Modern biological achievements in biology. Achievements of the biology of the XIX century

Biology is one of the most thoroughly developing sciences and in this area last year there have been many extremely interesting events. Observer of the Internet magazine "Hightec" Sergey Kolenov chose 10 main discoveries of 2017 in the field of biology and medicine, which will substantially affect our future.

1. End of the era of antibiotics

2017 showed that the era of antibiotics, which lasted almost a century, came to an end. Bacteria has learned how to produce resistance to known drugs, and there is no time or sufficient funds to develop new. Doctors and scientists draw gloomy forecasts: if you do nothing, microorganisms will kill humanity much earlier than climate change. However, this threat is still not perceived seriously. The reason for the appearance of superbacterial is in the reproduction of microorganisms and their ability to exchange genetic information. The only bacterium, which has a drug resistance gene, will share them with relatives. To allow humanity to survive, researchers are looking for a replacement to the usual drugs. To combat superbackers, it is proposed to use CRISPR, nanoparticles and new, more powerful antibiotics. The development of these and other methods is possible only due to the study of molecular mechanisms for the appearance of stability.

2. Reclicated time of life

The question of how life appeared on earth is one of the most important in biology. The exact dates and conditions of the occurrence of life remain the subject of discussion. In the past year, researchers from Australia studied rock rocks by age 3.48 billion years and revealed their traces of microorganisms. This means that primitive forms of life could appear even earlier - about 4 billion years ago. Interestingly, the studied rock formations belong to land sediments - and therefore, the lifestyle could not be an ocean, but hot springs on land. Also in the past year, scientists investigated molecular mechanisms that accompanied the early stages of the appearance of living organisms. In particular, the popular RNA-world hypothesis was questioned: according to new research, RNA and proteins took equal part in the occurrence of life.

3. The appearance of a new type of birds

Usually evolution is a very long process, almost imperceptible to human look. To ensure that some sign is entrenched in the population, hundreds and thousands of years are required. Therefore, scientists are forced to deal with evolution testimonies captured in fossils and DNAs, and ordinary people doubt the reality of evolution. The transformation of one species to others happens even less often, and observe the like - a real fortune that sheds light on many evolution puzzles. In the outgoing year, researchers announced that they managed to see the birth of a new species of birds.

The discovery was made in a cult for all biologists - in the Galapagos Islands, inspired by Charles Darwin to create his theory. Rosemary's spouses and Peter Grant, ornithologists from Princeton University, forty years have studied Darwinian reels here. While working on the island of Daphne, they found that the alien from the remote Island of Espanyol, the Maospiza Conirostris, which received a nickname Big Bird joined the local species of Vusures. Due to the lack of females of his own kind, he mowed with local birds. The descendants of these unions are so different from other reels on the song and appearance, which can be recognized as a new type.

4. Evolution is recognized as infinite

In 2017, one of the longest expenses in the history of biology celebrated the anniversary. Researchers under the guidance of the microbiologist Richard Lensky for 30 years have been observed for the development of Escherichia Coli's intestinal bacteria. During this time, 67,000 generations have managed to change, which corresponds to a million years of human evolution. Despite the honorable age, the experiment continues and brings new discoveries. Analysis of its results conducted in the past year, denied one of the popular ideas in modern biology. According to many experts, adaptation has a limit: after the species perfectly adapts to a stable habitat, his evolution will stop. However, the decades of observation of microorganisms proved that the evolution will continue even in this case, and the limit of adaptability does not exist. It matches the views of Charles Darwin, rather than the ideas of modern specialists.

5. New signs of biodiversity crisis

Many researchers tend to the fact that we live in the era of sixth mass extinction - the largest 65 million years ago from the time of disappearance of dinosaurs. The rate of extinction of species is currently much higher than ever for the last millions of years - the process is already called "biological annihilation", and a person who destroys animals, plants and their habitat is to blame. One of the most disturbing facts that became famous science in the outgoing year was the result of the study of Dutch ecologists, who studied the number of flying insects in Germany. They found that in just 28 years it decreased by 76%, and for the summer months, this figure reaches 82%.

Scientists all over the world have previously suspected that insects are less, but such a strict and frightening assessment is given for the first time. It is especially unpleasant that the study was conducted on the territory of the reserves, where the intervention of people in nature is limited. The authors found that the extinction of insects cannot be explained by either weather conditions nor the features of the landscape. It is possible to blame climate change or the use of pesticides. The disappearance of insects is a very disturbing signal, because they serve as feed for many other species and are important pollinators, without only wild plants, but also agriculture.

