Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Among the most important topics are five unifying principles that are said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology:
- Cells are the basic unit of life
- Genes are the basic unit of heredity
- New species and inherited traits are the product of evolution
- An organism regulates its internal environment to maintain a stable and constant condition
- 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; evolutionary biology examines the processes that have given rise to the diversity of life; and ecology examines how various organisms interact and associate with their environment.
Read more about Biology: History, Foundations of Modern Biology, Branches of Biology
Other articles related to "biology":
... Actuarial Science Animal Biology Astronomy Atmospheric Sciences School of Earth, Society and Environment Biochemistry Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology Cell and ...
... These are the main branches of biology Aerobiology – the study of airborne organic particles Agriculture – the study of producing crops from the land, with an emphasis on practical applications Anatomy ... branch of anatomy Ichthyology – the study of fish Integrative biology – the study of whole organisms Limnology – the study of inland waters Mammalogy ...
... DMSO may also be used as a cryoprotectant, added to cell media to reduce ice formation and thereby prevent cell death during the freezing process ... Approximately 10% may be used with a slow-freeze method, and the cells may be frozen at −80 °C or stored in liquid nitrogen safely ...
... In addition to being involved in cellular signaling as a lipid second messenger involved in the regulation of signaling enzymes, such as PLC-γ, PLC-δ, and PKC-α, -β, and -γ isoforms, arachidonic acid is a key inflammatory intermediate and can also act as a vasodilator ... (Note separate synthetic pathways, as described in section below) ...
... Its scientists research many areas of biology, including structural biology, molecular biology, cell biology, developmental biology, computational ...
Famous quotes containing the word biology:
“Nothing can be more incorrect than the assumption one sometimes meets with, that physics has one method, chemistry another, and biology a third.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)
“The “control of nature” is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and the convenience of man.”
—Rachel Carson (1907–1964)