Biology is the science of life. Biologists study all aspects of Earth's living things, including the dynamic processes within them that enable them to develop, survive, and reproduce. Those vital processes include the harnessing of energy and matter, the synthesis of the materials that make up the body, the healing of injuries, and the reproduction of the organism, among many other activities.
The mysteries of life have fascinated all peoples throughout history, and curiosity about the physical nature and apparent relatedness of people, animals and plants exists in every known society. Some of that curiosity arises from a desire to control life processes and to exploit natural resources. Pursuit of the answers has led to an understanding of organisms that has steadily improved our standard of living. Other questions come from a desire to understand nature, rather than to control it; and, in answering these, biological investigation has changed our view of the world.
Although the word 'biology' is sometimes used conversationally to refer to matters that concern flesh and blood, and living creatures, this introductory article focuses on biology as a formal science. Unlike non-scientists who are learned in natural lore, biologists formally employ the scientific method, and incorporate mathematics, biophysics, chemistry and other disciplines into their work.
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The scope of biology
How did life on earth begin? What features separate something that is alive from something that is dead or inanimate? How have living things, ranging from microscopic bacteria to towering trees, changed the earth's oceans, atmosphere and geology over time? Biologists use science to approach such fundamental questions, questions that also concern the philosopher, the rabbi, the imam, or the priest - as well as every person who retains a sense of wonder. The scientific theories constructed as answers rarely agree with spiritual doctrines. Some religious leaders have deplored the scientist's mechanistic approach, because it removes the requirement for active intervention by a Creator. Some scientists, such as Francis Crick, have welcomed biological explanations as providing a rational basis for the world, free of the need to invoke supernatural powers.[2] Others[3] identify spiritual harmonies between the deeper insights provided by science and religious thought. In this view, mathematical equations and the language of prophets are simply two different forms of human expression, each attempting to describe a higher dimension than ordinary human experience.
Although biology addresses fundamental issues about living things, it also addresses practical questions. The applications of biology have enabled the health sciences to become effective healing arts, and the world's food supply to become safer and more plentiful.
Many independent scientific fields make up biology. Natural history (the study of individual species like white-tailed deer, sugar maple trees, box jellyfish and timber wolves) was one of the first areas to develop; in natural history, whole organisms are studied in an attempt to make sense of the order of nature. When plants and animals are considered in a context of how each affects the other and their environment, then the biologist's focus is on ecology. Some fields of biology focus on living organisms and their interactions within a certain realm of the earth, as in marine biology; others focus on particular aspects of living organisms, like their structure (morphology) or function (physiology). Studies of animals form the field of zoology, whereas the study of plants is called botany. Medicine and the health sciences apply biology to understanding disease and to improving health.