The Biology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained

Description

You don’t have to be a scientist to find this beginner’s biology book fascinating!  What is life? Why do bees dance? How do animals know their mothers?  Who discovered germs? Discover the living world, how it interacts with the environment, and stand in awe of the most interesting biology facts, theories, and discoveries. The Biology Book is written in simple English making complex biological ideas accessible to everyone! Whether you’re a student or lay-scientist, you’ll find these pages exciting and educational because it:       • Combines creative typography, graphics, and accessible text to explore the most famous and important ideas in biology and the people behind them    • Includes a directory section for easy localization    • Profiles more than 95 ideas and events key to the development of biology and the life sciences, with thought-provoking graphics throughout that demystify the central concepts behind each idea    • Features insightful and inspiring quotes from leading biologists and scientists, such as 2020 Nobel Laureates, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, as well as thinkers in other fields Learn everything you wanted to know about Biology Over the last few centuries, humans have been enamored by the world around us. Trace the history of scientific thought and meet the scientists who shaped the natural sciences, such as Carl Linnaeus, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Charles Darwin, and Gregor Mendel. From the mechanics of plants, animals, and the human body; to DNA and genetic inheritance; and the development of vaccines, explore the crucial discoveries to understand how our world works.    The Biology Book uncovers over 95 key ideas in the field of biology. Step by step flowcharts, diagrams, and accessible text will help demystify complex biological processes and help you enhance your understanding. This biology book also discusses current trends such as cloning, neuroscience, human evolution, and gene editing. Whether you’re new to the subject, a budding scientist, or keen to keep up with and understand current ethical and scientific debates, The Biology Book is for you.   Other educational knowledge titles Love what you see here? Look out for other titles in the series such as The History Book, The Astronomy Book, and The Science Book. Specially written to help make tricky concepts simple, they’re perfect for helping to mould and educate young minds. HOW TO USE THIS EBOOK INTRODUCTION LIFE A window into the body • Experimental physiology How feebly men have laboured in the field of Anatomy from the times of Galen • Anatomy Animals are machines • Animals are not like humans I can make urea without kidneys • Biochemicals can be made The true biological atom • The cellular nature of life All cells come from cells • How cells are produced Life is not a miracle • Making life Smaller cells reside inside the larger cells •Complex cells A flexible mosaic of gatekeepers • Cell membranes FOOD AND ENERGY Life is a chemical process • Metabolism Plants have a faculty to correct bad air • Photosynthesis The virtues of oranges and lemons • Essential nutrients The conversion of victuals into virtues • Digestion The saccharine, the oily, and the albuminous • Food groups A better element does not exist on which to base life • The beginnings of organic chemistry Life without free oxygen • Fermentation Cells are chemical factories • Enzymes as biological catalysts They must fit together like lock and key • How enzymes work The metabolic pathway that releases energy from food • Respiration Photosynthesis is the absolute prerequisite for all life • Reactions of photosynthesis TRANSPORT AND REGULATION It had a movement, as it were, in a circle • Circulation of the blood Blood passes through many windings • Capillaries The heart is simply a muscle • The heart muscle Plants imbibe and perspire • Plant transpiration Chemical messengers carried by the bloodstream • Hormones trigger responses The constant conditions might be termed equilibria • Homeostasis Air combining with the blood • Haemoglobin Oils upon the creaky machinery of life • Hormones help regulate the body The master chemists of our internal environment • Kidneys and excretion No auxin – no growth • Plant growth regulators The plant puts its fluids in motion • Plant translocation BRAIN AND BEHAVIOUR The muscles contracted into tonic convulsions • Excitable tissues The faculty of sensation, perception, and volition • The brain controls behaviour Three principal colours, red, yellow, and blue • Colour vision We speak with the left hemisphere • Speech and the brain The spark excites the action of the nerveo-muscular force • Electrical nerve impulses Instinct and learning go hand in hand • Innate and learned behaviour Cells with delicate and elegant shapes • Nerve cells Brain maps of man • Organization of the brain cortex The impulse within the nerve liberates chemical substances • Synapses A complete theory of how a muscle contracts • Muscle contraction Memory makes us who we are • Memory storage The object is held with two paws • Animals and tools HEALTH AND DISEASE Sickness is not sent by the gods • The natural basis of disease The dose makes the poison • Drugs and disease The microbes will have the last word • Germ theory The first object must be the destruction of any septic germs • Antisepsis Remove it, but it will spring up again • Cancer metastasis There are four different types of human blood • Blood groups A microbe to destroy other microbes • Antibiotics A piece of bad news wrapped in protein • Viruses There will be no more smallpox • Vaccination for preventing disease Antibodies are the touchstone of immunological theory • Immune response GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION The little animals of the sperm • The discovery of gametes Some organisms have dispensed with sexual reproduction • Asexual reproduction A plant, like an animal hath organical parts • Pollination From the most general forms the less general are developed • Epigenesis The union of egg-cell and spermatic cell • Fertilization The mother-cell divides equally between the daughter nuclei • Mitosis On this, the resemblance of a child to its parent depends • Meiosis First proof of the autonomy of life • Stem cells Master control genes • Embryological development The creation of the greatest happiness • In vitro fertilization Dolly, the first clone of an adult animal • Cloning INHERITANCE Ideas of species, inheritance, variation • The laws of inheritance The physical basis of heredity • Chromosomes The X element • Sex determination DNA is the transforming principle • The chemicals of inheritance One gene – one enzyme • What are genes? I could turn a developing snail’s egg into an elephant • Jumping genes Two interwoven spiral staircases • The double helix DNA embodies the genetic code of all living organisms • The genetic code A cut, paste, and copy operation • Genetic engineering The sequence of the beast • Sequencing DNA The first draft of the human book of life • The Human Genome Project Genetic scissors: a tool for rewriting the code of life • Gene editing DIVERSITY OF LIFE AND EVOLUTION The first step is to know the things themselves • Naming and classifying life Relics of a primeval world • Extinct species Animals have in course of time been profoundly altered • Life evolves The strongest live and the weakest die • Natural selection Mutations yield new and constant forms • Mutation Natural selection spreads favourable mutations • Modern synthesis Drastic change occurs in an isolated population • Speciation All true classification is genealogical • Cladistics The clock-like property of evolution • The molecular clock We are survival machines • Selfish genes The extinction coincides with the impact • Mass extinctions ECOLOGY All Bodies have some Dependance upon one another • Food chains Animals of one continent are not found in another • Plant and animal biogeography The interaction of habitat, life forms, and species • Community succession A competition between prey and a predatory species • Predator–prey relationships Living matter is incessantly moving, decomposing, and reforming • Recycling and natural cycles One will crowd out the other • Competitive Exclusion Principle The basic units of nature on Earth • Ecosystems Networks through which energy is flowing • Trophic levels An organism’s niche is its profession • Niches Man’s war against nature is inevitably war against himself • Human impact on ecosystems Division of area by ten divides the fauna by two • Island biogeography Gaia is the superorganism composed of all life • The Gaia hypothesis DIRECTORY GLOSSARY QUOTE ATTRIBUTIONS CONTRIBUTORS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS COPYRIGHT