Hey everyone! Welcome to Biology 1406
biology for science majors chapter one
let's get started what is chapter one
covering? Well what is biology? Biology is the
scientific study of life. I'm gonna spend
a lot of time in this chapter explaining
this definition explaining what is a
scientific study because it's not a
trivial thing to understand what science
is and how to conduct a proper
scientific study and then what is life which again is not a trivial thing.
life is actually quite difficult to
define so we're gonna get to this in a
minute
so let's get started what is scientific
study of life mean and what is biology?
Science in general is knowledge about
the universe and humans have been trying
to gather knowledge about the universe
for since time has began for humans and
the way we've come about learning about
the universe is through a process that
we've developed as humans and that is
the scientific method. A method of
research with defined steps that include
experiments and careful observation then
there is like I said define steps we're
gonna go through and talk about those
steps one by one so that you understand
clearly what is science and how to
conduct the scientific method. Okay, but
before we do what you should realize is
that science begins with observations
and so because science begins with
observations science much of it is
purely descriptive you're describing the
universe you're gathering truths and
knowledge about the universe and then
you're gonna communicate those results
to others. This here is the scientific
method you see you start with an
observation I said science begins with
an observation from there you do some
background research why would you want
to do some background research well to
know what's known and what's not known
you don't want to spend a bunch of time
reinventing the wheel doing experiments
other people have done so you might want
to learn what is known what is not known
about that field from there you could
formulate a question for example why is
Observation why is this thing going on
what is this thing right and to answer
your question okay this is the important
part you formulated a question but to
answer that question you're going to
make a hypothesis. Okay
to answer the question you're gonna make
a hypothesis and the hypothesis is a
suggested explanation for an event it's
it's like an it's like an answer that
you came up with a possible answer that
you came up with to answer your question
now is it the right answer? I don't know.
Is it the wrong answer? I don't know you
have to test it with an experiment so
your hypothesis needs to be testable it
can't be something some explanation that
you can't test that would fall outside
of the realm of science and it also
needs to be falsifiable. What does that
mean that means if you test it and it
doesn't turn out to be the right answer
you need to be able to nullify the
hypothesis you know throw out the
hypothesis. Okay and hypotheses they
actually allow you to make predictions
so for example - if your hypothesis is
"this is why this is going on" and you
test it well then you should be able to
predict what the outcome of those tests
should be. Okay? So again science begins
with an observation you do background
research know what's know and what's not
known you formulate a question "I wonder
why that's going on?" and then you
formulate a hypothesis this is why
that's going on and - that'll allow you
to make a prediction which you can then
test you have to be able to test if your
hypothesis is the actual answer. Again, hypotheses allow you to make
predictions those predictions you can
test you can test the predictions I'm
sorry you could test the predictions you
can test those hypotheses using
experiments okay experiments are what
tests the hypothesis and there are parts
of the experiment called variables
variables are any part of an experiment
that can vary or change during the
experiment you want to have good
controls and a good experiment. A control contains every feature of
the experimental group except
that is not given the manipulation that
is hypothesized about. So, if you're
testing I don't know, you're testing a
drug you want to make sure that the
control group gets some kind of pill
otherwise if you don't swallow something
you could be susceptible to what's known
as a for example a placebo effect where
one group is given a pill one group
isn't and the group with the pill might
feel better simply because they believe
they're being cured okay. So, once you've
done your experiment you you gather data
and data are recorded observations there
are two main forms of data qualitative
data and quantitative data. Qualitative
data is data that's based on
descriptions rather than measurements if
you think of the famous researcher
primate researcher Jane Goodall, a lot of
her results were qualitative. For example
if she's studying a primate behavior she
might note that on a particular day a
particular primate was aggressive. On a
different day it became docile, so those
types of descriptions are not
quantifiable right so they're more
descriptive that's qualitative data. 
Quantitative data is recorded
measurements which have numerical values
right you can organize them into tables
graphs etc. Most data that you'll
encounter is usually quantitative.
So again, how does the scientific method
work? You make an observation you can do
some background research and to see
what's know and what's not known
formulate a question I wonder why that's
going on and then formulate some
hypotheses to try to test test that
question to see if it answers your
question the the hypothesis is the
answer to the question but then to test
whether the hypothesis is the true
answer to the question you need to:
formulate experiments, collect data, draw
conclusions okay and that will allow you
to test whether or not you've answered
your question. Arguably the most
important part is down here at the bottom
love communicate the results to others
others must be able to repeat those
experiments. I can't stress how important
this is that other people need to be
able to repeat your experiments. Science,
what you should realize as science
students is science is not something
where people need to take your word for
something. Science is not something where
someone who's very intelligent had an
idea and they proposed that and now you
know that's a new scientific theory. Ok?
