Introduction to Biology and Evolution

Vocabulary flashcards covering core themes from the lecture, including the scientific process, genetic code universality, evolution, natural selection, and key scientists.

Democratized

The condition DNA sequencing reached once it became cheap, allowing many different labs to investigate it.

Iterative

The property of the scientific process meaning that steps can continually be modified in order to learn something new.

Exploration and Discovery

A phase of science conducted for the sake of knowledge to understand natural phenomena and the universe.

Technology

Tools created through applied scientific knowledge, such as microscopes and DNA sequencers, that act as force multipliers to study natural phenomena.

Universal Genetic Code

The principle that all known life forms speak the same language when it comes to DNA, allowing a human insulin gene to be expressed inside a bacterium.

Evolution

The core theme of biology established on the principle that the only constant is change.

Charles Darwin

The person who put forward the idea that varied finches originated from one ancestral finch through evolutionary pathways.

Population

A group of individuals within a species that changes over time to be most fit for the environment in a given slice of time.

Natural Selection

A driver and mechanism of evolution where organisms with advantageous traits, such as camouflage, are selected for by environmental pressures.