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DONGTING LAKE
- China's second-largest lake, located in northern Hunan Province, China, connected to the Yangtze River by four channels; the lake serves as an overflow basin during flood season, when its size could increase to 7,700 square miles or more.
- Usage: Report on a possible catastrophic flood, possibly affecting over 10 million people, if the lake overflowed its 560 miles of man-made embankments; the lake is reportedly five feet over flood-warning level and expected to rise as rainfall continues; more than 4,000 people died in the worst flooding in decades after the Yangtze and Dongting burst their banks in 1998.
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica CD 98; CNN.com.
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GINKGO BILOBA
- A deciduous tree native to China and having fan-shaped leaves and fleshy yellowish seeds with a disagreeable odor; also, used as an herbal supplement which allegedly aids in memory retention.
- Usage: Report on a study debunking the memory-enhancing effects of ingesting ginkgo biloba as a dietary supplement.
Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition; CNN.com.
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INTERFERON
- Any of a group of glycoproteins that are produced by different cell types in response to various stimuli, such as exposure to a virus, bacterium, parasite, or other antigen, and that prevent viral replication in newly infected cells and, in some cases, modulate specific cellular functions.
- Usage: Story on possible use of interferon to combat mosquito-borne illnesses such as the West Nile Virus.
Source: The American Heritage Dictionary, via Yahoo! Reference.
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