 46 ° N and longitudes 6 ° W and 36 ° E. Its west-east length , from the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gulf of Iskenderun , on the southwestern coast of Turkey , is approximately 4,000 km ( 2,500 miles ) . The sea 's average north-south length , from Croatia 's southern shore to Libya , is approximately 800 km ( 500 miles ) . The Mediterranean Sea , including the Sea of Marmara ( connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea ) , has a surface area of approximately 2,510,000 square km ( 970,000 square miles ) .   The sea was an important route for merchants and travelers of ancient times that allowed for trade and cultural exchange between emergent peoples of the region . The history of the Mediterranean region is crucial to understanding the origins and development of many modern societies .   The countries with coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea are Albania , Algeria , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia , Cyprus , Egypt , France , Greece , Israel , Italy , Lebanon , Libya , Malta , Morocco , Monaco , Montenegro , Slovenia , Spain , Syria , Tunisia and Turkey . In addition , the Gaza Strip and the British Overseas Territories of Gibraltar and Akrotiri and Dhekelia have coastlines on the sea .


Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate -LSB- ˌmɛdɪtəˈreɪniən -RSB- or dry summer climate , is the climate typical of areas in the Mediterranean Basin . The Mediterranean climate is usually characterized by rainy winters and dry , warm to hot summers . While the climate receives its name from the Mediterranean Sea , an area where this climate is commonplace , it is also present in other areas of the planet , although with variations in the distribution of temperatures . In addition to the Mediterranean Basin , the climate is also found in most of California , in parts of Western and South Australia , in southwestern South Africa , sections of Western and Central Asia , and in Central Chile .   Outside of the Mediterranean Basin , the Mediterranean climate is usually located geographically on the western coasts of continental masses , typically between oceanic climates towards the poles , and semi-arid and arid climates towards the Equator . In essence , a Mediterranean climate is a combination of the three climates with winters somewhat mimicking winters in oceanic climates and summers imitating dry seasons in semi-arid and arid climates . Additionally , Mediterranean climates tend to be wetter poleward and drier the closer it gets to the Equator .   The resulting vegetation of Mediterranean climates are the garrigue in the Mediterranean Basin , the chaparral in California , the fynbos in South Africa and the Chilean scrubland in Chile . Areas with this climate are where the so-called `` Mediterranean trinity '' has traditionally developed : wheat , vine and olive . The latter is a tree that is only grown in areas that have this climatic pattern .


Mediterranean tropical-like cyclone

Mediterranean tropical-like cyclones , sometimes referred to as Mediterranean hurricanes or medicanes , are rare meteorological phenomena observed in the Mediterranean Sea . Due to the dry nature of the Mediterranean region , formation of tropical cyclones is infrequent , with only 99 recorded tropical-like storms between 1948 and 2011 . No agency , however , is officially responsible for monitoring the formation and development of medicanes . Tropical cyclogenesis typically occurs within two separate regions of the sea . The first region , encompassing areas of the western Mediterranean , is more conducive for development than the other , the Ionian Sea to the east . The rough mountainous geography of the region raises additional difficulties despite being favorable for the development of severe weather and convective activity in general , and only with abnormal meteorological circumstances can medicanes form . Numerous studies have been conducted on the impact of global warming on Mediterranean tropical cyclone formation , generally concluding that fewer yet more intense storms would form .   The development of tropical cyclones in the Mediterranean Sea can usually only occur under somewhat unusual circumstances . Low wind shear and atmospheric instability induced by incursions of cold air are often required . A majority of medicanes are also accompanied by upper-level troughs , providing energy required for intensifying atmospheric convection -- thunderstorms -- and heavy precipitation . The baroclinic properties of the Mediterranean region , with high temperature gradients , also provides necessary instability for the formation of tropical cyclones . Another factor , rising cool air , provides necessary moisture as well . Warm sea surface temperatures ( SSTs ) are mostly unnecessary , however , as most medicanes ' energy is derived from warmer air temperatures . When these favorable circumstances coincide , the genesis of warm-core Mediterranean tropical cyclones , often from within existing cut-off cold-core lows , is possible in a conducive environment for formation .   Several notable and damaging medicanes are known to have occurred . In September 1969 , a north African Mediterranean tropical cyclone produced flooding that killed nearly 600 individuals , left 250,000 homeless , and crippled local economies . A medicane in September 1996 that developed in the Balearic Islands region spawned six tornadoes and inundated parts of the islands . Several medicanes have also been subject to extensive study , such as those of January 1982 , January 1995 , September 2006 , November 2011 , and November 2014 . The January 1995 storm is one of the best-studied Mediterranean tropical cyclones , with its close resemblance to tropical cyclones elsewhere and availability of observations . The medicane of September 2006 , meanwhile , is well-studied due to availability of existing observations and data . In November 2011 , the NOAA 's Satellite Analysis Branch monitored a possible medicane , named Rolf by the Free University of Berlin ( FU Berlin ) , though it ceased doing so the following month . No agency is officially responsible for monitoring the basin .


Megadrought

A megadrought ( or mega-drought ) is a prolonged drought lasting two decades or longer . Past megadroughts have been associated with persistent multiyear La Niña conditions ( cooler than normal water temperatures in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean ) .   The term megadrought is generally used to describe the length of a drought , and not its acute intensity . In scientific literature the term is used to describe decades-long droughts or multi-decadal droughts . Multiyear droughts of less than a decade , such as the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s , are generally not described as megadroughts even though they are of a long duration . In popular literature multiyear or even single year droughts are occasionally described as megadroughts based upon their severity , the economic damage they inflict or other criteria , but this is the exception and not the rule .