6. Scientists have learned to selectively erase memories

Neurobiology is developing faster than any other branch. In 2017, many amazing discoveries were made about how the brain works: scientists found out what the smartphones are rendered on it, they discovered self-cleaning system and learned that people, like AI, are capable of deeply learning. Among these news, it is difficult to single out the main thing, but it may be necessary to name a new step towards memory management. Experimenting with marine mollusia - a classic model object for studying memory - scientists learned to turn off the memories recorded in neurons. To do this, it was necessary to block in the necessary cells the enzyme proteinkinase M. In the future, research can help people suffering from painful memories. Especially effective this technique can be in the fight against post-traumatic syndrome.

7. Diet is able to cure diabetes

Diabetes spread took the nature of this epidemic: according to some forecasts, by the middle of the century will suffer from the third of the US inhabitants. The main increase is the type 2 diabetes, which is binding to overweight and improper power. In the early stages, doctors recommend controlling it with a diet. However, as the study of scientists from the University of Yale University showed, rigid nutrition restrictions can even fully heal the 2-type diabetes.

The evidence of this appeared earlier, but a careful study was held for the first time. As it turned out, the diet did a liver more susceptible to insulin by reducing the amount of fat and prevented the production of glucose from other substances. In the experiment with rodents, positive changes began only 3 days after the introduction of restrictions in nutrition. These findings are confirmed by the work of scientists from the University of Glasgow. A study with the participation of 300 patients has shown that the reduction in the number of calories consumed on the day up to 800 for a period of 3 to 5 months can fully cure diabetes without drugs.
8. Developed an effective male contraceptive

Scientists have long tried to create an effective and convenient contraceptive for men, similar to female contraceptive pills. Condoms, a solution common today, seem to many uncomfortable and reduced sex quality, and vasectomy is too radical. As a result, in most couples, concern for protection falls on women's shoulders, or unreliable methods of the type of interrupted sexual intercourse are used. In 2017, it seems that a breakthrough was achieved in this direction.

The team of scientists applied to the contraception of the gel, which is introduced into the seed-eyed ducts and blocks them, as a result of which the sperm remains in the body and is absorbed. Two-year-old tests on macakes showed 100 percent efficiency of the drug, as well as the absence of side effects like inflammation. The gel action is reversible: "corks" can be removed by airing into them with ultrasound. An alternative solution uses hormones as in women's contraceptives. A gel containing progestin and testosterone must be rubbed into the shoulders, as a result of which the number of spermatozoa drops to values \u200b\u200bat which pregnancy is impossible. Large-scale testing of the drug will begin in 2018. Researchers hope that, unlike previous hormone male contraceptives, their development will not cause mood differences and other unpleasant consequences.

9. More advanced prostheses

The creation of complex modern prostheses is an area where medicine and biology are found with artificial intelligence and high technologies. The developers of artificial limbs are no longer satisfied with the creation of comfortable and light prostheses, now their goal is to make prostheses as functional and dexterous as real human hands. In 2017, scientists and engineers managed to approach the solution of this task. Roboruk, created by the staff of the Georgia Institute of Technology, allows the owner to move each finger separately. This feature is achieved by the interaction between the prosthesis and muscles in the remaining part of the hand. The ultrasonic probe embedded in the hand determines which of them move, and with the help of a special algorithm translates this information in the movement of the fingers. The device is quite completely enough to be played with the piano.

10. Searches for life in space

The interest in space has been growing steadily in recent years, and the question is "lonely we in the universe?" flared with a new force. Each NASA Press Conference 2017 was accompanied by expectations that we were about to find an discovery of extraterrestrial life. Alas, in the outgoing year it never happened. However, scientists have improved the ways to search for signs of life in space with the help of biomarkers and have developed new missions for potentially inhabited worlds, for example, Saturn Enceladu satellite.

One of the main hopes of the year was the discovery of seven land-like planets in the TrapPist-1 system, of which six are in the potentially inhabitable "zone of the Zlatovist" (one later, another, in the Red Dwarf Ross 128) was discovered. However, some researchers believe that life is impossible there: the degree of UV radiation star is too large and does not leave opportunities for the existence of the atmosphere and carbon life. Another disappointment was the discovery of Scottish scientists, which proved that the surface of Mars is toxic for bacterial life. Nevertheless, astronomers and biologists believe that extraterrestrial life will be discovered after 10-15 years.

