1. Mr. Chapman – Norquay School Biology 20

2.  During the brainstorm, did you find all 7 of the characteristics of life? Was it fun or... No?  Some you probably found were obvious, others maybe not so much.  I am writing this before you ever did the activity... If any of you got them all, I will be shocked. So shocked, in fact, that I will try to fit a sock in my mouth.

3.  Most of you probably got this one!  With the exception of anaerobic bacteria, all living things require oxygen to live.  Because of this, respiration is a requirement of things that are alive.  Have you ever seen a rock breathe?

4.  Organisms require energy to live and perform their daily functions.  Your body, and all organisms for that matter, are like machines. They require energy to do what they do. A remote with a dead battery doesn’t do anything, and neither would you without a source of energy.  In the future, you will find that the human body uses a variety of molecules to store energy, including fat. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in the body has very high energy bonds that the body breaks down to extract energy.

5.  All living things respond to stimuli around them. If the person in the desk besides you pulls your hair, you will respond.  All organisms, similarly, respond to stimuli. Plants bend towards the light to use it for photosynthesis, and animals find somewhere warm to stay when facing cold conditions.  No matter how much I talked to a rock earlier today, it said nothing back. No response!

6.  Animals, plants, and microorganisms all grow and develop. We are much larger than when we were babies, but the rock in my house that I tried to talk to will never get bigger.  Beyond simple growth, the living tissue of organisms specializes for particular function, like the muscle tissue in your arms or the bone tissue of your entire core. It is all specialized through growth and development.

7.  All living organisms reproduce to make offspring. Although every organism will not reproduce in its lifetime, a basic function of life is to create more life.  Reproduction is one of the most diverse things in biology. Some organisms reproduce sexually (requires male and female) and some reproduce asexually, by cloning themselves and splitting.  There are various forms of both sexual and asexual reproduction, more to follow in Biology!

8.  All organisms have to excrete their waste. Without removing waste, organisms would be killed by the toxicity of the waste.  This is not always necessarily disgusting. At the microscopic level, waste is just left over molecules. Waste can also be things like sweat, which we perspire through our skin in order to stay cool.

9. ALL Living Things are Composed of Cells Cells are the microscopic units of all life, and in this class we will spend a considerable amount of time (including the next few days) studying them.