spaghetti bowl n.— «The intersection of religion and state has become increasingly hectic and hazardous, a spaghetti-bowl junction of conflict and uneasy collaboration on the twisting, global highway.» —“Religion Is Again An Earth...
ground truth n.— «Weather spotters provide what’s called “ground truth” to the National Weather Service and emergency weather management. “We’re needed because cloud-piercing Doppler radar is very good at helping the...
pluton n.— «If the ideas are approved at the general meeting of the IAU in Prague next week, schoolchildren will, in future, have to learn that the solar system has 12 planets: eight classical ones that dominate the system—Mercury, Venus...
mascon n.— «The scientists used gravity fluctuations measured by NASA’s GRACE satellites to peer beneath Antarctica’s icy surface, and found a 200-mile-wide plug of mantle material—a mass concentration, or “mascon” in...
pixie v. to practice sabotage as an expression of environmental politics. Editorial Note: Pixieing can range from mischievous to criminal acts, including occupying a site, crippling machinery, or removing survey markers. Etymological Note: The...
cow-dust hour n. dusk, twilight, or the end of the working day. Also cow-dust time. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)