The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the XXI, entailed the poles of discoveries. New discoveries in biologies build a bunch of questions that make it make scholars that everything is not so simple in this world. Search for truth is the main goal of the researchers.

Discoveries in the biology of the XX century

In 1951, Researcher Erwin Chargaffa came to one conclusion, which in the root changed the look at the structure of nucleic acids. Earlier it was believed that all nucleic acids were created from tetra blocks, therefore specificity is deprived. For three years, the scientist engaged in research and, finally, was able to prove that nucleic acids obtained from different sources differ in their composition from each other - they are specific. The scientist built a DNA model, which was similar to a double helix with his own appearance, when placed on a plane, she looked like a staircase. It was revealed that the structure of one separate DNA branch determines the structure of the other branch - this is due to the fact that the base of the adjacent determines the sequence of other guides. Thus, a new DNA property was determined - complimentaryness.

Next, research was needed in the field of molecular biology that would have been deciphering the DNA replication and transcription mechanism. Scientists suggested that the thread is unwinded, its threads are diverged, and then, in accordance with the rule of complimentaryness, a molecule is formed from each thread. A little later, the experiments were confirmed by this hypothesis.

In 1954, Georgy Antonovich Gamov, on the basis of the study of Erwin Chargaff, suggested that amino acids are encoded from a combination of three nucleotides.

In 1961, French scientists Jacques Mono and Francois Jacob recreated a scheme regulating active genes. Scientists said that DNA had not only information genes, but also genes-operators and gements regulators.

New discoveries in the biology of the XXI century

In 2007, the union of University's scientists Wisconsis-Madison and the University of Kyoto held one experiment, thanks to which the adult skin cells began to behave like embryo stem cells. The cell was able to transform almost in any kind. The financial framework can be discarded, so therefore, human DNA cells can be an organ for transplant. The organ grown in such a way will not be rejected by the patient's body.

The study of the "human genome" was completed in 2006. This project was named the most important study in the field of biology. The main goal of the work is to determine the sequence of nucleotides, as well as study about 20,000 thousand human genes. Under the leadership of James Watson's scientist, in 2000. Part of the structure of the genome was presented, and in 2003. Study structure has been completed. Despite the fact that the official "human genome" was completed in 2006, the analysis of some sites continues today. This study opens up new theories of evolution. The knowledge gained during the work is already actively used in medicine.

In the 20th century, biology as science went ahead with large steps, and the beginning of the XXI century is already remarkable discoveries. It can be assumed that new discoveries in biology will open a lot of secrets and mysteries, which may be able to turn all the former knowledge and approved theories.

Dozen significant discoveries of the first decade of the XXI century - video

Ten largest achievements of the decade in biology and medicine version of an independent expert

New high-performance DNA sequencing methods - "price" genome drops

Microrn - what was silent of the genome

New high-performance DNA sequencing methods - "price" genome drops

One of the founders of the famous Intel company Moore at one time formulated an empirical law, which is still being implemented: the performance of the computers will double every two years. The performance of DNA sequenters, with the help of which the decoding of the nucleotide sequences of DNA and RNA, is growing even faster than the "Moore law". Accordingly, the cost of reading genomes is falling.

Thus, the costs of work on the project "The human genome", which ended in 2000, amounted to $ 13 billion. The newly new mass sequencing technologies that appeared on a parallel analysis of the set of DNA fragments (first in microlls, and now in millions of microscopic droplets). As a result, for example, the deciphering of the genome of the famous biologist D. Watson, one of the authors of the discovery of the DNA structure, which in 2007 cost $ 2 million, in just two years "cost" already 100 thousand dollars.

In 2011, Ion Torrent, which suggested a new sequencing method based on measuring the concentration of hydrogen ions, released during the operation of the DNA polymerase enzymes, read the genome of the Moore itself. And although the cost of this work was not announced, the creators of the new technology promise that reading any human genome should not exceed 1 thousand dollars in the future. And their competitors are the creators of another new technology, sequencing DNA in nanowors, already this year presented a prototype of the device, at which, spending several thousand dollars, one can sequenate the human genome in 15 minutes.

Synthetic biology and synthetic genomics - how easy it is to become a god

Information accumulated over half a century of molecular biology today allows scientists to create live systems that have never existed in nature. As it turned out, this is absolutely not difficult, especially if you start with something already known and limit your claims with such simple organisms as bacteria.

