Uncontrolled multiplication of abnormal cells. Cancerous cells and tissues have abnormal growth rates, shapes, sizes, and functioning. Cancer may progress in stages from a localized tumour (confined to the site of origin) to direct extensi...

In 1984, the first year of his assignment to the Boston diocese, Cardinal Bernard Law approved the transfer of Father John J. Geoghan to St. Julia’s parish in Weston, Massachusetts, despite substantial evidence that Geoghan had sexually abu...

Principal intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S., established in 1947 as a successor to the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services. The law limits its activities to foreign countries; it is prohibited from gathering...

A state, produced by repeated or prolonged drug exposure, in which the presence of drug in the body is required to maintain normal physiological function. This state is recognizable only by the occurrence of a withdrawal reaction when the ...

Treatment of diseases, including cancer, with chemicals. Some cancer drugs interfere with cancer-cell division or enzyme processes. However, they have serious side effects, attacking some healthy cells and reducing resistance to infection....

employment of children of less than a legally specified age. In Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand, children under age 15 rarely work except in commercial agriculture, because of the effective enforcement of laws passed in t...

Country, eastern Asia. Area: 3,696,100 sq mi (9,572,900 sq km). Population (2005 est.): 1,304,369,000. Capital: Beijing. It is the world's most populous country, the Han (ethnic Chinese) forming more than nine-tenths of the population. Lan...

Technology today is growing at an alarming rate. Things that seemed impossible only a few years ago are now a reality, and some far fetched things such as time travel, that are present in today's science fiction movies, might possibly b...

Heterocyclic compound (C17H21NO4), an alkaloid obtained from coca leaves. It has legal uses in medicine and dentistry as a local anesthetic but far more is used illegally, usually as the hydrochloride. When sniffed in small amounts, cocain...

American entertainment today is drastically different from its past. Today eighty percent of Americans participate in some form of videogames. Whether it be a console from Microsoft, Sony, or Nintendo; PCs or cell phones, the fact is clea...

A book like this is published to meet many needs. However, three goals were dominant in the creation of this work: (1) to satisfy the reader’s curiosity about philosophy, religion, and morals; (2) to assist the reader who is developin...

Evolutionism and Creationism have been the subject of debate for many years. When all the facts are looked at, however, it can be seen that the theory of evolution has much stronger supports to back it up than that of Creationism. The mai...

“The number of very tenable explanations for the crime drop [of the 1990s], none of which inherently excludes any of the others, leads to the conclusion that . . . a variety of factors . . . have been important.” —Alfred B...

The 1978 Jonestown Massacre, where 913 of the Reverend Jim Jones' followers were forced to commit suicide, marked the high point in America's condemnation of cults. Spread across newspaper front pages and national magazines f...

“Several of the most contentious and passionate issues in current politics revolve around what can be called ‘cultural’ issues.” —Rhys H. Williams “Culture wars” became a popular catchphrase dur...