Reminders
• Lab safety packet due Next lab day!
• Test on Friday- 9/18
• Characteristics of Life poster due Thursday
9/17.
• Read through Chapter 1-3.
Imagine yourself as a scientist
3 Goals of Science:
1. Find Explanations
2. Identify Patterns
3. Make Predictions
Biology: the science
of life and living
organisms.
All life is made of cells
– Cell is the smallest unit that is considered living
– Organisms can be multicellular or unicellular
– Cells of multicellular organisms have a specific
structure and function
All life contains DNA
– All living cells have DNA which contains genes
– A gene is a segment of DNA that provides instructions
to the cell on making proteins
– The proteins produced determine your genetic traits
– Different traits
are caused by
different
proteins
which is
caused by a
different DNA
sequence.
All life transforms energy
Metabolism: the chemical reactions that occur within a
living organism in order to maintain life.
– Photosynthesis: The process where cells convert
energy from the sun into sugar.
– Cellular Respiration:
The process where
cells convert energy
from sugar into a
form of energy the
cell can use.
All life maintains internal balance
• Homeostasis: the ability to maintain a constant internal
environment in response to environmental changes.
– Cells can only function properly in the correct
environment
– How does your body respond to being too cold?
– How does
your body
respond to an
increase in
sugar?
All life reproduces
• Reproduction: the process where new organisms
(offspring) are produced from parent organisms.
– Asexual reproduction: identical cells are created
through the process of mitosis and cell division
– Sexual Reproduction:
non-identical sperm
and egg cells are
created through the
process of meiosis.
– Only organisms
capable of sexual
reproduction can
evolve.
All life responds to its environment
• Ecology: the study of interactions between
organisms and their environment.
– Everything in nature is interconnected
– Manipulating a single variable in an environment can
have unforeseen consequences
All life must be able to evolve
• Evolution: a genetic change in a population that is
inherited over several generation.
– The genetic change increased the organisms ability to
survive and reproduce in the environment.
– Populations who cannot evolve go extinct when the
environment changes.
– Evolution occurs
when individuals
beneficial genetic
traits survive and
reproduce and
individuals without
the traits die.