That's not how science works science is
not based on opinions or beliefs, science
is based on hard data that is gathered
through experimentation and presented to others
so that they could repeat the same
results it's other people other
scientists in the world in different
countries cannot repeat your same
results it's actually not science.
That falls outside of the realm of
science. So, if you've ever wondered why
something is you know constitute science
and something is considered outside of
the realm of science, you just ask
yourself can I do experiments and see
results and can other people do the same
experiments to see the same results? If
not, it's not technically science, it does
not belong in the realm of science. So
it's good to understand so let's look at
the scientific method ok the scientific
method we've been talking about let's
look at it with this lady and her
conundrum. This lady is having an issue
with a flashlight, this is there's a most
simple version of the scientific method
you could think of. This lady is having
an issue with her flashlight is just not
working.
So, her observation is "my flashlight is
not working" so she gets to thinking she
could do some background research
remember you could look and see what's
known about maybe flashlights not
working. But, in this case it's probably so
straightforward her question is simply -
"Why isn't the flashlight working?" So, she
has to formulate
hypothesise right? Remember what the
hypothesis is it's a stated and answer to
the question. The question is "Why isn't
the flashlight working?" So, what's a good
hypothesis? A good hypothesis again is
the answer to this question why is the
flashlight working hypothesis one well
what if the batteries are dead the
batteries are dead that's a good
hypothesis right can we test that yeah
we can test it
can we falsify that remember what
falsify means that means if we test this
hypothesis and it doesn't work out we
could rule out the hypothesis like
eliminate the hypothesis. Yeah, we could
falsify that. Here's another hypothesis
she came up with - "the bulb is burned out."
Okay, is that a good hypothesis? Yes
because you could test it, sure, and you
could falsify it you could rule that out
if it's not the bulb. So, let's get
started let's look at what she does
let's look at the first hypothesis on
the left. She's testing for dead
batteries okay the prediction would be
what? Replacing the batteries will fix
the problem what did she do she pops out
the old batteries she puts in fresh
batteries she then tests the hypothesis
and what lo and behold that did not
solve her issue it did not fix the
problem she put in fresh batteries and
still nothing so she has effectively
falsified the hypothesis. She has shown
that the hypothesis is not true so
she's basically ruled out the dead
battery hypothesis. Okay now that was an
experiment right it's changing out the
batteries was the experiment. A good
scientist would change one variable at a
time and the variable being the
batteries here so a good scientist if
you in case you're curious a good
scientist would put the old batteries
back in before testing hypotheses two
but she may or may not have done that.
Because you don't want to test
multiple variables at the same time. She hops to
hypothesis number two - "the light is
burned out". So, it's a
burned out bulb.  So, the prediction here
would be replacing
the bulb will fix the problem. She does
the experiment, she gets a fresh bulb she
replaces the bulb with a fresh bulb on the flashlight
she turns it on. Lo and behold it works
great.  So, what has she done here?
Did she falsify the hypothesis? No. This is this is where it gets a
little confusing. She failed to falsify
the hypothesis. Which is actually what
you want to end up doing. That shows that
you've shown that the hypothesis in this
case "burned out bulb" was the correct
hypothesis, it answered your question and
lo and behold you've solved your problem
you've you've answered your question
you've your observation is now that that
the bulb was burned out and putting it a
new bulb fix a problem and you've
learned something about the universe.
Okay?
So, again, why is it called "failing to
falsify the hypothesis?" Let's talk about
that for a minute.
As a scientist, you want to be your own
worst critic, right? You want to make sure
that if you're wrong you figure out
you're wrong before someone else does.
Scientists do not want to be wrong and
so when you make a hypothesis which is a
stated answer for a particular question,
what you as a scientist if you're a good
scientist what you want to do is try to
disprove yourself okay the best you can.
You really want to try to falsify your
hypothesis you really really want to try
to show that you that you're wrong why
because if if you despite your best
efforts could not disprove
that your hypothesis is wrong, then
then it must be right! Right? Or, at least
you have a good chance of that
hypothesis really being the correct
hypothesis. Again, what you want to do is
actually answer the question, you don't
want to come up with your idea of what's
answering the question. You want to
attack the hypothesis, you want to
falsify the hypothesis. If you fail,
well guess what?
