BIO 100: Chapter 1
Characteristics of Living Things
1 Assimilate energy. 2 Respond to their environment. 3 Maintain a relatively constant internal environment. 4 Reproduce. 5 Possess an inherited information base, encoded in DNA, that allows them to function. 6 Are composed of one or more cells. 7 Living things are adapted - have capacity to evolve. 8 Are highly organized compared to inanimate objects.
Rejected Hypothesis
A hypothesis that fails our test
Supported Hypothesis
A hypothesis that passes A hypothesis that passes, but not proven
Independent variables
A variable that a scientist changes to find out how this change affects other variables in the experiment.
Scientific Method Step 5
Conclusion
Experiment
Contrived situations that are the most powerful way to test hypotheses.
Scientific Method Step 4
Experiment
Variable
Factors that can change in value under different conditions
Scientific Method Step 3
Hypothesis
Observation
Leads to the formulation of a question about the natural world
Life Is Hierarchical
Life is organized in a hierarchical manner, ranging in increasing complexity from atoms to molecules to organelles, cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and the biosphere.
Scientific Method Step 1
Observation
Hypothesis
Proposed explanation for one or more observations. Testable and potentially falsifiable
Scientific Method Step 2
Question
Evolution
The gradual modification of populations of living things over time. This modification sometimes results in the development of new species.
Dependent variables
The outcome factor -- the variable that may change in response to manipulations of the independent variable
Alternative Hypothesis
The reason a hypothesis that passes, but not proven
Biology
The study of life
Life Sciences
a set of disciplines that focus on varying aspects of the living world. Which include biology and related disciplines such as medicine and forestry
Control
a subject who is not exposed to the experimental treatment
Science
a way of learning; a process of coming to understand the natural world through observation and the testing of hypotheses.
Theory
is a general set of principles, supported by evidence, that explains some aspect of nature.
Controlled experiment
tests the effect of a single variable