Melbourne

Melbourne ( -LSB- ˈmɛlbərn -RSB- ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria , and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania . The name `` Melbourne '' refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9900 km2 , which comprises the broader metropolitan area , as well as being the common name for its city centre . The metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges , Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley . Melbourne consists of 31 municipalities . It has a population of 4,641,636 , and its inhabitants are called Melburnians .   Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemen 's Land on 30 August 1835 , in what was then the colony of New South Wales , it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837 . It was named `` Melbourne '' by the Governor of New South Wales , Sir Richard Bourke , in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day , William Lamb , 2nd Viscount Melbourne . It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria , to whom Lord Melbourne was close , in 1847 , after which it became the capital of the newly founded colony of Victoria in 1851 . During the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s , it was transformed into one of the world 's largest and wealthiest cities . After the federation of Australia in 1901 , it served as the nation 's interim seat of government until 1927 .   Melbourne rates highly in education , entertainment , health care , research and development , tourism and sport , making it the world 's most liveable city -- for the sixth year in a row in 2016 , according to the Economist Intelligence Unit . It is a leading financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region , and ranks among the top 30 cities in the world in the Global Financial Centres Index . Referred to as Australia 's `` cultural capital '' , it is the birthplace of Australian impressionism , Australian rules football , the Australian film and television industries , and Australian contemporary dance . It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a major centre for street art , music and theatre . It is home to many of Australia 's largest and oldest cultural institutions such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground , the National Gallery of Victoria , the State Library of Victoria and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Building . It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games .   The main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport ( also called Tullamarine Airport ) , the second busiest in Australia . The Port of Melbourne is Australia 's busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo . Melbourne has an extensive transport network . The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station , and the main regional train and coach terminus is Southern Cross Station . Melbourne is also home to Australia 's most extensive freeway network and has the world 's largest urban tram network .


Merchants of Doubt

Merchants of Doubt : How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming is a 2010 non-fiction book by American historians of science Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway . It identifies parallels between the global warming controversy and earlier controversies over tobacco smoking , acid rain , DDT , and the hole in the ozone layer . Oreskes and Conway write that in each case `` keeping the controversy alive '' by spreading doubt and confusion after a scientific consensus had been reached , was the basic strategy of those opposing action . In particular , they say that Fred Seitz , Fred Singer , and a few other contrarian scientists joined forces with conservative think tanks and private corporations to challenge the scientific consensus on many contemporary issues .   The George C. Marshall Institute and Fred Singer , two of the subjects , have been critical of the book . Other reviewers have been more favorable . One reviewer said that Merchants of Doubt is exhaustively researched and documented , and may be one of the most important books of 2010 . Another reviewer saw the book as his choice for best science book of the year . It was made into a film , Merchants of Doubt , directed by Robert Kenner , released in 2014 .


Mercury (planet)

Mercury is the smallest and innermost planet in the Solar System . Its orbital period around the Sun of 88 days is the shortest of all the planets in the Solar System . It is named after the Roman deity Mercury , the messenger to the gods .   Like Venus , Mercury orbits the Sun within Earth 's orbit as an inferior planet , so it can only be seen visually in the morning or the evening sky , and never exceeds 28 ° away from the Sun . Also , like Venus and the Moon , the planet displays the complete range of phases as it moves around its orbit relative to Earth . Seen from Earth , this cycle of phases reoccurs  approximately every 116 days , the so-called synodic period . Although Mercury can appear as a bright star-like object when viewed from Earth , its proximity to the Sun often makes it more difficult to see than Venus .   Mercury is tidally or gravitationally locked with the Sun in a 3:2 resonance , and rotates in a way that is unique in the Solar System . As seen relative to the fixed stars , it rotates on its axis exactly three times for every two revolutions it makes around the Sun . As seen from the Sun , in a frame of reference that rotates with the orbital motion , it appears to rotate only once every two Mercurian years . An observer on Mercury would therefore see only one day every two years .   Mercury 's axis has the smallest tilt of any of the Solar System 's planets ( about degree ) , and its orbital eccentricity is the largest of all known planets in the Solar System . At aphelion , Mercury is about 1.5 times as far from the Sun as it is at perihelion . Mercury 's surface appears heavily cratered and is similar in appearance to the Moon 's , indicating that it has been geologically inactive for billions of years . Having almost no atmosphere to retain heat , it has surface temperatures that vary diurnally more than on any other planet in the Solar System , ranging from 100 K at night to 700 K during the day across the equatorial regions . The polar regions are constantly below 180 K . The planet has no known natural satellites .   Two spacecraft have visited Mercury : flew by in 1974 and 1975 ; and MESSENGER , launched in 2004 , orbited Mercury over 4,000 times in four years before exhausting its fuel and crashing into the planet 's surface on April 30 , 2015 .


Mesoamerican nephropathy

Mesoamerican nephropathy ( MeN ) is a currently unexplained epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin ( CKDu ) , prevalent in the Pacific ocean coastal low lands of the mesoamerican region , including southern Mexico , Guatemala , El Salvador , Nicaragua , Honduras and Costa Rica . In rural areas of Nicaragua the disease is colloquially called creatinina .   This CKD epidemic in Central America spans along a nearly 1000 kilometer stretch of the Pacific coast . In El Salvador and Nicaragua alone , the reported number of men dying from this painful disease has risen five-fold in the last 20 years , although some researchers believe hidden cases have always been there and this increment in official data could be partially due to the recent increase in reports and improved case search , pushed by the growing social and political interest in the disease . In El Salvador , the disease has become the second leading cause of death among adult men , and according to a recent editorial , it has been estimated that this largely unknown epidemic has caused the premature death of at least 20,000 men in the region . Science Magazine reports : `` In El Salvador alone , PAHO 's latest figures say CKD of all causes kills at least 2,500 people in the country each year '' .   The people affected by the epidemic are mainly young and middle-aged male laborers in the agricultural sector , particularly sugarcane workers . The disease has also been found to be prevalent in other occupations with a high risk of heat stress , implying strenuous work ( miners , construction , port and transportation workers ) in the high temperatures of the coastlands . The epidemic appears to affect particular Pacific coastal regions of Nicaragua , El Salvador , Costa Rica , and Guatemala .


