Helen Zhang

Unit 1 (ch. 1) - Scientific Process & Biology “Critical Terms”

1. Biology - The scientific study of life.
2. Chemistry - the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the
composition of substances and their properties and reactions
3. Physics - the science of matter and energy and their interactions;
4. Geology - a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks
5. Producer - An autotroph is an organism that produces complex organic compounds from simple
inorganic molecules using energy from light
6. Consumer - A Heterotroph is an organism that uses organic carbon for growth; organisms of an
ecological food chain that relies upon the feeding of other organisms for survival
7. DNA - A double-stranded, helical nucleic acid molecule capable of replicating and determining the
inherited structure of a cell’s proteins.
8. Gene - A discrete unit of hereditary information consisting of a specific nucleotide sequence in
DNA (or RNA, in some viruses).
9. Ecosystem - All the organisms in a given area as well as the abiotic factors with which they
interact; a community and its physical environment.
10. Energy - a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work
11. Law - The laws of science are various established scientific laws, or physical laws as they are
sometimes called, that are considered universal and invariable facts of the physical world. Laws of
science may, however, be disproved if new facts or evidence contradicts them
12. Hypothesis - A tentative answer to a well-framed question.
13. Theory - An explanation that is broad in scope, generates new hypotheses, and is supported by a
large body of evidence.
14. Principle - In modern chemistry, principles are the constituents of a substance, specifically those
that produce a certain quality or effect in the substance,
15. Belief - the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.
16. Control - An experiment in which an experimental group is compared to a control group that varies
only in the factor being tested.
17. Cell - Life’s fundamental unit of structure and function.
18. Genome - The complete complement of an organism’s genes; an organism’s genetic material.
19. Eukaryotic - A type of cell with a membrane-enclosed nucleus and membrane-enclosed organelles.
Organisms with eukaryotic cells (protists, plants, fungi, and animals) are called eukaryotes.
20. Prokaryotic - A type of cell lacking a membrane-enclosed nucleus and membrane-enclosed
organelles. Organisms with prokaryotic cells (bacteria and archaea) are called prokaryotes.
21. Nucleus - (1) An atom’s central core, containing protons and neutrons. (2) The chromosome-
containing organelle of a eukaryotic cell. (3) A cluster of neurons.
22. Emergent Property - New properties that emerge with each step upward in the hierarchy of life,
owing to the arrangement and interactions of parts as complexity increases.
23. Reductionism - Reducing complex systems to simpler components that are more manageable to
study.
24. Uniformitarianism - Uniformitarianism, in the philosophy of naturalism, assumes that the same
natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now, have always operated in the universe
in the past and apply everywhere in the universe
25. Systems Biology - An approach to studying biology that aims to model the dynamic behavior of
whole biological systems.
26. Data - Recorded observations.
27. Fact - A fact is a pragmatic truth, a statement that can, at least in theory, be checked and
confirmed. Facts are often contrasted with opinions and beliefs, statements which are held to be
true, but are not amenable to pragmatic confirmation
28. Negative Feedback - A primary mechanism of homeostasis, whereby a change in a physiological
variable that is being monitored triggers a response that counteracts the initial fluctuation.
29. Positive Feedback - A physiological control mechanism in which a change in some variable triggers
mechanisms that amplify the change.
30. Species - A group whose members possess similar anatomical characteristics and have the ability
to interbreed.
31. Taxonomy - a classification of organisms into groups based on similarities of structure or origin;
study of the general principles of scientific classification
32. Domain Bacteria - One of two prokaryotic domains, the other being Archaea.
33. Domain Archaea - One of two prokaryotic domains, the other being Bacteria.
34. Domain Eukarya - The domain that includes all eukaryotic organisms.
35. Evolution - All the changes that have transformed life on Earth from its earliest beginnings to the
diversity that characterizes it today.
36. Natural Selection - Differential success in the reproduction of different phenotypes resulting
from the interaction of organisms with their environment. Evolution occurs when natural selection
causes changes in relative frequencies of alleles in the gene pool.
37. Artificial Selection - The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the
occurrence of desirable traits.
38. Adaptation -
39. Inductive Reasoning - A type of logic in which generalizations are based on a large number of
specific observations.
40. Deductive Reasoning - A type of logic in which specific results are predicted from a general
premise.
41. Scientific Method - a method of investigation involving observation and theory to test scientific
hypotheses
42. Model - A representation of a theory or process