Worse, once absorbed, the chemical is locked into the body's fat tissue (it is only excreted through the placenta and in breast milk).

CNN: THE GREAT DIOXIN SCARE

Few consumers regret that Windows has absorbed what once were stand-alone applications such as fax programs, or that Intel now makes faster processors.

ECONOMIST: Beleaguered Microsoft

We may have a more favorable view of PVH once all of those shares are absorbed, but as of right now we think there are much more appealing value stocks available.

FORBES: Can't Squeeze Another Penny Of Value Into Those Calvins

Though Hoechst, once the local chemical giant, was absorbed into sanofi-aventis of France in 1999, its Frankfurt site still churns out polymers, pigments and pharmaceuticals.

ECONOMIST: BASF and the chemical industry

Once my boys figured it out they were absorbed.

FORBES: A Touch-Screen Game That Wants to Save the World

But once you learn how to play an F chord you become more deeply absorbed in playing the guitar.

NEWYORKER: Master of Play

While the caesium is hard for plants and animals to take up when it is tightly bound to the soil, once in solution (dissolved in water) it can be more readily absorbed.

BBC: Daunting challenge of Fukushima clean-up

And although it may seem unimaginable that Hollywood could ever go the way of Detroit, whose greedy car workers and self-absorbed bosses were nearly the death of the American car industry, it is worth remembering how unimaginable it once was that Detroit could go the way of Detroit.

ECONOMIST: Star wars