Biology

Biology is the science that studies living organisms. Characteristic life processes and phenomena of living organisms. All the plant and animal life of a particular region. Bio is something biological or pertaining to life and living things. Ology is a suffix that denotes a field of study. Biology Areas (wiki) - PDF - Bio-Repositories (specimens).

Physics - Chemistry - Cells



Microbiology is the study of microscopic organisms, those being unicellular (single cell), multicellular (cell colony), or a cellular (lacking cells). Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, mycology, parasitology, and bacteriology. Specimens.

Microbiologist is a biological scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes or works in the field of microbiology. Microbiologists investigate the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of parasites and their vectors. They contribute much to the field by trying to understand and learn about the interaction between these microbes and the environment and also among themselves and other organisms.

Biotic is relating to living organisms. Abiotic is physical rather than biological and not derived from living organisms.

Marine Biology (oceans)

Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. Biophysical research shares significant overlap with biochemistry, molecular biology, physical chemistry, physiology, nanotechnology, bioengineering, computational biology, biomechanics, developmental biology and systems biology.

Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. Biochemical processes give rise to the complexity of life. Biochemistry can be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and metabolism. Biochemistry is closely related to molecular biology, the study of the molecular mechanisms of biological phenomena. Much of biochemistry deals with the structures, functions, and interactions of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates, and lipids, which provide the structure of cells and perform many of the functions associated with life. The chemistry of the cell also depends on the reactions of smaller molecules and ions. These can be inorganic (for example, water and metal ions) or organic (for example, the amino acids, which are used to synthesize proteins). The mechanisms by which cells harness energy from their environment via chemical reactions are known as metabolism. The findings of biochemistry are applied primarily in medicine, nutrition and agriculture. In medicine, biochemists investigate the causes and cures of diseases. In nutrition, they study how to maintain health and wellness and study the effects of nutritional deficiencies. In agriculture, biochemists investigate soil and fertilizers. They also try to discover ways to improve crop cultivation, crop storage, and pest control.

Chemical Biology is a scientific discipline spanning the fields of Chemistry, biology, and Physics. It involves the application of chemical techniques, tools, and analyses, and often compounds produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and manipulation of biological systems. Chemical biologists attempt to use chemical principles to modulate systems to either investigate the underlying biology or create new function. Bio-Monitoring (Body Burden).

Structural Biology is a branch of Molecular Biology, biochemistry, and biophysics concerned with the molecular structure of biological macromolecules, especially proteins and nucleic acids, how they acquire the structures they have, and how alterations in their structures affect their function. This subject is of great interest to biologists because macromolecules carry out most of the functions of cells, and only by coiling into specific three-dimensional shapes that they are able to perform these functions. This architecture, the "tertiary structure" of molecules, depends in a complicated way on the molecules' basic composition, or "primary structures."

Molecular Biology is the branch of biology that concerns the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including molecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms and interactions. The central dogma of molecular biology describes the process in which DNA is transcribed into RNA then translated into protein.

Mathematical Biology aims at the mathematical representation, treatment and modeling of biological processes, using techniques and tools of applied mathematics.

Computational Biology involves the development and application of data-analytical and theoretical methods, mathematical modeling and computational simulation techniques to the study of biological, behavioral, and social systems.

Biostatistics is the application of statistics to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, especially in medicine, pharmacy, agriculture and fishery; the collection, summarization, and analysis of data from those experiments; and the interpretation of, and inference from, the results. A major branch is medical biostatistics, which is exclusively concerned with medicine and health.

Biomass - Biosphere - Biodiversity - Biobank (specimens)

Comparative Biology uses natural variation and disparity to understand the patterns of life at all levels—from genes to communities—and the critical role of organisms in ecosystems. Comparative biology is a cross-lineage approach to understanding the phylogenetic history of individuals or higher taxa and the mechanisms and patterns that drives it. Comparative biology encompasses Evolutionary Biology, Systematics, Neontology, Paleontology, Ethology, Anthropology, and Biogeography as well as historical approaches to Developmental biology, Genomics, Physiology, Ecology and many other areas of the biological sciences. The comparative approach also has numerous applications in human health, genetics, biomedicine, and conservation biology. The biological relationships (phylogenies, pedigree) are important for comparative analyses and usually represented by a phylogenetic tree or cladogram to differentiate those features with single origins (Homology) from those with multiple origins (Homoplasy).

Synthetic Biology is the artificial design and engineering of biological systems and living organisms for purposes of improving applications for industry or biological research. Designing and constructing biological modules, biological systems, and biological machines for useful purposes. Combines various disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, evolutionary biology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, biophysics, and computer engineering. Scientists chart course toward a new world of Synthetic Biology - Lab Grown Meat.

Synthetic Biology - GMO's - Synthetic DNA - Bio-Mimicry - Chemical Synthesis - Waste Energy

Quantum Biology is the study of applications of quantum mechanics and theoretical chemistry to biological objects and problems. Many biological processes involve the conversion of energy into forms that are usable for chemical transformations, and are quantum mechanical in nature. Such processes involve chemical reactions, light absorption, formation of excited electronic states, transfer of excitation energy, and the transfer of electrons and protons (hydrogen ions) in chemical processes, such as photosynthesis, olfaction and cellular respiration. Quantum biology may use computations to model biological interactions in light of quantum mechanical effects. Quantum biology is concerned with the influence of non-trivial quantum phenomena, which can be explained by reducing the biological process to fundamental physics, although these effects are difficult to study and can be speculative.