Good job! You failed to falsify the
hypothesis, which means that the
hypothesis really was the answer to your
question. So that's why it's called
"failing to falsify the hypothesis".
Because what a good researcher is trying
to do IS falsify the hypothesis if that
makes any sense. So, let's look at another
example here of the scientific method.
Look here, this is the stream at Richland
campus we've got a little stream we got
a couple bridges right? Bridges that span
the stream here, and if you've ever
walked across these bridges on campus
and looked down you'd notice things like
turtles. And the turtles seem to be
gathering right near the bridge right?
Right near the bridge, you get this high
concentration of turtles and then as you
go further and further away from the
bridge, you'll notice that there are
fewer into your turtles or less
concentration of turtles less density of
turtles so, wouldn't that be an
observation? Right? Wouldn't that be an
observation let's go back to this (slide)... You've
made an observation about the universe
right? That the turtles in the stream, and
they tend to gravitate or they seem to
gravitate toward the bridges! Now what
could you do at this point? It looks like
you've started a scientific study you
could do some background research. This
will allow you to determine what other
people have looked at or studied in this
in this field if that question has
already been answered.
You could formulate a question well what
were your question be? What would your
question be?
Well.. how about "why are the turtles
gathering near the bridge?" okay you might
want to spend some time determining if
there really is a higher concentration
of turtles by the bridge. But let's say
you do that and yes there are higher
concentration of turtles by the bridge
Well then you would say "why why are
there so many turtles by the bridge?".
There's your question right there! Right?
And then you from there you could
formulate some hypotheses which can
allow you to make predictions and make
experiments! So let's talk about that. So,
 think about this....
what are some hypotheses for
the question - "why are turtles gathering
near the bridges?". Well how about how
about - "because the students are feeding
them". Right? Think about that.
What's happening all day
long students cross and faculty cross
and staff cross the bridge. Right? All
day long. And have you ever noticed that
students they they love the turtles and
they they want to feed the turtles?
They'll throw you know some of their
Subway sandwich or some of their bread
or crackers or whatnot. They will
throw down some little treats for the
turtles. Well, that could that could
possibly - you know - draw the turtles by the
bridge so think about it. Is that a good
hypothesis? Yes, because we get tested you
know we could we could ask the students
I don't know maybe not to feed the
turtles, we could ask them to feed extra
there are multiple bridges maybe we
could have you see how I'm making
predictions right now? A good hypothesis
allows you to make predictions it's
testable it's falsifiable so the feeding
hypothesis is actually a good one you
know why because I could test it by
let's say on one bridge I tell students
to feed. On another bridge I tell
students not to feed. I could falsify it
because if the feeding bridge and the
non feeding bridge over time have no
difference in the number of turtles by
them, then it probably has nothing
to do with the feeding - why the turtles
are gathering. Right? So you see I'm
making predictions.  I could test it. I
could falsify it that's a good that's a
good hypothesis that's a good hypothesis
right there.
now again, we have multiple bridges and
what you wouldn't want to do for example
is just on one bridge
allow feeding and on the other bridge
what you wouldn't want to do is
something like, I don't know, block off
the bridge so students can't cross at
all.  You know why? Do you remember
why? Because then you'd be testing two
variables at the same time, right? So
think about that. You'd be testing two
variables at the same time. The students
even crossing the bridge is a variable.
The students being present on the bridge
is a variable. Feeding is another
variable, you see that and when you tell
students you can't cross the bridge
you're actually stopping two variables
you're
you're manipulating two variables you
you're manipulating the variable of
students on the bridge, and you're
manipulating the variable of feeding so
there's just an example of a 'good
experiment', all right? Good experiments
versus bad experiments: good experiments
test one variable at a time, bad
experiments test more than one variable
at a time. So again, why would why would
that matter well what if the turtles are
just attracted to the sights and sounds
and commotion of students? They're
curious about it, and that's why they're
going near the bridge? Well in that case
you know you'd mess up your results by
manipulating more than one variable.
A good experiment we can set up
on one bridge we could just leave it
alone, or we could promote feeding we
could tell students to feed we could
actually tell them feed more on another
bridge we could tell the students well
you can cross the bridge but please
feeding is prohibited and we can see
well what happens with turtle
concentrations over time we could
measure it over a span of a week or two
weeks or a month and see what happens.
