...Lecture 01 Nature & Scope of Biological Science What is Biology? A brief history. Biology today. Group of organisms being studied. Approach taken to the study of organisms. New definition of Biology. Why study Biology? Aspects of Science Science has two aspects. It is both (1) a body of knowledge and (2) a method used for discovering new knowledge. What is biology? The word biology comes from the Greek words bios, which means life, and logos, which means thought. Thus, biology is the science that deals with the study of life. Origin of Life |According to this theory, about 15 billion years ago (15,000,000,000) the Universe was nothing more than a very small speck of mass. This speck| |was probably no bigger than the head of a pin. Everything in the Universe, all the galaxies, stars, planets, and even the matter making up your| |body, was squished up tightly in this tiny space. | |Eventually, after a very long time, this speck exploded. All of a sudden, in a giant flash of unimaginable heat and power, the Universe was | |born. Over a period of billions and billions of years, the Universe became what we see today. Slowly stars began to form, and around these | |stars planets formed. | |About 4.6 billion years ago our Earth looked very different...
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...experiments, Jacob and I will learn the parts of a compound light microscope, the functions of those parts, and the proper use and care of the microscope. We will also learn how to clean up wet mount slides. Objects, or specimens, to be observed under a microscope are generally prepared in one of two ways. Prepared or permanent slides are made to last a long time. They are usually purchased from biological supply houses. Temporary or wet mount slides are made to last only a short time-usually one laboratory period. In the 1600’s, Anton von Leeuwenhoek discovered the life that lives in a drop of pond water. This discovery opened up a new world for biologists that could be explored only with the aid of magnification. Since Leeuwenhoek’s time, the microscope has become one of the most important tools used by biologists. Much has been learned about the nature of life and about living things with the help of the microscope. Methods & Materials: Compound light microscope prepared glass slide lens paper newspaper beaker rubbing alcohol glass slide coverslip forceps pipette scissors kim wipes dark thread light thread medicine dropper pond water The steps or procedures of the regular class procedure is first we had to grab the two microscopes that Jacob and I were using. Then we would have to get the wet-mount slide ready for experimentation or since we did one permanent slide we would have to go grab one of the permanent...
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...organisms that make their own food.  | With over 250,000 species, the plant kingdom is the second largest kingdom. Plant species range from the tiny green mosses to giant trees. | Without plants, life on Earth would not exist! Plants feed almost all the heterotrophs (organisms that eat other organisms) on Earth. Wow! | AnimalsThe animal kingdom is the largest kingdom with over 1 million known species. Sumatran Tiger - Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum, Chordata, Class Mammalia, Order Carnivora, Family Felidae, Genus Pathera, Species tigris |   All animals consist of many complex cells. They are also heterotrophs.  Members of the animal kingdom are found in the most diverse environments in the world. | ArchaebacteriaIn 1983, scientists tool samples from a spot deep in the Pacific Ocean where hot gases and molten rock boiled into the ocean form the Earth’s interior. To their surprise they discovered unicellular (one cell) organisms in the samples. These organisms are today...
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...the naked eye. An English scientist called Roger Bacon was the first person to use the microscope and had written on their use in magnifying things. However, the first real microscope was invented and put into use by a Dutch biologist called Anton van Leeuwenhoek and had the power to magnify objects 200 times their normal size. Around 1674, he argued that he had seen tiny organisms using the microscope. The invention of the microscope was also the development of microbiology, which refers to a branch of science which deals with the study of microorganisms. The microscope has undergone various modifications since the time of Bacon and Leeuwenhoek, with various types of microscopes being invented over time. The first compound light microscope was made by Hans and Zacharias Janssen in 1590 this microscope had two separate lenses, but it was not very powerful. Since then many people have made improvements on the microscope, even our old friend from integrated science H the astronomer Johannes Kepler had a few thoughts on a better design. The light microscope is mainly used in the fields of biology and medicine. Also since then new ideas for different microscopes have come along. In 1932 the phase-contrast microscope was invented by Frits Zernike to help biologist examine living material without having to stain which sometimes killed the material. In the 1800 s the first polarizing microscopes were developed to study crystals. Another microscope that is very useful, not that the others...
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...Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) has been a widely researched organism for botanists and molecular biologists for over one-hundred years. Over this time Arabidopsis has become a useful tool for scientists across the globe. Its usefulness comes from the quick germination, small size and the ability to copiously produce seeds (Koornneef & Meinke, 2010). In addition to those attributes, the size of the genome makes Arabidopsis a useful tool for identifying genes and their functions. The Arabidopsis genome was fully sequenced in 2000 which led to the discovery of more than 25,000 genes. Of those genes, approximately 30% of those genes could not be assigned a function (The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative, 2000). To help maintain a database of the...
