RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. U.S. film studio. It was created in 1928 as Radio-Keith-Orpheum when the Radio Corp. of America (RCA Corp.) acquired the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theatre chain and a production firm. In the 1930s RKO was noted for producing a series of musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and Katharine Hepburn’s early movies, as well as films such as Cimarron (1931), The Informer (1935), and Citizen Kane (1941). It was bought by Howard R. Hughes in 1948; his inatten¬ tion doomed the company, and it ceased production in 1953 and was sold to Desilu Productions (1957). After numerous reorganizations, it contin¬ ued as RKO General, operating radio and television stations and theatres.
RNA in full ribonucleic Vri-bo-nu-Tde-ik, .ri-bo-nu-'kla-ikV acid One of the two main types of nucleic acid (the other being DNA), which func¬ tions in cellular protein synthesis in all living cells and replaces DNA as the carrier of genetic information in some viruses. Like DNA, it consists of strands of repeating nucleotides joined in chainlike fashion, but the strands are single (except in certain viruses), and it has the nucleotide uracil (U) where DNA has thymine (T). Messenger RNA (mRNA), a single strand copied from a DNA strand that acts as its template, carries the message of the genetic code from DNA (in chromosomes) to the site of protein synthesis (on ribosomes). Ribosomal RNA (rRNA), part of the building blocks of ribosomes, participates in protein synthesis. Transfer RNA (tRNA), the smallest type, has fewer than 100 nucleotide units (mRNA and rRNA contain thousands). Each nucleotide triplet on mRNA specifies which amino acid comes next on the protein being synthesized, and a tRNA molecule with that triplet’s complement on its protruding end brings the specified amino acid to the site of synthesis to be linked into the protein. Various minor types of RNA also exist; at least some act as catalysts (ribozymes), a function long ascribed only to proteins.
roach See cockroach
roach Common European sport fish (Rutilus rutilus) of the carp family (Cyprinidae), found in lakes and slow rivers. A high-backed, yellowish green fish with red eyes and reddish fins, the roach is 6-16 in. (15—40 cm) long and weighs up to 4.5 lbs (2 kg). It lives in small schools and eats plants, insects, and small animals. It is sometimes eaten or used as bait. In North America, other fishes are called roach, including the rudd, the golden shiner (both cyprinids), and several members of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae).
Roach, Hal orig. Harold Eugene Roach (b. Jan. 14, 1892, Elmira, N.Y., U.S.—d. Nov. 2, 1992, Bel Air, Calif.) U.S. film producer. He tried gold prospecting before becoming a bit player in Hollywood (1912). He befriended Harold Lloyd and directed and produced Just Nuts (1915), in which Lloyd starred, then formed the Hal Roach Studio (1919) and went on to produce other Lloyd comedies such as Safety Last (1923). In the 1920s and ’30s he produced thousands of comedy shorts, winning Academy Awards for The Music Box{ 1932) and Bored of Education (1936). In addi¬ tion to producing the Will Rogers films and the “Our Gang” shorts, he teamed Laurel and Hardy (see Stan Laurel; and Oliver Hardy) in their first film together in 1927 and produced a series of their films, including Leave ’em Laughing (1928) and Way Out West (1937), as well as other successes such as Topper (1937) and Of Mice and Men (1939). He ranks with Mack Sennett as a creator of inspired chaos in the early Hollywood comic style.
Roach, Max(well) (b. Jan. 10, 1924, New Land, N.C., U.S.) U.S. jazz bandleader, composer, and drummer. Roach performed with many of the
key bebop players of the mid-1940s, including Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. He developed a light, flexible manner of keeping time with the ride cymbal rather than the bass drum, updating the role of the drum set for the new music and exploring the melodic possibilities of the drums in his solos. He formed a quintet with trumpeter Clifford Brown in 1954 and continued as leader of his own group following Brown’s death in 1956.
road Traveled way on which people, animals, or wheeled vehicles move. The earliest roads developed from paths and trails and appeared with the invention of wheeled vehicles, around 3000 bc. Road systems developed to facilitate trade in early civilizations; the first major road extended 1,775 mi (2,857 km) from the Persian Gulf to the Aegean Sea and was used c. 3500-300 bc. The Romans used roads to maintain control of their empire, with over 53,000 mi (85,000 km) of roadways extending across its lands; Roman construction techniques and design remained the most advanced until the late 1700s. In the early 19th century invention of macadam road construction provided a quick and durable method for building roads, and asphalt and concrete also began to be used. Motorized traffic in the 20th century led to the limited-access highway, the first of which was a park¬ way in New York City (1925). Superhighways also appeared in Italy and Germany in the 1930s. In the 1950s the U.S. interstate highway system was inaugurated to link the country’s major cities.
light bituminous
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roadrunner or chaparral cock
of terrestrial cuckoo, especially Geo¬ coccyx californianus (family Cucul- idae), of Mexican and southwestern U.S. deserts. About 22 in. (56 cm) long, they have streaked brown-and- white plumage, a short shaggy crest, bare blue and red skin behind the eyes, stout bluish legs, and a long tail carried at an angle. Clumsy, weak fli¬ ers, they prefer to run. Using their stout bill, they pound insects, lizards, and snakes to death, then swallow the victim head first. The lesser roa¬ drunner (G. velox ), of Mexico and Central America, is smaller, buffier, and less streaked.
Roanoke Vro-o-.nokV City (pop.,
2000: 94,911), western Virginia,
U.S. It is located on the Roanoke River at the southern end of the Shenan¬ doah Valley. Settled in 1740, it developed after 1882 when it became a rail junction and outlet for Virginia and West Virginia coal. Chartered in 1874 as the town of Big Lick, it was renamed Roanoke (1882) after either the Indian term for shell money or a nearby salt marsh. Manufactures now include metal and steel products, clothing, chemicals, and furniture.
Roanoke Island Island, off the North Carolina coast, U.S. Situated near the southern entrance to Albemarle Sound, the island is about 12 mi (19 km) long and 3 mi (5 km) wide. It was the site of the first English settlement in North America; its original colonists, sent by Walter Raleigh, arrived in mid-1585 but stayed only until 1586. A second group arrived in 1587; Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the Americas, was born on the island. When a supply ship arrived in 1590, all the colonists, including Virginia, had vanished; their fate is unknown. During the Ameri-
\,sha-p9- ral\ Either of two species
Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus )
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Roanoke River ► Roberts I 1627
can Civil War the island was captured in 1862 by Union forces under Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. It is now a resort and residential area.
Roanoke River River, southern Virginia and northeastern North Caro¬ lina, U.S. Formed by the confluence of forks in West Virginia, it flows southeast for 380 mi (612 km) into Albemarle Sound on the Atlantic coast of North Carolina. Just north of the Virginia-North Carolina boundary, it joins the Dan River, its principal tributary. It is navigable by small craft from its mouth to Weldon, N.C.