Unit 1: Life Flashcards
Biology
The study of how life works
Biologists
Scientists who study life
Observation
The act of viewing the world around us
Experimentation
A disciplined and controlled way of asking questions about the world in an unbiased manner
Hypotheses
Tentative explanations
Predictions
Making predictions about about experiments not yet run
Test
Devising an experiment to see whether the predictions made by the hypothesis actually occur
Scientific Method
A deliberate and careful way of asking questions about the unknown
Theory
A general explanation of the world supported by a large body of experiments and observations
Four Characteristics of Living Organisms
- Complexity, with precise spatial organization on several scales
- The ability to change in response to the environment
- The ability to reproduce
- The capacity to evolve
First Law of Thermodynamics
Energy can neither be created or destroyed, only changed in form
Second Law of Thermodynamics
The amount of disorder in the universe tends to increase
Entropy
The amount of disorder in a system
Variable
Changed by the experimenter from one treatment to the next
Cell
The simplest self-replicating entity that can exist as an independent unit of life
DNA
A molecule that acts as an information archive
Proteins
The key structural and functional molecules that do the work of the cell
RNA
A molecule in which proteins create a copy of the DNA’s information
Transcription
The synthesis of RNA from a DNA template
Translation
Converts information stored in the language of proteins
Central Dogma
The pathway from DNA to RNA to protein
Gene
The DNA sequence that corresponds to a specific protein product
Replicated
The process of allowing genetic information to be passed from cell to cell or from one organism to its progeny
Mutations
Errors in DNA
Plasma Membrane
Separates the living material within the cell from the non-living environment around it
Nucleus
Houses the cells DNA
Cytoplasm
Where the nucleus occupies a discrete space within the cell, separate from the space outside the nucleus
Prokaryotes
Cells without a nucleus
Eukaryotes
Cells with a nucleus
Bacteria
Prokaryotes
Archaea
Prokaryotes
Eukarya
Eukaryotes
ATP
Energy stored in chemical form that cells can use
Metabolism
Chemical reactions that cells use to convert energy from one form to another and to build and breakdown molecules
Evolution
Change over time
Natural Selection
The process by which variants best suited for growth and reproduction in a given environment will contribute disproportionately to the next generation
Environmental Variation
Variation among individuals due to differences in the environment
Genetic Variation
Variation among individuals due to genes that are transmitted from parents to offspring
Tree of Life
The full set of evolutionary relationships among organisms
Ecology
The study of how organisms interact with one another and with their environment in nature
