Coccal infections

Infections with certain bacteria,including streptococci (e.g., cause scarlet fever, sore throats and tonsillitis in humans), and staphylococci (e.g., cause boils, meningitis and septicaemia).  It was by means of a contaminated culture plate of staphylococci that Alexander Fleming (1861-1955) discovered penicillin for which he shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1945. See Meningitis

Cochlea

A spiral-shaped organ of the inner ear that detects frequency variations in incoming sound waves (see figure below for the structures that make up the cochlea).  With high-pitched sounds, one end of the cochlea is activated, while a low-pitched one does so for the other end.  The sounds, as standing waves, displace the stereocilia on …

Co-sleeping

Refers to a diverse, generic class of human-wide sleeping arrangements (mother-infant, husband-wife-children, brother-sister, etc.) wherein at least two or more persons sleep within proximity or close enough to permit each (or all) to detect, monitor and exchange sensory stimuli (e.g., doors, sound, movement, touch, gaze etc.).  Considered by some to be a protective factor against …

Co-regulation

The idea that in face-to-face social interaction, social partners simultaneously and continuously adjust their thoughts, feelings and actions to those of their interlocutor.  The concept of co-regulation implies that individuals are not autonomous in their social behavior. See Bi-directionality, Communication, Conversations, Interaction, Reciprocity

Co-occurrence learning

Learning what words can occur before or after a given word.  Such learning is a focus of machine learning and artificial intelligence more generally. See Artificial intelligence (AI), Grammaticization (or grammaticalization), Language development, Statistical learning

Co-factor

An accompanying condition, circumstance, or characteristic necessary or sufficient to produce a particular outcome, result, or event.  In biology, for example, it is a non-protein substance essential for one or more related enzyme reactions. See Enzyme, Necessary and sufficient conditions