Mesopelagic zone

The mesopelagic ( Greek μέσον , middle ) ( also known as the middle pelagic or twilight zone ) is that part of the pelagic zone that extends from a depth of 200 to 1000 metres ( ~ 660 to 3300 feet ) below the ocean surface . It lies between the photic epipelagic above and the aphotic bathypelagic below , where there is no light at all .


Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era ( -LSB- pronˌmɛsəˈzoʊɪk , _ ˌmiː - , _ - soʊ - -RSB- or -LSB- ˌmɛzəˈzoʊɪk , _ ˌmiː - , _ - soʊ - -RSB- ) is an interval of geological time from about . It is also called the Age of Reptiles , a phrase introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell who viewed it as dominated by diapsids such as Iguanodon , Megalosaurus , Plesiosaurus and Pterodactylus . This Era is also called from a paleobotanist view the Age of Conifers .   Mesozoic means `` middle life '' , deriving from the Greek prefix meso - / μεσο - for `` between '' and zōon / ζῷον meaning `` animal '' or `` living being '' . It is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon , preceded by the Paleozoic ( `` ancient life '' ) and succeeded by the Cenozoic ( `` new life '' ) . The era is subdivided into three major periods : the Triassic , Jurassic , and Cretaceous , which are further subdivided into a number of epochs and stages .   The era began in the wake of the Permian -- Triassic extinction event , the largest well-documented mass extinction in Earth 's history , and ended with the Cretaceous -- Paleogene extinction event , another mass extinction which is known for having killed off non-avian dinosaurs , as well as other plant and animal species . The Mesozoic was a time of significant tectonic , climate and evolutionary activity . The era witnessed the gradual rifting of the supercontinent Pangaea into separate landmasses that would eventually move into their current positions . The climate of the Mesozoic was varied , alternating between warming and cooling periods . Overall , however , the Earth was hotter than it is today . Dinosaurs appeared in the Late Triassic and became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates early in the Jurassic , occupying this position for about 135 million years until their demise at the end of the Cretaceous . Birds first appeared in the Jurassic , having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs . The first mammals also appeared during the Mesozoic , but would remain small -- less than 15 kg ( 33 lb ) -- until the Cenozoic .


MetLife Stadium

MetLife Stadium is an American sports stadium located in East Rutherford , New Jersey . It is part of the Meadowlands Sports Complex and serves as the home stadium for two National Football League ( NFL ) franchises : the New York Jets and the New York Giants . The stadium is owned by the MetLife Stadium Company , a joint venture of the Giants and Jets , who jointly built the stadium using private funds on land owned by the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority . The stadium opened as New Meadowlands Stadium in 2010 . In 2011 , MetLife , an insurance company based in New York City , acquired the naming rights to the stadium . At a construction cost of approximately $ 1.6 billion , it is the most expensive stadium ever built and is the second-largest stadium in the NFL in terms of seating capacity .   MetLife Stadium is the only NFL stadium shared by two clubs . It and Staples Center in Los Angeles , home of the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) , are the only current facilities to house two teams from the same sports league in the United States .


Met Office

The Met Office ( officially the Meteorological Office until 2000 ) is the United Kingdom 's national weather service . It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Business , Energy and Industrial Strategy led by CEO , Rob Varley and chief scientist , Professor Stephen Belcher . The Met Office makes meteorological predictions across all timescales from weather forecasts to climate change .


Meta-analysis

A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies .   The basic tenet behind meta-analyses is that there is a common truth behind all conceptually similar scientific studies , but which has been measured with a certain error within individual studies . The aim then is to use approaches from statistics to derive a pooled estimate closest to the unknown common truth based on how this error is perceived . In essence , all existing methods yield a weighted average from the results of the individual studies and what differs is the manner in which these weights are allocated and also the manner in which the uncertainty is computed around the point estimate thus generated . In addition to providing an estimate of the unknown common truth , meta-analysis has the capacity to contrast results from different studies and identify patterns among study results , sources of disagreement among those results , or other interesting relationships that may come to light in the context of multiple studies .   A key benefit of this approach is the aggregation of information leading to a higher statistical power and more robust point estimate than is possible from the measure derived from any individual study . However , in performing a meta-analysis , an investigator must make choices which can affect the results , including deciding how to search for studies , selecting studies based on a set of objective criteria , dealing with incomplete data , analyzing the data , and accounting for or choosing not to account for publication bias .   Meta-analyses are often , but not always , important components of a systematic review procedure . For instance , a meta-analysis may be conducted on several clinical trials of a medical treatment , in an effort to obtain a better understanding of how well the treatment works . Here it is convenient to follow the terminology used by the Cochrane Collaboration , and use `` meta-analysis '' to refer to statistical methods of combining evidence , leaving other aspects of ` research synthesis ' or ` evidence synthesis ' , such as combining information from qualitative studies , for the more general context of systematic reviews .


