What is Life Science?

What Is Life Science?

As the name suggests, life science researches all forms of life, past and present. This can include plants, animals, viruses and bacteria, single-celled organisms, and even cells. Life science studies the biology of how these creatures live, which is why you might hear this group of majors called biology.

As you might expect, there are estimated to be 8.7 million species of animals, about 400,000 species of plants, and countless species of bacteria and viruses, and you can study many life forms. Much life science researchers specialize in one category or one organism, and some majors, such as zoology, even have more sub-specialties. There are more than thirty different branches of life sciences, but we will review some main branches here.

Ecology

Ecology focuses on the interaction between living things and their environment. This can include topics such as the food chain, parasitic and beneficial relationships, and relationships within species. Ecology also studies biodiversity, the number of biological populations, and the distribution of these organisms.

In fact, ecology aims to fully understand how the ecosystem works. These systems are complex and dynamic life networks, constantly changing and maintaining a delicate balance, otherwise the system will collapse. This ecosystem can be as large as an entire tropical rainforest or as small as a pond in Minnesota.

Botany

Botany research is a branch (pun) of biology that studies plants. From lichens, grasses and other ground cover plants to towering redwoods, everything belongs to the realm of botany. It may also include fungi and algae, which are different from other plant species.

Botany is one of the subcategories of biology, and it has its own subdivisions. Some scientists focus on plant biochemistry, while others focus on plant ecology, which is a branch between botany and ecology. Other subdivisions include plant genetics, evolution, physiology, and anatomy and morphology.

Zoology

Botany focuses on the plant kingdom, while zoology focuses on the animal kingdom. It looks at the characteristics of different animals, including their behavior, reproduction, migration patterns, habitats, etc. It can also identify new species; out of an estimated 8.7 million species of animals on the planet, we only know about 1.2 million.

Like ecology and botany, zoology intersects with several other disciplines, including paleontology, entomology, and genetics. Different zoologists pay attention to different types of animals, including birds, reptiles, mammals, fish, etc. Zoology has more than six subfields.

Entomology

Entomology is the study of all creepy creeping things in the world. This field officially studies insects, but it may also study spiders, poly pods, worms, snails, and slugs. This can be considered as a branch of zoology, because insects belong to the animal kingdom technically.

Among the 1.2 million species we know, insects account for nearly 900,000 species. Their history can be traced back at least 400 million years ago (much older than the oldest dinosaurs), and can be found in almost every ecosystem on the planet.

Microbiology

Microbiology studies some of the smallest organisms-single-celled organisms or small cell groups. This may include bacteria, viruses, parasites and other tiny organisms that live around and in our bodies. Historically, microbiology has been one of the most difficult areas to determine because it is very difficult to obtain a clear picture of the subject.

For example, viruses both fall into the field of microbiology and are expelled from the field of microbiology. It is difficult to give a specific definition of life, and viruses are one of the things that like to use that line to play skipping rope. Not to mention 99% of microorganisms that cannot be observed using traditional methods.

Cell Biology

Cell biology is smaller than microbiology. Look at the living systems that exist within a single cell. That's right; even the cells that make up your body have their own tiny ecosystem. Remember the mitochondria that you learned in ninth grade biology as the power source of cells?

Cell biology focuses on the life process of a single cell, including metabolic processes, reproduction, signal pathways and the chemical composition of cells. This allows us to better understand how life on a larger scale works. This is particularly important in fields such as genetics and pharmacology.

Physiology

Botany and zoology treat organisms as being in their environment, while physiology focuses on how these organisms live. This includes organ systems, organs, cells, and molecules that run the chemical processes that support life. Physiology does not consider you to be a person who interacts with the surrounding world or complex spiritual life, but a complex dance of chemical interactions that can keep you alive.

Physiology can study any life form we have discussed. Plant, animal, human, cell and microbial physiology are all subsets of this research field. Physiology is also closely related to epidemiology and pharmacology.

Genetics

Although the study of DNA and genomes is relatively new, genetics is a field that can be traced back to Gregor Mendel and his pea plants. It looks at how characteristics are inherited and how they adapt to the environment. It is only in the last few years that we really understand how genetic inheritance occurs.

With the discovery of DNA, genetics has expanded to include features that we only think may be genetically related. Geneticists are writing life science articles to explore whether and how addiction, cancer, talents and other such traits can be inherited. In the future, we may even see genetic modification that can prevent cancer.

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the observation of the life cycle of a disease. It seems strange to think that things like flu are still alive, but these diseases are caused by tiny organisms. Epidemiology studies how they live, how they reproduce, how they affect humans, and how they die.

Epidemiology is the cornerstone of public health. It studies the outbreak patterns of diseases, proposes treatments and cures, and develops vaccines against them. The more we learn about the lifestyles of these creatures, the better we can take measures to prevent them from making us sick. As you might expect, epidemiology and physiology are closely related.

Paleontology

Paleontology focuses on life that is no longer alive. Specifically, it studies dinosaurs and how they might live. It is based on fossil records and clues we can gather from these preserved remains.

Paleontology is a bit on the edge of biology, colliding with geology. Although it does include careful study of different rocks, the goal of paleontology is to use these rocks to reconstruct the record of life that once existed on this planet. Paleontologists tried to use dinosaur fossils to reverse engineer their way of life, how they looked, and even how they died.

Marine Biology

Marine biology can cover many of the areas we have already mentioned here, but there is a major turning point. Marine biology is concerned with life in the ocean, from whales to fish, from plankton to algae. It studies different marine ecosystems, food chains, botany, etc.

Part of the reason marine biology is so important is that most current theories believe that life on Earth originated in our oceans. In the age of dinosaurs, some species were still swimming. There are also species that live on the ocean floor that seem to ignore the rules that usually apply to life, so studying them can give us insight into more of the rules that govern all life on earth.

Additional Branches

These ten branches of life sciences are just a few of dozens of branches. Biotechnology, bioinformatics, and synthetic biology all study different aspects of the connection between life and technology, and this connection has been increasing. Astrobiology focuses on the formation and existence of life in the universe, including our own life.

Biolinguistics focuses on the biology and evolution of languages ​​in all biological species. Biomechanics and biophysics look at the way living things move in the world and what they can tell us. Developmental biology focuses on the life cycle of various organisms, from the fertilized egg to the mature adult.

Behavior and population biology look at our behavior and the way we interact in groups. Evolutionary biology and evolutionary developmental biology explore how we evolved. Histology focuses on the organization of organisms, while immunology studies our immune system.

Neuroscience specializes in controlling the nervous system of different animals. Pharmacology looks at how drugs interact with our system and aims to fight viruses and bacteria. Quantum phenomena in graduate students of quantum biology, while structural biology studies how organisms fit together.

Toxicology studies chemicals and poisons and how they affect living things. Enzymology explores fermentation. Theoretical biology does not focus on any specific biological field, but on abstract and mathematical models describing biological phenomena.

EPAM Solutions and Life Science

Life sciences is a huge scientific field that aims to answer some of the most basic questions about us. It checked everything, from blue whales breaking through the surface of the ocean looking for air, to sugar ants crawling along the kitchen counter, to bacteria running the digestive process. It looks at how we live, where we live, and how we live better.

EPAM developed Life Science web tools such as Imago, Indigo, Ketcher, Miew and others incorporating a high performance, good portability, lightweight, and ability to easily integrate into custom web applications