New Worlds and New Words

This is cool.

Don Mitchell, a retired researcher, formerly at Bell Laboratories and Microsoft Research, "re-imaged" the data from the Soviet Venera probes that landed on Venus 25 years ago. His work revealed stuff no one has ever seen before. Look at these hills in the background.



Amazing!!

On top of that, his blog had the following list of words that you can add to your vocabulary.

Apocolocyntosis - To turn into a pumpkin. Dating back to Roman times, it was considered a humorous play on the word "apotheosis" (to be deified).

Bezoar - A human hairball, believed to be a universal antidote to poison.

Cenogenesis - The temporary formation of gills and other atavistic features in the human fetus, leading to the adage "Microgeny recapitulates phylogeny", development of the creature plays out the evolution of its species.

Fusel Oil - Contaminants in alchoholic beverages responsible for hangovers, consisting of higher aldehydes and ketones.

Hagiography - The biography of a saint. 19th century occultist Aleister Crowley wrote a book he described as an autohagiography.

Lysenkoism - Unsupported scientific theory promoted for ideological reasons, named after the Soviet biologist empowered by Stalin who attempted to suppress the theory of evolution in the USSR. (Thank God there isn't any of THIS going on today!! LOL! - XO)

Oubliette - A dungeon cell with a trap door in the ceiling.Revenant - A person who has returned from the dead.

Trilithon - A pair of tall stones supporting a horizontal lintel, such as at Stonehenge.

Wergild - Money paid to a family as compensation and penalty for murdering one of them.

Zoarium - A super organism formed from the combination of individual creatures.