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...Anthropology 201G Fall 2013 Four fields Cultural —ethnographers, ethnologists, (cultural Relativism, ethnocentrism) Physical (biological)—Paleontologists, primatologists, human biologists, Linguistics (Language studies) Archaeology (Past cultures) Evolution: Darwin, Lyell, Linneaus Genotypes, Phenotypes, Dominance, Recessive, Heterozygous, Homozygous, Punnett Squares Tt x Tt Evolutionary Theory—Four Forces --Mutation, Gene Drift, Gene Flow, Natural Selection Punctuated Equilibrium, Homologies, Analogies, Exaptations Primate traits Emphasis on sight and touch, Pair bonding, Stereoscopic vision Brain complexity, sociality Primate taxonomic terms Order (Primate), Suborders (Prosimians, Anthropoids) , Family (Hominidae),Genus (Homo, Australopicines, Species etc. Prosimian (tarsiers, lemurs) anthropoids (All monkeys and Apes) Catarrhines vs Platyrhinnes (Old Word and New World Monkeys) Dating Techniques: Absolute (Radiocarbon dating, Potassium Argon Dating, Tree-rings) Relative Dating (Stratigraphy, Seriation) Primate Evolution Paleocene, Eocene (Age of Prosimians), Oligocene (Age of Anthropoids: Aegyptopithecus), Miocene (Age of Apes Sivapithecus, Proconsul), Pliocene (Australopithecines) , Pleistocene (H. habilis, H, Erectus, Archaic Homo sapiens), Hominid chronology A. afarensis Laetoli, Hadar (3-4 MYA) A. africanus Taung, Olduvai Gorge (East and South Africa) (2-3 MYA) A. boisei East Africa ...
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...Every day 115,000 pregnancies are aborted around the world.[1] Is this wrong or is it right? Should it be legal, or illegal? Abortion is a complex and complicated issue that has been the subject of debate for decades, but perhaps it’s not as complex and complicated as it really seems to be. When we use instrumental agents of logic, science, morality and theology, it is possible to sort through the complexity and find simplicity in the argument. It is my hope that in using these tools, you will see the reality behind this long standing debate, and agree as a final cause, that the only moral, ethical and logical side to maintain in this great debate is the Pro-Life position. The question we all must address first and foremost is, when does life begin? The opinion of when life starts varies from as early as conception to as late as the actual cutting of the umbilical cord, finalizing the infant as an independent agent. The “life” I speak of is essentially that of a “human life,” since a human is the ultimate product of a pregnancy. Though some argue that just because something is living (let’s take an embryo for example) doesn’t make it human simply because it will eventually develop into a human. But let’s put this into perspective. Think of a child watching TV with his Grandpa. Who is more human, the Grandpa or the child? The answer is that they’re both equally human, despite the grandpa being older and more developed as a human. So if age and physical development do not...
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...evolutionary biologist named Jerry Coyne last week, and a question he was asked was: “If you were to present one piece of evidence for evolution to a non-believer, what would it be?” His answer: “The fossil record.” While I find the fossil record interesting, I find vestigial structures as the most compelling, and best to present to those who are evolution-deniers. Vestigial structures are features of species that have lost ancestral functions, and either have a new use or no use of the feature. Vestigial eyes are common. When animals live in complete darkness they have little to no use for eyes, so through mutations and long periods of time, many species gradually lost their ability to see. One example is the blind mole rat. It lives underground and has a protective layer of skin over its eye (Coyne, 2009). Another animal often cited for vestigiality are whales. If you visited a museum to observe the skeleton of a whale, you would see the hindlimb and pelvic bones separated from the rest of the skeleton. These two features of whales served a purpose in their ancestors, but disconnected when they were no longer needed (Mayer, 2011). Using the tools of science, we can take this information and ask questions, and ultimately answer some of them. For example, if an animal has a vestigial structure, we can ask questions like: Why did it lose its function? Which ancestors had the function? Why is the structure still present and not gone altogether? We can also use the tools of science...
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...Biology From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For other uses, see Biology (disambiguation). Biology deals with the study of the many varieties of living organisms. Clockwise from top left: Salmonella typhimurium, Phascolarctos cinereus, Athyrium filix-femina, Amanita muscaria, Agalychnis callidryas, and Brachypelma smithi Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.[1] Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Among the most important topics are five unifying principles that can be said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology:[2] 1. Cells are the basic unit of life 2. New species and inherited traits are the product of evolution 3. Genes are the basic unit of heredity 4. An organism regulates its internal environment to maintain a stable and constant condition 5. Living organisms consume and transform energy. Subdisciplines of biology are recognized on the basis of the scale at which organisms are studied and the methods used to study them: biochemistry examines the rudimentary chemistry of life; molecular biology studies the complex interactions of systems of biological molecules; cellular biology examines the basic building block of all life, the cell; physiology examines the physical and chemical functions of the tissues, organs, and organ systems of an organism; and ecology...
