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 we tell our origin based on foot phenotype?

This suggest that someone from european lineages, can tell its origin from the shape of its feet. Does it really work?
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Life (i.e. cells) originated from clay

It's 'revealed' in many religious scriptures that man was created from clay: Life from clay Creation from clay There is an interesting article in New Scientist titled, Clay's matchmaking could have sparked life. How reliable is this article? Is…
Tom Lynd
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Do plastic bags of water deter flies?

Today I had lunch in a small Mexican taco place, and they had hanging, in the middle of the room, two clear plastic bags filled with water: I asked the reason for the hanging bags of water, and was told it's intended to scare flies away. …
Flimzy
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Is the chemical composition of genetically modified crops tested?

A February 2002 Harper's Magazine article, Unraveling the DNA Myth discusses the fact that the effect that genes have on plants is not always as simple as one gene coding for one protein, and that modifying a gene can have unexpected results, which…
Nathan BeDell
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What is the mainstream position of biologists and anthropologists on the issue of human race?

Race is perhaps one of the most controversial and sensitive issues in anthropology, biology, and other related fields. As a non-scientist, I've used google to probe the disparity between the positions of those who believe that race exists and those…
user19241
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Did Todd Standing video a sasquatch?

Recently on Survivorman, Les Stroud went on a Bigfoot expedition. Towards the end of the episode he showed footage provided by Todd Standing with a very clear picture of what appears to be a juvenile Sasquatch. Is this good evidence of the…
UhlBelk
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Is homosexuality primarily genetic?

It seems to me that, evolutionarily speaking, the fitness of a purely homosexual animal or human is much lower than that of a heterosexual one, and therefore would be strongly selected against. Thus I am puzzled at the apparent rate of homosexuality…
Gregory Magarshak
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Is scientific racism a pseudoscience?

In Wikipedia, in the list of pseudoscientific topics included the following "pseudosciences": Scientific racism, Aryanism and Melanin theory. While it is quite evident that Aryanism and Melanin theory can be easily classified as pseudoscience,…
Anixx
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Does chlorine in water harm soil bacteria?

This article claims that both chlorine, and chloramine, which are added to many municipal water supplies to kill harmful bacteria, can also harm the good bacteria in soil, necessary for a healthy garden. It stands to reason that water that’s been…
Flimzy
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Do probiotic bacteria prevent or ameilorate dust mites in beds?

I was offered a bed. The seller claimed that the bed has probiotic bacteria in it. It contains special living bacteria that will eat germs and sweat. Wow. Does that really work? If so, I'll buy. Claims:…
user4951
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Does your heart skip a beat when you sneeze?

Possible Duplicate: Does your heart stop beating when you sneeze? In this answer to the question Does your heart stop beating when you sneeze? it is stated that your heart can skip a beat when you sneeze? Is that even possible?
Naftali
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Can someone die of hypothermia just from thinking they're in a cold place?

There's a legend about a guy named Nick Sitzman who was accidentally locked in an unplugged walk in freezer. It was during the summer so it was actually hot, but he thought the freezer was on, and he ended up dying of hypothermia because he thought…
Willy150
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Does a vaccine provide additional protection to a previously infected and recovered patient?

The change in literature I've observed during the covid-19 pandemic is certainly prompting this question, but I think the question can be answered broadly in terms of immunology, which does have decade after decade of study, rather than the…
TCooper
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Are pomegranate seeds edible?

My dad usually eats cherry seeds, which seemed dangerous to me, so I searched it online and indeed it can be dangerous. Today, I was about to eat a pomegranate but I wasn't sure if the seeds are edible. My parents said it's okay. But that's what…
user50555
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Can you make yogurt with cultures from ant-eggs?

After being asked by a friend if there is a way to make yoghurt from scratch, I found this There are two ways to get the bacteria, that we found; one, using the soil from an anthill, or using crushed ant eggs. I cannot vouch however for American…
picakhu
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