Chapter One - Introduction to Biology

Section 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3.

What is biology?

The study of life.

What is an organism?

A living thing.

What is organization?

Arranged in an orderly way.

What is growth?

The addition of mass to an organism.

What is developement?

A process of natural changes in the life of a living thing.

What is reproduction?

Production of offspring.

What is a species?

A group of organisms that breed with each other and have fertile offspring.

What is a stimulus?

Anything that causes a response.

What is a response?

A reaction to a stimulus.

What is homeostasis?

Regulation of internal conditions.

What is an adaptation?

An inherited charecteristic that makes an organism better suited to its environment as a result of natural selection.

What does biology study?

Biology studies the origins and history of life and once living things, the structure and function of living things, and how living things interact with one another.

What do biologists do?

Study the diversity of life, research diseases and develope treatments, develope technologies, improve agriculture, and preserve the environment.

What are the charectristics of life?

Made of one or more cells, displays organization, grows and develops, reproduces, responses to stimuli, maintains homeostasis, uses energy, and evolves over time.

What are cells?

The basic unit of structure and function of life.

What does it mean for an organism to display organization?

Each part of the organism has a purpose.

What is science?

A body of information based on the study of nature.

What is a theory?

A hypothesis that has been backed up by many separate experiments. Theories explain why things happen, laws explain what happens.

What is peer review?

Results are evaluated by scientists with a similar research focus.

What is the metric system?

Units in divisions of ten, meters, cm, nm, ect.

What is SI?

The international system of units.

What is forensics?

Science in a criminal law context, typically chemistry.

What are ethics?

Moral principles or values.

What is the essential charecteristc of science? Describe it.

1) Scientific inquiry.

2) It is creative, unbiased, and based on observations and experiments.

What are the main principles of science?

Relies on evidence, expands on scientific knowledge, challenges accepted theories, questions results, tests claims, undergos peer review, and uses the metric system.

Why is scientific literacy important?

Science and technology impact our lives every day, and the ethics of many emerging biotechnolies need to be considered.

What is observation?

A direct method of gathering data.

What is an inference?

Combining what you know with what you have learned to draw a conclusion.

What is the scientific method?

A method of gathering information to answer scientific questions.

What is a hypothesis?

A testable explanation for a phenomena.

What is serendipity?

Accidental but fortunate findings.

What is an experiement?

Investigation of a phenomenon in a controled setting.

What is the control group?

A group used for comparison in which no intervention is tested.

What is the experiment group?

The independant variable is modified.

What is the independent variable?

The variable modified by scientists.

What is the dependent variable?

The variable that we measure.

What is a constant?

A value that remains fixed.

What is data?

Information gained from observation.

Describe the scientific method.

It begins with making observations and generating inferences. Then you ask a question and form a hypothesis. Then you design an experiment, gather and analyze data, and report your findings (undergo peer review).

When is a hypothesis considered valid? What happens when it isn’t?

1) When supported by numerous experiements by many different people.

2) It is revised and rejected.

How many variables can be maniupulated at a time?

One!

What is the difference between a scientific law and a scientific theory?

A scientific law explains what happens, while a scientific theory explains why it happens.

What is scientific inquiry?

What we use to develope explanations for the natural world.

What are heterotrophs?

Organisms that find/hunt food.

What are autotrophs?

Organisms that make their own food (e.g. plants and algue).