Okay, well let's say we do that
experiment and there is no change in
number of turtles by the feeding bridge
and by the non feeding bridge Well, then
what would we do? We now falsify the
hypothesis which we which means we've
defenestrated the hypothesis (we've
thrown it out the window),
and we can get started with a new
hypothesis, right? We basically come up
with another hypothesis and test that
one.  For example, what if it's a hot
day and you see under the bridge it's
all shady what if it what if the bridges
are just providing shade and and the
turtles are gathering near the bridges
because of the shade? That's another
hypothesis. Is it a good one? Sure, we
could test it for example we could put
shade we could hang shade somewhere else
we could hang up giant two-by-four and
not 2x4 I'm sorry plywood a giant square
piece of plywood somewhere else which
provides a lot of shade and see if they
go toward that shade we could put heat
lamps under the under the existing
bridges
make it uncomfortable and don't provide
any relief from the heat. I don't know we
could do a number of things that's what
I'm saying we could test that we could
falsify that and let's say we test it
and that does affect the turtle population or turtle density? Well then
we've failed to falsify the hypothesis
that means shade really was the reason and
the answer to our question and we can
move on. So, that is a good scientific
study and what you should realize though
about science is that failing to falsify
a hypothesis does not prove that
hypothesis. You don't
really prove anything. And good
scientists, by the way, rarely if ever
use the word proved why because there's
always a chance that you're wrong and
there's always a chance that do you've
overlooked something so a good scientist
would not say hey guess what I proved XY
and Z, or I proved turtles are by the
bridge because of I don't know because
of the shade. They would say "you know my
data suggests that shade affects turtle
migration turtle behavior turtle
gathering" or "my results provides strong
evidence for this". They wouldn't say
things like "oh I proved this" because
if you say something like you proved X Y
& Z then you're most likely gonna be
wrong at some point and that doesn't
look right because a scientist is not
trying to you know be wrong at a
scientist is trying to show with
evidence data and spend the data can
never be a hundred percent, you know what
I mean? So, for example let me give you an
example let's say this lady she changes
out the bulb and she's so excited she
failed to falsify the hypothesis the
flashlight worked great and she goes
around telling her colleagues that guess
what "I proved that my bulb was burned
out!". Okay remember, the hypothesis was
burned out bulb right, she was so excited
she says "my bulb was burned out". Okay well
what's the problem with that? What
if there's someone in the audience that
raises their hand and says "Um, excuse me but
did you test the old bulb
once you took it out of the the
flashlight? did you actually, you know
like attach it to another flashlight or
did you test the filament with a with
some kind of tester bulb tester?". And what
if she didn't? Right?
So her whole hypothesis was that the previous bulb
was burned out, right? And what's the one
thing she didn't do?
She didn't test whether the bulb was
burned out! Do you see the problem there?
Yeah now you look like a clown! You
look like you don't know what you're
doing. You look like someone who you know
made statements that they didn't really
back up and and it would have been much
better for her to say "well from what my
studies from what I did my my evidence
suggested that the previous bulb was
burned out". This way when someone raises
their hand and says "oh but did you try
this?" it's like "oh I haven't but the main
thing I was trying to focus on was
resolving the issue and not
really testing the old bulb;
however, we should have probably done
that and thank you for your input maybe
I'll do that next time". You see?That's a
lot better than saying "I proved the bulb
was burned out!". When you did everything
but actually test that bulb. Okay? So
anyway, I hope this makes it clear that good
scientists rarely if ever use the word
proved, instead they'll say "we've shown
strong evidence for" etc etc and then
remember what was the last step of the
scientific method? Communicate your
results to others well this is called
reporting scientific work. There are
these journals you can think of them as
magazines called scientific
magazines and in them you publish
scientific studies. You may have heard of
journals called 'Science', the journal
'Nature' the journal 'Cell'. These are very
prestigious journals where scientists at you know they they submit
their findings. The good part
about these journals is they don't just
take your word for it like - "oh, hey
Dr. Jones, or Dr. Smith, we know you're a
famous
scientists we're just gonna take your
word for everything and we're just gonna
publish it right away!".  No, what these
journals do is they send those results
they send those manuscripts the
manuscripts are that typed up results
with all of the the abstract which is
basically a concise summary the
introduction which as a background a
background to the field materials and
methods so other scientists can can
reproduce your results results what were
your results and a discussion of those
results right this whole thing is called
a manuscript. The manuscript that you
submit to a journal, the journal staff
sends your manuscript to other
scientists in the field, right? There
could be a scientists in Australia, there
could be two scientists in America, there
could be a scientists in... I don't know
China and all of these different
scientists will sit down, read your
manuscript let's say our turtle study
manuscript. They'll read your manuscript
and they will determine whether it has
merit
like did you do good experiments? Did
you have good experimental setup? Did you
did you test all of your variables? Did
you test only one variable at a
time? Did you do good statistics? Did you
did you count enough turtles or
if there were only two turtles in
the whole stream, that's not a good study
you need dozens of turtles right at
least! So, was it a good study and if
it wasn't a good study they could
suggest revisions they could say you
know Dr. D you should really try doing
this experiment with more turtles so you
should go somewhere where there are more
turtles two turtles is not enough to do
this experiment so come back when you've
looked at... I don't know a hundred turtles.
