Biology
Biology is a natural science discipline that studies living things. It is a very large and broad field due to the wide variety of life found on Earth, so individual biologists normally focus on specific fields. These fields are either categorized by the scale of life or by the types of organisms studied.
Scale of Life
For example, the scale of biology can cover everything from genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology – studying the molecules of life inside our cells and how they help us function – to cell biology which focuses on the basic unit of life. There is also anatomy, physiology and other fields that focus on whole organisms, and to even larger scales such as animal behavior, population biology, and ecology and systematics that study groups and entire communities of organisms.
Study of Organisms
Other fields within biology focus on specific types of organisms such as bacteria and other microbes (microbiology), viruses (virology), plants (botany), animals (zoology), wildlife biology and marine biology. And often, biologists focus on both a particular scale and a particular organism, such as plant cell biology.
Many of the most interesting recent discoveries in biology have happened at the intersection with other disciplines such as biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering, and computational (mathematical) biology and these intersections will be increasingly important in the future.
Biology is also a foundation for other biology-based professions such as medicine, nursing and allied health, pharmacy and pharmacology, dentistry, and veterinary medicine.
Anatomy
Biotechnology
Botany
Ecology
Genetics
Immunology
Microbiology
Physiology
Zoology
Topics in Biology
Properties of Carbon
Did you know, carbon is the second most abundant element in humans (about 18% of mass) after oxygen? Explore more about this element and the reason behind its importance in biological elements.
Human Biology
The human body is an amazing system as it is made up of a group of organs called the organ system. Explore more about the organ systems starting from the circulatory system to the nervous system and much more.
Macro Molecules
Food provides the body with the nutrients it needs to survive. Many of these critical nutrients are biological macromolecules, or large molecules, necessary for life. Four main types of macromolecules such as proteins, carbohydrates, nucleic acids and lipids control all activities. Explore the types of macromolecules, their importance in human life, and how they build up.
Enery & Enzymes
Several chemical reactions are taking place in the body of a living organism, and surprisingly all of them are mediated by enzymes. Read more about how energy transfers occur in the human body and how biological energy transfers work and much more.
Structure of a Cell
Do you know, humans have about 100 trillion cells in their body! All the living organisms that exist in this whole universe – like mushrooms, plants, humans, elephants etc. are made up of lots and lots of cells! Learn more about different types of cells, their structure and much more.
Membranes and Transport
This topic is all about how cells protect themselves from the surrounding with a barrier. Explore more about what this barrier is made up of? How it works and how the molecules are transported across the membrane?
Cellular Respiration
Respiration is one of an essential process carried out by all living organism to survive. Explore more about how it extracts energy from food for the human body? How respiration occurs at the cellular level, its types and much more.
Photosynthesis
Did you know photosynthesis is the single most important chemical process on the earth? Learn more about how plants utilize sunlight to convert light energy into chemical energy, Calvin Cycle, light-dependent reactions and much more.
Cell Division
Did you know in an average human body, almost 2 trillion cell divisions occur daily? Every organism goes through the cell division process. So let’s study about how cell division occurs and how the problem in cell cycle control is responsible for causing cancer.
Classical & Molecular Genetics
Know about the reason behind the resemblance of children to their parents, the impact of genetics on the next generation and explore more about Mendel’s model of inheritance, it’s disorders and much more.
DNA as the Genetic Material
Did you know your DNA could stretch from the earth to the sun and back approximately 600 times? Explore more facts about DNA, its structure and much more.
Central Dogma
The central dogma of molecular biology explains the flow of genetic information, from DNA to RNA, to make a functional product, a protein. Explore more about this amazing process and much more.
Gene Regulation
Did you know we have tens of thousands of genes in our genome? Read more about what is gene regulation and how it controls the manner and rate of gene expression.
Biotechnology
Did you know humans have unknowingly used biotechnology practices for thousands of years, specifically in pharmaceuticals and farming? Explore more facts about biotechnology, its application and its scope in agriculture.
Bactaria & Archaea
At about 5 million trillion strong, bacteria and their cousins, the archaea, vastly outnumber all other life forms on earth! Read about the difference between bacteria and archaea and much more.
Viruses
Viruses are neither dead nor alive! Yes, it is quite surprising, so learn more facts about these fascinating particles that occupy a “grey area” between living and nonliving things.
Evolution and the tree of Life
Discover the diversity of life on earth and the forces that help to shape it! Explore more about evolution, natural selection and biological evolution and much more.
History of life on Earth
The first life on Earth developed in the oceans through a process called abiogenesis or biopoesis. This is a natural process in which life grows from non-living matter like simple organic compounds! Explore more about life on earth.
Ecology
Ecology encompasses all living things, from single-cellular and acellular organisms, through to the most complex of all living creatures. Read more about ecology, population ecology, types of biogeochemical cycles and much more.
Biodiversity & Conservation
Biodiversity is critical to an ecosystem because each species plays a different role in the maintenance of the ecosystem. Discover more about the ecosystem, ecosystem services and much more.
Plant Biology
Did you know pineapple is a berry? Explore more facts and information about plants like parts of plants, classification of plants and much more.
BioInformatics
Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer science, biology, and data science, the field also has foundations in applied mathematics, molecular biology, cell biology, chemistry, and genetics
Overview of cell Signaling
Cells typically communicate using chemical signals. These chemical signals, which are proteins or other molecules produced by a sending cell, are often secreted from the cell and released into the extracellular space. There, they can float – like messages in a bottle – over to neighboring cells.
Not all cells can “hear” a particular chemical message. In order to detect a signal (that is, to be a target cell), a neighbor cell must have the right receptor for that signal. When a signaling molecule binds to its receptor, it alters the shape or activity of the receptor, triggering a change inside of the cell. Signaling molecules are often called ligands, a general term for molecules that bind specifically to other molecules (such as receptors).
The message carried by a ligand is often relayed through a chain of chemical messengers inside the cell. Ultimately, it leads to a change in the cell, such as alteration in the activity of a gene or even the induction of a whole process, such as cell division. Thus, the original intercellular (between-cells) signal is converted into an intracellular (within-cell) signal that triggers a response.
