A report states: "The new method produced a significant improvement in reading scores." What does "significant" mean here?

A lab report states: "The bacteria grew quickly on the new medium." What does "medium" mean here?

A report states: "The team started a culture from one cell." What does "culture" mean here?

A report states: "Plants in the control were given no fertilizer." What does "control" mean here?

A report states: "The powder was stirred until a clear solution formed." What does "solution" mean here?

A report states: "The beam failed once the stress passed 40 megapascals." What does "stress" mean here?

A report states: "Each sample had a volume of 250 milliliters." What does "volume" mean here?

A report states: "The current fell when a longer wire was used." What does "current" mean here?

A report states: "The water sample tested positive for lead." What does "positive" mean here?

A report calls natural selection a theory. What does "theory" mean in a scientific report?

A report states: "The measurement error was 2 centimeters." What does "error" mean here?

A report states: "Only 60 of the 900 learners were in the sample." What does "sample" mean here?

A report states: "Names were drawn from a box, so the sample was random." What does "random" mean here?

A report states: "The writers admit a bias in how the sample was chosen." What does "bias" mean here?

A report states: "The worm cannot survive without a host." What does "host" mean here?

A report states: "The bacteria showed resistance to the antibiotic." What does "resistance" mean here?

A report states: "The reaction gave a yield of 8 grams." What does "yield" mean here?

A report states: "The pump did 500 joules of work." What does "work" mean here?

Which explanation of "photosynthesis" could a reader outside science actually use?

Which explanation of "evaporation" could a reader outside science actually use?

Which explanation of "habitat" could a reader outside science actually use?

Which explanation of "friction" could a reader outside science actually use?

Which explanation of "vaccine" could a reader outside medicine actually use?

Which explanation of "erosion" could a reader outside geology actually use?

Which explanation of an earthquake's "magnitude" could a reader outside geology actually use?

Which explanation of "antibiotic" could a reader outside medicine actually use?

Which explanation of "renewable energy" could a reader outside science actually use?

Which explanation of "humidity" could a reader outside science actually use?

Which explanation of "hypothesis" could a reader outside research actually use?

Which explanation of "correlation" could a reader outside research actually use?

Which explanation of "variable" could a reader outside research actually use?

A report explains "osmosis" as "the diffusion of solvent across a semipermeable membrane". Why is a general reader still stuck?

A report explains "inflation" as "a sustained rise in the consumer price index". Why is a general reader still stuck?

A report explains "igneous rock" as "rock formed by the solidification of magma". What is wrong with this for a general reader?

A report explains "biodiversity" as "the species richness of an ecosystem". What is wrong with this for a general reader?

A report explains "algorithm" as "a deterministic finite procedure for computation". What is wrong with this for a general reader?

A report explains "greenhouse gas" as "a gas with high infrared absorptivity". What is wrong with this for a general reader?

A report explains "metabolism" as "the sum of the catabolic and anabolic reactions in a cell". What is wrong with this for a general reader?

A word can carry one meaning in everyday talk and a different, exact meaning in a research report.

An explanation is easy for a reader outside the field whenever it is shorter than the term it explains.