Well then I would get that feedback from
the journal the journal would say "Hey
Dr. D that was a good study; however,
your peers have suggested
the following revisions. Please make the
following revisions and then so that
makes my my science stronger. I need to
go back I need to do a better study and
then once I've done that I could
resubmit
and hopefully the peers would be
satisfied and they will publish my
manuscript in the journal and then I
could get some notoriety for that and I
could contribute to knowledge and
contribute to science that way.
That's what peer review means and it's
how science works and and guess what I'm
not done! At that point even if this even
if they were able to publish my
manuscript I'm not done, other scientists
need to be able to look at my materials
and methods and those scientists you
need to be able to redo those
experiments and recapitulate my results -
they need to be able to reproduce my
results and if they can't reproduce my
results and see the same thing when they
do the shade difference and they see the
turtles migrating the way I saw it
well then pretty soon people will
realize that my results aren't very
trustworthy and that I don't do good
science and then I'm ridiculed out of
the field I am you know people
understand that my science isn't very
good. So you can't just put any old stuff
out there if you're a scientist you need
to, again, you're the one who is attacking
your own hypothesis and trying to
falsify your own hypothesis the most.
And you're the one trying to just
disprove yourself okay you can't prove
anything but you can disprove stuff all
day long. All right so that's how science
works and so what have we done so far
let me flip to the beginning real quick.
Again, what was biology? Biology was the
scientific study of life. Okay, we have
just discussed what is a scientific
study okay now we're gonna discuss what
is life so I'm gonna take a brief break
here and you could take a break - hit the
pause button, and maybe go to a restroom,
grab a drink or stretch your legs. And
I'll explain what is life
Hey everyone welcome back! Hope you had a
nice little break there. One slide that I
wanted to get to before we start talking
about life is this one here it covers a
Theories. Scientific theories what you
need to understand about science is a
theory is a tested and confirmed, a
tested and confirmed, explanation for
observations or phenomena. What this
means is that there's a huge body of
interconnected
evidence with huge number of manuscripts
published in reputable journals that
supports each different theory so a
theory is something that's all but
proven, ok compare that to the general
meaning of theory. The general meaning of
theory means it's like a guess. It's like
if your slippers go missing... "I have a
theory my dog took it!"
That's what theory means to you know in
general in layman's terms but in to a
scientist remember when I said a
scientist will not use the word 'proved'?
Well, the closest you can get a
scientist to saying they've proven
something is they say it's a 'theory' ok
so just be aware there are the Big Bang
Theory, the Theory of Evolution,
General Relativity Theory, the Cell
Theory, all of these are theories all of
these are theories! Gravity is a Theory!
