Key terms & definitions

A connection between countries involving political cooperation, power or international relations, such as a trade agreement or defence alliance.

Political relationships between countries that influence power, cooperation and economic opportunities.

The influence of geography, resources and power on relationships between countries.

Aligned with real-world locations using a coordinate system, so that maps or images can be compared spatially.

A Belgian Roman Catholic priest and physicist whose work on the expanding universe and the primeval atom helped lay the foundations of the Big Bang theory.

Information linked to a geographical location, such as a grid reference, latitude and longitude, or a named country.

Information that includes a location, such as coordinates, an address or a named country.

Describes an Earth satellite that appears to stay in the same position in the sky to an observer on the ground.

An orbit above Earth's equator that matches Earth's rotation, making a satellite appear fixed above one place on Earth.

A textile used mainly in civil engineering at or below ground level for functions such as support, drainage and separation.

Energy obtained from heat within the Earth, which can be used for heating or generating electricity.

Energy obtained from hot rocks within the Earth.

Heat from within the Earth.

The East German state formed in October 1949 from the Soviet occupation zone of Germany.

Making a territory German through measures such as German settlement, the removal of local people and the suppression of their culture.

The Nazi-controlled organisation that replaced independent trade unions in 1933 and brought workers under state supervision.

The joining of East and West Germany into one country in 1990.

The beginning of growth of the embryo in a seed to form a seedling.

A reproductive cell, such as an egg or sperm, or a cell that produces reproductive cells. A germline genetic change could be inherited by future generations.

A genetic intervention affecting eggs, sperm or the cells that produce them, so the change may be inherited by future generations.

The explanation that microorganisms can cause disease. Particular infectious diseases are caused by particular microbes.

The theory that microorganisms infecting the body can cause disease.

A Spaniard shipwrecked in 1511 who learnt a Maya language and became an interpreter for Cortés in 1519.

Government dominated by elderly leaders.

A model showing nutrients stored in biomass, litter and soil, and the transfers between these stores.

The Nazi Secret State Police, which investigated suspected opponents and could arrange imprisonment without trial.

A movement or bodily expression used to communicate meaning, such as a hug signifying care.

A Jewish bill of divorce that ends a marriage in Jewish law.

The place near Jerusalem where Jesus prayed and was arrested, as described in Mark 14:32–52.

A geothermal feature that intermittently erupts hot water and steam through a surface vent.