Rikunarita-ORG/Wikinium huggingface dataset:
# Chemical biology

**Chemical biology** is a science that combines the fields of chemistry and biology. It involves the application of chemical techniques and tools, often compounds produced through synthetic chemistry, to the study and manipulation of biological systems.

It is different from biochemistry. Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry of biological molecules. For example, a biochemist studies the three-dimensional structure of a protein and how that structure relates to the chemistry of the protein. Also, biochemistry studies the way enzymes work. Chemical biologists use chemical principles to modulate systems. They do this to either investigate biology relationships or create new functions. In this way, the research done by chemical biologists is often closer to that of cell biology than biochemistry. Biochemists work in the chemistry of biology, but chemical biologists work in chemistry applied to biology.

## Other websites

* Chemical Biology - BioChemWeb.org Archived 2013-08-12 at the Wayback Machine
* Chemical Biology Doctoral Training Centre, Imperial College London Archived 2008-06-30 at the Wayback Machine
# Biological rhythms

**Biological rhythms** are the repeating cycles of activity which occur in living organisms. The best-known example is the daily or *circadian rhythm*, which fits the cycle of day and night.

Most forms of life have natural rhythms which fit them to natural changes in their environment. Animals are most active in part of the day, and rest or sleep at other times. They may be:

* Diurnal, which describes organisms active during daytime
* Nocturnal, active in the night
* Crepuscular, active during the dawn and dusk hours.

Plants undergo daily cycles as well. Photosynthesis has parts which need light, called light-dependent reactions, and parts which can continue at night (light-independent reactions).

Many other important cycles are also studied, including:

* cycles longer than a day, such as the annual migration or reproduction cycles found in certain animals or the human menstrual cycle.
* cycles shorter than 24 hours, such as the 90-minute REM cycle, the 4-hour nasal cycle, or the 3-hour cycle of growth hormone production.
* Tidal rhythms are often seen in marine life, which follow the roughly 12.4-hour transition from high to low tide and back.
* Lunar rhythms, which follow the lunar month (29.5 days). They are relevant for marine life, as the level of the tides is affected by the lunar cycle.
* Gene oscillations – some genes are expressed more during certain hours of the day than during other hours.

## Relaate pages

* Homeostasis
# Computational biology

**Computational biology** is a field of active research that studies problems in biology that need algorithms or statistics.

Many people who work in computational biology are trained in biology, biophysics, bioinformatics, engineering, physics, statistics, or chemistry.
# Cytogenetics

**Cytogenetics** is the branch of genetics which deals with cytology: cell structure and function. It includes the study of chromosomes, chromosome bands, karyotypes, and cell division, especially meiosis. Cytogenetic studies have also been used to study evolution in natural populations.
# Dendrology

Many kinds of woody plants are studied by dendrologists.
**Dendrology** is the science of trees and other woody plants (plants that make wood) such as shrubs or lianas. The word "dendrology" comes from Greek words δένδρον meaning "tree" and λόγος meaning "study".

Botany and dendrology are not very different, since woody plants come from many different plant families. Those families can also have species that are not woody. Dendrology usually focuses on identifying woody plants that are bought and sold. It also focuses on how all the woody plants taxonomically relate to each other. Dendrologists study species that are native in the area, and species that are not native in the area.

Dendrology used to include the natural history of woody species in specific areas, but that is now under ecology. Dendrologists also help to conserve woody plants that are endangered.
# Freshwater biology

**Freshwater biology** is the study of plants and animals that live in fresh water. This includes rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes and other bodies of water. It is part of the branch of science called Limnology.

Much freshwater biology takes place in man-made places such as sewage treatment works and water treatment works. In these places water is purified using plants and animals. Keeping them working as hard as possible helps to make the water as cleaner.

In recent times freshwater biologists have been looking at how plants and animals change in the autumn and spring. This is helping us to understand more about the effects of climate change.
# Genomics

**Genomics** is the part of genetics which studies the genomes of organisms. This includes the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping. The field also includes studies of genes working together. Examples are heterosis, epistasis, pleiotropy and other interactions between loci and alleles within the genome.