All right? So, a Theory is tested and
confirmed and there is no significant
supporting evidence to the contrary. Ok
so just be aware of that theory to a
scientist means a whole different thing
than a theory to someone just in
everyday life ok so that being said
we're moving on to - 'What is life?', remember
Biology is the scientific study of life
so what is life life unfortunately for
us it defies a simple explanation
there's no really super easy definition
there's creatures on earth that some
scientists would would argue are alive
other scientists are you are not alive
so there it's not so clear-cut and
well-defined so what scientists agree on
is that there are certain
characteristics of life these are the
characteristics order sensitivity or
responding to environment reproduction
adaptation growth development regulation
'homeostasis '- which is a fancy way of
saying being able to maintain internal
conditions ideal internal conditions
energy processing the ability to evolve
these are the things these are the
characteristics of life and if you're a
living thing typically you
possess most, if not all of these
characteristics so humans possess all of
these characteristics some living things
that do not possess each and every
characteristic, but they'll possess most
of them okay so as long as you possess
most of these characteristics you can be
considered a living entity okay so
that's I guess the best definition of
life now when you're studying biology
you're obviously studying organisms
right you know the organism is at this
level here an organism is a creature you
and I are the human organism right and
you can break that down into simple or
simpler levels or you could go
up into more and more complex levels so
just just to give you an idea we are an
organism but you could break us up into
our different organ systems for example
we have you know the nervous system the
cardiovascular system the immune system
and each one of those has different
organs which are involved with which
include tissues tissues or parts of the
organs these tissues are made up of
individual cells in fact in fact if
you're not a multicellular organism like
a human if you're for example a
single-cell organism like a bacteria
well then you don't you don't actually
possess tissues organs organ systems or
anything like that you are a cell and
that's it one cell big however we are
you know we are multicellular organisms
so our cells make up our tissues our
tissues make up our our
against makeup our organ systems and
those organ systems together make us up
which is the organism and of course
cells are made up of organelles if
you're wondering what is an organelle
organelles you can think of them as
functional parts of the cell okay
organelles are functional parts of the
cell so what do I mean have you heard of
the nucleus okay that's a part of the
cell have you heard of the mitochondria?
Right, that's a part of the cell. Have you
heard of ribosomes? That's an organelle, a part of the cell so if
you haven't heard of those things don't
worry about it
but just be aware that just like us
organisms are made up of organs and
organ systems cells are made up of
organelles functional parts of the cell
and those organelles of course are made
up of molecules which are made up of the
atoms which are essentially the elements
we're going to be talking all about that
chapter 2 and chapter 3 okay now that
gives rise to the organism but we could
go in more and more broad here
a group of the same species of organism
is called the population so for example
at Richland campus you would have the
human population you could have the
turtle population fire ant population
the I don't know crepe myrtle tree
population populations are groups of the
same species in an area okay so that's
what you need to be aware of what is a
community a community to a biologist a
community means all of the different
species in an area so on Richland you
have the population the human population
the turtle population right all those
populations together make up the
community so for example the Richland
community would be: all the humans all of
the turtles all of the ants all of the
trees and bushes and fish and all of the
birds etc and grasses and bushes and all
that so what's the ecosystem you can
think of ecosystem as community plus
environment now you're not just talking
about the community which is all the
different creatures on Richland campus
you're talking about the dirt the air
you're talking about the stream you know
all of that that's the ecosystem and of
course all the ecosystems put together
make up the biosphere. Bio means life
and sphere meaning it's a big circle so
that we're talking about the big circle
of the Earth right the entire planet is
the biosphere it's  made up of ecosystems
which are made up of communities which
are made up of populations you get the
point all right so like I said there are
different organisms on the on the planet
different species so what is a species a
species is a group of organisms if you
talk about multicellular species it's a
group of organisms that can interbreed
and have fertile offspring okay so for
example our species is called sapiens
that's our species homo is our genus
genus means even another group of
closely related organisms so homo is our
genus it's a group of closely related
organisms sapiens is our species
it is the population it is the group of
organisms that can interbreed and have
fertile offspring what do I mean by
fertile offspring? So, for example when
humans breed they have offspring that
can then have more humans right but
let's say members of a
different species in the genus a
different species let's say a horse and
a donkey breed they can actually breed, a
horse can breed with a donkey however
their offspring is not fertile it's
called a mule the offspring is called a
mule and a mule is not fertile you
cannot have more mules right same with a
lion and a tiger they make ligers
ligers are not fertile they are not
