1. Chapter 1 Notes

2. What is Biology?
Biology is the study of life and living things.
Ex.
Structures and functions of living things
Relationships among living things
History and origins of living things

3. What are some of the things scientists do?
Study the diversity of life
Research diseases
Develop technologies
Improve agriculture
Preserve the environment

4. Living things
An organism is something that has or once had all of the characteristics of life.
There are 8 characteristics

5. 1. Made of one or more cells

6. 2. Displays organization
Ex. Organ systems and specialized body parts

7. 3. Grows and develops
Growth- results in addition of mass to an organism, new cells and structures
Develop- process of natural changes that take place during life

8. 4. Reproduces Reproduction- production of offspring
*not essential to all organisms

9. 5. Responds to stimuli Stimulus- anything that triggers a response
Response- the reaction
Ex. Pupils dilating in dim light and Venus fly traps catching food

10. 6. Requires energy

11. 7. Maintains homeostasis
Homeostasis- regulation of ones internal conditions to maintain life
Ex. Sweating to cool down and maintains blood glucose levels

12. 8. Adaptations evolve over time
Adaptation- any inherited characteristic that results from changes over time
Ex. Darwin’s finches

13. What is science?
The knowledge based on the study of nature and its physical settings
Ex. Biology, chemistry, physics, ornithology
The purpose of science is scientific inquiry that seeks to develop explanations.

14. Scientific inquiry is both a creative process and a process rooted that involves unbiased observations and experimentation.
Theory- an explanation of a natural phenomenon supported by evidence
The two most important theories in biology are the cell theory and theory of evolution.

15. Pseudoscience imitates science and is based on beliefs.
Some examples of pseudoscience are physiognomy, astrology, palmistry, and psychic readings.
There are no science-based explanations to provide evidence for the natural world.

16. Constant reevaluation of what is known leads to more questions and additional research. New knowledge from research is gained that scientists then evaluate.
Sciences advance by accommodating new information as it is discovered.

17. Scientists welcome debate about another’s ideas
Scientists welcome debate about another’s ideas. Scientific advances are made by accommodating new information. An example of this is the research on diseases such as HIV and AIDS.
Science questions results. An example of this is the classification of bats which are classified as mammals rather than birds based on similar traits.

18. Science tests claims with conclusions being based on evidence, while pseudoscience is based on both fact and opinion.

19. Before it is made public, science-based information is reviewed by scientists’ peers.
This is called peer-review.

20. Scientists use the metric system which is based on the powers of ten.
Ex. meters, grams, liters
This system is called the International System of Units, or SI.

21. Science in everyday life
There has been a world wide fascination with science lately. An example of this is popular television programs about crimes and based on forensics to solve these crimes.
Many other advances include cloning, stem cell research, and nuclear power.

22. In order to evaluate or make decisions regarding issues such these topics, we must all be science literate.

23. Ethics is a set of moral principles or values held by a society.
Ethical issues must be addressed by society based on the values it holds important.

24. Science inquiry involves asking questions and processing information from a variety of reliable sources.
This is followed by making logical conclusions called inferences.

25. The Scientific Method
Ask a question
Gather information
Form hypothesis
Perform experiment
Observe experiment
Record data
Report conclusion

26. Scientists use scientific methods but not in the same way each time.
Observations and inferences happen throughout the process.

27. A hypothesis is a testable explanation of a situation.
When a hypothesis is supported by data from additional investigations, usually it is considered valid and is accepted by the scientific community.

28. Serendipity is the accidental or unexpected but fortunate results.
ex. The antibiotic, penicillin, is an example of this.

29. In 1928 while organizing a pile of
petri dishes in the sink where he
had been growing bacteria,
Fleming opened each dish and
examined it before dropping it
into the cleaning mixture. A
particular one caught his attention.
Mold was growing on one of the dishes,
which was supposed to happen, but he discovered that it had contaminated a staphylococcus culture and stopped the bacteria's growth. It fact, it had actually killed it. After taking a sample of the mold, he found that it was from the penicillium family. He named it penicillin and found that it was nontoxic and sufficient in treating many types of bacteria harmful to man.

30. Scientists conduct experiments in controlled settings that tests hypotheses.
When a biologist conducts an experiment, he or she investigates a phenomenon in a controlled setting to test a hypothesis.

31. The control group in an experiment is a group used for comparison.
The experimental group is the group exposed to the factor being tested.

32. The factor that is changed in an experiment is the independent variable. Only one factor in a controlled experiment can change at a time.
As a result of this change, the dependent variable is the one measuring the effect of the change.
A constant remains fixed during the experiment.

33. Scientists gather data which is information gained from their observations.
This data is analyzed by asking “Has the hypothesis been supported?”
Biologists report their conclusions in scientific journals.

34. Qualitative data are descriptions of what our senses detect.
Data Gathering
Quantitative data can be measurements of time, temperature, length, mass, area, volume, density, or other factors.
Qualitative data are descriptions of what our senses detect.

35. Safety symbols will be used in biology labs to alert you to possible danger.
Poison
Explosive
Biohazard
Flammable
Radioactive