The Cell
All living things have an order or structure or events.

Topic 1:
Biology is the study of life
What is alive?
All living things must meet the 8 criteria at some point during their lifetime.

1) Order:
Life has a precise arrangement of structures or order of events an organism ( living thing or something that was once alive) is ordered
Example: there is an order of events of bones, muscles, tendons etc.
Example: there is an order of events such as the breakdown of food and use of its component to make fat.

2) Chemical Uniqueness:
Living systems follow the same chemical laws as non living ones (that is chemical rules are the same)
However they contain complex molecules called the macromolecules that are unique to living systems.
The macromolecules are LIPIDS, PROTIENS, CARBOHYDRATES and NUCLEIC ACIDS ( DNA and RNA)

3) Homeostasis: “staying the same”
All healthy organisms begin as ordered structures but this order is lost over time.
Examples: Broken bones, cuts, wrinkles are loses order. In order to repair and recreate the order living things use energy and the environment.
Homeostasis also includes factors relating the internal environment.
Example: temperature regulation

4) Energy Utilization:
All living organisms take in energy and then use it to carry out various activities
Metabolism is the sum of all the chemical reactions in the body
All chemical reactions either use or release energy
Physiology is the study of metabolic function

5) Responsiveness:
The ability to perceive the environment and react to it
Examples: sweating to cool the body, the detection of enemies by smell, flowers blooming in response to light

6) Reproduction:
Is the production of offspring that resembles the parents
Result of heredity which is the transmission of physical or behavioral characteristics between generations
The transmission of these characteristics takes place using genes (which are made of DNA except in some versus which use RNA)

7) Development:
Is changes an organism under goes during its life time
Includes growth (increase in size) changes in shape and DIFFERENTIATION (of modification of a cell or body part to carry out a specific function)
Example: caterpillar to a butterfly

8) Adaptations: a feature or a behavior that increases the likely hood that an organism will survive to a reproductive age
Example: fur, sharp teeth, growling, peacock fanning its tail etc.

The Scientific Method & Experimental Design

Step 1: Ask Questions Step 2: Generate a Hypothesis
Hypothesis is a (tentative statement) Example: all objects fall when dropped or a (tentative explanation) Example: all objects fall when dropped because gravity Step 3: Test Hypothesis Step 4: Conclusion
Result supports the hypothesis but does not prove it
By definition a hypothesis cannot be proven. However a hypothesis can be disproven
Step 5: Depending on the results of step 4 you would:
Retest your hypothesis if your results supported it
Refine your hypothesis if your results completely consistent
Generate a new hypothesis

Science is the systematic & objective study of the natural world:
It can be loosely defined as the “ pursuit of truth”
Must overcome the biases of scientists
All scientific inquiry uses the scientific method which has \the five steps located on the previous pages.
Hypotheses eventually give to theories (which often takes decades)
Theories are scientifically acceptable general principles that make predictions about the future (NOT speculation as in layman’s terms) They usually result from the combination of a well-supported hypothesis.
Examples: theory of evolution, and the atomic theory

Eventually, give to theories which are never disproven become laws
Examples: law of gravity
Scientific hypotheses are published in scientific journals
Reviewed by 1000’s of researchers and the results must with stand repeated scrutiny
Finally, all