the study of life; “bios” = life
characteristics of life
Living organisms reproduce
they produce copies of themselves; pass on genetic information to the future
Living organisms grow and develop
growth and development
growth
increase in size and number
development
change during life cycle (infant-child-adolescent-adult)
organisms process energy
allliving organisms live at the expense of their environment; they must extract energy and materials from the environment; convert energy from another source (ex: plants from sun and animals from food they eat)
regulation
organisms maintain their interval environment within limits that sustain life; ex: sweating, jackrabbit has blood vessel in ears to maintain body temp.; have to eat right food, balanced pH
organisms interact
interact with one another and their environment, responding to stimuli (ex: venus fly trap)
composed of cells
order; all living things exhibit complex organization
evolutionary adaptaino
over many generations, individuals with inheritied traits best suited to their local environment tend to pass these traits on to their offspring
“to know”; science is a way of knowing (one way, not the only way)
is to better understand the natural world; looking for empirical evidence; supernatural is outside of the realm of science
to approaches to science
2. scientific method
discovery science
scientific method
scientific hypothesis
with a control group, only one variable changed in each ofthe experimental groups; not always possible for practical and ethical reasons (es: global warming and testing drugs on children)
results of the scientific method
scientific fact
an observation that has been repeatedly confirmed and for all practical purposes is accepted as true (ex: cells have membranes, egg and sperm contain DNA)
Scientific Theory
a well substantiated explanation for some aspect of the natural that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences and tested hypothesis (ex: theory of evolution); lot of evidence behind it;
science is not set in stone
science tends to be self-correcting
strengths of science