The Boffins Portal Team 
When extreme heat and pressure act on protoliths, metamorphic rocks are formed. There are two types of metamorphic rocks: foliated and non-foliated. A foliated rock has distinct layers that repeatedly occur throughout its structure. Foliated rocks are found within the earth’s interior. They are formed when high pressure is exerted on existing rocks. When the …
How jealously do you guard your personal space? In psychology, proxemics studies how personal space is defined and practiced in many cultures. Different cultures around the world apply personal space differently producing a wide variety of perspectives. The result is that people unconsciously protect their personal space in ways that are quite different depending on …
If evolution occurred in the past, can we find remnants of it today in present-day animals—whether physical or behavioral? One clue would be vestigial structures. Scientists think they have found a handful of these in modern organisms. These vestigial structures appear to have no use today. They are thought to have been necessary in the …
Want a front-row seat to some tension-packed seismic action on earth? You are likely to get some from a convergent boundary. This is a high activity area that can also literally get too hot to touch! A convergent boundary marks the area where two tectonic plates collide or meet each other. As a result of …
We all exist in a society that has good and evil. We celebrate the good in society and criticize the bad with vigor. We may praise or criticize society directly by pointing fingers at people and institutions that fail. Alternatively, we can use works of art and create characters that give a true picture of …
QUICK DEFINATION: Weak nuclear forces are fundamental forces in particle physics responsible for certain types of radioactive decay and interactions between particles. They facilitate processes like beta decay and neutrino absorption, mediating interactions within atomic nuclei involving neutrinos and leptons. BRIEF EXPLANATION: Atoms comprise subatomic particles such as protons, electrons, neutrons, neutrino, and muon. Electrons, …
QUICK DEFINITION: Net force is the overall force acting on an object, determined by combining all individual forces acting upon it. It influences the object’s motion, direction, and acceleration, reflecting the sum of all applied forces. EXPLANATION: An object at rest or in motion has different forces acting on it. A book on a table …
QUICK DEFINITION: Producers in biology are organisms, mainly plants, that manufacture their own food through photosynthesis or chemosynthesis, serving as the primary source of energy for ecosystems. EXPLANATION: The natural ecosystem is designed in such a way that organisms either make their food or feed on others. Producers, also called autotrophs, make the food while …
QUICK DEFINITION The fixed interval reinforcement schedule is a behaviorist concept in which reinforcement is provided after a consistent time interval, promoting behavior shortly before the anticipated reinforcement time, regardless of the behavior’s frequency. EXPLANATION: Have you ever completed your homework or studied hard because your parent promised you a gift? They were trying to …
QUICK DEFINITION: In psychology, accommodation refers to the adjustment of existing mental schemas or concepts to incorporate new information or experiences, fostering cognitive growth and adaptation to better fit the changing environment or knowledge. EXPLANATION: How do we learn or make sense of the complex world around us? Jean Piaget suggested that this happens through …