Nowadays, the United States is even conducted in the United States, in which the student teams compete in who can come up with the most interesting modification of ordinary bacterial strains using a set of standard genes. For example, transplanting to the well-known intestinal wand ( Escherichia Coli.) A set of eleven-defined genes, one can force the colonies of these bacteria, growing a smooth layer on a Petri Crack, consistently change the color where lighting falls on them. As a result, their peculiar "photographs" can be obtained with a resolution equal to the size of the bacteria, i.e. about 1 μm. The creators of this system gave her the name "Colijord", crossed the species name of the bacteria and the name of the famous company "Polyroid".

There are megaprojects in this area. Thus, in the firm of one of the fathers of the genomics K. Vender was synthesized from individual nucleotides of the genome of bacteria-mycoplasma, which is not similar to any of the existing mycoplasma genomes. This DNA entered into the "finished" bacterial shell killed mycoplasma and got a working, i.e. Live organism with a fully synthetic genome.

Medicines from aging - the path to "chemical" immortality?

No matter how much they tried to create a panacea from aging for thousands of years, the legendary means of Macropulosum remained unacceptable. But in this, it would seem, the fantastic direction appear progress.

So, at the beginning of the past decade, a large boom in society produced a resveratrol - a substance allocated from the peel of a red grape berry. At first, it was possible to significantly extend the lives of yeast cells, and then - and multicellular animals, microscopic worms, nematodes, fruit flocks, frosophyms and even aquarium fish. Then the attention of specialists attracted Rapamycin - an antibiotic, first isolated from soil bacteria-streptomycetes with about. Easter. With it, it was possible to extend the life not only by yeast cells, but even laboratory mice, which lived by 10-15% longer.

By themselves, these drugs are unlikely to be widely used to extend the life: the same rapamycin, for example, suppresses the immune system and increases the risk of infectious diseases. However, there are currently active studies of the mechanisms of action of these and similar substances. And if it succeeds, then the dream of safe medicines for the extension of life may well become a show.

The use of stem cells in medicine - we are waiting for the revolution

Today, in the database of clinical trials of national health institutions, the United States lists almost half a thousand work with stem cells located at different stages of research

However, the fact that the first of them relate to the use of nervous system cells (oligodendrocytes) for the treatment of spinal cord injuries was interrupted in November 2011 for an unknown reason. After that, the American company Geron Corporation is one of the pioneers in the field of "stem" biology, which conducted this study, announced the full collapse of its work in this area.

Nevertheless, I want to believe that the medical use of stem cells with all their magical capabilities is not far off.

Ancient DNA - from Neanderthal to Plant Bacteria

In 1993, the film "The Park of the Jurassic period" was released, in which monsters were walking on the screen, recreated from DNA residues from the blood of dinosaurs, preserved in the stomach of mosquito stomaching in Yantar. That same year, one of the largest prestiges in the field of paleogenetics, English biochemist T. Lindel said that even under the most favorable conditions from fossil residues, DNA would not be extracted over 1 million years. Skeptic turned out to be the rights of DNA dinosaurs and remained inaccessible, however, success in the technical improvement of methods for extracting, amplification and sequencing younger DNA achieved over the past decade are impressive.

Today, the Neanderthal genomes, recently open Denisovts and many fossil remains, are fully or partially read. Homo Sapiens.As well as Mammoth, Mastodont, a cave bear ... As for a more distant past, DNA from chloroplasts of plants, whose age is dating 300-400 thousand years, and DNA bacteria with age is 400-600 thousand years.

From research more "young" DNA, it is worth noting the decoding of the genome of the influenza virus strain, which caused 1918 by the epidemic of the famous "Spaniard", and the genome of the strain of a plaque bacteria, devastating Europe in the XIV century; In both cases, the analysis materials were allocated from the buried remains of the dead from the disease.

Neuroprotezing - man or cyborg?

These achievements belong more to the engineering, not biological thought, but they do not look at less fantastic.

In general, the simplest type of neuroprotez - the electronic hearing apparatus - was invented even more than half a century ago. The microphone of this device catches the sound and transmits electrical pulses directly on the hearing nerve or in the brain barrel - it is thus you can return the rumor even to patients with completely destroyed structures of the middle and internal ear.