Meteorology

Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences which includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics , with a major focus on weather forecasting . The study of meteorology dates back millennia , though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century . The 19th century saw modest progress in the field after weather observation networks were formed across broad regions . Prior attempts at prediction of weather depended on historical data . It was n't until after the elucidation of the laws of physics and , more particularly , the development of the computer , allowing for the automated solution of a great many equations that model the weather , in the latter half of the 20th century that significant breakthroughs in weather forecasting were achieved .   Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events that are explained by the science of meteorology . Meteorological phenomena are described and quantified by the variables of Earth 's atmosphere : temperature , air pressure , water vapor , mass flow , and the variations and interactions of those variables , and how they change over time . Different spatial scales are used to describe and predict weather on local , regional , and global levels .   Meteorology , climatology , atmospheric physics , and atmospheric chemistry are sub-disciplines of the atmospheric sciences . Meteorology and hydrology compose the interdisciplinary field of hydrometeorology . The interactions between Earth 's atmosphere and its oceans are part of a coupled ocean-atmosphere system . Meteorology has application in many diverse fields such as the military , energy production , transport , agriculture , and construction .   The word `` meteorology '' is from Greek μετέωρος metéōros `` lofty ; high ( in the sky ) '' ( from μετα - meta - `` above '' and ἀείρω aeiro `` I lift up '' ) and - λογία - logia '' - logy '' , i.e. `` the study of things in the air '' .


Methane

Methane ( -LSB- ˈmɛθeɪn -RSB- or -LSB- ˈmiːθeɪn -RSB- ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula ( one atom of carbon and four atoms of hydrogen ) . It is a group 14 hydride and the simplest alkane , and is the main constituent of natural gas . The relative abundance of methane on Earth makes it an attractive fuel , though capturing and storing it poses challenges due to its gaseous state under normal conditions for temperature and pressure .   Natural methane is found both below ground and under the sea floor . When it reaches the surface and the atmosphere , it is known as atmospheric methane . The Earth 's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150 % since 1750 , and it accounts for 20 % of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases ( these gases do n't include water vapor which is by far the largest component of the greenhouse effect ) .


Miami

Miami ( -LSB- maɪˈæmi -RSB- -LSB- miˈami -RSB- ) is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast . As the seat of Miami-Dade County , the municipality is the principal , central , and the most populous city of the Miami metropolitan area and part of the second-most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , Miami 's metro area is the eighth-most populous and fourth-largest urban area in the U.S. , with a population of around 5.5 million .   Miami is a major center , and a leader in finance , commerce , culture , media , entertainment , the arts , and international trade . In 2012 , Miami was classified as an Alpha − World City in the World Cities Study Group 's inventory . In 2010 , Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance , commerce , culture , entertainment , fashion , education , and other sectors . It ranked 33rd among global cities . In 2008 , Forbes magazine ranked Miami `` America 's Cleanest City '' , for its year-round good air quality , vast green spaces , clean drinking water , clean streets , and citywide recycling programs . According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities , Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States , and the world 's fifth-richest city in terms of purchasing power . Miami is nicknamed the `` Capital of Latin America '' and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality .   Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U.S. with over 300 high-rises . Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States , and many large national and international companies . The Civic Center is a major center for hospitals , research institutes , medical centers , and biotechnology industries . For more than two decades , the Port of Miami , known as the `` Cruise Capital of the World '' , has been the number one cruise passenger port in the world . It accommodates some of the world 's largest cruise ships and operations , and is the busiest port in both passenger traffic and cruise lines . Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South , number two in the U.S. after New York City and number 13 in the world , including the popular destination of Miami Beach .


Michael E. Mann

Michael E. Mann ( born 1965 ) is an American climatologist and geophysicist , currently director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University , who has contributed to the scientific understanding of historic climate change based on the temperature record of the past thousand years . He has pioneered techniques to find patterns in past climate change , and to isolate climate signals from noisy data .   As lead author of a paper produced in 1998 with co-authors Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes , Mann used advanced statistical techniques to find regional variations in a hemispherical climate reconstruction covering the past 600 years . In 1999 the same team used these techniques to produce a reconstruction over the past 1,000 years ( MBH99 ) which was dubbed the `` hockey stick graph '' because of its shape . He was one of eight lead authors of the `` Observed Climate Variability and Change '' chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Third Scientific Assessment Report published in 2001 . A graph based on the MBH99 paper was highlighted in several parts of the report , and was given wide publicity . The IPCC acknowledged that his work , along with that of the many other lead authors and review editors , contributed to the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize , which was won jointly by the IPCC and Al Gore .   Mann was organizing committee chair for the National Academy of Sciences Frontiers of Science in 2003 and has received a number of honors and awards including selection by Scientific American as one of the fifty leading visionaries in science and technology in 2002 . In 2012 he was inducted as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and was awarded the Hans Oeschger Medal of the European Geosciences Union . In 2013 he was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society , and awarded the status of distinguished professor in Penn State 's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences .   Mann is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed and edited publications . He has also published three books : Dire Predictions : Understanding Global Warming ( 2008 ) , The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars : Dispatches from the Front Lines ( 2012 ) , and , together with co-author Tom Toles , The Madhouse Effect : How Climate Change Denial Is Threatening Our Planet , Destroying Our Politics , and Driving Us Crazy ( 2016 ) . In 2012 , the European Geosciences Union described his publication record as `` outstanding for a scientist of his relatively young age '' . Mann is also a co-founder and contributor to the climatology blog RealClimate .


Michael Gove

Michael Andrew Gove ( -LSB- ` goʊv -RSB- born 26 August 1967 ) is a British Conservative politician , who was Secretary of State for Education from 2010-14 and Secretary of State for Justice from 2015-16 . He has been the Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Surrey Heath since 2005 . He is also an author and a columnist for The Times .


