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Use the colon only in the following two circumstances. The first is to introduce a list, as the next sentence illustrates.

“We measured the following physiological parameters of competitive skiers: pulse rate, blood pressure, oxygen consumption and lactate concentration.”

The second circumstance in which a colon can be used is to divide the title of a manuscript into two halves. The first half of the sentence introduces the global subject area. The second half states the part of this area under investigation. This strategy eliminates the verb and saves characters. Examples might be “Global warming: the contribution of deforestation” or “Biodiversity: the impact of abolishing lawn mowing”. These titles are further examples of incomplete sentences that are allowed in scientific writing.