The explosive development of microelectronics over the past ten years has made it possible to create such types of neuroprotheses that it is time to talk about the possibility of the emergence of a man in cyborg. This is an artificial eye acting by the same principle as the auditory device; and electronic suppressants of conducting pain impulses through the spinal cord; and automatic artificial limbs capable of not only to perceive the control pulses of the brain and perform actions, but also to transmit sensations back to the brain; and electromagnetic stimulants of brain zones affected with Parkinson's disease.

Today, research is already underway regarding the integration of different brain departments with computer chips to improve mental abilities. And although it is far from the fully realization of this idea, but video clips showing people with artificial hands confidently using a knife and a fork and playing on table football, imaginable.

Nonlinear optics in microscopy - see invisible

From the course of physics, students firmly assimilate the concept of diffraction limit: in the best optical microscope it is impossible to see the object, the dimensions of which less than half of the wavelength divided into the refractive index of the medium. With a wavelength of 400 nm (purple area of \u200b\u200bthe visible spectrum) and the refractive index of about a unit (like air), the facilities are smaller than 200 nm indistinguishable. Namely to this dimensional range, for example, viruses and many interesting intracellular structures fall.

Therefore, in recent years, the methods of nonlinear and fluorescence optics have been widespread in biological microscopy, for which the concept of the diffraction limit is not applicable. Now such methods manage to explore the internal structure of cells in detail.

Designer proteins - Evolution in the test tube

As in synthetic biology, we are talking about the creation of an unprecedented in nature, only this time not new organisms, but separate proteins with unusual properties. This can be desired using both improved computer simulation methods and "evolution in a test tube" - for example, carrying out the selection of artificial proteins on the surface of the bacteriophages specially created for this purpose.

In 2003, scientists from the University of Washington using the methods of computer prediction of the structure were created by the Top7 protein - the world's first protein, the structure of which has no analogues in wildlife. And on the basis of the known structures of the so-called "zinc fingers" - elements of proteins that recognize the DNA sections with a different sequence, it was possible to create artificial enzymes, splitting DNA in any obviously specified location. Such enzymes are now widely used as instruments for manipulation with genome: For example, with their help, it is possible to remove the defective gene from the genome of the human cell and cause the cell to replace it with a normal copy.

Personalized medicine - we get gene passports

The idea that different people and are sick, and must be treated in different ways, far from Nova. Even if you forget about different sexes, age and lifestyle and not to take into account genetically determined hereditary diseases, all the same, our individual set of genes can be uniquely influenced both on the risk of many diseases and the nature of drugs on the body.

Many have heard about genes, defects in which increase the risk of developing cancer. Another example concerns the reception of hormonal contraceptives: if the woman is often increasingly for Europeans "Leidensky" C gene of factor V (one of the proteins of blood coagulation system), it dramatically increases the risk of thrombosis, since hormones, and this version of the gene increases blood coagulation .

With the development of methods for determining the DNA sequence, it was possible to compile individual genetic health cards: it is possible to establish which known variants of genes associated with diseases or respond to drugs, which are in the genome of a particular person. Based on this analysis, you can make recommendations on the most appropriate mode of nutrition, about the necessary preventive inspections and precautions when using certain drugs.

Microrn - what was silent of the genome

In the 1990s. The phenomenon of RNA interference was opened - the ability of small double-chain deoxyribonucleic acids to reduce the activity of genes due to the degradation of matrix RNAs read from them, on which proteins are synthesized. It turned out that cells actively use such a regulation path, synthesizing the microrn, which are then cut into fragments of the desired length.

The first microdge was opened in 1993, the second - only seven years later, while nematode was used in both studies. Caenorhabditis Elegans.which is now one of the main experimental objects in development biology. But then the discoveries fell apart, as from the horns of abundance.

It turned out that Microrn is also involved in the embryonic development of a person, and in the pathogenesis of oncological, cardiovascular and nervous diseases. And when it became possible to simultaneously read the sequences of all RNA in a human cell, it turned out that a huge part of our genome, which was previously considered "silent", because it does not contain genes encoding proteins, actually serves as a matrix for reading microgne and other non-corrective RNA.

D. b. n. D. O. Zharkov (Institute of Chemical
biology and fundamental medicine
SB RAS, Novosibirsk)­

By virtue of the rapid technical progress and the general evolutionary development of humanity, every year more and more people learn to know this world. All sciences develop. They develop thanks to new discoveries in a specific area. And biology is no exception. Modern discoveries in biology, in particular, the discoveries of 2014 were remembered to us with rapid progress in the study of flora and fauna of the Earth's biosphere, as well as completely new technical inventions.

