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The Life Sciences Resource for Schools

The field of Life Science seeks to investigate and explain living things in the world around us. Some life scientists examine the behavior of animals and seek to predict how they will act in variable situations. Others examine the life cycles of animals in order to help preserve the species.

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics is a relatively new field in Life Science and involves using computers while investigating life science information. Computers are used to characterize and store genetic information that is learned about particular life forms. This is sometimes also referred to as computational molecular biology, and is its most common use. Computers are necessary when dealing with large amounts of DNA sequencing. Computers are also very useful when compiling large amounts of research material on any biological project. Statistics are more easily figured and examined, and determinations can be more quickly made about research that has been done. Some other bioinformatic efforts have been, and are continuing to be, genome assembly, drug design, protein structure prediction and alignment, pattern recognition, and data mining.

Biology

Biology is a study of life and live organisms, from the tiniest unicellular to the most complex on the earth. It is concerned with the makeup of the organism, the function, the evolution, and its taxonomy. There are several breakdowns within the umbrella of biology, and these create specificity within the field. Some of these subdivisions include cellular biology, bioinformatics, molecular biology, ecology, and physiology. The field itself is so large, and there is so much to examine within the life of all the species on earth, that is it nearly impossible for an individual not to specialize in a particular biological discipline.

Genetics and Genomics

Genetics is the field of biology that is concerned with heredity and its role in the development of the individual traits in an organism. The first individual to begin examining genetics through the investigation of genes was Gregory Mendel in the nineteenth century. He discovered that traits appearing in and within an individual appeared on their DNA and that these DNA would combine from each parent and be passed down to their offspring. Genomics is the extensive study of the DNA sequence and mapping and its use in particular situations such as disease.

Human Biochemistry

Human Biochemistry is the study of all the processes that take place within the human body to create it and make it go. It examines the chemical reactions of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids as they mix with one another and react to one another and keep the human body functioning as it needs to function. Scientists use chromatography, dual polarisation interferometry, and X-ray diffraction, among other techniques, to examine the metabolic pathways of a cell, and they can investigate and discover things such as the citric acid cycle and the glycolysis cycle. These discoveries are very important, because they can show us how to eat more properly for the most healthful outcome, and they may explain why our bodies react certain ways to certain foods.

 Immunology

Immunology is the branch of biology that deals with disease and the immune system of the human body. The fact that some people developed immunity to disease was noted in 430 BC when the plague in Athens killed many, but that those who had recovered from the disease could nurse those who currently had the disease and not become ill a second time. It was during the 19th and 20th centuries, however, that scientists were able to identify the relationship between the body and the immune system and how antibodies were created to keep a person from falling ill again. The primary immune system consists of the thymus and bone marrow, but also contributing to the process are the spleen, the tonsils, the lymph nodes, the adenoids, the lymph vessels, and skin. Clinical immunologists study diseases that may be caused or may affect the organs of the immune system such as immunodeficiency diseases such as HIV or autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. Developmental immunologists study a particular immune system’s ability to react to an antigen. This is dependant on many things such as age, sex, and health of the person.

Medicinal Botany

Botany is the study of plants, and some biologists commit themselves to the investigation of particular medicinal qualities of particular plants. Plants had been used for medical purposes in Ancient Greece, and herbalists, as they were called, passed their knowledge down from generation to generation. Botany, as we know it today, did not develop until the 17th century, but even today it is evident that some plants can well be used to heal one particular ailment or another. Medicinal botanists study these particular plants, and they seek to acquire information about other plants that could have the same affect on particular ailments or diseases.

Oncology

Oncology is the study of tumors, and, most notably, cancer, and all stages and aspects of the disease. It is a branch of medicine, and, therefore, a branch of biology, as a physician has to rely on his knowledge of immunology, genetics, as well as other branches of biology to determine how the cancer will react in a person and what course of action to take to cure or confine the disease.

Additional Life Science Fields

There are many fields that biologists can specialize in after fulfilling their core requirements in education. In addition to the fields listed above, several other fields include zoology, which is the specific study of animals; ichthyology, which is the study of fish; and marine biology, which is the study of marine life. Some life scientists are interested in conserving the world in which we live, and they are most interested in how life responds to that world. These scientists may study ecology, and atmospheric scientists study how the atmosphere itself affects life on earth. Cryobiology is the study of cold on living things, and ethology is the study of animal behavior. The number of ways that scientists can study life on this earth are as endless as the number of animals on the earth.