To understand how water moves in our world, attention must be directed to the hydrologic cycle. The hydrologic cycle is essentially a water continuum, representing the different paths through which water circulates and is transformed in the natural environment (Fig. 1). Being a cycle, it has no specific beginning or ending. Rather, liquid water from the Earth s surface, particularly the oceans, is evaporated into a gaseous form and enters the atmosphere as water vapor (clouds). The atmospheric moisture is eventually returned to the Earth s surface in the form of rain or snow.
Cell differentiation. In developmental biology, cellular differentiation is the process by which a less specialized cell becomes a more specialized cell type. Different tissues have different kinds of cells.
mitosis / cell division. Mitosis is a process of nuclear division in eukaryotic cells that occurs when a parent cell divides to produce two identical daughter cells. During cell division, mitosis refers specifically to the separation of the duplicated genetic material carried in the nucleus. Mitosis is conventionally divided into five stages known as prophase, prometaphase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase. While mitosis is taking place, there is no cell growth and all of the cellular energy is focused on cell division.