Biosignature is any substance – such as an element, isotope, molecule, or phenomenon – that provides scientific evidence of past or present life. Measurable attributes of life include its complex physical and chemical structures and also its utilization of free energy and the production of biomass and wastes. Due to its unique characteristics, a biosignature can be interpreted as having been produced by living organisms; however, it is important that they not be considered definitive because there is no way of knowing in advance which ones are universal to life and which ones are unique to the peculiar circumstances of life on Earth. Nonetheless, life forms are known to shed unique chemicals, including DNA, into the environment as evidence of their presence in a particular location.

Developmental Biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction and metamorphosis and in the growth and differentiation of stem cells in the adult organism.

Morphogenesis is the biological process that causes an organism to develop its shape. It is one of three fundamental aspects of developmental biology along with the control of cell growth and cellular differentiation, unified in evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo).The process controls the organized spatial distribution of cells during the embryonic development of an organism. Morphogenesis can take place also in a mature organism, in cell culture or inside tumor cell masses. Morphogenesis also describes the development of unicellular life forms that do not have an embryonic stage in their life cycle, or describes the evolution of a body structure within a taxonomic group. Morphogenetic responses may be induced in organisms by hormones, by environmental chemicals ranging from substances produced by other organisms to toxic chemicals or radionuclides released as pollutants, and other plants, or by mechanical stresses induced by spatial patterning of the cells. (beginning of the shape).

Morphogenetic Field is a group of cells able to respond to discrete, localized biochemical signals leading to the development of specific morphological structures or organs. The spatial and temporal extents of the embryonic field are dynamic, and within the field is a collection of interacting cells out of which a particular organ is formed. As a group, the cells within a given morphogenetic field are constrained: thus, cells in a limb field will become a limb tissue, those in a cardiac field will become heart tissue. However, specific cellular programming of individual cells in a field is flexible: an individual cell in a cardiac field can be redirected via cell-to-cell signaling to replace specific damaged or missing cells. Imaginal discs in insect larvae are examples of morphogenetic fields.

Metamorphosis is marked and rapid transformation of a larva into an adult that occurs in some animals. A complete change of physical form or substance. A striking change in appearance, character or circumstances.

Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation. Metamorphosis is iodothyronine-induced and an ancestral feature of all chordates. Some insects, fishes, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, cnidarians, echinoderms, and tunicates undergo metamorphosis, which is often accompanied by a change of nutrition source or behavior. Animals that go through metamorphosis are called metamorphoses.[citation needed] Animals can be divided into species that undergo complete metamorphosis ("holometaboly"), incomplete metamorphosis ("hemimetaboly"), or no metamorphosis ("ametaboly"). Scientific usage of the term is technically precise, and it is not applied to general aspects of cell growth, including rapid growth spurts. References to "metamorphosis" in mammals are imprecise and only colloquial, but historically idealist ideas of transformation and monadology, as in Goethe's Metamorphosis of Plants, have influenced the development of ideas of evolution.

Biogenesis (evolution) - Biosynthesis - Extremophiles (abiogenesis)

Biological Life Cycle is a series of changes in form that an organism undergoes, returning to the starting state. The concept is closely related to those of the life history, development and ontogeny, but differs from them in stressing renewal. Transitions of form may involve growth, asexual reproduction, and/or sexual reproduction.

Life Cycle Assessment (smart development)

Cell Cycle (cells) - Self-Organization (cause and effect)

Biological Process are the processes vital for a living organism to live, and that shape its capacities for interacting with its environment. Biological processes are made up of many chemical reactions or other events that are involved in the persistence and transformation of life forms. Metabolism and homeostasis are examples.

Physiology is the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning and processes of organisms. The scientific study of normal mechanisms, and their interactions, which works within a living system. A sub-discipline of biology, its focus is in how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical or physical functions that exist in a living system. Given the size of the field, it is divided into, among others, animal physiology (including that of humans), plant physiology, cellular physiology, microbial physiology (microbial metabolism), bacterial physiology, and viral physiology. Central to an understanding of physiological functioning is its integrated nature with other disciplines such as chemistry and physics, coordinated homeostatic control mechanisms, and continuous communication between cells.

Biological System is a complex network of biologically relevant entities. As biological organization spans several scales, examples of biological systems are populations of organisms, or on the organ- and tissue scale in mammals and other animals, the circulatory system, the respiratory system, the nervous system, etc. On the micro to the nanoscopic scale, examples of biological systems are cells, organelles, macromolecular complexes and regulatory pathways. A biological system is not to be confused with a living system, which is commonly referred to as life. For further information see e.g. definition of life or synthetic biology.

Systems Biology is the computational and mathematical modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological systems, using a holistic approach (holism instead of the more traditional reductionism) to biological research.

Domain is the highest taxonomic rank of organisms in the three-domain system of taxonomy: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya. The first two are all prokaryotic microorganisms, or single-celled organisms whose cells have no nucleus. All life that has a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, and multicellular organisms, is included in the Eukarya.

