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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Is cows' milk bad for cats?

My mother used to tell me that I shouldn't give our kitten cow milk, even if she seemed to enjoy it. Since I loved my kitten, and was quite disobedient at that time, I did it fairly often, and never observed any unwelcome consequences. I did a…
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Would a human's blood suddenly boil (or eyes/body explode) in a vacuum?

I was once given a question in the popular quiz-show game, You Don't Know Jack, that went something like: You find yourself suddenly ejected into space. Which of these gruesome things happens first? Your blood would boil Your eyes would…
BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
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Are all cells of the human body completely replaced every seven to ten years?

It have heard several times that, every seven to ten years, all the cells that our body are made of have all been replaced. Example in this NY Times Article This heartening truth, which arises from the fact that most of the body's tissues are under…
Rabskatran
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Does your heart stop beating when you sneeze?

I read the following quote in a paper: When you sneeze, all your body functions temporarily stop working. That also includes you heart beat. There is of course no explanation, reason, source, or reference of any sort. Is this really true? I don't…
BaGi
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Are women's hands colder, and their hearts warmer?

I heard on the radio today that apparently a woman's hands are colder than a man's hands, but her heart is warmer. I didn't really believe this, but they stated that it was apparently scientifically proven, and what really astounded me was that they…
Thursagen
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Can thunderstorms curdle milk?

When I was 13, my sister and I spent the summer on a dairy farm. We worked in the creamery, where (twice a day) we bottled fresh raw milk, as well as cleaned all the equipment. It was really a fun summer overall. One evening we had a very bad…
anongoodnurse
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Do specific exercises target specific fat deposits?

It is common to see marketing for exercise routines that claim to target fat deposits in a particular part of the body. Examples: 9 Moves to Beat Belly Fat for Good 8 moves to melt off that pesky layer of lower-belly fat Exercises to Target…
Flimzy
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Does sleeping naked in a sleeping bag keep you warmer?

The most popular question on outdoors.SE is Is it warmer to sleep naked in a sleeping bag? Now, all the answers over there are not properly researched and it was suggested in one of the comments that this question might be more appropriate for…
David Mulder
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Are there more mushrooms during full moon?

A couple of autumns back, I frequently went wild mushroom forraging, initially with my Basque father-in-law, who I think had been mushrooming pretty much all his life. He explained and showed how mushrooms would appear with the full moon. They…
Chris
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Ultrasound pest control devices

A couple times I've seen advertised on TV and in supermarkets electronic devices that allegedly irritate all sort of insects and rodents, such as mosquitoes, mice, and rats, forcing them away from the ultrasonic sound or other emissions of the…
deprecated
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Is asexuality real?

I read here about human asexuality, and I cannot figure out if it's real or if people are just making stuff up. Have studies been done about this phenomenon and what explains it?
picakhu
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Can reading fine print cause damage to eyes?

I have my computer font set quite small so that I can see more on one screen at a time, but a collegue recently warned me that I would cause damage to my eyes later in life. Is there any scientific evidence to support this claim? Not sure how widely…
Jamie Twells
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Can switching from briefs to boxer shorts improve your fertility?

The advice to wear boxer shorts instead of briefs seems reasonable at first glance, since for testes to produce sufficient quality and quantity of sperm, the temperature of testes must be lower than the core body temperature. But is the…
Oliver_C
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Do we lose 7 pounds when we die?

I often hear people claim that it is a fact that humans lose seven pounds when they die. Some people believe that this is 'proof' of the existence of the 'soul'. Is there any truth to this claim? I could understand a weight change after death but…
seadowg
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Plants that release oxygen even at night

It is widely reported at several places that certain trees such as Peepal (Botanical name:Ficus religiosa) and Tulsi (Botanical name: Ocimum tenuiflorum) release oxygen even at night. My understanding has always been that photosynthesis can not take…
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