Michigan

Michigan -LSB- ˈmɪʃᵻgən -RSB- is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States . The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa , meaning `` large water '' or `` large lake '' . Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States , with the 11th most extensive total area ( the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River ) . I.e. , including water that is part of state territory . Georgia is the largest state by land area east of the Mississippi and Michigan the second-largest . Its capital is Lansing , and its largest city is Detroit .   Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas . The Lower Peninsula , to which the name Michigan was originally applied , is often noted to be shaped like a mitten . The Upper Peninsula ( often referred to as `` the U.P. '' ) is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac , a 5 mi channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan . The two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge . The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world , being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes , plus Lake Saint Clair . As a result , it is one of the leading U.S. states for recreational boating . Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds . A person in the state is never more than 6 mi from a natural water source or more than 85 mi from a Great Lakes shoreline .   What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century and becoming a part of New France . After France 's defeat in the French and Indian War in 1762 the region came under British rule , and was ceded to the newly independent United States after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War . The area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800 , when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory . Eventually , in 1805 , the Michigan Territory was formed , which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26 , 1837 , as the 26th state . The state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination .   Though Michigan has come to develop a diverse economy , it is widely known as the center of the U.S. automotive industry , being home to the country 's three major automobile companies ( whose headquarters are all within the Detroit metropolitan area ) . While sparsely populated , the Upper Peninsula is economically important due to its status as a tourist destination as well as its abundance of natural resources , while the Lower Peninsula is a center of manufacturing , services , and high-tech industry .


Micronesia

Micronesia ( from μικρός , mikrós , `` small '' + νῆσος , nêsos , `` island '' ) is a subregion of Oceania , comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean . It has a shared cultural history with two other island regions , Polynesia to the east and Melanesia to the south .   The region has a tropical marine climate , and is part of the Oceania ecozone . There are four main archipelagos along with numerous outlying islands .   Micronesia is divided politically among several sovereign countries . One of these is the Federated States of Micronesia , which is often called `` Micronesia '' for short and is not to be confused with the overall region . The Micronesia region encompasses five sovereign , independent nations -- the Federated States of Micronesia , Palau , Kiribati , Marshall Islands , and Nauru -- as well as three U.S. territories in the northern part : Northern Mariana Islands , Guam , and Wake Island .   Micronesia began to be settled several millennia ago , although there are competing theories about the origin and arrival of the first settlers . The earliest known contact with Europeans occurred in 1521 , when Ferdinand Magellan reached the Marianas . The coinage of the term `` Micronesia '' is usually attributed to Jules Dumont d'Urville 's usage in 1832 , however Domeny de Rienzi had used the term a year previously .


Microphone

A microphone , colloquially nicknamed mic or mike ( -LSB- ˈmaɪk -RSB- ) , is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal .   Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones , hearing aids , public address systems for concert halls and public events , motion picture production , live and recorded audio engineering , sound recording , two-way radios , megaphones , radio and television broadcasting , and in computers for recording voice , speech recognition , VoIP , and for non-acoustic purposes such as ultrasonic sensors or knock sensors .   Several different types of microphone are in use , which employ different methods to convert the air pressure variations of a sound wave to an electrical signal . The most common are the dynamic microphone , which uses a coil of wire suspended in a magnetic field ; the condenser microphone , which uses the vibrating diaphragm as a capacitor plate , and the piezoelectric microphone , which uses a crystal of piezoelectric material . Microphones typically need to be connected to a preamplifier before the signal can be recorded or reproduced .


Microwave

Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from one meter to one millimeter ; with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz . Different sources define different frequency ranges as microwaves ; the above broad definition includes both UHF and EHF ( millimeter wave ) bands . A more common definition in radio engineering is the range between 1 and 100 GHz ( 300 and 3 mm ) . In all cases , microwaves include the entire SHF band ( 3 to 30 GHz , or 10 to 1 cm ) at minimum . Frequencies in the microwave range are often referred to by their IEEE radar band designations : S , C , X , Ku , K , or Ka band , or by similar NATO or EU designations .   The prefix in microwave is not meant to suggest a wavelength in the micrometer range . It indicates that microwaves are `` small '' , compared to the radio waves used prior to microwave technology , in that they have shorter wavelengths . The boundaries between far infrared , terahertz radiation , microwaves , and ultra-high-frequency radio waves are fairly arbitrary and are used variously between different fields of study .   Microwaves travel by line-of-sight ; unlike lower frequency radio waves they do not diffract around hills , follow the earth 's surface as ground waves , or reflect from the ionosphere , so terrestrial microwave communication links are limited by the visual horizon to about 40 miles ( 64 km ) . At the high end of the band they are absorbed by gases in the atmosphere , limiting practical communication distances to around a kilometer . Microwaves are extremely widely used in modern technology . They are used for point-to-point communication links , wireless networks , microwave radio relay networks , radar , satellite and spacecraft communication , medical diathermy and cancer treatment , remote sensing , radio astronomy , particle accelerators , spectroscopy , industrial heating , collision avoidance systems , garage door openers and keyless entry systems , and for cooking food in microwave ovens .


Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements refers to temperature measurement using the Microwave Sounding Unit instrument and is one of several methods of measuring Earth atmospheric temperature from satellites. Microwave measurements have been obtained from the troposphere since 1979, when they were included within NOAA weather satellites, starting with TIROS-N.  By comparison, the usable balloon (radiosonde) record begins in 1958 but has less geographic coverage and is less uniform. Microwave brightness measurements do not directly measure temperature.  They measure radiances in various wavelength bands, which must then be mathematically inverted to obtain indirect inferences of temperature. The resulting temperature profiles depend on details of the methods that are used to obtain temperatures from radiances. As a result, different groups that have analyzed the satellite data  have obtained different temperature trends. Among these groups are Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) and the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). The satellite series is not fully homogeneous – the record is constructed from a series of satellites with similar but not identical instrumentation. The sensors deteriorate over time, and corrections are necessary for satellite drift in orbit. Particularly large differences between reconstructed temperature series occur at the few times when there is little temporal overlap between successive satellites, making intercalibration difficult.


