Ch. 1 Biology: The Study of Life

What is Biology? Biology involves the concepts, principles and theories that allow people to understand the natural environment.

Living things do not exist in isolation. They are all functioning parts in the delicate balance of nature. Biology investigates these living interactions.

Biological community

What about the future? The future of biology holds many exciting promises. Can you name some?

What makes it alive? All living things have the following characteristics:

1. An orderly structure.

2. Reproduction

3. Growth and development

4. Adaptation

What are the methods? Scientific methods are the common steps that biologists and other scientists employ to gather information and answer questions.

This method is not a rigid formula, but rather a way of using logical reasoning and imagination to make predictions and form explanations.

Where do we begin? This usually begins with identifying a problem to solve by observing the world around them.

To a scientist an experiment is an investigation that tests a hypothesis by the process of collecting information under controlled conditions.

Many experiments involve two groups: the control group and the experimental group.

What is a control group? The control group is the standard to which results are compared. The control group receives no experimental treatment.

The control group is the test group that does not receive experimental treatment.

In a controlled experiment, only one condition is changed at a time. This is the independent variable.

The scientist then measures another condition that resulted from that change. It is called the dependent variable because it depends on changes made to the independent variable.

Not all investigations are controlled. Some involve testing a hypothesis by gathering data based on previous investigations and what new information the biologist hopes to gain.

Biologist use a variety of tools to gather information. These may be simple like beakers and thermometers or complex like microscopes and DNA analyzers.

Safety is always important in scientific work. Your book has safety symbols that warn of possible hazards.

Data obtained by scientists is analyzed and compared with the results of others. They must be careful to eliminate any kind of bias.

If results and conclusions are considered important they are published in scientific journals and are subjected to peer review.

Once other scientists repeat the procedure and verify the results they are considered more valid and will be accepted by the scientific community.

If scientific data is numerical it is called quantitative data and may be used to make a graph or chart. This can communicate large amounts of information at a glance.

Some data such as observation of animal behavior lends itself to written description and is called qualitative data.

What is technology? Technology involves applying scientific research to society’s needs and problems. Ex: increased food production Decreased manual labor Reduction of waste and pollution