Download Biology
Breanne Meisenheimer
Biologists are able to study life at multiple levels of organization,[1] from the molecular biology of a cell to the anatomy and physiology of plants and animals, and evolution of populations.[1][6] Hence, there are multiple subdisciplines within biology, each defined by the nature of their research questions and the tools that they use.[7][8][9] Like other scientists, biologists use the scientific method to make observations, pose questions, generate hypotheses, perform experiments, and form conclusions about the world around them.[1]
The basis for modern genetics began with the work of Gregor Mendel in 1865.[26] This outlined the principles of biological inheritance.[27] However, the significance of his work was not realized until the early 20th century when evolution became a unified theory as the modern synthesis reconciled Darwinian evolution with classical genetics.[28] In the 1940s and early 1950s, a series of experiments by Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase pointed to DNA as the component of chromosomes that held the trait-carrying units that had become known as genes. A focus on new kinds of model organisms such as viruses and bacteria, along with the discovery of the double-helical structure of DNA by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953, marked the transition to the era of molecular genetics. From the 1950s onwards, biology has been vastly extended in the molecular domain. The genetic code was cracked by Har Gobind Khorana, Robert W. Holley and Marshall Warren Nirenberg after DNA was understood to contain codons. The Human Genome Project was launched in 1990 to map the human genome.[29]
All organisms are made up of chemical elements;[30] oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen account for most (96%) of the mass of all organisms, with calcium, phosphorus, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium constituting essentially all the remainder. Different elements can combine to form compounds such as water, which is fundamental to life.[30] Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including molecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions.
Gene expression is the molecular process by which a genotype encoded in DNA gives rise to an observable phenotype in the proteins of an organism's body. This process is summarized by the central dogma of molecular biology, which was formulated by Francis Crick in 1958.[70][71][72] According to the Central Dogma, genetic information flows from DNA to RNA to protein. There are two gene expression processes: transcription (DNA to RNA) and translation (RNA to protein).[73]
Evolution is a central organizing concept in biology. It is the change in heritable characteristics of populations over successive generations.[82][83] In artificial selection, animals were selectively bred for specific traits.[84] Given that traits are inherited, populations contain a varied mix of traits, and reproduction is able to increase any population, Darwin argued that in the natural world, it was nature that played the role of humans in selecting for specific traits.[84] Darwin inferred that individuals who possessed heritable traits better adapted to their environments are more likely to survive and produce more offspring than other individuals.[84] He further inferred that this would lead to the accumulation of favorable traits over successive generations, thereby increasing the match between the organisms and their environment.[85][86][87][84][88]
Conservation biology is the study of the conservation of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions.[160][161][162] It is concerned with factors that influence the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biodiversity and the science of sustaining evolutionary processes that engender genetic, population, species, and ecosystem diversity.[163][164][165][166] The concern stems from estimates suggesting that up to 50% of all species on the planet will disappear within the next 50 years,[167] which has contributed to poverty, starvation, and will reset the course of evolution on this planet.[168][169] Biodiversity affects the functioning of ecosystems, which provide a variety of services upon which people depend. Conservation biologists research and educate on the trends of biodiversity loss, species extinctions, and the negative effect these are having on our capabilities to sustain the well-being of human society. Organizations and citizens are responding to the current biodiversity crisis through conservation action plans that direct research, monitoring, and education programs that engage concerns at local through global scales.[170][163][164][165]
Our faculty, research scientists, and graduate and undergraduate students are exploring everything from ecosystems to microbiology and developmental biology; evolution to cell biology; molecular biology to systems biology, bioinformatics, and genomics. Together, we explore the breadth of biological questions and experimental systems.
The Biology exam covers material that is usually taught in a one-year college general biology course. The subject matter tested covers the broad field of the biological sciences, organized into three major areas: molecular and cellular biology, organismal biology, and population biology.
The Department of Biology offers a rigorous undergraduate and five-year program.
Students develop a detailed, nuanced view of biology; integrating knowledge at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels.
Duke Biology is one of the few broad Biology Departments in the country, providing students, faculty, and staff with the opportunity to learn and perform research in a highly integrative and interactive setting. Our department hosts over 50 faculty, studying areas spanning developmental biology, cell biology, molecular biology, ecology, evolution, organismal biology, and genomics.
For students who want to combine the study of biology with another discipline, there are four interdisciplinary majors: molecular biology, neuroscience, environmental analysis, and public policy analysis in biology.
Modern biology studies life at all scales from individual molecules to single cells, whole organisms and global ecological networks. Faculty and students at Yale explore all of these scales of life using a variety of techniques and methods drawn from traditional biology as well as from chemistry, physics, mathematics, engineering and medicine.
The study of biology spans multiple Departments, Centers, Institutes, and Programs at Yale University, which reach across the University from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and the West Campus (WC).
As a biology major at Bucknell, you'll get to know our internationally recognized faculty in small, intimate classes. Then you'll broaden your interests and peer in closer by working shoulder to shoulder with those professors as you examine the nature of life.
As a biology major, you might accompany your professors on a field expedition to study seabirds in Alaska, wild eggplants in Australia, giant salamanders in Japan, or bats, bees, and lightning bugs here in Pennsylvania.
The Department of Biology offers both a bachelor of arts requiring eight biology courses and a bachelor of science requiring nine biology courses. Students in the bachelor of arts program may choose to specialize in cellular/molecular, organismal or ecological/evolutionary biology. Both degree programs emphasize laboratory techniques and encourage students to participate in independent, faculty-guided research projects.
Bucknell's biology department has access to the deep resources of a research-focused institution, including an imaging center with an environmental scanning electron microscope, advanced molecular biology and physiology labs that include DNA sequencing and typing capabilities, an animal behavior facility housing four species of primates, an herbarium with 20,000 plants and an on-campus farm. And because we're an undergraduate-focused university, all of our students have opportunities to use them all.
Each summer, a significant number of biology students spend eight to 10 weeks on campus pursuing independent research projects or offering valuable aid to professors in faculty-guided research. These students receive free on-campus housing and a living stipend during their research fellowship, allowing them the freedom to fully devote their time to investigating an area of their own interest.
At Bucknell, you don't have to be a biology major to study biology. Our biology curriculum includes courses from other science and liberal arts disciplines, and our faculty are active contributors to other programs and interdisciplinary courses, research studies and activities. In addition to biology, students interested in the life sciences should explore the following areas of study:
Bucknell University undergraduate students traveled to with biology professors Sarah Lower and Gregory Pask to western Pennsylvania to do research and scientific outreach to the general public at the annual Pennsylvania Firefly Festival.
Students should consult the catalog of the school they plan to attend in order to include in their undergraduate programs any special prerequisites not included in the biology curriculum. The pre professional adviser helps students prepare for entrance into their desired professions. It should be noted that the majority of the students accepted to graduate schools have completed four years of undergraduate work.
Ability to write and communicate science: Writing enhances the presentation; Writing is consistently well written; Writing communicates clearly using the language of biology; Writing displays an excellent command of writing mechanics; Topics are clearly organized; Topics are covered in-depth; Topics display an abundance of original ideas; APA style is used consistently and accurately without any errors.
dca57bae1f