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Biology For Dummies

An updated edition of the ultimate guide to understanding biologyEver wondered how the food you eat becomes the energy your body needs to keep going? The theory of evolution says that humans and chimps descended from… (More)

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Sections

Introduction
About This Book
Conventions Used in This Book
What You’re Not to Read
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organized
Part I: Biology Basics
Part III: It’s a Small, Interconnected World
Part IV: Systems Galore! Animal Structure and Function
Part V: It’s Not Easy Being Green: Plant Structure and Function
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go from Here
Chapter 1
It All Starts with a Cell
Life Begets Life: Reproduction and Genetics
Making the Connection between Ecosystems and Evolution
Comparing Plants to People
Chapter 2
Living Things: Why Biologists Study Them and What Defines Them
Making Sense of the World through Observations
Introducing the scientific method
Designing experiments
Seeing Science as the Constant Sharing of New Ideas
Tracking Down Scientific Information
Journals: Not just for recording dreams
Textbooks: A student’s go-to source
The popular press: Not always accurate
The Internet: A wealth of information, not all of it good
Exploring Why Matter Matters
“Bohr”ing you with atoms
Elements of elements
I so dig isotopes
Molecules, Compounds, and Bonds
Acids and Bases (Not a Heavy Metal Band)
“Ph”iguring out the pH scale
Buffing up on buffers
Carbon-Based Molecules: The Basis for All Life
Providing energy: Carbohydrates
Making life possible: Proteins
Drawing the cellular road map: Nucleic acids
Supplying structure, energy, and more: Lipids
An Overview of Cells
Peeking at Prokaryotes
Examining the Structure of Eukaryotic Cells
Cells and the Organelles: Not a Motown Doo-wop Group
Holding it all together: The plasma membrane
Supporting the cell: The cytoskeleton
Controlling the show: The nucleus
Creating proteins: Ribosomes
Serving as the cell’s factory: The endoplasmic reticulum
Preparing products for distribution: The Golgi apparatus
Cleaning up the trash: Lysosomes
Destroying toxins: Peroxisomes
Providing energy, ATP-style: Mitochondria
Converting energy: Chloroplasts
Presenting Enzymes, the Jump-Starters
Staying the same . .
. . . while lowering activation energy
Getting some help from cofactors and coenzymes
Controlling enzymes through feedback inhibition
What’s Energy Got to Do with It?
Looking at the rules regarding energy
Metabolizing molecules
Transferring energy with ATP
Consuming food for matter and energy
Finding food versus producing your own
Transforming energy from the ultimate energy source
Putting matter and energy together
Cellular Respiration: Using Oxygen to Break Down Food for Energy
Breaking down food
Transferring energy to ATP
Energy and Your Body
Reproduction: Keep On Keepin’ On
Welcome to DNA Replication 101
Cell Division: Out with the Old, In with the New
Interphase: Getting organized
Mitosis: One for you, and one for you
Meiosis: It’s all about sex, baby
How Sexual Reproduction Creates Genetic Variation
Mutations
Crossing-over
Independent assortment
Fertilization
Nondisjunction
Pink and blue chromosomes
“Monk”ing Around with Peas: Mendel’s Laws of Inheritance
Pure breeding the parentals
Analyzing the F1 and F2 generations
Reviewing Mendel’s results
Diving into the Pool of Genetic Terminology
Bearing Genetic Crosses
Studying Genetic Traits in Humans
Creating pedigree charts
Testing different inheritance scenarios
Drawing conclusions about traits
Proteins Make Traits Happen, and DNA Makes the Proteins
Rewriting DNA’s message: Transcription
Putting on the finishing touches: RNA processing
Converting the code to the right language: Translation
Mistakes Happen: The Consequences of Mutation
Giving Cells Some Control: Gene Regulation
Adapting to environmental changes
Becoming an expert through differentiation
Understanding Just What’s Involved in DNA Technology
Cutting DNA with restriction enzymes
Combining DNA from different sources
Using gel electrophoresis to separate molecules
Copying a gene with PCR
Reading a gene with DNA sequencing
Mapping the Genes of Humanity
Genetically Modifying Organisms
Why GMOs are beneficial
Why GMOs cause concern
Biodiversity: Recognizing How Our Differences Make Us Stronger
Valuing biodiversity
Surveying the threats posed by human actions
Exploring the extinction of species
Protecting biodiversity
Meet Your Neighbors: Looking at Life on Earth
Unsung heroes: Bacteria
A bacteria impersonator: Archaeans
A taste of the familiar: Eukaryotes
Mastering the domains
Organizing life into smaller and smaller groups
Playing the name game
Ecosystems Bring It All Together
Biomes: Communities of life
Why can’t we be friends: Interactions between species
Studying Populations Is Popular in Ecology
Reviewing the basic concepts of population ecology
Discovering how populations grow
Taking a closer look at the human population
Moving Energy and Matter around within Ecosystems
Going with the (energy) flow
Cycling matter through ecosystems
What People Used to Believe
Owing it all to the birds
Darwin’s theory of biological evolution
The idea of natural selection
The Evidence of Biological Evolution
Biochemistry
Comparative anatomy