Realm is a domain in which something is dominant. A knowledge domain that you are interested in or are communicating about. The domain ruled by a king or queen.

Kingdom is the second highest taxonomic rank, just below domain. Kingdoms are divided into smaller groups called phyla.

Phylum is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants accepts the terms as equivalent. Depending on definitions, the animal kingdom Animalia or Metazoa contains approximately 35 phyla; the plant kingdom Plantae contains about 14, and the fungus kingdom Fungi contains about 8 phyla. Current research in phylogenetics is uncovering the relationships between phyla, which are contained in larger clades, like Ecdysozoa and Embryophyta.

Class in biology is a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks in descending order of size are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, order, family, genus, and species, with class fitting between phylum and order. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the prefix sub-: subclass (Latin: subclassis). A taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank. In that case the plural is classes (Latin classes). Example: Dogs are in the class Mammalia.

Order in biology is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized by the nomenclature codes. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family. An immediately higher rank, superorder, may be added directly above order, while suborder would be a lower rank. A taxonomic unit, a taxon, in that rank. In that case the plural is orders (Latin ordines). Example: The Juglans (walnut) and Hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae (or walnut family), which is placed in the order Fagales.

Family is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy; it is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as being the "walnut family". What does or does not belong to a family—or whether a described family should be recognized at all—are proposed and determined by practicing taxonomists. There are no hard rules for describing or recognizing a family. Taxonomists often take different positions about descriptions, and there may be no broad consensus across the scientific community for some time. The publishing of new data and opinions often enables adjustments and consensus.

Genus is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

Species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The total number of species is estimated to be between 8 and 8.7 million. However the vast majority of them are not studied or documented and it may take over 1000 years to fully catalogue them all. All species (except viruses) are given a two-part name, a "binomial". The first part of a binomial is the genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name or the specific epithet (in botanical nomenclature, also sometimes in zoological nomenclature). For example, Boa constrictor is one of four species of the genus Boa, with constrictor being the species’ epithet.

Subspecies refers to one of two or more populations of a species living in different subdivisions of the species' range and varying from one another by morphological characteristics. A single subspecies cannot be recognized independently: a species is either recognized as having no subspecies at all or at least two, including any that are extinct.

Biodiversity (Environment)

Structure Organization Process. [An] organization denotes those relations that must exist among components of a system for it to be a member of a specific class. Structure denotes the components and relations that actually constitute a particular unity [or thing]…” Pattern of organization is the configuration of relationships that determines the systems essential characteristics. Structure is the physical embodiment of the system’s pattern of organization. Structure refers to the attributes distinguishing something. Structure refers closed systems (or the attributes of the universe that are independent). Structure refers to individual things. Life process is the activity involved in the continual embodiment of the system’s pattern of organization. Organization refers to parts that comprise something: the properties. Organization refers to open systems (or the parts of the universe that depend on closed systems). Organization refers to categories of things (clusters of individuals, where a part is a category). Process refers to the constitution of parts (the bundle of related properties) that produces a whole thing. Process refers to universal things (all things, e.g., parts as the set). Process refers to social systems (or the wholes that are inter–dependent on closed and open systems that make up eco–systems, e.g., the universe). what the thing is composed , how the thing is composed, that a whole thing is an organized structure (the process of comprising the parts).

Life Sciences involve the scientific study of living organisms – such as microorganisms, plants, animals, and human beings – as well as related considerations like bioethics. While biology remains the centerpiece of the life sciences, technological advances in molecular biology and biotechnology have led to a burgeoning of specializations and interdisciplinary fields.

Bio-Chemistry - Bio-Electrochemistry - Bio-Physics

Omics informally refers to a field of study in biology ending in -omics, such as genomics, proteomics or metabolomics. The related suffix -ome is used to address the objects of study of such fields, such as the genome, proteome or metabolome respectively. Omics aims at the collective characterization and quantification of pools of biological molecules that translate into the structure, function, and dynamics of an organism or organisms. Functional genomics aims at identifying the functions of as many genes as possible of a given organism. It combines different -omics techniques such as transcriptomics and proteomics with saturated mutant collections. The suffix -ome as used in molecular biology refers to a totality of some sort; it is an example of a "neo-suffix" formed by abstraction from various Greek terms in -ωμα, a sequence that does not form an identifiable suffix in Greek.

Function in biology is the reason some object or process occurred in a system that evolved through natural selection. That reason is typically that it achieves some result, such as that chlorophyll helps to capture the energy of sunlight in photosynthesis. Hence, the organism that contains it is more likely to survive and reproduce, in other words the function increases the organism's fitness. A characteristic that assists in evolution is called an adaptation; other characteristics may be non-functional spandrels, though these in turn may later be co-opted by evolution to serve new functions. In the philosophy of biology, talk of function inevitably suggests some kind of teleological purpose, even though natural selection operates without any goal for the future. All the same, biologists often use teleological language as a shorthand for function. Biological Functionalism (wiki).

Nano Technology - Microscopes - Imaging Machines

Biomedical Engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g. diagnostic or therapeutic). This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine, combining the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to advance health care treatment, including diagnosis, monitoring, and therapy.