Microwave oven

A microwave oven ( commonly referred to as a microwave ) is a kitchen appliance that heats and cooks food by exposing it to microwave radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum . This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating . Microwave ovens heat foods quickly and efficiently because excitation is fairly uniform in the outer of a homogeneous , high water content food item ; food is more evenly heated throughout ( except in heterogeneous , dense objects ) than generally occurs in other cooking techniques .   Percy Spencer is generally credited with inventing the modern microwave oven after World War II from radar technology developed during the war . Named the `` Radarange '' , it was first sold in 1946 . Raytheon later licensed its patents for a home-use microwave oven that was first introduced by Tappan in 1955 , but these units were still too large and expensive for general home use . The countertop microwave oven was first introduced in 1967 by the Amana Corporation , and their use has spread into commercial and residential kitchens around the world .   Microwave ovens are popular for reheating previously cooked foods and cooking a variety of foods . They are also useful for rapid heating of otherwise slowly prepared cooking items , such as hot butter , fats , and chocolate . Unlike conventional ovens , microwave ovens usually do not directly brown or caramelize food , since they rarely attain the necessary temperatures to produce Maillard reactions . Exceptions occur in rare cases where the oven is used to heat frying-oil and other very oily items ( such as bacon ) , which attain far higher temperatures than that of boiling water . Microwave ovens have a limited role in professional cooking , because the boiling-range temperatures produced in especially hydrous foods impede flavors produced by the higher temperatures of frying , browning , or baking . However , additional heat sources can be added to microwave ovens , or into combination microwave ovens , to produce these other heating effects , and microwave heating may cut the overall time needed to prepare such dishes . Some modern microwave ovens are part of over-the-range units with built-in extractor hoods .


Mike Hulme

Michael ` Mike ' Hulme ( born 23 July 1960 ) is Professor of Climate and Culture in the Department of Geography at King 's College London . He was formerly professor of Climate Change in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) .


Mike Pence

Michael Richard Pence ( born June 7 , 1959 ) is an American politician , lawyer , and the 48th and current Vice President of the United States . He previously served as the 50th Governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 .   Born and raised in Columbus , Indiana , Pence graduated from Hanover College and earned a law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law before entering private practice . After losing two bids for a U.S. congressional seat in 1988 and 1990 , he became a conservative radio and television talk show host from 1994 to 1999 . Pence was elected to the United States Congress in 2000 and represented and in the United States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2013 . He served as the chairman of the House Republican Conference from 2009 to 2011 . Pence positioned himself as a principled ideologue and supporter of the Tea Party movement , noting he was `` a Christian , a conservative , and a Republican , in that order . ''   Upon becoming Governor of Indiana in January 2013 , Pence initiated the largest tax cut in Indiana 's history , pushed for more funding for education initiatives , and continued to increase the state 's budget surplus . Pence signed bills intended to restrict abortions , including one that prohibited abortions if the reason for the procedure was the fetus 's race , gender , or disability . Pence stirred several high-profile controversies , including with his signature of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act , for which he encountered fierce resistance from moderate members of his party , the business community , and LGBT advocates . He later signed an additional bill acting as an amendment intended to protect LGBT people .   On November 8 , 2016 , Pence was elected as Vice President , after he dropped out of his gubernatorial re-election campaign in July to become the vice presidential running mate for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump , who went on to win the presidential election .


Milankovitch cycles

Milankovitch cycles describes the collective effects of changes in the Earth 's movements on its climate over thousands of years . The term is named after Serbian geophysicist and astronomer Milutin Milanković . In the 1920s , he theorized that variations in eccentricity , axial tilt , and precession of the Earth 's orbit resulted in cyclical variation in the solar radiation ( insolation ) reaching the Earth , and that this orbital forcing strongly influenced climatic patterns on Earth .   The Earth 's orbit varies between nearly circular and mildly elliptical ( its eccentricity varies ) . When the orbit is more elongated , there is more variation in the distance between the Earth and the Sun , and in the amount of solar radiation , at different times in the year . In addition , the rotational tilt of the Earth ( its obliquity ) , which causes the seasons as the Earth revolves around the Sun , changes slightly . A greater tilt makes the seasons more extreme . Finally , the direction in the fixed stars pointed to by the Earth 's axis changes ( axial precession ) , while the Earth 's elliptical orbit around the Sun rotates ( apsidal precession ) . The combined effect of the two precessions is a cycle in which proximity to the Sun occurs during different astronomical seasons . If the Earth is closer to the Sun while the northern or southern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun ( is in summer ) , then both effects work together to heat that hemisphere . If the Earth is further from the Sun during summer , the greater distance slightly reduces the heat of summer .   Similar astronomical theories had been advanced in the 19th century by Joseph Adhemar , James Croll and others , but verification was difficult because there was no reliably dated evidence , and because it was unclear which periods were important .   Now , materials on Earth that have been unchanged for millennia are being studied to indicate the history of Earth 's climate . A study of the chronology of Antarctic ice cores using oxygen-nitrogen ratios in air bubbles trapped in the ice , which appear to respond directly to the local insolation , concluded that the climatic response documented in the ice cores was driven by northern hemisphere insolation as proposed by the Milankovitch hypothesis . Analysis of deep-ocean cores and a seminal paper by Hays , Imbrie , and Shackleton provide additional validation of the Milankovitch hypothesis through physical artifacts . However , there are still several observations that the hypothesis does not explain .


