Psychologist Nancy Wexler (born 1945) researches Huntington's disease. She developed a presymptomatic test for the condition and identified the genes responsible for the disease. Nancy Wexler's research on Huntington's disease has led to t...

The principal traditional dramatic genres of Thailand are khon (masked drama), lakhon (dance-drama), likay (folk opera), nang (shadow theater) and hun (puppet theater). While there is a secondary school that specializes in training childre...

The Forgotten Holocaust : Why was such savagery inflicted on a nation the Japanese once regarded as their main source of cultural inspiration, their Rome and Greece? The Japanese invasion of China lasted from 1931 to 1945, immediately b...

"There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom." This is the title of Richard Feynman speech on nanotechnology delivered in 1959, through which the theory of nanotechnology was first introduced. After its introduction in 1959 the first comprehensiv...

Discovered while shopping in 1985, British model Naomi Campbell became an instant success in the United States, where she metamorphosed from a sweet schoolgirl into a polished—and, many would say, primadonna—professional. Her...

Naphthalene is a white, crystalline solid at room temperature (melting point, 176°F/80°C) with a strong coal-tar odor. Soluble in benzene, absolute alcohol, and ether, it is derived either from boiling coal-tar oils with subsequent...

Napoleon I (1769-1821), emperor of the French, ranks as one of the greatest military conquerors in history. Through his conquests he remade the map of Europe, and through his valuable administrative and legal reforms he promoted the growth...

(b. 1939), Pakistani artist. Jamil Naqsh is known for his romantic compositions of women and pigeons. Born in Kairana, India, he fled to Peshawar, Pakistan, during the Indian partition and then moved to Lahore. At the National College of A...

Na . Contemplation and Action: The Spiritual Autobiography of a Muslim Scholar, edited and translated by S. J. Badakhsahni. London: I. B. Tauris, 1998. The Nasirean Ethics by Nasir al-Din Tusi. Translated by G. M. Wickens. London: George, A...

During the Nara period (710–794), the Japanese imperial central government was unified, strengthened, and developed through religious ritual and the importation of Chinese bureaucratic methods. Drawing from classical Chinese texts, ...

According to the American Narcolepsy Association, as of the year 2000, Narcolepsy has affected about 200,000 people in the US alone. It has been estimated that six out of every ten thousand citizens have Narcolepsy. Around four percent are...

Public Law 89-793, the Narcotic Addict Rehabilitation Act (NARA), was passed by Congress in 1966. This legislation was designed to allow the use of the federal courts and criminal-justice system to compel drug addicts to participate in tre...

Indian physicist whose 1955 doctoral research in optics led to the development of fiber optics. Originally viewed as either a novelty item or a way to transmit images from place to place, fiber optics subsequently found a myriad of uses, i...

Narmada (or Narbada, sometimes Nerbudda) River, 1,290 kilometers long, was mentioned by Ptolemy as the Namados. Ancient Sanskrit names for the river included Reva, Samodbhava, and Mekalasuta. Traditionally, the Narmada River formed the bou...

When Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958, it did not consider the need to commercialize space. At the time, the United States was fighting the Cold War against the Soviet Union. The purpose of ...

Nasal irrigation is the practice of flushing the nasal cavity with a sterile solution. The solution may contain antibiotics. Nasal irrigation is used to clear infected sinuses or may be performed after surgery to the nose region. It may be...

NĀṢIR-I KHUSRAW is best known as a Persian poet, philosopher, and traveler, as well as for his efforts in spreading the Ismāʿīlī form of Islam in Central Asia. Born in 1004 in Qubadiyan in present-...

Unlike animals, plants cannot move to more favorable locations. Instead, plants survive by adjusting their growth to their local environment. A major way this is done is by sensing the directions of environmental signals such as light and ...

NATS. The nats of Burma make up a structured system of animistic spirits, predating the advent of Theravāda Buddhism but coexisting with it and with other systems of divination and prediction such as astronomy and alchemy. The nat c...

Natalie Wood will always be remembered as the beautiful, sad little girl who learned to believe in Santa Claus in The Miracle on 34th Street (1947). In that movie, she was flanked by such outstanding talents as Edmund Gwenn and Maureen O&#...

A Confederate general in the American Civil War, Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877) ranks as a near genius of war. He was a daring and successful cavalry leader who had few peers. Nathan Bedford Forrest, eldest son of his family, was born ...

The Swedish churchman Nathan Söderblom (1866-1931) was an important leader in the ecumenical movement for the unification of Christian Churches. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930 for his efforts in the area of international underst...

Nathaniel Bacon (1647-1676) was an American colonial leader in Virginia and the leader of Bacon's Rebellion in 1676. The period of American colonial history which followed the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England (1660) was an era...

1911-1990 American mechanical engineer and inventor who specialized in plastics (and was the brother of the artist Andrew Wyeth). In 1936 he received his B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania. Employed by duPont from 1936 until his reti...

1613-1685 English physician who precisely described the cavity of the superior maxillary bone, a bone below the nose and holding the upper row of teeth. This cavity, or sinus, is in the upper part of the maxillary bone and opens into the m...