Genetic Engineering (DNA)

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use" (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Art. 2). Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the (related) fields of bioengineering, biomedical engineering, biomanufacturing, molecular engineering, etc.

Biological Engineering is the application of concepts and methods of biology (and secondarily of physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science) to solve real-world problems related to life sciences or the application thereof, using engineering's own analytical and synthetic methodologies and also its traditional sensitivity to the cost and practicality of the solution(s) arrived at.

Bio-Manufacturing is a type of manufacturing or biotechnology that utilizes biological systems to produce commercially important biomaterials and biomolecules for use in medicines, food and beverage processing, and industrial applications. Biomanufacturing products are recovered from natural sources, such as blood, or from cultures of microbes, animal cells, or plant cells grown in specialized equipment. The cells used during the production may have been naturally occurring or derived using genetic engineering techniques.

Biomechanics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems such as humans, animals, plants, organs, fungi, and cells by means of the methods of mechanics.

Bioreactor may refer to any manufactured or engineered device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms. This process can either be aerobic or anaerobic. These bioreactors are commonly cylindrical, ranging in size from litres to cubic metres, and are often made of stainless steel. It may also refer to a device or system designed to grow cells or tissues in the context of cell culture. These devices are being developed for use in tissue engineering or biochemical engineering. On the basis of mode of operation, a bioreactor may be classified as batch, fed batch or continuous (e.g. a continuous stirred-tank reactor model). An example of a continuous bioreactor is the chemostat. Organisms growing in bioreactors may be submerged in liquid medium or may be attached to the surface of a solid medium. Submerged cultures may be suspended or immobilized. Suspension bioreactors can use a wider variety of organisms, since special attachment surfaces are not needed, and can operate at much larger scale than immobilized cultures. However, in a continuously operated process the organisms will be removed from the reactor with the effluent. Immobilization is a general term describing a wide variety of cell or particle attachment or entrapment. It can be applied to basically all types of biocatalysis including enzymes, cellular organelles, animal and plant cells. Immobilization is useful for continuously operated processes, since the organisms will not be removed with the reactor effluent, but is limited in scale because the microbes are only present on the surfaces of the vessel. refers to any manufactured or engineered device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemically active substances derived from such organisms. This process can either be aerobic or anaerobic. These bioreactors are commonly cylindrical, ranging in size from litres to cubic metres, and are often made of stainless steel.

Biobus is a mobile science lab biofuel-powered 1974 transit bus with over $100,000 of microscopes) and the BioBase research grade community science lab give 30,000 students annually the chance to feel the excitement of making a scientific discovery.

Bio Fuels (waste energy)

Microcosm are artificial, simplified ecosystems that are used to simulate and predict the behaviour of natural ecosystems under controlled conditions. Open or closed microcosms provide an experimental area for ecologists to study natural ecological processes. Microcosm studies can be very useful to study the effects of disturbance or to determine the ecological role of key species.

Controlled Ecological Life Support System are a self-supporting life support system for space stations and colonies typically through controlled closed ecological systems, such as the BioHome, BIOS-3, Biosphere 2, Mars Desert Research Station, and Yuegong-1.

Biocybernetics is the application of cybernetics to biological science, composed of biological disciplines that benefit from the application of cybernetics including neurology and multicellular systems. Biocybernetics plays a major role in systems biology, seeking to integrate different levels of information to understand how biological systems function. Biocybernetics is an abstract science and is a fundamental part of theoretical biology, based upon the principles of systemics.

Smart Material are designed materials that have one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or magnetic fields.

Bio-Plastics - Soil - Bio-Monitoring - Pesticides

Biometrics refers to metrics related to human characteristics. Biometrics authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used to identify individuals in groups that are under surveillance.

Specimens - Biological Samples

Biological Specimen is a biological laboratory specimen held by a biorepository for research. Such a specimen would be taken by sampling so as to be representative of any other specimen taken from the source of the specimen. When biological specimens are stored, ideally they remain equivalent to freshly-collected specimens for the purposes of research. Human biological specimens are stored in a type of biorepository called a biobank, and the science of preserving biological specimens is most active in the field of biobanking. Human Microbiome (Gut Flora and Microbes).

Specimen is a bit of tissue, blood or urine taken as an example and regarded as typical of its class for diagnostic purposes.

Biotic Material is any material that originates from living organisms. Most such materials contain carbon and are capable of decay.

Genetic Material is the material used to store genetic information in the nuclei or mitochondria of an organism's cells; either DNA or RNA.

Material is the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object. Information in the form of data or ideas or observations that can be used or reworked into a finished form.

Laboratory Specimen is a biological specimen taken by sampling, that is, gathered matter of a medical patient's tissue, fluid, or other material derived from the patient used for laboratory analysis to assist differential diagnosis or staging of a disease process. Common examples include throat swabs, sputum, urine, blood, surgical drain fluids, and tissue biopsies

Biobank is a type of biorepository that stores biological samples (usually human) for use in research. Since the late 1990s biobanks have become an important resource in medical research, supporting many types of contemporary research like genomics and personalized medicine. UK Biobank.