Milk

Milk is a pale liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals . It is the primary source of nutrition for infant mammals ( including humans who breastfeed ) before they are able to digest other types of food . Early-lactation milk contains colostrum , which carries the mother 's antibodies to its young and can reduce the risk of many diseases . It contains many other nutrients including protein and lactose .   As an agricultural product , milk is extracted from non-human mammals during or soon after pregnancy . Dairy farms produced about 730 million tonnes of milk in 2011 , from 260 million dairy cows . India is the world 's largest producer of milk , and is the leading exporter of skimmed milk powder , yet it exports few other milk products . The ever increasing rise in domestic demand for dairy products and a large demand-supply gap could lead to India being a net importer of dairy products in the future . The United States , India , China and Brazil are the world 's largest exporters of milk and milk products . China and Russia were the world 's largest importers of milk and milk products until 2016 when both countries became self-sufficient , contributing to a worldwide glut of milk .   Throughout the world , there are more than six billion consumers of milk and milk products . Over 750 million people live in dairy farming households .


Milwaukee

Milwaukee ( -LSB- mᵻlˈwɔːki -RSB- , -LSB- localˈmwɔːki -RSB- ) is the largest city in the state of Wisconsin and the fifth-largest city in the Midwestern United States . The county seat of Milwaukee County , it is on Lake Michigan 's western shore . Ranked by estimated 2014 population , Milwaukee was the 31st largest city in the United States . The city 's estimated population in 2015 was 600,155 . Milwaukee is the main cultural and economic center of the Milwaukee metropolitan area . It is also part of the larger Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha , WI combined statistical area , which had an estimated population of 2,026,243 in the 2010 census .   The first Europeans to pass through the area were French Catholic missionaries and fur traders . In 1818 , the French Canadian explorer Solomon Juneau settled in the area , and in 1846 Juneau 's town combined with two neighboring towns to incorporate as the city of Milwaukee . Large numbers of German immigrants helped increase the city 's population during the 1840s , with Poles and other immigrants arriving in the following decades .   Milwaukee is known for its brewing traditions . The city is experiencing its largest construction boom since the 1960s . Major new additions to the city in the past two decades include the Milwaukee Riverwalk , the Wisconsin Center , Miller Park , an expansion to the Milwaukee Art Museum , Milwaukee Repertory Theater , and Pier Wisconsin , as well as major renovations to the UW -- Milwaukee Panther Arena . The under-construction Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center is scheduled to open in 2018 .


Mind Meld

Mind Meld : Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime is a 2001 American documentary film in which actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy discuss the Star Trek science fiction franchise and its effects on their lives . Shatner and Nimoy portrayed the characters James T. Kirk and Spock respectively in the 1960s Star Trek television series , the 1970s animated television series , and their film sequels . They talk about differences they had with Gene Roddenberry , the creator of Star Trek , and about the strained relationships between Shatner and some of the other cast members . It was in this film that Nimoy first publicly revealed that he had struggled with alcoholism while he was acting in the original television series . Shatner talks about the death of his third wife , Nerine Kidd , who accidentally drowned in a pool in 1999 after suffering from alcoholism .   Mind Meld was produced to advertise Shatner 's personal website . Filming took place at Nimoy 's home on September 5 , 2001 , and Billy West narrated the title sequence . The film 's title refers to a fictional practice in Star Trek -- a mind meld is a telepathic link that Vulcans are able to create with other organisms . Mind Meld was released for sale on Shatner 's website on November 6 , 2001 , coinciding with the release of the director 's cut of Star Trek : The Motion Picture . Mind Meld attracted some notoriety because of an unintended sound in one scene that became a popular subject of flatulence humor among Star Trek fans and on morning zoo radio programs . Shatner denied being the source of this sound in multiple interviews ; he and Mind Meld '' 's director , Peter Jaysen , attributed it to equipment on set .   The film received mixed reviews from critics . Scott Brown of Entertainment Weekly gave the film an `` F '' , and said that the only people likely to watch the film were extreme Star Trek fans and people interested in hearing Shatner 's supposed flatulence . Laurence Lerman of Video Business praised the film for not `` rehash -LSB- ing -RSB- anecdotes that have long been staples of Star Trek conventions and behind-the-scenes memoirs '' , and instead for dealing with such topics as alcoholism , career difficulties , and conflicts on the set of Star Trek '' .


Mind–body dualism

Mind -- body dualism , or mind -- body duality , is a view in the philosophy of mind that mental phenomena are , in some respects , non-physical , or that the mind and body are distinct and separable . Thus , it encompasses a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter , and between subject and object , and is contrasted with other positions , such as physicalism and enactivism , in the mind -- body problem .   Aristotle shared Plato 's view of multiple souls and further elaborated a hierarchical arrangement , corresponding to the distinctive functions of plants , animals , and people : a nutritive soul of growth and metabolism that all three share ; a perceptive soul of pain , pleasure , and desire that only people and other animals share ; and the faculty of reason that is unique to people only . In this view , a soul is the hylomorphic form of a viable organism , wherein each level of the hierarchy formally supervenes upon the substance of the preceding level . Thus , for Aristotle , all three souls perish when the living organism dies . For Plato however , the soul was not dependent on the physical body ; he believed in metempsychosis , the migration of the soul to a new physical body .   Dualism is closely associated with the thought of René Descartes ( 1641 ) , which holds that the mind is a nonphysical -- and therefore , non-spatial -- substance . Descartes clearly identified the mind with consciousness and self-awareness and distinguished this from the brain as the seat of intelligence . Hence , he was the first to formulate the mind -- body problem in the form in which it exists today . Dualism is contrasted with various kinds of monism . Substance dualism is contrasted with all forms of materialism , but property dualism may be considered a form of emergent materialism or non-reductive physicalism in some sense .


