1. Biology: What Is the Study of Life?

2. Why Study Biology? Two important reasons for studying Biology:
Biology is relevant to our everyday experience
Medical advances
Addressing needs of growing human population
Challenges of decreasing rate of biodiversity
Biotechnology advances

3. Why Study Biology? Biology can be controversial Examples:
Dealing with endangered species?
Use of human fetal tissue in biomedical research?
Safety of irradiated foods?
Figure 1-1c

4. What is Biology? It is the study of life. Branch of science
A way of understanding nature.
A human endeavor
An attempt to understand, explain, integrate and describe the world of living things.

5. What is Life? Living organisms: Highly organized and complex.
Are composed of one or more cells.
Contain a blueprint of their characteristics.
Acquire and use energy.
Carry out and control numerous reactions.

6. What is Life? Living organisms: Grow.
Maintain constant internal environment.
Produce offspring.
Respond to environmental changes.
May evolve.
Insert F01_03b

7. Biology is a Branch of Science
Both an activity and body of knowledge.
A way of understanding the natural world.
Scientists make predictions and test those predictions.

8. Major Themes in Biology
Evolution by Natural Selection
Inheritance
Cells
Biological Classification
Bioenergetics
Homeostasis
Ecosystems

9. How is Biology studied?
Insert F01-06

10. Scientific Method Begins with observations about our surroundings.
Next, ask questions about the phenomena we are observing.

11. Scientific Method Followed by generating a hypothesis.
Tentative explanation to the question.

12. Scientific Method Testing
Scientists perform tests to determine the accuracy of their hypothesis.

13. Scientific Method Explanation
It is a hypothesis that has passed the widest and most comprehensive series of tests.
Still subject to review and consideration.
May be elevated to a theory = well demonstrated principle.