Biorepository is a biological materials repository that collects, processes, stores, and distributes biospecimens to support future scientific investigation. Biorepositories can contain or manage specimens from animals, including humans, and many other living organisms. Vertebrates, invertebrates, arthropods, and other life forms are just a few of the many classes of living organisms which can be studied by preserving and storing samples taken.

UB Biorepository. From molecular profiling of samples to integration with clinical data about patients, the facility has the capacity to collect, process, store and distribute millions of biological specimens that will allow UB and its research and industry partners to harness the discoveries that ultimately benefit patients.

Gene Bank are a type of biorepository which preserve genetic material. For plants, this could be by in vitro storage, freezing cuttings from the plant, or stocking the seeds (e.g. in a seedbank). For animals, this is the freezing of sperm and eggs in zoological freezers until further need. With corals, fragments are taken which are stored in water tanks under controlled conditions. Plant genetic material in a 'gene bank' is preserved at -196° Celsius in Liquid Nitrogen as mature seed (dry) or tissue (meristems).

Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that develops methods and software tools for understanding biological data. As an interdisciplinary field of science, bioinformatics combines biology, computer science, information engineering, mathematics and statistics to analyze and interpret biological data. Bioinformatics has been used for in silico analyses of biological queries using mathematical and statistical techniques.

Biological Database are libraries of life sciences information, collected from scientific experiments, published literature, high-throughput experiment technology, and computational analysis. They contain information from research areas including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microarray gene expression, and phylogenetics. Information contained in biological databases includes gene function, structure, localization (both cellular and chromosomal), clinical effects of mutations as well as similarities of biological sequences and structures.

Cyclomorphosis is the name given to the occurrence of cyclic or seasonal changes in the phenotype of an organism through successive generations. It occurs in small aquatic invertebrates that reproduce by parthenogenesis and give rise to several generations annually. It occurs especially in marine planktonic animals, and is thought to be caused by the interaction of environmental cues with the organism's genes, thereby altering the course of their development. (also known as seasonal polyphenism).

Tardigrade are water-dwelling, eight-legged, segmented micro-animals, are one of the most resilient animals known. They have been found everywhere: from mountaintops to the deep sea and mud volcanoes; from tropical rain forests to the Antarctic. Individual species of tardigrades can survive extreme conditions that would be rapidly fatal to nearly all other known life forms, including complete global mass extinction events due to astrophysical events, such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, large asteroid impacts, or passing-by stars. Some tardigrades can withstand temperatures down to 1 K (−458 °F; −272 °C) (close to absolute zero) while others can withstand 420 K (300 °F; 150 °C) for several minutes, pressures about six times greater than those found in the deepest ocean trenches, ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human, and the vacuum of outer space. They can go without food or water for more than 30 years, drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce. Tardigrades, living in harsh conditions, undergo an annual process of cyclomorphosis. They are not considered extremophilic because they are not adapted to exploit these conditions. This means that their chances of dying increase the longer they are exposed to the extreme environments, whereas true extremophiles thrive in a physically or geochemically extreme environment that would harm most other organisms. Usually, tardigrades are about 0.5 mm (0.02 in) long when they are fully grown. They are short and plump with four pairs of legs, each with four to eight claws also known as "disks". The first three pairs of legs are directed ventrolaterally and are the primary means of locomotion, while the fourth pair is directed posteriorly on the terminal segment of the trunk and is used primarily for grasping the substrate. Tardigrades are prevalent in mosses and lichens and feed on plant cells, algae, and small invertebrates. When collected, they may be viewed under a very low-power microscope, making them accessible to students and amateur scientists. Tardigrades form the phylum Tardigrada, part of the superphylum Ecdysozoa. It is an ancient group, with fossils dating from 530 million years ago, in the Cambrian period. About 1,150 species of tardigrades have been described. Tardigrades can be found throughout the world, from the Himalayas (above 6,000 m (20,000 ft)), to the deep sea (below 4,000 m (13,000 ft)) and from the polar regions to the equator. Tardigrades are the toughest, most resilient form of life on earth, able to survive for up to 30 years without food or water, and endure temperature extremes of up to 150 degrees Celsius, the deep sea and even the frozen vacuum of space. The water-dwelling micro animal can live for up to 60 years, and grow to a maximum size of 0.5mm, best seen under a microscope.

Micro-Animal are animals so small that they can be visually observed only under a microscope. Microscopic arthropods include dust mites, spider mites, and some crustaceans such as copepods and certain cladocera. Another common group of microscopic animals are the rotifers, which are filter feeders that are usually found in fresh water. Some nematode species are microscopic, as well as many loricifera, including the recently discovered anaerobic species, which spend their entire lives in an anoxic environment. Tardigrades, a phylum of water-dwelling micro-animals, can survive extreme living conditions that they did not evolve to survive in and have survived solar radiation, UV radiation, and the hard vacuum of space in an astrobiology experiment.

Escarpia laminata Tubeworm is the Longest Living Animal, can live for at least 300 years.

Mites are small arthropods belonging to the subclass Acari (also known as Acarina) and the class Arachnida. The scientific discipline devoted to the study of ticks and mites is called Acarology. Many species live in soil as decomposers; others are predatory or parasitic, these last including the commercially important Varroa mites of honeybees, and the scabies mite of humans. Invertebrate are animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a backbone or spine).

