Exploring Life, Biology

Biology: study of living things and their interactions with the environment

Fields within Biology?

 1) Zoology: study of animals 

2) Botany: study of plants.
3) Ecology: study of living things in their environment 

4) Microbiology: study of Microscopic organisms

 5) Biochemistry: study of chemical seactions in organisms

6) Anatomy and Physiology: study of the human body 

-interactions between living things are called phenomena which are observable events.

-Organic molecules are the building blocks of life on Earth

Characteristic that describe Science?

1) Observable: attempt to explain natural phenomena by analysing & observing the world

2) Testable: must be able to answer testable questions, investigations must produce empirical evidence to be  considered Science

3) Replicable: empirical  evidence can be replicated and verified by other scientists 

4) Reliable: the more an experiment is repeated, the more reliable it becomes; evidence without bias also increases its reliability.

5) Flexible: science is ever changing as new info is discovered, new evidence can add to creat evidence, allowing scientists to improve theories 

-Art and  philosophy are NOT Science

-Science does not answer questions about the meaning of life

- Pseudoscience: a theory, methodology, or practice that is considered to be without scientific foundation " fake science” (can not be proven reliable  from experimentation) examples: astronomy, phrenology, or luck 

-the Scientific Method is used as a part of an investigation, but it is an oversimplification of what really happens

-Scientific method: ask a question, research, form a hypothesis, perform an experiment, analyse data, and the conclusion.

Variable: event, condition, or factor that can be changed or controlled in order to study or test a hypothesis 

 1) Independent variable: one factor that the scientist chooses to change in order to focus on the result caused by the change

 2) Dependent Variable: the factors that changes in response to the independent variable

 3) Controlled Variable: factors the scientist chooses to keep constant( doesn't change)

-Scientific Law: descriptions of what happens in the natural world, based on data

- Scientific Theory: broad explanations of the natural world; ore, ever changing can not become laws.