What is Biology: Significance in your life - Many student question the need for biology and other science classes in their curriculum when they know the are not going to major in science. However, it is becoming increasingly important that all citizens understand the ways of science and how the actions of society affect living things. Consider how your future will be influenced by how the following questions are ultimately answered:
1. Does electromagnetic radiation from electric power lines, computer monitors, or microwave ovens affect living things?
2. Is DNA testing reliable enough to be admitted as evidence in court cases?
3. Is there a pill that can be used to control a person's weight?
4. Can physicians and scientists manipulate our genes in order to control certain disease conditions?
5. Will the thinning of the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere results in increased incidence of skin cancer?
6. Will a vaccine for AIDS be developed in the next ten years?
Will new, in expensive, socially acceptable methods of birth control be developed that can slow world population growth?
As an informed citizen in a democracy, you can have a great deal to say about the solutions to these problems. In a democracy it is assumed that the public has gathered enough information to make intelligent decisions (FIgure 1). This is why an understanding of biological concepts is so important for any person, regardless of his or her vacation.
Most of the important questions of today can be considered from philosophical, social and scientific standpoints. None of these approaches individually presents a solution to most problems. For example, it is a fact that the human population of the world is growing very rapidly. Philosophically, we may all agree that the rate of population growth should be slowed. Killing infants or sterilizing women after they have had two children will work to control population. Both of these methods have been tried in some parts of the world within the past three centuries. However, most would contend that these "solutions" are philosophically or socially unacceptable. Science can provide information about the reproductive process and how it can be controlled, but society must answer the more fundamental social and philosophical questions about reproductive rights and the morality of controls. It is important to recognize that science has a role to play but that it does not have the answers to all our problems.
1. Does electromagnetic radiation from electric power lines, computer monitors, or microwave ovens affect living things?
2. Is DNA testing reliable enough to be admitted as evidence in court cases?
3. Is there a pill that can be used to control a person's weight?
4. Can physicians and scientists manipulate our genes in order to control certain disease conditions?
5. Will the thinning of the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere results in increased incidence of skin cancer?
6. Will a vaccine for AIDS be developed in the next ten years?
Will new, in expensive, socially acceptable methods of birth control be developed that can slow world population growth?
As an informed citizen in a democracy, you can have a great deal to say about the solutions to these problems. In a democracy it is assumed that the public has gathered enough information to make intelligent decisions (FIgure 1). This is why an understanding of biological concepts is so important for any person, regardless of his or her vacation.
Most of the important questions of today can be considered from philosophical, social and scientific standpoints. None of these approaches individually presents a solution to most problems. For example, it is a fact that the human population of the world is growing very rapidly. Philosophically, we may all agree that the rate of population growth should be slowed. Killing infants or sterilizing women after they have had two children will work to control population. Both of these methods have been tried in some parts of the world within the past three centuries. However, most would contend that these "solutions" are philosophically or socially unacceptable. Science can provide information about the reproductive process and how it can be controlled, but society must answer the more fundamental social and philosophical questions about reproductive rights and the morality of controls. It is important to recognize that science has a role to play but that it does not have the answers to all our problems.
SCIENCE AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
You probably have the idea that biology has something to do with plants and animals. Most textbooks define biology as the science that deals with life. This definition seems clear until you begin to think about what the words science and life mean.
The word science is a noun derived from a latin term (scientia) meaning knowledge or knowing. Humans have accumulated a vast amount of "knowledge" using a variety of methods, some by scientific methods and some by other methods.
Science is really distinguished by how knowledge is acquired, rather than by the act of accumulating facts. Science is actually a process or way of arriving at a solution to a problem or understanding an event in nature that involves testing possible solutions. The process has become known as the scientific method. The scientific method is a way of gaining information (facts) about the world by forming possible solutions to questions followed by rigorous testing to determine if the proposed solutions are valid( valid = meaningful, convincing, sound, satisfactory, confirmed by others).
You probably have the idea that biology has something to do with plants and animals. Most textbooks define biology as the science that deals with life. This definition seems clear until you begin to think about what the words science and life mean.
The word science is a noun derived from a latin term (scientia) meaning knowledge or knowing. Humans have accumulated a vast amount of "knowledge" using a variety of methods, some by scientific methods and some by other methods.
Science is really distinguished by how knowledge is acquired, rather than by the act of accumulating facts. Science is actually a process or way of arriving at a solution to a problem or understanding an event in nature that involves testing possible solutions. The process has become known as the scientific method. The scientific method is a way of gaining information (facts) about the world by forming possible solutions to questions followed by rigorous testing to determine if the proposed solutions are valid( valid = meaningful, convincing, sound, satisfactory, confirmed by others).
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