Do It Yourself Science - Citizen Science - DIY

Citizen Science is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by anyone, including nonprofessionals or volunteer scientists. Citizen science is sometimes described as "public participation in scientific research," participatory monitoring and participatory action research. Citizen science is also known as crowd science crowd-sourced science, or civic science, networked science, volunteer monitoring or citizen journalism, or just learning.

Biohacking is the activity of exploiting genetic material experimentally, usually free from standard norms and with limited expectations. Usually done with the purpose of benefitting humankind, but sometimes done by those with a criminal nature.

Open Science is the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society, amateur or professional. It encompasses practices such as publishing open research, campaigning for open access, encouraging scientists to practice open notebook science, and generally making it easier to publish and communicate scientific knowledge.

Science Tools - Chemist Tools - DIY Resources - Hacker Space Movement.

Emerald Cloud Laboratory - A web-based life sciences lab, developed by scientists for scientists.

Biosecurity is a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious diseases in crops and livestock, quarantined pests, invasive alien species, and living modified organisms (Koblentz, 2010). The emerging nature of biosecurity threats means that small scale risks blow up rapidly, thus an effective policy becomes a challenge for there are limitations on time and resources available for analyzing threats and estimating the likelihood of their occurrence.

Biosafety Level is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4). In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have specified these levels.

Bioethics is the study of the typically controversial ethical issues emerging from new situations and possibilities brought about by advances in biology and medicine. It is also moral discernment as it relates to medical policy and practice. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy. It also includes the study of the more commonplace questions of values ("the ethics of the ordinary") which arise in primary care and other branches of medicine. Bioethics.

Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy.

DIY Scientists (drug research)

DIY Biology - DIY Medical Testing - Smartphone Tools

SJET is a platform for experimental computation + design and has grown into a multidisciplinary research based practice. SJET crosses disciplines from design, fabrication, computer science to robotics.

Self Assembly Lab is a cross-disciplinary research lab at MIT inventing self-assembly and programmable material technologies aimed at reimagining construction, manufacturing, product assembly and performance.

Open Source Materials - Hackteria - Maker Work Shops (science tools)

Gaudi Labs

Philosophy of Biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences.

Biological Innovation Society is an international initiative to foster innovation and freedom to operate in the biological sciences.

Biopunk is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than information technology. Biopunk is concerned with synthetic biology. It is derived of cyberpunk involving bio-hackers, biotech mega-corporations, and oppressive government agencies that manipulate human DNA. Most often keeping with the dark atmosphere of cyberpunk, biopunk generally examines the dark side of genetic engineering and represents the low side of biotechnology.

Techno-Progressivism is a stance of active support for the convergence of technological change and social change. Techno-progressives argue that technological developments can be profoundly empowering and emancipatory when they are regulated by legitimate democratic and accountable authorities to ensure that their costs, risks and benefits are all fairly shared by the actual stakeholders to those developments.

Films about Biology

Doris Kim Sung: BioMetals that Breath (youtube)
Paul Root Wolpe: Questioning Bio-Engineering (video)
Khan Biology (videos) - Playing God (youtube)
Biointeractive (youtube channel) - Biology 4 Kids - Encyclopedia of Life

Biology Resources

Bio-Couture
Biomedical Search
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Gen Space
Biotechnology Info
E Life Sciences open-access journal that publishes promising research in the life and biomedical sciences.
Plos Biology
Biology
Microbiology
Current Biology
Cell
Bio Builder
Biodesic consulting services
Joint Bio-Energy Institute is a research institute funded by the United States Department of Energy.
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory (wiki)


Related Subject Pages - Chemistry - Thermodynamics - Bio-Luminescence - Bio-Electro-Magnetics - Bacteria - Microbes - Feedback - Information Resources - Space Websites - Green Building - Genetics - DNA - Environment - Pesticides.

Bio-Mimicry - Imitating Nature

Biomimetics is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.

Mirroring - Mimicking - Artificial - Bionics

3D Bio-Printing - Bio-Plastics - Smart Polymers - Molecular Machines

Bio-Fabrication is the automated production of tissues and organs to address health challenges in medicine. It uses the principles of additive manufacturing – often termed 3D printing – to combine cells, gels and fibres into a single construct that can replace a diseased or injured tissue. Biofabrication is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research that leads to the fabrication of advanced biological models, medical therapeutic products, and non-medical biological systems.

Biotechnology is the use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products, or "any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms, or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific use" (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Art. 2). Depending on the tools and applications, it often overlaps with the (related) fields of bioengineering, biomedical engineering, biomanufacturing, molecular engineering, etc.

Innovations in Biotechnology

Biomimicry can be combined with machine learning and algorithms that are programed to mimic biological processes and structures. Mathematical patterns are then translated based on materials used and the environmental inputs.

Biomimicry - Bio-Mimicry Institute

Biomaterials is any substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose - either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one.

Bio-Based Material is a material intentionally made from substances derived from living (or once-living) organisms.

