All articles starting with M
36,687 articles
Mechanism of action of aspirin
Mechanism of action of aspirin: irreversible acetylation of COX-1 Ser529 and COX-2 Ser516, blocking prostaglandin and thromboxane synthesis; discovered by Vane in 1971; explains analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antiplatelet effects.
Mechanisms of teratogenesis
Mechanisms of teratogenesis: how drugs, chemicals, radiation, and infections disrupt embryonic development, via receptor-mediated (TCDD/AHR) and reactive intermediate (ROS, covalent DNA binding) pathways, Wilson's six principles, and modern AOP and organoid testing.
Mechanistic interpretability
Mechanistic interpretability is AI research that seeks to reverse-engineer neural networks by identifying internal circuits, features, and neurons that causally drive model behavior, a leading AI safety method.
Mechanistic models
A mechanistic model is a scientific model representing a phenomenon through the organized parts, activities, and interactions of the mechanism that produces it, central to philosophy of science since the 1990s.
Mechanistic-empirical pavement design
Mechanistic-empirical pavement design is a pavement engineering method that computes stresses and strains in a trial road structure, then predicts distresses like rutting and cracking over time.
Mechanized infantry
Mechanized infantry: foot infantry transported and supported in armored vehicles (APCs, IFVs such as the BMP-1 and M2 Bradley), distinct from motorized infantry in trucks; covers history, doctrine, limitations, and drone-era employment.
Mechanobiology
Mechanobiology is the study of how force, geometry, and matrix elasticity define cell and tissue function, converting mechanical stimuli into chemical responses via mechanotransduction.
Mechanocatalysis
Mechanocatalysis is a subfield of mechanochemistry in which mechanical energy from milling, grinding, or shearing drives catalytic reactions, enabling solvent-free processes such as cellulose depolymerization.
Mechanochemical activation
Mechanochemical activation is the use of mechanical energy, most often from ball milling or grinding, to induce chemical reactions or structural changes in solids, with applications in synthesis, pharmaceuticals, and recycling.
Mechanochemical cross-coupling
Mechanochemical cross-coupling performs transition-metal-catalyzed carbon–carbon and carbon–heteroatom bond-forming reactions, including Suzuki–Miyaura and Sonogashira couplings, in ball mills, generally without bulk solvent, to reduce solvent waste.
Mechanochemical depolymerization
Mechanochemical depolymerization breaks polymer chains into monomers or small molecules using mechanical force, typically ball milling, rather than heat or bulk solvents, enabling solvent-free chemical recycling of plastics.
Mechanochemical polymer degradation
Mechanochemical polymer degradation cleaves polymer chains using mechanical force from techniques such as ball milling and ultrasonication, a solvent-free form of chemical recycling that turns waste plastics back into monomers.
Mechanochemical synthesis
Mechanochemical synthesis carries out chemical reactions by direct absorption of mechanical energy, most commonly in a ball mill, without a bulk solvent, spanning organic, pharmaceutical, and materials chemistry.
Mechanochemical synthesis by twin-screw extrusion
Mechanochemical synthesis by twin-screw extrusion (TSE) is the continuous, solvent-free counterpart to batch ball milling, first reported for molecular synthesis in 2015 and used for metal-organic frameworks and pharmaceuticals.
Mechanochemical unzipping of polyladderene to semiconducting polyacetylene
Mechanochemical unzipping of polyladderene to semiconducting polyacetylene is a polymer mechanochemistry transformation reported by a Stanford team in 2017, in which mechanical force unzips insulating polyladderene into conjugated polyacetylene that turns deeply colored and semiconducting.
Mechanochemistry
Mechanochemistry is the branch of chemistry in which reactions are induced by mechanical energy such as grinding or milling, a solvent-free approach aligned with green chemistry.
Mechanochromic materials
Mechanochromic materials are smart materials that change optical properties such as color or fluorescence under mechanical stimuli, used in sensing, displays, anti-counterfeiting, and smart windows.
Mechanochromic polymers
Mechanochromic polymers are macromolecular materials that change color, transparency, or luminescence in response to mechanical deformation, supporting stress visualization, autonomous damage detection, and soft robotics.
Mechanoluminescence
Mechanoluminescence is the emission of light from a solid material under mechanical stress such as pressure, deformation, friction, or fracture, first recorded by Francis Bacon in 1605 and used in self-powered stress sensors.
Mechanomyography
Mechanomyography (MMG) is a noninvasive technique that records the low-frequency vibrations and sounds produced by contracting skeletal muscle, serving as the mechanical counterpart of electromyography (EMG) for assessing fatigue, strength, and balance.
Mechanophore
A mechanophore is a molecular unit that changes structure or color when mechanical force is applied, typically built into polymers; the best-known example, spiropyran, turns colored under load, enabling stress mapping and damage imaging in materials.
Mechanoreceptor
Mechanoreceptors are sensory receptors converting touch, pressure, vibration, and stretch into neural signals. Key cutaneous types include Merkel, Meissner, Pacinian, and Ruffini receptors, with PIEZO2 as the principal mechanotransducer ion channel.
Mechanosensitive channels
Mechanosensitive channels are membrane proteins that convert mechanical force into ion flow. Key families: bacterial MscL/MscS osmotic safety valves and mammalian Piezo1/2 touch channels, recognized by the 2021 Nobel Prize.
Mechanosynthesis
Mechanosynthesis is chemical synthesis driven by mechanical energy, typically ball milling or extrusion, where solid powders react with no bulk solvent; it is a green, solvent-free technique.
Mechanotransduction
Mechanotransduction is the process by which cells convert mechanical forces, such as shear stress, tension, and matrix stiffness, into biochemical signals that influence cell fate, tissue regeneration, and diseases like fibrosis and cancer.
MECHATROLINK
MECHATROLINK is an open, high-speed, deterministic field network for motion and I/O control, developed by Japan's Yaskawa Electric in the 1990s to connect controllers with servo drives and sensors.
Mechatronics
Mechatronics is an engineering field combining mechanical design, electronic control, and embedded software, coined in Japan in 1969 and applied in robots, hard drives, and automobiles.
Mechel
Mechel is a Russian vertically integrated mining and metals company producing coal, iron ore, coke, steel, and power, which grew from a Siberian coal-trading operation founded in the early 1990s.
Mechelen
Mechelen, Belgian city in Antwerp province, Flanders, on the Dijle between Antwerp and Brussels; 90,355 residents (2026), former capital of the Burgundian Netherlands, home of the Grote Raad supreme court and three UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Mechernich-Katzvey
Katzensteine at Mechernich-Katzvey, Eifel, Germany: 15 m red Buntsandstein cliffs with a 13,000-year-old Federmesser-Gruppe hunter camp and a small Roman quarry (1st century AD), now a nature reserve and protected monument.