Glossary British

- Ancestors

An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, and so forth).
Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other, or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species who share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent.
As far as contribution to one's autosomal DNA is concerned (this does not include Y-chromosomal DNA or mitochondrial DNA) assuming that none of one's ancestors had children with relatives (even distant relatives), an individual has a total of 2046 ancestors up to the 10th generation, 1024 of which are 10th-generation ancestors. With the same assumption, any given person has over a million 20th-generation ancestors (generally equivalent to around 500 years) and this theoretical number increases past the total population of the world at around 1400 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestors

- Astrochemistry

Astrochemistry, the overlap of the disciplines of astronomy and chemistry, is the study of the abundance and reactions of chemical elements and molecules in space, and their interaction with radiation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrochemistry

- Creationism

Creationism is the belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in their original form by a deity (often the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam) or deities. In relation to the creation-evolution controversy the term creationism is commonly used to refer to religiously motivated rejection of evolution as an explanation of origins. Creationism in the West is usually based on a literal reading of Genesis 1-2, and in its broad sense covers a wide range of beliefs and interpretations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism

- DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid):

Is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. The sequence of nucleotides determines individual hereditary characteristics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
- Fossils

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossils

- Genes

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cells and pass genetic traits to offspring. In general terms, a gene is a segment of nucleic acid that, taken as a whole, specifies a trait. The colloquial usage of the term gene often refers to the scientific concept of an allele.

In cells, a gene is a portion of DNA that contains both "coding" sequences that determine what the gene does, and "non-coding" sequences that determine when the gene is active (expressed). When a gene is active, the coding and non-coding sequences are copied in a process called transcription, producing an RNA copy of the gene's information. This piece of RNA can then direct the synthesis of proteins via the genetic code. In other cases, the RNA is used directly, for example as part of the ribosome. The molecules resulting from gene expression, whether RNA or protein, are known as gene products, and are responsible for the development and functioning of all living things.

In more technical terms, a gene is a locatable region of genomic sequence, corresponding to a unit of inheritance, and is associated with regulatory regions, transcribed regions and/or other functional sequence regions. The physical development and phenotype of organisms can be thought of as a product of genes interacting with each other and with the environment. A concise definition of a gene, taking into account complex patterns of regulation and transcription, genic conservation and non-coding RNA genes, has been proposed by Gerstein et al.:[4] "A gene is a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism

- Panspermia

Panspermia is the hypothesis that "seeds" of life exist already all over the Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these "seeds", and that they may deliver or have delivered life to other habitable bodies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

- Primordial Soup

The primordial soup is a liquid rich in organic compounds and providing favorable conditions for the emergence and growth of life forms. Oceans of primordial soup are thought to have covered the Earth during the Precambrian Eon billions of years ago. The organic compounds in the primordial soup, such as amino acids, may have been produced by reactions in the Earth's early atmosphere, which was probably rich in methane and ammonia.
The complex self-replicating organic molecules that were the precursors to life on Earth may have developed in this primordial soup.

From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/primordial+soup


- Species

In biology, a species is:

A taxonomic rank (the basic rank of biological classification) or a unit at that rank (in which case the plural is "species". This is sometimes abbreviated: "spec." or "sp." singular, or "spp." plural).

There are many definitions of what kind of unit a species is (or should be). A common definition is that of a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring, and separated from other such groups with which interbreeding does not (normally) happen. Other definitions may focus on similarity of DNA or morphology. Some species are further subdivided into subspecies, and here also there is no close agreement on the criteria to be used

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species