A mathematical term used loosely to indicate tenfold differences between values. This concept is crucial to interpreting logarithmic scales such as pH or earthquake magnitude, where each number differs by a factor of 10, and two numbers differ by a...

An expression used to describe a quantity to its nearest power of ten. Reducing a quantity by one order of magnitude decreases it to a tenth; increasing it by one order of magnitude raises it...

An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it. The ratio most commonly used is...

Gargano: quite peeved Charles Gargano, the chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, is sometimes portrayed as a developer's best friend, but Wednesday morning, in his first extensive comments after the failure of Moynihan Station (and mixed in with much less passionate words about...

The Smithsonian Institution is preparing to launch its first broad appeal for private donations to help fill a funding gap that could be as high as $2 billion, members of the museum complex's governing board said Monday.An immediate concern is a building maintenance backlog that...

The debate regarding the polycarbonate substance called BPA and its use in plastic baby bottles continues. The following is a response to Fit Pregnancy's request for the Food and Drug Administration's most current position on BPA use. The statement comes from the FDA's Office...

Iran is two to three years away from having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon, a leading security think tank said Wednesday. But the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said domestic opposition to outspoken President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could still help put the brakes...