Geographic distribution of species
Molecular biology
Fossil record
Observable data
Radioisotope dating
Why So Controversial? Evolution versus Creationism
How Humans Evolved
Digging into DNA
Check out the big brain on the Homo sapien
Studying Function at All Levels of Life
Wrapping Your Head around the Big Physiological Ideas
Evolving the perfect form
Balancing the body to maintain homeostasis
Getting the message across plasma membranes
Recognizing that what comes in, must go out
Doing the Locomotion, Animal-Style
The Types of Skeletal Systems
Splitting apart vertebrate skeletons
Boning up on bones
Joining the movement fun
Why Muscles Are So Essential
Muscle tissue and physiology
Muscle contraction
Passing Gas: How Animals “Breathe”
Integumentary exchange
integumentary exchange
Gills
Tracheal exchange systems
Lungs
Circulation: Nutrients In, Garbage Out
Open circulatory systems
Closed circulatory systems
Getting to the Heart of Simpler Animals
A worm’s heart and circulatory system
A fish’s heart and circulatory system
Exploring the Human Heart and Circulatory System
Entering the cardiac cycle
Navigating the path of blood through the body
Seeing what makes your ticker tick
A Bloody-Important Fluid
The solids found in your essential fluid
The plasma “stream” in your bloodstream
How blood clots form
Obtaining Food and Breaking It Down
The Ins and Outs of Digestive Systems
Incomplete versus complete digestive tracts
Continuous versus discontinuous feeders
Traveling through the Human Digestive System
The busiest stop of all — your mouth
The inner workings of your stomach
The long and winding road of your small intestine
Absorbing the Stuff Your Body Needs
How nutrients travel through your body
Glucose regulation
What’s for Dinner? Making Wise, Nutritious Food Choices
Carbohydrates: The culprits of your food cravings
Proteins: You break down their chains; they build yours
Fats: You need some, but don’t overdo it
Minerals and vitamins: The fuel for your enzymes
Exploring the Human Excretory System
Microbial Encounters of the Best and Worst Kinds
Good bacteria: Health helpers
Bad bacteria: Health harmers
Viruses: All bad, all the time
Built to Protect You: Innate Human Defenses
Your body’s best blockers: Skin and mucous membranes
Tiny but mighty: Molecular defenders
Microbe seeker-outers: Dendritic cells
Invader eaters, big and small: Phagocytes
Damage control: Inflammation
A fluid filterer: The lymphatic system
Learning a Lesson: Adaptive Human Defenses
Commanders-in-chief: Helper T cells
Soldiers on the march: B cells and antibodies
Cellular assassins: Cytotoxic T cells
Giving Your Defenses a Helping Hand
Killing bacteria with antibiotics
Using viruses to kill bad bacteria
Fighting viruses with antiviral drugs
Getting ahead of the game with vaccines
Aging and Ailing: Changes in the Immune System
The Many Intricacies of Nervous Systems
Distinguishing between the CNS and PNS
Branching out to study neuron structure
Processing signals with the three types of neurons
Acting without thinking
What a Sensation! The Brain and the Five Senses
Oooh, that smell: Olfaction
Mmm, mmm, good: Taste
Now hear this: Sound
Seeing is believing: Sight
A touchy-feely subject: Touch
Following the Path of Nerve Impulses
Traveling from one end to the other
Jumping the gap between neurons
The Endocrine System: All Hormones Are Not Raging
Seeing how hormones work
Surveying the general functions of hormones
This Budding’s for You: Asexual Reproduction
The Ins and Outs of Sexual Reproduction
Getting to know gametes
Mating rituals and other preparations for the big event
How humans mate
How Other Animals Do It
Developing New Humans
From single cells to blastocyst
Go, go, embryo
Fetal development and birth
Differentiation, Development, and Determination
The ability to become any type of cell
The factors that affect differentiation and development
Gender differentiation in humans
Presenting Plant Structure
Plant tissues
The types of plants
Herbaceous versus woody stems
Obtaining Matter and Energy for Growth
Going It Alone: Asexual Reproduction
Mixing Sperm and Eggs: Sexual Reproduction
The life of a plant
The parts of a flower
How pollination and fertilization occur
From zygote to embryo
A little protection for the embryo: Seeds
How Nutrients, Fluids, and Sugars Move through Plants
Taking an inventory of the nutrients plants need to survive
Transporting water and other nutrients from the ground up
Controlling water loss
Sending Signals with Plant Hormones
Seeing the Unseen
Creating Penicillin, the First Antibiotic
Protecting People from Smallpox
Defining DNA Structure
Finding and Fighting Defective Genes
Discovering Modern Genetic Principles
Evolving the Theory of Natural Selection
Formulating Cell Theory
Moving Energy through the Krebs Cycle
Amplifying DNA with PCR
Keeping You Fed
Putting Microbial Enzymes to Work
Designing Genes
Obtaining Fossil Fuels for Energy
Causing and Treating Infectious Disease
Staying Alive
Providing You with Clean Water
Changing Physically and Mentally
Creating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
Facing Extinction
Index

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Category:	Uncategorized.
Rating:	Not available for private documents
Upload Date:	06/08/2010
ISBN	9780470768341
Copyright:	Traditional Copyright: All rights reserved
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