Genomics applies recombinant DNA, DNA sequencing methods, and bioinformatics to sequence, assemble, and analyze the function and structure of genomes. This is the *complete* set of DNA within a single cell of an organism). In contrast, the investigation of the roles and functions of single genes is a primary focus of molecular biology or genetics and is a common topic of modern medical and biological research. Research of single genes unless it involves the entire genome.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has a somewhat broader definition:

"The term "genomics" encompasses a broader scope of scientific inquiry associated technologies than when genomics was initially considered. A genome is the sum total of all an individual organism's genes. Thus, genomics is the study of all the genes of a cell, or tissue, at the DNA (genotype), mRNA (transcriptome), or protein (proteome) levels".
# Gerontology

**Gerontology** (from Greek: γέρων, *geron*, "old man" and -λογία, *-logy*, "study of") is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging created by Ilya Mechnikov. It is distinguished from *geriatrics*, which is the branch of medicine that studies the disease of the elderly.

Elizabeth II, born 21 April 1926.
Gerontology includes these and other endeavors:

* investigating the aging process itself (*biogerontology*);
* investigating the interface of normal aging and age-related disease (*geroscience*);
* investigating the effects of our aging population on society, including the fiscal effects of pensions, entitlements, life and health insurance, and retirement planning;
* applying this knowledge to policies and programs, i.e. government planning or running a nursing home.

## Biogerontology

*Biogerontology* is the subfield of gerontology dedicated to studying the biological processes of aging. It includes *Biomedical gerontology,* also known as *experimental gerontology* and *life extension*, is a sub discipline of biogerontology that endeavors to slow, prevent, and even reverse aging in both humans and animals. Curing age-related diseases is one approach, and slowing down the underlying processes of aging with the help of physical exercises is another. Most "life extensionists" believe the human life span can be altered within the 21st century.

## Social gerontology

*Social gerontology* is a multi-disciplinary sub-field that specializes in studying or working with older adults. Social gerontologists may have degrees or training in social work, nursing, psychology, sociology, demography, gerontology, or other social science disciplines. Social gerontologists are responsible for educating, researching, and advancing the broader causes of older people by giving informative presentations, publishing books and articles that pertain to the aging population, producing relevant films and television programs, and producing new graduates of these various disciplines in college and university settings.

## Some academic resources

* *Ageing & Society*, eISSN: 1710-1107 ISSN 0714-9808, *Cambridge University Press*
* *Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics*, ISSN: 0167-4943, *Elsevier*
* *Educational Gerontology*, eISSN: 1521-0472 ISSN 0360-1277, *Routledge*
* *Experimental Gerontology*, ISSN: 0531-5565, *Elsevier*
* *Geriatrics & Gerontology International*, eISSN: 1447-0594 ISSN 1444-1586, *Japan Geriatrics Society*
* *Gerontology*, eISSN: 1423-0003 ISSN 0304-324X, *Karger*
* *Gerontology & Geriatrics Education*, eISSN: 1545-3847 ISSN 0270-1960, *Routledge*
* *Journal of Aging Studies*, ISSN: 0890-4065, *Elsevier*
* *International Journal of Gerontology*, ISSN: 1873-9598, *Elsevier*
* *Journal of Applied Gerontology*, eISSN: 1552-4523 Archived 2010-05-14 at the Wayback Machine ISSN 0733-4648, *SAGE Publications*

## Related pages

* Life expectancy
* Longevity
* Exercise
# Herpetology

**Herpetology** is the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians. It is about cold-blooded animals like salamanders, frogs, toads, snakes, lizards, turtles, tuataras and crocodilians.

