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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Can diet drinks cause multiple sclerosis-like symptoms?

I just read an e-mail about aspartame in diet soda and how it poisons your system, resulting in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) like symptoms. They claim hundreds have been mis-diagnosed as having MS when really they consumed too much aspartame. Is there…
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Are there artificially created viruses that are both deadly like Ebola and transmissible like the common cold?

A popular YouTube personality, Dr. John Campbell, a retired nurse teacher, makes a claim in a May 4th video around the 4m27s mark: Now let's be quite clear. No-one is saying [SARS-CoV-2] is a synthesized virus. Now, no-one will admit this... but…
user17561
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Will a shark kept in a fish tank have stunted growth?

There is a widely recited saying that sharks kept in fish tanks won't grow to their full size. For example, author and motivational speaker Bob Harrison posted: A shark in a fish tank will grow 8 inches, but in the ocean it will grow to 8 feet or…
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Does rocking a child help their brain to grow?

Nature Play claim that a child's movement in the first two years helps them grow, specifically a rocking motion like in the womb. The link to the supposed scientific source is now dead. Is there any truth to this claim? From their website Have you…
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Does the moon have all these powers?

Today, I was talking with a coworker and I was surprised to see that she strongly believe that: When the moon is closer to the earth, hair grows faster. The moon influences when a woman (or person with a uterus) will have their period. Pregnant…
Ælis
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Is in vitro steak, not ground or bits, possible in the near future?

This article seems to say that it's possible to create the complex structure of a steak today. Is there any more of a reliable source that discusses the actual implementation of lab grown steak? Ground or minced beef exists. Toubia said each of…
adamaero
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Do lipid droplets in our skin create a laser?

The home page of Dr Jack Kruse, who claims to be a neurosurgeon and "optimal health educator" contains the following paragraph: There is a deep connection between thermodynamics in biology and the processing of energy and information. This process…
matt_black
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Do "Zombie bacteria" live for millions to tens-of-millions of years?

Sputnik News reports that researchers are finding a "subterranean Galapagos" including "creatures such as microbial life thriving at 121 degrees Celsius or 'zombie bacteria', which can reproduce or live for millions to tens of millions of years." In…
elliot svensson
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Is there a difference in driving ability between men and women?

Possible Duplicate: Does gender affect driving skill? Time and time again I hear that "women shouldn't be allowed on the road because they are bad drivers" or similar stories. I'm personally of the opinion that with an activity like driving a…
soulBit
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Are gut bacteria a cause of depression?

Media from Belgium put out a far reaching article a couple of days ago claiming Depression does not start in the brain, but in the intestines Source: "Depressie ontstaat niet in het brein, maar in de darmen": zo groot is de invloed van uw darmen…
David Mulder
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Does going to concerts increase life expectancy?

My main skepticism comes from the fact repeated exposure to loud music seems detrimental more than anything else, but I'd gladly be shown to be wrong. After a little digging, the original claim is on the 02 website and the logic appears to be based…
Alex Robinson
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Do colder temperatures increase our hunger?

I've heard this multiple times as an explanation to eating more in relation to being exposed to colder temperatures (restaurants that are colder, during the winter, etc.) but I have yet to be able to find any concrete scientific evidence to prove…
Jess K.
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Has anyone used yoga to live for supernatural lengths of time?

According to this commentary on the Bhagavata Purana by Swami Prabhupada: By controlling the breath, the perfect yogī can continue his life for as long as he likes. Sometimes we hear from the Vedic literature that some personalities from the Vedic…
Say No To Censorship
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Does area of the brain associated with the sense of self "shut down" when praying?

Is there any study done on the claim that the area of the brain associated with the sense of self "shuts down" when praying? In the NBC News article "What Happens to Your Brain When You Pray?", Newberg makes the following statement: it was…
Grasper
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Can Bioimpedance be used to prescribe essential oils and supplements?

Bioimpedance (or Bioelectrical impedance analysis) has been used to measure body fat. However, there are products that claim to link the bioimpedance results to essential oils and supplements: this question was inspired by the claims of the iTOVi…
Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE
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