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Thursday, October 14, 2010

BIOLOGY AND SCIENCE

Biology is a science devoted to the study of living organisms. Literally it means “The study of life”. The word Biology is derived from Greek word Bios meaning life, and Logos meaning discourse. The aim of biology is to explain the living world in terms of scientific principles. It is an exceedingly broad and diverse science. Biology helps us understand the life processes and reveals the secret of life.

The Earth when created was devoid of living organisms. Fossil records showed that the first living creature appeared some 3.5 billion years ago. Today the number of living species is estimated over 10 million. The occurrence of such a huge number of living species has made biology a very fascinating subject.


Biology was a descriptive discipline till few decades ago. Today, its scope ranges from molecular level (e.g. gene, DNA) to the global level (e.g. ecosystem conservation). It not only details about the human brains but also explores vast forests and marine biodiversity. Some recent research topics in biology are deciphering human genome, DNA finger printing, cloning, gene therapy, delaying ageing process, etc.

As science, biology follows scientific approaches and methods. Science is the process of knowing truth. It is an objective, logical and repeatable attempt to understand the principle and forces operating in the natural universe. Science is derived from the Latin word Scientia meaning to know. It was used in regard to knowledge of any sort. Present-day meaning of science most commonly indicates natural science.

Traditionally, the natural science has been divided into two categories: (i) Physical science and (ii) Biological science. Physical sciences have been defined as those natural sciences which deal with non-living phenomenon. Subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Geology fall under this category. Biological sciences are those natural sciences which deal with living phenomenon.

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