biology

Also known as biological science, biological sciences, life sciences, study of life, life science, bio

Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of life. Central to biology are five fundamental themes: the cell as the basic unit of life, genes and heredity as the basis of inheritance, evolution as the driver of biological diversity, energy transformation for sustaining life processes, and the maintenance of internal stability (homeostasis).

AI overview

Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms, covering everything from how they're structured and how they function to how they evolved and spread across the world. It matters because it helps us understand the fundamental principles that unite all living things—including how cells work as life's basic building blocks, how traits pass between generations, why species change over time, and how organisms stay alive and stable.

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Research

2,824,678 papers

The evolution of molecular biology.ReviewEMBO reports · 2004Kellenberger EDOI: 10.1038/sj.embor.7400180
Developmental and stem cell biology's bright future.Cell · 2024Lewis J, Schuh M, Hanna JH et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.037
Future Challenges in Plant Systems Biology.ReviewMethods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Lucas MDOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1816-5_16
Molecular biology of atherosclerosis.ReviewInternational journal of cardiology · 1997Libby P, Sukhova G, Lee RT et al.DOI: 10.1016/s0167-5273(97)00238-6
Seeking Biology's Physics Stories: Simplify, Simplify.ReviewAnnual review of biophysics · 2026Dill KADOI: 10.1146/annurev-biophys-022224-110227
2023 at PLOS Biology.PLoS biology · 2023PLOS Biology Staff EditorsDOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002474
Systems Biology-an interdisciplinary approach.ReviewBiosensors & bioelectronics · 2005Friboulet A, Thomas DDOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2004.11.014
A new biology for a new century.ReviewMicrobiology and molecular biology reviews : MMBR · 2004Woese CRDOI: 10.1128/MMBR.68.2.173-186.2004

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Wikidata facts

Image: Biology-0001.jpg

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Commons category: Biology
Stack Exchange site URL: biology.stackexchange.com
Stack Exchange tag: esperanto.stackexchange.com/tags/biology
hashtag: biology
NCI Thesaurus ID: C16345

Sources (12)

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~56 min read

Article

40 sections

Contents

Etymology
History
Chemical basis
Atoms and molecules
Water
Organic compounds
Macromolecules
Cells
Cell structure
Metabolism
Cellular respiration
Photosynthesis
Cell signaling
Cell cycle
Sexual reproduction and meiosis
Genetics
Inheritance
Genes and DNA
Gene expression
Gene regulation
Genes, development, and evolution
Evolution
Evolutionary processes
Speciation
Phylogeny
History of life
Diversity
Bacteria and Archaea
Eukaryotes
Viruses
Ecology
Ecosystems
Populations
Communities
Biosphere
Conservation
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Biology examines life across multiple levels of organization, from molecules and cells to organisms, populations, and ecosystems. Subdisciplines include molecular biology, physiology, ecology, evolutionary biology, developmental biology, and systematics, among others. Each of these fields applies a range of methods to investigate biological phenomena, including observation, experimentation, and mathematical modeling. Modern biology is grounded in the theory of evolution by natural selection, first articulated by Charles Darwin, and in the molecular understanding of genes encoded in DNA. The discovery of the structure of DNA and advances in molecular genetics have transformed many areas of biology, leading to applications in medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, and environmental science.