Glossary
Partial-word, boolean (AND, OR, NOT) and "exact phrase" searches are supported.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Variance | A measure of how different the numbers in a set are from one another. For example, the two sets of numbers {6, 2, 3, 1} and {2, 4, 3, 3} have the same average (or mean) of 3, but the first set has a greater variance. Science General |
| Variant | A version of a virus with genetic changes that distinguish it from earlier forms. Some variants spread more easily or partly evade immunity, which can require updated vaccines. Vaccines |
| Variolation | The historical practice of deliberately infecting people with material from smallpox sores to induce immunity. It preceded Edward Jenner's safer cowpox vaccination. Vaccines |
| Vector database | A database designed to store embeddings and quickly find items that are similar in meaning. Artificial Intelligence |
| Vector encoding | A vector encoding (often called an embedding) is a dense list of numbers that an AI model produces to capture the meaning or visual characteristics of an item—the end goal is that similar items will end up with nearby numbers in the same space. Artificial Intelligence |
| Velocity | Speed in a particular direction. Science General |
| Viral Vector Vaccine | A vaccine that uses a modified, harmless fraction of a different virus (a vector virus) associated with an antigen that can induce production of important instructions that are delivered to the body's cells. Vaccines |
| Virulence | The relative capacity of a pathogen to overcome body defenses and elicit symptoms. Vaccines |
| Virus | A tiny organism that multiplies within cells and causes diseases such as chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis. Viruses are not affected by antibiotics, the drugs used to kill bacteria. Vaccines |
| Virus-like particle | A particle that mimics the structure of a virus but contains no genetic material, so it cannot infect cells. The HPV vaccine is made from virus-like particles. Vaccines |