antenna: (plural: antennae or antennas) In biology: Either of a pair of long, thin sensory appendages on the heads of insects, crustaceans and some other arthropods.
application: A particular use or function of something.
biologist: A scientist involved in the study of living things.
birds: Warm-blooded animals with wings that first showed up during the time of the dinosaurs. Birds are jacketed in feathers and produce young from the eggs they deposit in some sort of nest. Most birds fly, but throughout history there have been the occasional species that don’t.
compass: An instrument that uses magnetized substances to show the direction of magnetic north.
data: Facts and/or statistics collected together for analysis but not necessarily organized in a way that gives them meaning. For digital information (the type stored by computers), those data typically are numbers stored in a binary code, portrayed as strings of zeros and ones.
information: (as opposed to data) Facts provided or trends learned about something or someone, often as a result of studying data.
juvenile: Young, sub-adult animals. These are older than “babies” or larvae, but not yet mature enough to be considered an adult.
latitude: The distance from the equator measured in degrees (up to 90). Low latitudes are closer to the equator; high latitudes are closer to the poles.
longitude: The distance (measured in angular degrees) from an imaginary line — called the prime meridian — that would run across Earth’s surface from the North Pole to the South Pole, along the way passing through Greenwich, England.
mammal: A warm-blooded animal distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, the secretion of milk by females for feeding their young, and (typically) the bearing of live young.
migrate: To move long distances (often across many countries) in search of a new home. (in biology) To travel from one place to another at regular times of the year to find food or more hospitable conditions (such as better weather). Species that migrate each year are referred to as being migratory. (in chemistry) To move from one material, usually a solid, into a neighboring liquid, such as water.
migration: (v. migrate) Movement from one region or habitat to another, especially regularly (and according to the seasons) or to cope with some driving force (such as climate or war). An individual that makes this move is known as a migrant.
migratory: An adjective for species that travel long distances each year, along fairly regular paths, to find food or more hospitable conditions (such as better weather). Such travels are known as migrations.
navigate: To find one’s way through a landscape using visual cues, sensory information (like scents), magnetic information (like an internal compass) or other techniques.
numerical: Having to do with numbers.
online: (n.) On the internet. (adj.) A term for what can be found or accessed on the internet.
radio: Referring to radio waves, or the device that receives these transmissions. Radio waves are a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that people often use for long-distance communication. Longer than the waves of visible light, radio waves are used to transmit radio and television signals. They also are used in radar. Many astronomical objects also radiate some of their energy as radio waves.
range: The full extent or distribution of something. For instance, a plant or animal’s range is the area over which it naturally exists.
software: The mathematical instructions that direct a computer’s hardware, including its processor, to perform certain operations.
species: A group of similar organisms capable of producing offspring that can survive and reproduce.
statistics: The practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data in large quantities and interpreting their meaning. Much of this work involves reducing errors that might be attributable to random variation. A professional who works in this field is called a statistician.
system: A network of parts that together work to achieve some function. For instance, the blood, vessels and heart are primary components of the human body’s circulatory system. Similarly, trains, platforms, tracks, roadway signals and overpasses are among the potential components of a nation’s railway system. System can even be applied to the processes or ideas that are part of some method or ordered set of procedures for getting a task done.
telemetry: A form of wireless communication in which measurements such as geographic location are collected, stored in a device and then transmitted to a receiver somewhere else.
tool: An object that a person or other animal makes or obtains and then uses to carry out some purpose such as reaching food, defending itself or grooming.
unique: Something that is unlike anything else; the only one of its kind.