## Herp

"Herp" is a vernacular term for reptiles and amphibians. It is derived from the old term "herpetile". Linnaeus grouped reptiles and amphibians together in the same class, and that is where the term comes from. The term has persisted, particularly in the names of herpetology, the scientific study of reptiles and amphibians, and herpetoculture, the captive care and breeding of reptiles and amphibians. There are over 6700 species of amphibians and over 9000 species of reptiles.

## Batrachology

**Batrachology** is the study of amphibians. Batrachology can also mean that a person enjoys amphibians and are among their favorite pets.
# Human biology

**Human biology** is part of biology, biological anthropology, and medicine. It looks at humans. It is related to primate biology, and some other areas.

Human biology research includes:

* Genetic differences across human populations, present and past
* Biological differences related to climate and other elements of the natural environment
* Finding the risk of degenerative disease and infectious disease for different populations of people
* Human growth and development

It deals with human evolution, adaptation, and population genetics.

## Other websites

* Human Biology Association
* Society for the Study of Human Biology Symposium Series Archived 2010-02-12 at the Wayback Machine

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# Marine biology

**Marine biology** is the study of any living plant or animal in the sea. Marine biologists study it. Like other scientists, marine biologists must know a lot about the creatures they are studying. They also must understand how the sea works. The study of how the sea works is oceanography.

Marine animals include squids, corals, whales and fish. Marine plants include sea grasses and algae. The Census of Marine Life was a ten-year project of marine biology. Like land animals, marine animals have been evolving for hundreds of millions of years, thus trilobites and ammonites are no more, but now there are whales. Biologists also study animal behavior.

A marine biologist needs a bachelor's degree in biology, followed by at least an MSc in marine biology. The ocean is large and marine biologists work in many subfields like invertebrate zoology, ichthyology, and physiology. Others study physical traits like scales, eyes, or shells.

## History

During the Age of Discovery many ships sailed far from home. Captain James Cook went twice around the world and discovered new places. Another person who helped is Charles Darwin, known for the Theory of Evolution. He worked in marine biology. His expeditions aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831–1836 collected marine organisms. Several other people also made important voyages. Alfred Russel Wallace spent much of his younger life travelling the world and recording the plants and animals he saw.

## Other websites

* What is a marine biologist? -Careers
* What is marine biology? Archived 2019-05-23 at the Wayback Machine -University of Texas
* Marine biology -Citizendium
# Mammalogy

**Mammalogy** is the study of the mammals. Mammalogy has also been known as "**mastology**," "**theriology**," and "**therology**."

Mammals are a group of vertebrate animals. There are about 4,200 different species of animals which are considered mammals. The major branches to study in the mammalogy career include:

* natural history
* taxonomy and systematics
* anatomy and physiology
* ethology
* ecology
* management and control

The approximate salary of a mammalogist varies from $20,000 to $60,000 a year, depending on their experience. Mammalogists are typically involved in activities such as conducting research, managing personnel, and writing proposals.
# Microbiology

**Microbiology** - (Greek μικρός, mikrós, „tiny“, βίος, bíos, „life“ and λόγος, lógos, „science“) is a science in the composition of biology, which is occupied by the study of microorganisms (bacterium, (archaebacteria), microscopic fungi, protozoa,alga,and viruses). Microbiology studies the systematics, morphology, physiology, biochemistry, evolution, ecological roles, and practical uses of microorganisms. Medical microbiology is also part of microbiology.

Different parts of microbiology can be classified into pure and applied sciences.  Microbiology can be also classified by taxonomy, as in the cases of bacteriology, mycology, protozoology, and phycology. There is considerable overlap of the specific branches of microbiology with each other and with other disciplines. Certain aspects of these branches can extend beyond the traditional scope of microbiology

Leeuwenhoek on a Netherlands postage stamp
C.Ehrenberg
## History

In 1665, Robert Hooke saw that cork was made up of little cubes that he named cells. Later Anton van Leeuwenhoek made the important connection that cells are living things when he saw through his early microscope smallest one-celled organisms. Later Christian Ehrenberg found that protista or bacteria were different kinds of cells. In the late part of the 1800s Martinus Beijerinck showed that there were small particles called viruses.

