Biology is the branch of science dealing with the study of life. It is concerned with the characteristics, classification, and behaviors of organisms, how species come into existence, and the interactions they have with each other and with the environment. Biology encompasses a broad spectrum of academic fields that are often viewed as independent disciplines. However, together they address phenomena related to living organisms (biological phenomena) over a wide range of scales, from biochemistry to ecology. All concepts in biology are subject to the same laws that other branches of science obey, such as the laws of thermodynamics and conservation of mass.

At the organism level, biology has explained phenomena such as birth, growth, aging, death and decay of living organisms, similarities between offspring and their parents (heredity) and flowering of plants which have puzzled humanity throughout history. Other phenomena, such as lactation, metamorphosis, egg-hatching, healing, and tropism have been addressed. On a wider scale of time and space, biologists have studied domestication of animals and plants, the wide variety of living organisms (biodiversity), changes in living organisms over time (evolution), extinction, speciation, social behaviour among animals, etc.

More on [ Biology ]

PLoS Medicine: New Articles

Documenting Mortality in Crises: What Keeps Us from Doing Better?
Francesco Checchi and Les Roberts discuss how mortality among crisis-affected populations is currently documented, barriers to better documentation, and how these barriers might be overcome.
Immunological Outcomes of New Tuberculosis Vaccine Trials: WHO Panel Recommendations
Willem Hanekom and colleagues make recommendations on assay harmonization for novel tuberculosis vaccine trials.
A 58-Year-Old Woman with Abdominal Symptoms and Elevated C-Reactive Protein
Babak Javid and colleagues discuss the differential diagnosis, investigation, and management of a woman with abdominal symptoms and a raised C-reactive protein.
Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys
Louisa Degenhardt and colleagues report an international survey of 17 countries that finds clear differences in drug use across different regions of the world.
The Effect of Delaying Childbirth on Primary Cesarean Section Rates
Gordon Smith and colleagues find a linear increase in the log odds of cesarean delivery with advancing maternal age from 16 years upwards, and that increasing maternal age is associated with reduced spontaneous uterine activity but increased multiphasic spontaneous myometrial contractions.

EurekAlert! - Biology

UCLA researchers clarify function of glucose transport molecule
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
(University of California - Los Angeles) UCLA scientists have solved the structure of a class of proteins known as sodium glucose co-transporters, which pump glucose into cells. The solution of the SGLT structure will accelerate development of new drugs designed to treat patients with diabetes and cancer. The journal Science publishes the findings.
New study points to agriculture in frog sexual abnormalities
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
(University of Florida) A farm irrigation canal would seem a healthier place for toads than a ditch by a supermarket parking lot.But University of Florida scientists have found the opposite is true. In a study with wide implications for a longstanding debate over whether agricultural chemicals pose a threat to amphibians, UF zoologists have found that toads in suburban areas are less likely to suffer from reproductive system abnormalities than toads near farms -- where some had both testes and ovaries
'Mind's eye' influences visual perception
Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400
(Vanderbilt University) Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery -- what we see with the "mind's eye" -- directly impacts our visual perception.

Subscribe to Biology RSS feed