Life processes

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Biology </wiki/Biology> is the science </wiki/Science> that deals with
living things. Sometimes it is necessary to make a difference between
organisms </wiki/Organism> that are alive, and other things that are not
alive. This might not be as easy as it seems, but in general:
1. Living things react to stimuli </wiki/Stimulus>.
2. Living things interact with their environment </wiki/Environment>,
which includes members of the same and other species </wiki/Species>.
3. Living things have a metabolism </wiki/Metabolism>: they take in
food </wiki/Food> which they convert to the energy </wiki/Energy>
they need.
4. Living things reproduce </wiki/Reproduction>: they give birth to
others of the same species. This is not true of all /individual/
organisms. In eusocial </wiki/Eusocial> organisms, some castes
cannot reproduce. But, since the sterile workers are all the produce
of a single queen, they are one collective.
Many things that appear to be one organism are in fact several living
together. An example is lichen </wiki/Lichen>. Lichen is a symbiosis
</wiki/Symbiosis> between a blue-green alga </wiki/Cyanobacteria> and a
fungus </wiki/Fungus>. Organisms that live together may not reproduce
together, but their life processes are bound up together. They help each
other to live.
Contents
[hide <#>]
* 1 Modern ideas <#Modern_ideas>
o 1.1 Cells and macromolecules <#Cells_and_macromolecules>
o 1.2 Systems theory <#Systems_theory>
* 2 Related pages <#Related_pages>
* 3 References <#References>
Modern ideas[change
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&veaction=edit&vesection=1>|
change source </w/index.php?title=Life_processes&action=edit&section=1>]
Modern ideas from molecular biology </wiki/Molecular_biology>, cell
biology </wiki/Cell_biology> and cybernetics </wiki/Cybernetics> give us
more ways of describing biological processes.
Cells and macromolecules[change
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&veaction=edit&vesection=2>|
change source
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&action=edit&section=2>]
All life processes on Earth use the chemistry </wiki/Chemistry> of
carbon </wiki/Carbon> compounds. In particular, all life uses long-chain
molecules such as proteins </wiki/Protein> and nucleic acid
</wiki/Nucleic_acid>. With water </wiki/Water>, which is essential, the
long molecules are wrapped inside membranes </wiki/Cell_membrane> to
form cells </wiki/Cell>. This is true of all known life.
Systems theory[change
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&veaction=edit&vesection=3>|
change source
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&action=edit&section=3>]
Living organisms are open systems </wiki/Cybernetics>. The main idea is
that the processes serve to keep them alive by homeostasis
</wiki/Homeostasis>. They are always changing, but always staying within
certain limits as long as they live. ^[1] <#cite_note-1> ^[2]
<#cite_note-2>
They do this by exchanging materials </wiki/Material> and information
</wiki/Information> with their environment </wiki/Environment>. They
undergo metabolism </wiki/Metabolism>, maintain homeostasis
</wiki/Homeostasis>, possess a capacity to grow </wiki/Cell_growth>,
respond to stimuli </wiki/Stimulus> and reproduce </wiki/Reproduction>.
All of this preserves the individual and its race or species.
Related pages[change
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&veaction=edit&vesection=4>|
change source </w/index.php?title=Life_processes&action=edit&section=4>]
* Biology </wiki/Biology>
* Life </wiki/Life>
* Senses </wiki/Senses>
* Sex </wiki/Sex>
References[change
</w/index.php?title=Life_processes&veaction=edit&vesection=5>|
change source </w/index.php?title=Life_processes&action=edit&section=5>]
1. Jump up - <#cite_ref-1> Cannon W.B. 1932. /The wisdom of the body/.
London.
2. Jump up - <#cite_ref-2> Reiner J.M. 1960. /The organism as an
adaptive control system/. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersy.
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