fertile offspring okay that's why they
are different species they are not the
same species okay and this this this
two-word epithet where you got genus and
species this is called binomial
nomenclature here it was derived by or
brought to you by Carl Linnaeus in
Swedish botanist 18th century and
there's a very specific way of writing
this
binomial nomenclature the first word is
again the genus the second word is the
species the first word notice that it's
capitalized in this case capital H the
second word has to be lowercase all
right so it's very important capital
lowercase and then the whole thing needs
to be either underlined or italicized
does that make sense
the whole thing is either underlined or
italicized for it to be correct binomial
nomenclature okay so that's that's
that's binomial nomenclature and the
study of how organisms are related to
one another this is the study of taxonomy
so a taxonomist is someone who
studies different organisms on the
planet and studies how closely related
they are puts them into species puts
them into genus and then order and all
the other classifications let me let me
talk to you about that actually let me
talk to you about that here a taxonomist
what takes a creature such as the black
bear okay this is Ursus americanus the
black bear and the black bear is a
species americanus but it is in the
genus Ursus notice Ursus is capitalized
Ursus would be all the other bears right
so you've got the black bear and then
different species of bear you've got the
polar bear and you've got the brown bear
the grizzly bear and they're all in the
genus Ursus but they are of different
species okay then you have different
layers you have even more layers and
they get more and more broad more and
more less less and less general I'm
sorry more and more general you should I
should say you've got family which
includes in this case a lemur like
creature you've got order which
includes in this case that all of the
carnivores you've got class which
includes all the mammals
you've got phylum notice how we're
getting more and more broad more and
more broad a phylum which includes all
of the chordata, chordata means you've
got a backbone
you've got Kingdom which includes all of
the animals
you've got domain and the domain is Eukarya
so I'm gonna tell you what Eukarya is in a little bit okay but again a
taxonomist would say okay here's a new
species of black bear for example where
does it fall into one Kingdom and what
phylum in what class and so it's good to
understand this whole taxonomic
hierarchy this is called the taxonomic
hierarchy from species all the way to
domain okay in fact you may want to
memorize this domain kingdom phylum
class order family genus species and
I've got a nice little video here you
can click on bottom left which will help
you to memorize this I've got a nice
little mnemonic device for it you may
want to watch this video here okay so
that's taxonomy. Let's go back and talk
about the different types of cells there
are two types of cells that you need to
know about there are eukaryotic cells
these are cells that have membrane bound
organelles the main membrane-bound
organelle is the nucleus and then you
got prokaryotic cells which are simpler
cells they do not have a membrane bound
organelles and they do not have a
nucleus so again all cells have a
membrane around the cell that's called
the plasma membrane okay again you
should understand that all cells have a
membrane around the cell that's called
the plasma membrane all right
the difference between eukaryotic cells
and prokaryotic cells the main
difference is that despite the fact that
all cells have this plasma membrane
eukaryotic cells have more organelles
inside which have membranes
whereas prokaryotes do not have
organelles inside the cell that have
membranes they have organelles don't get
me wrong they just don't have membrane
bound organelles okay so the eukaryotic
cells have a nucleus that's the main
membrane-bound organelle but they also
have for example they have mitochondria
which is another membrane-bound
organelle plants have chloroplasts which
is another membrane-bound organelle you
can have endoplasmic reticulum which is
another membrane bound or
you don't need to know about these
structures now but I'm just listing off
some the Golgi apparatus is another
membrane-bound organelle
none of the prokaryotic cells have these
things prokaryotic cells have non
membrane bound organelles
for example the ribosomes right ribosome
turned on membrane bound organelles okay
so you and I we are eukaryotes what does
that mean
our cells you know we have made up of
billions of cells right our cells are
eukaryotic cells if you were to crack
open one of our skin cells for example
you would see inside a bunch of membrane
bound organelles and of course again
what's the main membrane-bound organelle
the nucleus right but a prokaryotic cell
or a prokaryote for example E.coli or
salmonella
these guys don't have a nucleus inside
so if you crack that E.coli open you
wouldn't find a nucleus inside or any
other membrane-bound organelles okay so
here's an example of a eukaryotic cell
okay this would be for example your cell
and here's an example up here at the top
right of a prokaryotic cell okay notice
the eukaryotic cell has all these big
structures inside these are membrane
bound organelles and you see the big
blue one in the middle that's the
nucleus okay
the prokaryotic cell notice how it
doesn't have membrane bound organelles
inside now here's something you need to
understand okay let's take a minute to
think about this okay it's actually kind
of important to understand I said all
cells have a membrane around the whole
cell that's got the plasma membrane but
only the eukaryotic cells have a
membrane bound organelles inside
including the nucleus so what's this
blue stuff in here look at the look at
the prokaryotic cell what's this blue
stuff in there okay so what you need to
understand is all cells have DNA inside
