biology
Sign in to saveBiology 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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Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- academic major
- Subclass of
- life sciences
- Has part
- biophysics
- Image
- Biology-0001.jpg
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- P1151
- Portal:Biology
- P910
- Category:Biology
- P2578
- organism
- P1343
- Pax Leksikon
Article
40 sectionsContents
- 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 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).
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.