Returning a benefit that justifies the initial investment; economical.

The situation where a widely publicized suicide leads to a number of copycat suicides.

(physics) An anomalous threshold voltage behavior of certain sub-halfmicron semiconductors due to migration of specific elements and local oxidation

(radio) the energy of a radio frequency, determined by multiplying the transmitter power output with the antenna gain.

(paleontology) The principle that due to the incompleteness of the fossil record, the earliest and latest known occurrences of a taxon will almost never represent the ages of the actual earliest and latest organisms belonging to it.

(evolutionary biology) A selection effect driving evolution of an invasive species at the invasion front, that selects the fastest and furthest invaders to interbreed creating stronger and faster invaders, due to the invasion front preselecting the fastest invaders, concentrating these individuals and therefore selecting those traits that let them invade faster.

(chemistry) The net nuclear charge that an electron in an atom experiences, after subtracting the nuclear charge shielded by other electrons.

plural of effective radiated power

(thermodynamics) The temperature change of a real gas or liquid (as differentiated from an ideal gas) when it is forced through a valve or porous plug while kept insulated so that no heat is exchanged with the environment.

A reduction in thyroid hormone levels caused by ingestion of a large amount of iodine.