Eu to Ew

"Fossilized" rock world...early in their history these worlds were marked by geological activity, substantial atmospheres, even the presence of liquid water and primitive life. But, for a variety of reasons, these processes 'atrophied', leaving behind a planet with only signs of its past potential. Life may remain in secluded and protected areas, but it is not a common occurrence. These worlds are the best candidates for successful terraforming.

Emple-Dokcetic language of artificial origin, employing special language modules and possibly wetware language centers. Spreading at a phenomenal rate in the region dominated by the Emple-Dokcetics, causing a major language extinction event.

Major Type of Jovian Class of planet. Masses from 0.21 to 8.0 that of Jupiter

Organism in which the genetic material (RNA, DNA or analogue) is separated from the rest of the cell in a nucleus.

Major sub-type of Gaian Type planet. There is 100% water coverage of the surface, with extensive submerged continental shelves. If there is any land, it is in the form of small, isolated islands.

Garden world (Gaian Type - Thalassic Subtype) near M48, joint Sophic / Caretaker stewardship) - discovered by the exploration and poet-theologian relativistic Neumann Probe Gregor 23 during the early Second Federation period. The ecosystem on Euripedes Mey is basically solitary and colonial protistoid. Although some 58,000 species have been recorded, there are no multi-cellular animals. The most complex organism is Gregors Mat. Multicellular plants are common but of a simpler grade than terragen plants, and these include dense thickets of Land Kelp, Higgirt Moss, and several thousand other species, which flourish in the moist valleys and lowlands. The drier uplands are devoid of anything other than microbial life.

Self replicating swarm of sentient aioids dedicated to converting as much of the universe as possible into copies of itself by memetic, persuasive and/or evangelical means.

Together with the old-earth humans Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, the early Federation superior Evangelion of Umbriel (aka Brandon Ryton V) is one of the three Holy Figures of the Reformed Catholic Church.

the process in which water evaporates from trees and analogous bionts and neobionts, and returns to the local atmosphere.

the Schwarzschild radius; the radius from a black hole or other physical singularity within which even light cannot escape. It is also the radius at which a mass must be compressed down to in order to turn it into a black hole.

Secular keterist splice-tweak culture, together with Fredholm regarded as masters of genetic provolution.

Popular manual and high-tech survival guide, containing general technological and scientific information and expert systems that can make use of it. It can help stranded groups, as well as normal colonists trying to make do. In principle the Encyclopedia contains enough information to bootstrap a technological civilisation to the nanotech level.

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in biology and systems theory, descent with modification. The process by which the gene pool of a population gradually changes in response to environmental pressures, natural selection, and genetic mutations.

in philosophy, the premise that the cosmos is progressing from a less complex to a more complex state, thus representing a reversal of entropy.

in some schools of esotericism, the premise that the consciousness, the individual self or soul, passes through a series of transmigrations or rebirths from a less sentient to a more sentient form, finally culminating in the attainment of Godhead.

A computer program that simulates the processes biological evolution; a problem-solving system that use computational models of evolution as key elements of design. All alife, evolutionary ai and aioids, and self-evolving virchworlds are determined by evolutionary algorithms.

strategy which is remains the most optimal even when there are a small number of individuals using other strategies in the population.

the change in location of a star on the Hertzsprung - Russell (H-R) Diagram. As a star ages and evolves, you can trace out its history on the H-R diagram.

phylogenetic or cladistic diagram tracing ancestry-descent, branching, cross-links of genetic/informational and morphotypic exchange, and other factors in order to provide a complete and usually multi-parameter diagram of the evolutionary history of any taxon. A beautiful collection of evolutionary trees can be seen in the great Phylogeny Orbitals of Darwinia (NuiHibbert Sector, Zoeific Biopolity).

An old star that is near the end of its existence, having exhausted most of its nuclear fuel. The star loses mass from its surface, producing a stellar wind.