Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [biology]

Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Use this tag for general biology questions, but also use more specific life science tags to accompany this one if applicable.

Biology

Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines. Among the most important topics are five unifying principles that can be said to be the fundamental axioms of modern biology:

  1. Cells are the basic unit of life
  2. New species and inherited traits are the product of evolution
  3. Genes are the basic unit of heredity
  4. An organism regulates its internal environment to maintain a stable and constant condition
  5. Living organisms consume and transform energy.

Disciplines

Subdisciplines of biology are recognized on the basis of the scale at which organisms are studied and the methods used to study them: biochemistry examines the rudimentary chemistry of life; molecular biology studies the complex interactions of systems of biological molecules; cellular biology examines the basic building block of all life, the cell; physiology examines the physical and chemical functions of the tissues, organs, and organ systems of an organism; and ecology examines how various organisms interact and associate with their environment.

A more comprehensive list is the following:

  • Anatomy
  • Arachnology
  • Astrobiology
  • Botany
  • Biochemistry
  • Biogeography
  • Bioinformatics
  • Biophysics
  • Cell biology
  • Cytology
  • Dendrology
  • Developmental biology
  • Ecology
  • Entomology
  • Ethology
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Embryology
  • Genetics / Genomics
  • Herpetology
  • Histology
  • Human biology / Anthropology / Primatology
  • Ichthyology
  • Limnology
  • Malacology
  • Mammalogy
  • Marine biology
  • Microbiology / Bacteriology
  • Molecular biology
  • Mycology / Lichenology
  • Nematology
  • Neurobiology / Neuroscience
  • Ornithology
  • Parasitology
  • Palaeontology
  • Phycology
  • Phylogenetics
  • Physiology
  • Plant pathology
  • Taxonomy
  • Virology
  • Zoology
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Has there ever been documented human individual producing both kinds of sex cells?

UCSB Science Line (University of California, Santa Barbara, scientist q/a) claims that: Long before we are born, the same gonads either become testes, if the embryo has a Y chromosome, or ovaries if it doesn’t. Once that process starts, other…
eis
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Is this comparison of wedge tailed eagles and bald eagles accurate?

From https://twitter.com/dannolan/status/665409197685764096 (408 RTs, 495 likes), though another comparison between the two exists in Australian Popular Science [US flag, picture of American Bald Eagle] American Bald Eagle One of the smallest…
Andrew Grimm
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Gulf War Syndrome, is it real?

The condition now called "Gulf War Illness" has been studied extensively,(1)(2) however, there remains great debate about its potential causes or whether it exists as a distinct condition. About 700,000 men and women served in the first Gulf War…
Monkey Tuesday
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Did scientists in UK find a sphere that is of extraterrestrial origin which contains alien biota?

Is there an independent verification of the claims made by University of Buckingham researchers? From http://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/554074/Alien-seed-sent-Earth-aliens-Scientists-baffled: Professor Wainwright said the structure is made from…
user5341
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Does red meat increase the risk of heart disease?

Conventional common wisdom has been that red meat consumption increases the risk of developing heart disease. There are a lot of studies indicating this may be true, but there are also a lot of studies indicating this may not. A report from the…
CircleSquared
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Does wifi stunt cress growth?

A couple of weeks ago there were reports of an experiment by schoolchildren that appears to demonstrate that wifi router radiation adversely affects cress. There's been time now for the leading researchers from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands…
Ken Y-N
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Can a plant survive bottled in its own ecosystem for 50 years?

I came across a story on Facebook about David Latimer, who put spiderwort plants into a bottle garden ("terrarium") in 1960, watered it in 1972, and then sealed the bung. The plants have been living, thriving even, in their own ecosystem since. The…
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Are cramps and muscle soreness caused by Lactic Acid?

I commonly hear that muscle cramps are caused by lactic acid. For instance, this article indicates: Another cause of muscle cramps can be the build up of lactic acid in the muscles. However, this NYT report claims otherwise The understanding…
Russell Steen
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Is drinking a cold drink and drinking hot soup unhealthy in any way?

At least around here, in Costa Rica, it is common practice to avoid drinking cold drinks while drinking hot soup. I never questioned this (but didn't really care about it). Apparently it is, well, bad to mix two different-temperature drinks. Is…
Saturn
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Has HIV ever been isolated?

In particular I am interested with one specific claim made by Jody Wells Memorial Prize. Is his claim true and reasonable? I'll explain what I mean by reasonable latter. The organisers of the Jody Wells Memorial Prize say it hasn't: The rules for…
user4951
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Is it impossible to tell a lobster's age?

Source Stephen Fry said in the QI episode "I-Spy": "You can't tell the age of a lobster " (watch video) From the American Lobster FAQ: There is no foolproof way to determine a lobster’s age. One can only make an educated guess by looking…
Oliver_C
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Was the opposition of the Catholic Church to contraception based on the Homunculi theory?

I have heard said that the opposition of the church to any form of contraception - or any attempt to prevent conception (pulling out, oral sex, etc.) while still performing coitus - was originally based in an outdated and wrong scientific view that…
crasic
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Are most humans infected with parasites that water fasting can eliminate?

So this is a new one for me... I came across a jaw dropping niche of health-woo today. Apparently tens of thousands of people (if not more) believe that almost all humans are infected with parasites that cause us all to crave sugary foods, and a…
WakeDemons3
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Does sleeping with our heads pointing towards north pose any health risks?

Does sleeping orientation (pointing one's head in a specific direction) has anything to do with any health problems(even minor ones)? If Earth's magnetic field has any detrimental effects on our brains, then the orientation of our sleeping …
AIB
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Can humans have extra vertebrae without noticing them?

In an answer to How important is it that a person be able to touch their toes?, someone said that they found out they had an extra vertebra from their chiropractor. I'm skeptical about their specific claim if it's based on an evidence-challenged…
Andrew Grimm
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