Another important change in the study of microorganisms came from the discovery of DNA and RNA. This allowed using a vector to change the inside of a cell without killing it. One recent discovery that changed the study of microbiology is the discovery of transposons or jumping genes. Another one is the discovery of animal genes in the cells.

cork *Micrographia* 1665
# Osteology

**Osteology** is the scientific study of bones, practiced by **osteologists**. It is a part of anatomy and is used by workers in palaeontology, anthropology, and archeology.

Osteology studies the skeleton, and other bony structures. It includes the study of the structure of bones, teeth, their function and growth. It is often used by scientists for the identification of vertebrate remains, including the age, death, sex, and development.
# Ornithology

**Ornithology** is the study of birds. A person who studies birds is called an **ornithologist**.

## Aspects

Several aspects of ornithology differ from other disciplines, because they are easy to see and are often attractive. Many studies of birds have been done by amateurs working in a scientific manner.

## History

Konrad Gesner wrote his *Vogelbuch* and *Icones avium omnium* around 1557. Later, England developed a tradition of ornithology. Francis Willughby, John Ray, Gilbert White, John Gould (who studied the birds of Australia) and Peter Scott are good examples.

## What ornithologists do

Ornithologists typically trap birds for a closer look at them. This does not hurt the bird. Trapping birds can be done with in different ways, depending on the type of bird. For example, mist nets cause birds that fly into them to fall into a small pocket where the ornithologist can come back later and take a closer look.

After the bird has been caught, the ornithologist will usually inspect (take a close look at) the bird. They may also attach a small ring to the bird's leg before releasing the bird. The ring allows ornithologists to study the bird's migration patterns, how long they live, and other information about the bird's species.
# Pathology

Pathologist at work
**Pathology** is the study and medical diagnosis of disease. A person who does this work is called a pathologist. Techniques include dissection, microscopic examination of tissues and chemical analysis of body fluids. A pathologist may also perform an autopsy, to discover the cause of death.

Pathology is a science concerned with finding the cause (etiology) or confirming the presence of a disease through careful examination of a tissue or sample of any component of the body. Pathologists are responsible for diagnosing cancer, running hospital laboratories, heading medical examiner offices and blood banks, and play an important role in the drug development process.
# Primatology

Brown woolly monkey
**Primatology** is a type of science that is part of zoology. It studies primates (monkeys, apes, lemurs, and humans). Primatology is a part of physical anthropology. A person who studies primatology is a **primatologists**. They can work in many different fields of study. These include biology, zoology, anthropology and psychology.

A large amount of information about primatology has been learned since the end of World War II in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Japan. In the United States, primatologists work mostly in the fields of psychology and anthropology.
# Systems biology

An illustration of the systems approach to biology
**Systems biology** is a field of biology. It uses computers, math, and models to study how parts of living systems work together. It does not focus on individual parts like in traditional biology. It looks at the whole system and how everything interacts.

Since around 2000, systems biology has become common in biology. For example, the Human Genome Project used systems thinking. It encouraged teamwork in genetics research. One major goal of systems biology is to understand "emergent properties". These are features of cells or organisms that only show up when you look at how all the parts work together.
# Toxicology

Toxicologist at work
**Toxicology** is the study of how chemicals hurt living things. Toxicologists use biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine. Measuring toxicity of a substance (relation between does and effect), is a major part of the work.

Many chemicals that we call poisons are only toxic when made into different chemicals by the body. Many chemicals are made toxic in the liver by enzymes, for example paracetamol, which is a common drug. There is also some variation in liver enzymes (caused by genetic variation) in different people that can cause a substance to be more toxic in one person than it is in another. Some substances are also only toxic when they are with other chemicals, as one liver enzyme can cause activity in another enzyme.

