Yangon (pop. 1,315,964; met. area pop. 2,452,881) is the capital and largest city of Myanmar. It is also the country's chief port and industrial center. Yangon, also spelled Rangoon, lies in southern Myanmar on both banks of the Yangon River. It is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the Gulf of Martaban, an arm of the Indian Ocean...

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Yangtze River, pronounced yahng dzuh, also called Yangtze Kiang, is the world's third longest river. Only the Nile and Amazon rivers are longer. It is China's longest and most important river. To many Chinese, the Yangtze is known as the Chang Jiang, or long river...

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Wright, Frank Lloyd (1867-1959), was one of America's most influential and imaginative architects. During his career of almost 70 years, he created a striking variety of architectural forms. His works ranged from buildings typical of the late 1800's to ultramodern designs, such as his plan for a skyscraper 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) high...

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Yankee Doodle is a song that has been popular in the United States since the 1700's. Music historians disagree about the song's origin, but they know that its melody and words have changed over time. In 1767, American composer Andrew Barton used "Yankee Doodle" in his opera The Disappointment. The song must have been well known by that time because Barton did not write out the music. He simply directed the performers to sing his words to the tune of "Yankee Doodle."

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Year is the time the earth takes to make one complete revolution around the sun. There are two different kinds of years which are used by astronomers. The solar, equinoctial, or tropical year is the time between two passages of the sun through the March equinox. In the Northern Hemisphere, this equinox is called the vernal equinox. This year is 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds long. This year is used for all practical and astronomical purposes. It is the basis of our common or calendar year...

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Yeast is a single-celled organism that bakers put into dough to make it rise. It is also used in the production of beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages. The yeasts used commercially consist of masses of the microscopic yeast organisms. There are about 600 species of yeasts, but only a few are used commercially...

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Yeats, pronounced yayts, William Butler (1865-1939), an Irish poet and dramatist, won the 1923 Nobel Prize for literature. Many critics consider him the greatest poet of his time. Yeats led the Irish Literary Revival, a movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's that stimulated new appreciation of traditional Irish literature. The movement also encouraged the creation of works written in the spirit of Irish culture, as distinct from English culture...

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Yellow fever is a virus disease carried by certain mosquitoes. The virus damages many body tissues, but especially the liver. As a result of this damage, the liver cannot function properly and yellow bile pigments gather in the skin. These pigments make the skin look yellow and give the disease its name...

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Yellow jacket is a type of small wasp with black-and-yellow markings. Some people mistakenly call yellow jackets "bees," but they actually are related to hornets. Like hornets, yellow jackets make their nests of paper. They form the paper by chewing up old wood and plant fibers. The nests consist of numerous hexagonal cells inside a thick paper covering. Most yellow jackets nest underground, but sometimes nests can be found hanging in trees or bushes, or within hollows in old stumps or the walls of buildings...

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Yellowstone National Park, the oldest national park in the world, is famous for its many natural wonders. The park has more geysers and hot springs than any other area in the world. Yellowstone's scenic attractions include deep canyons, thundering waterfalls, sparkling lakes, and vast evergreen forests broken by rolling meadows. Yellowstone is also one of the largest wildlife preserves in the United States. It has a greater concentration of large and small animals than any other area in the United States except Alaska. Bears, elk, and bison (American buffaloes) roam the park, and bald eagles, trumpeter swans, and white pelicans nest there...

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