Word: phenomenons
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...dramatic development, Bednorz and Muller revived a slow-moving area of modern physics and turned it into a white-hot field of research. Superconductivity is the phenomenon in which a conducting material loses its normal resistance to the passage of electricity; since virtually no energy is lost, any electric device becomes far more efficient when built with superconductors. The catch is that superconductivity usually occurs only near 0 K (Kelvin), or -460 degrees F, which means the materials must be cooled by expensive, hard-to-handle liquid helium, thus sharply limiting practical applications...
...work for larger companies on a contract basis. The fastest- growing category, however, is that of the so-called telecommuter -- a homebound but salaried worker on a corporate payroll. The rise of telecommuting has been predicted by futurists ever since home computers appeared a decade ago, but the phenomenon is only now beginning to catch on. Since 1982 the number of corporate employees working at home has ballooned from 20,000 to 600,000, according to the Los Angeles-based Center for Futures Research. Link claims that the roster of major companies that offer telecommuting has expanded from...
...look at a phenomenon in a community, it will be shaped something like a bell curve," Postel said. "That weekend just happened to be the peak of the curve," he said...
...same can be said for the greenhouse effect: it is too soon to tell whether unusual global warming has indeed begun. Unlike ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon with positive consequences. Without it, points out Climate Modeler Jeff Kiehl, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, "the earth would be uninhabitable. It is what keeps us from being an ice-frozen planet like Mars." Indeed, if gases like CO2 did not trap the sun's energy, the earth's mean temperature would be 0 degrees F, rather than the current 59 degrees...
...success of McInerney and Ellis was a para-publishing phenomenon. Though each undoubtedly thinks of himself as a writer alone with his thoughts and technical problems, they are literary celebrities and, from the vantage of their handlers, basic parts of an entertainment package. And it does not hurt if their editors can tie a bow. "Bright Lights had a winning quality, and it had it in spades, more than any book I have ever read," says Gary Fisketjon, leaving the impression that even casual acquaintance with the novel (a 250- year-old art form) is unnecessary baggage in today...