right so our DNA is inside of our cells
right so what's the difference between a
nucleus and not? okay in eukaryotes like
you and me our cells like our skin cell
has DNA but that DNA is in
side of a membrane okay does that make
sense our DNA is all in our chromosomes
are inside of this membrane it's
actually a double membrane we'll get
into that later but that that's what the
nucleus is it means that your DNA is
inside of a membrame okay
that's nucleus the E.coli look at the
E.coli here at the top right
for example let's pretend this is E.coli
it also has DNA the blue stuffs DNA it's
it's chromosome okay it has DNA okay but
its DNA is just floating around in the
cell all right if the DNA is not inside
of a membrane so that's why we don't
call it a nucleus you see here the the
DNA is just floating around the cell so
the DNA is not in a nucleus in this case
you would call it a nucleoid nucleoid
all right now uh again eukaryotes have
the DNA inside of a nucleus prokaryotes
have the DNA floating around in the cell
by the way you see this fluid inside of
the cell just this fluid inside of the
cell that's called the cytoplasm or
cytosol all right in the eukaryotes our
DNA is inside of a nucleus inside of a
membrane and so the DNA is not in the
cytoplasm is it it's inside of the
nucleus in a prokaryote however look
what's look what's going on the DNA is
floating around in the cytoplasm okay so
good to understand all right
so now we know there are two types of
cells there are eukaryotic cells and
prokaryotic cells what you need to now
understand is that there are three major
groups of life all right look bacteria
archaea and Eukarya these are the three
major groups of life and all living
things all living creatures fall under
this group bacteria this group archaea
or this group Eukarya all right two of
these groups are prokaryotic bacteria
and archaea
these creatures are prokaryotic
creatures and they are single-cell
creatures this group Eukarya to which we
belong by the way you and I belong to
this group Eukarya these are all of the
creatures that are made up of eukaryotic
cells okay
and you and I are a multicellular
creature right we are humans but you
should understand that there are some
Eukarya that are single-cell have you
ever heard of for example amoeba or
protozoa or Paramecium
these are single-cell Eukarya so
eukaryote can be single-cell creatures
they could be multi cell creatures
however archaea and bacteria which are
prokaryotic these two major groups of
life these are single-celled creatures
okay now here's the thing these groups
have names they're called domains okay
there's the domain bacteria the domain
Archaea and the domain Eukarya so let me
show you do you remember this you got
the black bear and look what domain it
belongs to remember there are three
domains of life the black bear belongs
to Eukarya
where would we belong which domain we
would also be in eukaryote okay does
that make sense we are also in Eukarya
all right so there are three domains of
life Eukarya archaea bacteria again the
domains bacteria and archaea they're
composed of single-cell creatures okay
and eukaryotes can be single or
multicellular in fact the Eukarya you
may be familiar with they include the
plants the fungi animals and also
creatures called protists you know what
protests are protists a lot of them are
single-celled creatures these are the
ones I was telling you about these are
the protozoa these are the ones that are
Paramecium are Trypanosoma amoeba these
are a lot of these are single-celled
eukaryotes not all of them but a lot of
them are algae and things like that fall
under protists okay so you can see
plants animals fungi protists these are
all types of Eukaryotes
and that's it that actually wraps up
this chapter the last the last last
concept here is is you should know again
remember there are three domains
bacteria archaea and Eukarya remember
these are the three major domains of
life and all living things fall under
one of these three domains and what you
should realize is bacteria are
prokaryotic archaea are prokaryotic
Eukarya are eukaryotic however look at
this okay this is what you need to
understand look at this this is I'm
sorry this is called the phylogenetic
tree this is the tree of life okay and
how it shows you how closely different
organisms are related to one another
notice this there's a common ancestor
here in history there's a common
ancestor and that common ancestor
branches off two directions one becomes
bacteria the other becomes the Archaea
and the eukaryotes this means do you
know what this means this is actually
kind of interesting if you think about
it what this suggests is that Eukarya
which includes you and me and archaea
which are these creatures that are
prokaryotes that usually live in extreme
environments even though archaea and
Eukarya you know are really different
once prokaryotic once eukaryotic we
share a more common ancestor than
archaea does to bacteria okay again what
does that mean in layman's terms that
means that archaea are more closely
related to us Eukarya than they are to
other bacteria to two other prokaryotes
called bacteria so these prokaryotes are
more closely related to us than they are
to bacteria which is really fascinating
to think about we have a more common
ancestor with archaea than bacteria do
okay so that wraps up chapter 1 again
welcome to biology 1406 I hope this is a
good semester for you I've got these
videos here by the way you see whenever
in the in the notes whenever you see
this at the bottom left you see dr. D
click me you can click that icon and
you'll get a another video that will
help you to understand the concepts
better so go ahead and click on those
and you'll get many videos
that you can watch to help clarify some
of these points okay I'll try to put
these in you know it increase the number
of these as I can and make more videos
as I can okay thank you very much for
watching and tune in next time