Mineral industry of Africa

The mineral industry of Africa is the largest mineral industries in the world . Africa is the second largest continent , with 30 million km ² of land , which implies large quantities of resources . For many African countries , mineral exploration and production constitute significant parts of their economies and remain keys to economic growth . Africa is richly endowed with mineral reserves and ranks first or second in quantity of world reserves of bauxite , cobalt , industrial diamond , phosphate rock , platinum-group metals ( PGM ) , vermiculite , and zirconium . Gold mining is Africa 's main mining resource .   The Central African Mining and Exploration Company ( CAMEC ) , one of Africa 's primary mining enterprises , is criticized for its unregulated environmental impact and minimal social stewardship . In the spring of 2009 , retired British cricket player Phil Edmonds ' assets were seized by the United Kingdom 's government due to CAMEC 's illicit association with self-appointed Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe .  CAMEC recently sold 95.4 % of its shares to the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation . It is under restructuring and is no longer trading under the CAMEC brand .   African mineral reserves rank first or second for bauxite , cobalt , diamonds , phosphate rocks , platinum-group metals ( PGM ) , vermiculite and zirconium . Many other minerals are present in quantity . The 2012 share of world production from African soil was bauxite 7 % ; aluminium 5 % ; chromite 38 % ; cobalt 60 % ; copper 9 % ; gold 20 % ; iron ore 2 % ; steel 1 % ; lead ( Pb ) 2 % ; manganese 38 % ; zinc 1 % ; cement 4 % ; natural diamond 56 % ; graphite 2 % ; phosphate rock 21 % ; coal 4 % ; mineral fuels ( including coal ) & petroleum 12 % ; uranium 18 % .


Minimum wage

A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers must legally pay their workers . Equivalently , it is the price floor below which workers may not sell their labor . Although minimum wage laws are in effect in many jurisdictions , differences of opinion exist about the benefits and drawbacks of a minimum wage . Supporters of the minimum wage say it increases the standard of living of workers , reduces poverty , reduces inequality , and boosts morale . In contrast , opponents of the minimum wage say it increases poverty , increases unemployment ( particularly among unskilled or inexperienced workers ) and is damaging to businesses , because excessively high minimum wages require businesses to raise the prices of their product or service to accommodate the extra expense of paying a higher wage .


Miocene

The Miocene ( -LSB- pronˈmaɪəˌsiːn -RSB- ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about ( Ma ) . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell . Its name comes from the Greek words μείων ( meiōn , `` less '' ) and καινός ( kainos , `` new '' ) and means `` less recent '' because it has 18 % fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene . The Miocene follows the Oligocene Epoch and is followed by the Pliocene Epoch .   The earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene , with the climate slowly cooling towards a series of ice ages . The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regional boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch .   The apes arose and diversified during the Miocene , becoming widespread in the Old World . By the end of this epoch , the ancestors of humans had split away from the ancestors of the chimpanzees to follow their own evolutionary path . As in the Oligocene before it , grasslands continued to expand and forests to dwindle in extent . In the Miocene seas , kelp forests made their first appearance and soon became one of Earth 's most productive ecosystems .  The plants and animals of the Miocene were fairly modern . Mammals and birds were well-established . Whales , seals , and kelp spread . The Miocene is of particular interest to geologists and palaeoclimatologists as major phases of the Himalayan orogeny had occurred during the Miocene , affecting monsoonal patterns in Asia , which were interlinked with glaciations in the northern hemisphere .


Mire

A mire or quagmire , sometimes called a peatland , is a wetland terrain without forest cover , dominated by living , peat-forming plants . For botanists and ecologists , the term peatland is a more general term for any terrain dominated by peat to a depth of at least 30 cm , even if it has been completely drained ( i.e. , a peatland can be dry , but a mire by definition must be wet ) .   There are two types of mire : bogs and fens . A bog is a landform that due to its location relative to the surrounding landscape obtains most of its water from rainfall ( i.e. , is ombrotrophic ) , while a fen is located on a slope , flat , or depression and gets its water from both rainfall and surface water . Also , while a bog is always acidic and nutrient-poor , a fen may be slightly acidic , neutral , or alkaline , and either nutrient-poor or nutrient-rich .   A mire is distinguished from a swamp by its lack of a forest canopy ; although some bogs may support limited tree or bush growth , mires are dominated by grass and mosses . A mire is distinguished from a marsh by its water nutrients and distribution : marshes are characterized by nutrient-rich stagnant or slow-moving waters while mire waters are located mostly below the soil surface level . A mire is also distinguished from a marsh by its plant life : marsh plants are generally submerged or floating-leaved while those in a mire are not .   Relying on rainwater for nutrient input , mires are usually deficient in both nitrogen and phosphorus and may vary widely with regard to nitrogen . These characteristics mean that mires are a kind of '' ... living relic ... -LSB- A -RSB- living skin on an ancient body '' in which successive layers of regular plant growth and decay are preserved stratigraphically with a quality of preservation unknown in other wetland environments .


Miscanthus giganteus

Miscanthus × giganteus , giant miscanthus , is a large , perennial grass hybrid of Miscanthus sinensis and Miscanthus sacchariflorus . This full sun plant grows 8-12 ft ( 240 -- 360 cm ) tall each year and is best suited for hardiness Zones 5 - 9 .