| A | B |
| biology | the study of life |
| organization | degree of order inside and outside of an organism |
| cell | the smallest unit of life |
| unicellular | one celled organisms |
| multicellular | organisms made of many cells |
| organs | structures with special jobs in organ systems |
| tissues | groups of cells with similar functions |
| organelles | tiny structures inside of cells |
| biological molecules | chemical structures that carry out functions to keep cells alive |
| homeostasis | maintaining balance inside an organism |
| metabolism | sum of all the chemical reactions inside an organism |
| cell division | formation of 2 cells from one preexisting one |
| development | the process of maturing |
| reproduction | when organisms make more organisms like themselves |
| gene | a piece of DNA that codes for a protein |
| domains | 3 major subdivisions of all organisms |
| kingdoms | a system of grouping into 6 major life categories |
| ecology | the study of organisms with each other and their environment |
| ecosystems | communities of living species and their environment |
| evolution | populations of organisms that change over generations so that new species are formed |
| natural selection | where organisms may have traits that better suit them for survival and reproduction and others do not |
| adaptations | traits that improve survival and reproduction |
| scientific method | an organized approach in the natural world to solve problems |
| observation | the act of perceiving a natural occurence that causes someone to pose a question |
| hypothesis | an educated guess that can be tested by experimentation |
| prediction | a statement that forecasts what would happen in a test situation if a hypothesis were true |
| experiment | used to test a hypothesis and its predictions |
| control group | the standard/the normal condition to compare results to...gets NO independent variable |
| experimental group | gets the independent variable...what you are testing |
| independent variable | the thing you change or manipulate or test |
| dependent variable | the variable you measure or repsonds to what you are testing |
| theory | a set of related hypotheses that are supported many times and stand the test of time |
| peer review | scientists who are experts in the field and read and critique others' work |
| compound light microscope | has more than one lense, uses light, can have live specimens |
| magnification | increasing the apparent size of a specimen |
| resolution | the power to show details clearly |
| scanning electron microscope (SEM) | uses electrons to show image, great magnification, specimen dead |
| Transmission electron microscope (TEM) | uses electrons to show image, the greatest magnification, specimen dead |