The development of biology, as an independent science of life, began in ancient times and continues now in several directions. In particular, if we talk about less mentioning discoveries in biology (this does not mean that they are less significant), I want to remember the following:

• technologies and methods for determining protein chains were significantly improved. People learned to determine the sequences in the DNA structure, as well as set certain amino acid sequences of proteins. Such a discovery allows scientists almost completely without any difficulties to read the genetic code of any living organism;
• the development of artificial organs was accelerated and improved. Scientists have learned to grow muscles, liver cloths, hair and even working heart valves. From the further development of these discoveries, a variety of human lives depends on.

Opening of new biological species

Almost every day, all new and new data on unknown organisms have been added to the total world DNA databases. During the period of the end of 2013-2014, it was possible to collect data on many new representatives of flora and fauna, we will immediately recall some of them.

Olingito

This predatory mammal in its appearance resembles a harmless plush toy, so with his discovery formed a real Furior among lovers of animals. An animal was opened in August 2013 as a result of many years of zoologist research from the US Christopher Heljene.

Wood dragon Cavesaca

As a separate biological view, this tree was identified only last year. Why this bright representative of the Flora Thailand for many years remained unnoticed so far remains a mystery. Nevertheless, the view was discovered recently, therefore refers to modern discoveries in biology.

Microbe sterile premises

The official biological name on Latin of this type of organisms -asterSicoccus Phoenicis. The microbe was discovered in mid-2014 in absolutely sterile rooms, where spacecraft are located. Due to these circumstances, many scientists fear that the Tersicoccus Phoenicis could even pollute Mars, hitting the next planet together with the marshodes. TERSICOCCUS Phoenicis is a bright proof of what incredibly difficult conditions can exist life.

Experiments on their body. Madness or victim for science?

On the pages of the World Wide Web from mid-2012, information began to appear about the opening of a new hormone. Soon it became known that this hormone is an irisine, which is highlighted by the muscles of a person with a strong physical exertion. The effect of this hormone, as the study showed, is determined by a fatty tissue, where the usual "white" fat, which serves as a source of energy, turns into a "brown", which highlights the energy in the form of heat. Such a transformation of lipids in the body, as many scientists argued, has a lot of positive effects to human health.

In early 2014, Harvard biologist Bruce Spegerman decided to test the irisin on himself, proving into such a way the positive effects of the hormone on the physical condition of a person. However, the scientist incorrectly calculated the dose and introduced into his body a too large amount of hormone. Soon, all fat in his body turned into "brown". As a result of the error, the body of Spigelman began to highlight so much heat that it had to be placed in a special camera with liquid nitrogen to reduce body temperature. In further research, he directs from there. But the positive effect of the hormone in the right doses, he still proved. At the conclusion of doctors, Bruce Spielman is the most healthy person in the world. Its act was described in many foreign and Russian articles under the title "Modern discoveries in biology."

Scientists have found a new kind of mammal - Olinhito - video

Section 1. Biology - Life Science.

Plan

Topic 1. Biology as science, its achievements, research methods, connection with other sciences. The role of biology in the life and practical activity of man.

Topic 2. Signs and properties of living: cellular structure, peculiarities of chemical composition, metabolism and transformation of energy, homeostasis, irritability, reproduction, development

Topic 3. Basic levels of wildlife organization: Cellular, organized, population-species, biogeocetic

Biology as a science, its achievements, methods of knowledge of wildlife. The role of biology in the formation of a modern natural science picture of the world.

Biology as science.

Biology (from Greek. BIOS - a life, Logos. - Word, science) is a complex of wildlife science.

The subject of biology is all manifestations of life: the structure and functions of living beings, their diversity, origin and development, as well as interaction with the environment. The main task of biology as science consists in interpreting all the phenomena of wildlife on a scientific basis, taking into account that inherent in the property inherent in the root differing from its components.

The term "biology" is found in the works of the German anatoms of T. Rozé (1779) and K.-F. Burdach (1800), but only in 1802 he was first used independently from each other J.-B. Laamarcom and G.-R. Treviranus to designate science learning living organisms.

Biological sciences.

Currently, biology includes a number of sciences that can be systematized by such criteria: subject and predominant methods research and studied living Nature Organization. In the subject of research, biological sciences are divided into bacteriology, botanic, virology, zoology, micrology.