Meta-Material is a material engineered to have a property that is not found in nature. They are made from assemblies of multiple elements fashioned from composite materials such as metals or plastics. The materials are usually arranged in repeating patterns, at scales that are smaller than the wavelengths of the phenomena they influence. Metamaterials derive their properties not from the properties of the base materials, but from their newly designed structures. Their precise shape, geometry, size, orientation and arrangement gives them their smart properties capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves: by blocking, absorbing, enhancing, or bending waves, to achieve benefits that go beyond what is possible with conventional materials.

Metamaterials or Human-Made Materials that have enormous applications, from remote nanoscale sensing to energy harvesting and medical diagnostics.

Engineers Demonstrate Metamaterials that can Solve Equations. Engineers have designed a metamaterial device that can solve integral equations. The device works by encoding parameters into the properties of an incoming electromagnetic wave; once inside, the device's unique structure manipulates the wave in such a way that it exits encoded with the solution to a pre-set integral equation for that arbitrary input. Self Assembly.

Patterning method could pave the way for new fiber-based devices, smart textiles. Multimaterial fibers that integrate metal, glass and semiconductors could be useful for applications such as biomedicine, smart textiles and robotics. But because the fibers are composed of the same materials along their lengths, it is difficult to position functional elements, such as electrodes or sensors, at specific locations. Now, researchers have developed a method to pattern hundreds-of-meters-long multimaterial fibers with embedded functional elements.

Making new materials using AI. Researchers demonstrate a novel physical phenomenon by controlling variations of the atomic structure. The joint research team focused on a perovskite oxide called CaTiO3 which remains nonpolar (or paraelectric) even at the absolute temperature of 0K. Based on the ab-initio calculations, however, the team found that a unique OOR pattern that does not naturally exist would be able to facilitate the ferroelectricity, a powerful polarization at room temperature.

Biosynthesis is a multi-step, enzyme-catalyzed process where substrates are converted into more complex products in living organisms. In biosynthesis, simple compounds are modified, converted into other compounds, or joined together to form macromolecules. This process often consists of metabolic pathways. Some of these biosynthetic pathways are located within a single cellular organelle, while others involve enzymes that are located within multiple cellular organelles. Examples of these biosynthetic pathways include the production of lipid membrane components and nucleotides.

Xenobiology is a subfield of synthetic biology, the study of synthesizing and manipulating biological devices and systems.

Synthetic Biology combines disciplines from within these domains, such as biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, molecular engineering, systems biology, membrane science, biophysics, chemical and biological engineering, electrical and computer engineering, control engineering and evolutionary biology. Synthetic biology applies these disciplines to build artificial biological systems for research, engineering and medical applications

Biocompatibility refers to the ability of a material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific situation.

Biocompatible Material is any substance that has been engineered to interact with biological systems for a medical purpose - either a therapeutic (treat, augment, repair or replace a tissue function of the body) or a diagnostic one.

Metallic Wood has the Strength of Titanium and the Density of Water. Researchers have built a sheet of nickel with nanoscale pores that make it as strong as titanium but four to five times lighter. Because roughly 70 percent of the resulting material is empty space, this nickel-based metallic wood's density is extremely low in relation to its strength. With a density on par with water's, a brick of the material would float.

Mimicry is a similarity of one organism, usually an animal, to another that has evolved because the resemblance is selectively favoured by the behaviour of a shared signal receiver that can respond to both. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry evolves to protect a species from predators, making it an antipredator adaptation. The resemblances that evolve in mimicry can be in appearance, behaviour, sound or scent. Mimicry may be to the advantage of both organisms that share a resemblance, in which case it is a mutualism, or mimicry can be to the detriment of one, making it parasitic or competitive. Conformity.

This Sea Creature Does an Awesome Hermit Crab Impression | National Geographic (youtube) - Cuttlefish and other cephalopods are known to use camouflage and mimicry in the wild.

Mimesis is the imitative representation of nature and human behavior in art and literature. Any disease that shows symptoms characteristic of another disease. The representation of another person's words in a speech.

Lawrence Hall of Science - Transgenesis

Craig Venter is an American biotechnologist, biochemist, geneticist, and entrepreneur. He is known for being one of the first to sequence the human genome.

Nervous System Generative Design Studio

Nano Technologies - Atoms

Living Machines is form of ecological sewage treatment designed to mimic the cleansing functions of wetlands. Similar to Solar Aquatics Systems, the latest generation of the technology is based on fixed-film ecology and the ecological processes of a natural tidal wetland, one of nature’s most productive ecosystems. The diversity of the ecosystem produced with this approach allows operational advantages over earlier generations of Living Machines and over conventional waste water treatment technologies.

Floating wetlands Water Treatment

Living Machines - Living Machine

Mimicking moth eyes to produce transparent anti-reflective coatings. Scientists develop a simple and scalable strategy to produce resin films with anti-reflective nanostructures--inspired by eyes of moths. Though researchers have managed to mimic this structure to produce anti-reflective coatings, current techniques are not easily scalable. Now, researchers have devised a strategy to produce large area moth-eye transparent films that greatly reduce reflectance and improve transmittance. These films could be used to better the visibility of screens and enhance the performance of solar panels.