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...What is human evolution? Human evolution is the process of change from when Humans were apelike. This process arose roughly 6 million years ago. Humans diverged from bonobos and chimpanzees. 2.5 million years ago the species were able to construct and utilize stone tools.Humans were able to create fire 700,000 to 120,000 years ago. Leaving africa occurred 1.8 million to .8 million years ago. The reason the theory of evolution exists is because of Charles Darwin, a British born Biologist and Scientist, he was able to devise the theory from a 5 year voyage around the earth. Charles Darwin notably wrote the book On The Origin Of Species, Where he states the process of natural selection. Most scientists recognize 15 to 20 species of early humans....
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...La Guardia Airport, when both engines of an Airbus A320 were disabled by several birds being sucked into them. The pilot of the US Airways Flight 1549 landed the aircraft safely into the Hudson River, where all 150 passengers survived. Bird Aircraft Strike Hazards are of particular importance to me because about five times a month I work on the flight line at MCBH Kaneohe Bay. About once every other month I am asked to retrieve bird remains from the runway or notify air traffic control of populations of birds intruding our flight area. I have to locate all parts of the bird’s body, place the remains in a bag, and then give them to air traffic control for further investigation. The investigation usually takes place by trained wildlife biologists working at the airport. If not identifiable, The Smithsonian Institution's Feather Identification Laboratory is then given the remains for further analysis. Today, because of the damage of aircraft and loss of life there are many factors affecting today's bird and aviation safety. These factors are. 1) The less noisy, more technological advanced jets, have replaced the noisier and slower piston-powered aircraft; therefore there has been an increased chance of collision. 2) There has been an increase in all air travel across the globe, both...
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...BiologyBiology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy.[1] Modern biology is a vast and eclectic field, composed of manybranches and subdisciplines. However, despite the broad scope of biology, there are certain general and unifying concepts within it that govern all study and research, consolidating it into single, coherent fields. In general, biology recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the synthesis and creation of new species. It is also understood today that all organisms survive by consuming and transforming energy and by regulating their internal environment to maintain a stable and vital condition. Subdisciplines of biology are defined by the scale at which organisms are studied, the kinds of organisms studied, and the methods used to study them: biochemistry examines the rudimentary chemistry of life; molecular biologystudies the complex interactions among biological molecules; botany studies the biology of plants; cellular biologyexamines the basic building-block of all life, the cell; physiology examines the physical and chemical functions oftissues, organs, and organ systems of an organism; evolutionary biology examines the processes that produced the diversity of life; and ecology examines how organisms interact in their environment.[2] HistoryThe term biology is...
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...their development and what roles did nature and some of its designs play to inspire inventors. The paper will go farther than this to look up at a new scientific method that imitate natural superior system to improve humans' life. It will concentrate mainly on the advancements of communication systems due to researches on this science which is called Biomimetics. Finally it will try to identify any existing similar natural and human-made structures and see how efficient are both of them compared to the other one. See all 5 photos Bat's Sonar Boeing 767 jet electrical and nerve systems wiring insulations. optical fiber polar bear the greater bulldog bat Introducation people have always trying to reach perfection in th tools and systems they make in order to continually enhance their lives . It is...
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...Is Evolution True? Kelius Hardy SCI 115SC October 21, 2013 Kenneth Skena Is Evolution True? Evolution is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary online as a progression of constant change from a plain to a compound state (2013). It is a perspective that different kinds of animals and plants originated from earlier species and have distinctive features because of their adaptation to new environments (Merriam-Webster, 2013). There are different perspectives concerning the origin of evolution and depending on an individual’s particular belief he may agree or disagree with the various viewpoints in existence today. This paper will cover the various viewpoints concerning evolution to include philosophical, theological, and sociological reflections. It will also cover the scientific process of evolution showing my agreement or disagreement with the process. What is Evolution? Organisms or species go through many hereditary changes over an extended period of time (Coyne, 2009). This means that one generation will be different from the other as they continue to evolve through changes in their genetic composition as they adapt to their environment (Coyne, 2009). Another belief concerning evolution is the concept of gradualism, which believes that a change in a species takes place after many generations have evolved, such as the development of birds from reptiles (Coyne, 2009). Speciation, yet another evolutionary concept, has the belief that although species share common traits...
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...Influence of Entertainment Media Paper Culture The term culture has a wide variety of distinctive meanings. For some individuals, it denotes an appreciation of good literature, art, music, and food. For a biologist, it is much more likely to mean a colony of bacteria or some sort of microorganisms growing in a nutrient medium in a laboratory Petri dish. However, for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns (O'neil, 2006). The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book, Primitive Culture, published in 1871 (O'neil, 2006). Tylor said that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (O'neil, 2006)." Of course, it is not limited to men. Women possess and create it as well. Since Tylor's time, the concept of culture has become the central focus of anthropology (O'neil, 2006). Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture (O'neil, 2006). They are not culture in themselves. For this reason, archaeologists cannot dig up culture directly in their excavations. The broken pots and other artifacts of ancient people...
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