Botany - This is biological science, comprehensively studying plants and vegetation cover of the Earth. Zoology - section of biology, science of manifold, structure, vital activity, distribution and interrelation of animals with the habitat, their origin and development. Bacteriology - biological science, studying the structure and vital activity of bacteria, as well as their role in nature. Virology - Biological science studying viruses. The main object Mycology There are mushrooms, their structure and livelihoods. Lichenology - biological science studying lichens. Bacteriology, virology and some aspects of micrology are often discussed in the composition Microbiology - section of biology, science of microorganisms (bacteria, viruses and microscopic mushrooms). Systematics or taxonomy - biological science, which describes and classifies all living and extinct creatures by groups.

In turn, each of the listed biological sciences is divided into biochemistry, morphology, anatomy, physiology, embryology, genetics and systematics (plants, animals or microorganisms). Biochemistry - This is the science of the chemical composition of living matter, chemical processes occurring in living organisms and underlying their livelihoods. Morphology - biological science, which studies the form and structure of organisms, as well as the patterns of their development. In a broad sense, it includes cytology, anatomy, histology and embryology. Differ morphology of animals and plants. Anatomy - This is a section of biology (more precisely - morphology), science that studies the internal structure and shape of individual organs, systems and the body as a whole. The anatomy of plants is considered in the composition of botany, anatomy of animals - in the composition of zoology, and the human anatomy is a separate science. Physiology - biological science examining the processes of the vital activity of plant and animal organisms, their individual systems, organs, tissues and cells. There are physiology of plants, animals and humans. Embryology (development biology) - section of biology, science on the individual development of the body, including the development of the embryo.

Object Genetics are the patterns of heredity and variability. Currently, this is one of the most dynamically developing biological sciences.

At the studied level of the organization of wildlife allocate molecular biology, cytology, histology, organology, biology of organisms and overshugant systems. Molecular biology It is one of the most young sections of biology, science, which studies, in particular, the organization of hereditary information and protein biosynthesis. Cytology, or cell biology - biological science, the object of studying which cells are both unicellular and multicellular organisms. Histology - biological science, section of morphology, the object of which is the structure of plant tissues and animals. To the sphere Organly include morphology, anatomy and physiology of various organs and their systems.

Biology of organisms includes all sciences, the subject of which are living organisms, for example, Etology - Science on behavior of organisms.

Biology of overshooting systems is divided into biogeography and ecology. The spread of living organisms is studied biogeography whereas ecology - organization and functioning of overvalued systems of various levels: populations, biocenoses (communities), biogeocenoses (ecosystems) and biosphere.

According to predominant research methods, a descriptive (for example, morphology) can be distinguished, experimental (for example, physiology) and theoretical biology.

The identification and explanation of the patterns of the structure, functioning and development of wildlife at various levels of its organization is a task general biology. It includes biochemistry, molecular biology, cytology, embryology, genetics, ecology, evolutionary teaching and anthropology. Evolutionary doctrine It is studying the causes, driving forces, mechanisms and common patterns of the evolution of living organisms. One of its sections is paleontology - Science, the subject of which are fossil remains of living organisms. Anthropology - section of general biology, science on the origin and development of a person as a biological species, as well as a variety of populations of modern man and the laws of their interaction.

Applied aspects of biology are related to the sphere of biotechnology, breeding and other rapidly developing sciences. Biotechnology Call biological science, which studies the use of living organisms and biological processes in production. It is widely used in food (bakery, cheesecake, brewing, etc.) and pharmaceutical industries (production of antibiotics, vitamins), for water purification, etc. Selection - Science on methods for creating breeds of domestic animals, varieties of cultivated plants and strains of microorganisms with the necessary person properties. By selection, the process of changing living organisms carried out by man for their needs is understood.

Biology progress is closely associated with the successes of other natural and accurate sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, informatics, etc. For example, microscopying, ultrasound studies (ultrasound), tomography and other biology methods are based on physical laws, and the study of the structure of biological molecules and The processes occurring in living systems would be impossible without the use of chemical and physical methods. The use of mathematical methods allows, on the one hand, to identify the presence of a natural link between objects or phenomena, confirm the accuracy of the results obtained, and on the other, to simulate the phenomenon or process. Recently, computer methods, such as modeling, are becoming increasingly important in biology. At the junction of biology and other sciences there was a number of new sciences, such as biophysics, biochemistry, bionics, etc.