tick - n. a small, quick sound made by a clock.

cuckoo - n. a type of bird with a call that sounds like its name

frame - n. basic structure

on the cusp - expression, at the point when something is about to change to something else

ecologist - n. a scientist who studies relationships between groups of living things and their environment

species - n. a group of related animals or plants

archive - a place in which public records or historical materials are kept

disk - n. a flat, thin round object used to store information

etch - v. to produce a pattern, design etc. often used figuratively