## Some measures of toxicity

* LD50 is a test that finds an average dose required to kill half of the animals being tested (normally rats in human toxicity).
* The Fixed Dose Procedure, an alternative to the LD50 which measures oral toxicity in a similar way, but using fewer animals and with less suffering.
* Minimum lethal dose (MLD, also LDmin), the smallest amount of drug that can produce death in an animal species under controlled conditions.
* Draize test
* LDLo
* IC50
* EC50

## Related pages

* In vitro toxicology
* Toxicity

## Other websites

* Society of Toxicology
# Virology

**Virology** is the study of viruses such as the cold virus.

Virologists are responsible for many immunisations against common viruses like the common influenza (Flu) and things like chickenpox and smallpox.

## Related pages

* DNA virus
* RNA virus
* Retrovirus
* Vaccine
# History of biology

The **history of biology** covers the study of the living world from ancient to modern times. People began to think about biology as a specific field in the 1800s. Medicine and natural history came first. Specifics Ayurveda, ancient Egyptian medicine, and the works of Aristotle, Theophrastus and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. In the Middle Ages, Muslim physicians and scholars such as Avicenna continued to develop the field.

The European Renaissance changed biology because people discovered new organisms and began to think more scientifically, using Empiricism. Important scientists related to this change were Vesalius and Harvey in physiology and Linnaeus and Buffon in natural history. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek used a microscope to reveal microorganisms. His work would lead to cell theory.

In the 1700s and 1800s, many specific fields related to biology developed. Botany and zoology were the first to fully develop. Biogeography, ecology, ethology, embryology, and paleontology also started to build. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection brought many of these ideas together. People stopped believing in spontaneous generation. In medicine, people started to believe in the germ theory of disease.

Around 1900, big change happened in genetics. Carl Correns found work by Gregor Mendel on genetics pea plants. Then Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students applied Mendel's work to fruit flies. By the 1930s, population genetics were studied with natural selection in the "neo-Darwinian synthesis". In 1953, Watson and Crick explained the structure of DNA. Other big developments in the 1900s included the Central Dogma and understanding the genetic code and its rules.

Now, biology is separated into different fields, or subjects. The main fields are organismal biology, cell biology, and molecular biology.
# Ranunculaceae

| Ranunculaceae |
| --- |
|  |
| *Caltha palustris* |
| Scientific classification |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Division: | Magnoliophyta |
| Class: | Magnoliopsida |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | **Ranunculaceae** Juss. |
| Subfamilies |
| * Hydrastidoideae
* Glaucidioideae
* Coptoideae
* Thalictroideae
* Ranunculoideae
 |

**Ranunculaceae** is a family of flowering plants also known as the "buttercup family" or "crowfoot family". Members include *Anemone* (anemones), *Ranunculus* (buttercup), *Aconitum* (aconite), and *Clematis*.
# Biofuel

**Biofuel** is fuel from recently lifeless or living biological material. It is different to fossil fuels from long dead biological material. Biofuel can be in forms of solid, liquid or gas.

Biofuels are usually used to power cars, heat homes and for cooking. Biofuel companies are mainly from Europe, Asia and the Americas. Technologies developed at the Los Alamos National Lab even allows pollution to be converted into renewable biofuel. Agrofuels are biofuels that are produced from specific plants, rather than from waste processes such as landfill or recycled material.

There are two common ways to convert plants into gas and liquid fuels. One is to grow crops that are high in sugar (e.g. Sugar cane) or starch (e.g. corn), and then use yeast to ferment ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The second is to grow plants that contain high amounts of vegetable oil, such as palm oil, soybean and algae. When these oils are heated, their viscosity is reduced, and they can be burned directly in a diesel engine, or chemically processed to produce fuels such as biodiesel. For thousands of years, Wood and its by-products have been converted into biofuels such as charcoal, wood gas, methanol or ethanol fuel. It is also possible to make cellulosic ethanol from non-edible plant parts, but this can be expensive.

Solid biomass is also used. Firewood has been used for thousands of years. Many materials such as wood and grasses can be dried and pelletised and burnt, and this can be used to produce power.

## Other websites

* Biofuel -Citizendium