Todd Ecological - Toilets

Bioaccumulation

Bioadhesive are natural polymeric materials that act as adhesives. The term is sometimes used more loosely to describe a glue formed synthetically from biological monomers such as sugars, or to mean a synthetic material designed to adhere to biological tissue.

Mussel Adhesive Proteins

Strongest Artificial Spider Silk Synthesized with Cellulose from Wood

Green method developed for making artificial spider silk ‘spun’ from a material that is 98% water

Nature's Toughest Substances Decoded. Natural composites of nanoscale arrangements of hard platelets connected by soft matrix materials and arranged in overlapping brick-and-mortar, bouligand or other architectures. Engineers develop computer maps to help design shell-like platelet-matrix composites synthetic multifunctional layered composites.

Australian Bee hylaeus genus, produces a “cellophane-like” material for its nests that is water-repellent, resistant to flames, high temperatures and strong chemicals and biodegradable. This could help to end the world’s reliance on disposable plastics. A Biotech company in NZ, Humble Bee, is trying to reverse-engineer the material in the hope of mass producing it as an alternative to plastic on a large scale and at a competitive price.

Cellulose is mainly used to produce paperboard and paper. Smaller quantities are converted into a wide variety of derivative products such as cellophane and rayon. Conversion of cellulose from energy crops into biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol is under investigation as an alternative fuel source. Cellulose for industrial use is mainly obtained from wood pulp and cotton. Some animals, particularly ruminants and termites, can digest cellulose with the help of symbiotic micro-organisms that live in their guts, such as Trichonympha. In human nutrition, cellulose is a non-digestible constituent of insoluble dietary fiber, acting as a hydrophilic bulking agent for feces and potentially aiding in defecation.

Bio Fuels - Cold Fusion - Bio-Plastics (composites) - Consumer Safety - Green Building

"If rubber is the material that opened the way to the ground, aluminum is the one that opened the way to the sky."

Terpene Syntheses

Terpene are a large and diverse class of organic compounds, produced by a variety of plants, particularly conifers, and by some insects. They often have a strong odor and may protect the plants that produce them by deterring herbivores and by attracting predators and parasites of herbivores. Although sometimes used interchangeably with "terpenes", terpenoids (or isoprenoids) are modified terpene as they containing additional functional groups, usually oxygen-containing. Terpenes are hydrocarbons.

Films about Biomimicry

NatureTech (youtube)
Fiorenzo Omenetto: Silk (youtube)
Angela Belcher Bio Batteries (youtube)
Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in Action (video)
Michael Pawlyn: Using Nature's Genius (video)
Neri Oxman: Design at the intersection of technology and biology (video and text)
Fashion has a Pollution Problem — can Biology fix it? (video and text)

Chitin is a long-chain polymer of an N-acetylglucosamine, a derivative of glucose, and is found in many places throughout the natural world. It is a characteristic component of the cell walls of fungi, the exoskeletons of arthropods such as crustaceans (e.g., crabs, lobsters and shrimps) and insects, the radulae of molluscs, and the beaks and internal shells of cephalopods, including squid and octopuses and on the scales and other soft tissues of fish and lissamphibians. The structure of chitin is comparable to the polysaccharide cellulose, forming crystalline nanofibrils or whiskers. In terms of function, it may be compared to the protein keratin. Chitin has proved versatile for several medicinal, industrial and biotechnological purposes.

Chitosan is a replacement for plastics that is 100 percent recyclable.

Building Material made from artificial Bone and Eggshell. Emissions caused by air travel are significant, "far more are caused by the production of concrete and steel. Bone is made of roughly half protein and half minerals: the former gives it structural stiffness and hardness, while the latted gives it toughness and resistance to damage. There's also the bonus that bones are able to heal themselves from light damage.

New kind of local food grows in your own kitchen: VTT’s CellPod is a home appliance that grows the ingredients for a healthy meal within a week from plant cells is no longer science fiction.

A semi-synthetic organism that stores and retrieves increased genetic information

Unnatural amino acid incorporation in E. coli: current and future applications in the design of therapeutic proteins.

How Automation Can Revolutionize Materials Research. Scientists have devised a system that combines robotics and artificial intelligence to fully automate the routine aspects of synthesizing, testing, and optimizing new materials according to fabrication conditions. Their approach can produce and test compounds ten times faster than scientists doing manual work, allowing for the rapid creation of huge shared databases. In turn, the autonomous system and database will be used to discover exotic material properties and new laws of physics. CASH stands for Connected, Autonomous, Shared, High-throughput.

Sorona is DuPont's brand of triexta (polytrimethylene terephthalate). It was named and commercialized in 2000. The fibers are claimed to be both soft and extremely stain resistant, while exhibiting high strength and stiffness.

Earth may be home to one trillion species. Largest-ever analysis of microbial data reveals an ecological law concluding 99.999 percent of species remain undiscovered. Human Microbes

"Life is a property of an ensemble of units that share information coded in a physical substrate and which, in the presence of noise, manages to keep its Entropy significantly lower than the maximal Entropy of the ensemble, on timescales exceeding the "Natural" timescale of the decay of the (information-bearing) substrate by many orders of magnitude".
C. Adami, Introduction to Artificial Life (1998).

Entropy and Life - Thermodynamics - Size Variations.