-ics, -tics [-ac after i]

1. The study of the collective genomes of microorganisms (as opposed to clonal cultures).
2. The study of genomes recovered from environmental samples as opposed to getting them from clonal cultures.

The technique is to clone DNA in large fragments directly from the microorganism's environment; (soil or oceans) into a culturable host and conduct a sequence-based and functional genomic analysis on it.

The hope of this new strategy is isolate new chemical signals, new secondary metabolites that might have utility to humans, and the reconstruction of an entire genome of an uncultured organism.

This relatively new field of genetic research allows the genomic study of organisms that are not easily cultured in a laboratory.

In 1998, Jo Handelsman, a plant pathologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and four colleagues coined the term metagenomics, literally, "beyond genomics".

Metagenomics has also been described as "the comprehensive study of nucleotide sequence, structure, regulation, and function".

Scientists can study the smallest component of an environmental system by extracting DNA from organisms in the system and inserting it into a model organism. The model organism then expresses this DNA where it can be studied using standard laboratory techniques.

1. The branch of linguistics that deals with the study of metalanguages.
2. The branch of linguistics that deals with the relation between a language and other aspects of a particular culture.

The study of metals and metal species, and their interactions, transformations, and functions in biological systems.

Some scientific researchers believe that there is a need to know more and more about the original form of metal elements and their interactions with other chemical or biochemical entities.

For example, arsenic is regarded as toxic, but this chemical is primarily associated with inorganic forms; such as, arsenite while arsenobetaine is an organic chemical form of arsenic, which exists normally in seafood and is considered to be non-toxic.

This is why it is necessary to study all of the elements, regardless of metals, nonmetals, or metalloids, in biological systems to determine their influences on animals and humans.

Research regarding the distributions and compositions of all metalloproteins in proteome, and the characterization of their structures and functions, which may be regarded as the overlap of metallomics and proteomics.

The branch of mathematics that deals with the logic and consistency of mathematical proofs, formulas, and equations.

1. The branch of philosophy which examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value.
2. The theoretical or first principles of a particular discipline: the metaphysics of law.
3. A priori speculation upon questions that are unanswerable to scientific observation, analysis, or experiment .

A name applied to a science or study of certain phenomena that are beyond the scheme of orthodox psychology.

The scientific study of meteors and meteorites.

The study of specific or localized aspects of an economy (takes a singular verb).

1. The microminiaturization of mechanical devices; such as, gears, motors, rotors, etc. using similar photomasking techniques as in chip making.
2. The combination of minuscule electrical and mechanical components in a single device less than one millimeter across; such as, a valve or a motor.

Although micromechanical production processes and applications are still in the developmental process, efforts have been started to develop machines; called micromachines or micromechanisms, which will be 1,000 times smaller.

The branch of physics that studies objects and systems such as molecules, atoms, and elementary particles that are observable only microscopically or indirectly; uses a singular verb: "Microphysics is his specialty."

A reference to organisms requiring a minimum of heat.

A reference to refreshing, improving, assisting, or developing the memory, especially by artificial aids: The mnemonic technique system of precepts and rules is intended to aid or to upgrade and polish the memory.

Mnemonics: Spelling "Seed" Words (-cede, -ceed, and -sede).

Switches, gates, transistors and other electronic devices built on a molecular scale; a combination of molecular + electronics.

Research in this area is done with the purpose of surpassing the power and the capacity of the silicon-based technology used in current computers.