Unit I:

Portfolio 1. The Science of Biology

and Discovering Life
Seating
General Outline
Class Procedures
Portfolios/Grading
Lab Safety/Lab Reports
Computers
Drills
Notes
Lesson 1 - What is Science?
Objectives:
Discuss the meaning and value of science.
List some parts of your lifestyle that may be affected by advances in
biology.
A. Science and Biology

science - investigates and observes the

natural world and explains events in the natural
world
- produces reliable knowledge of the natural,
physical world
Values of Science:
- skepticism - Prove it to me!

- physical evidence - Don’t believe it just because

someone else told you to. The “authority” is not
necessarily correct. Science progressed because
scientists often rejected authority and searched for
answers to questions that some people didn’t want
answered.
- connections - between facts and what they mean
----> theories!

Biology - the science that investigates living

things and their interactions with the
surrounding world
B. Biology and Medicine
- early 1900s - the top 3 killers were infectious
diseases
- influenza, tuberculosis, pneumonia

- in 1918, 22 million people died of the flu

**What two major advances in medicine

changed this?

**What are the three most common killers in the

US today?
 - in recent years, a new technology has
emerged that may drastically change your
future --> genetic engineering

- gene transfer therapy - copies of normal

genes or corrective genes are transferred to
patients with an abnormal gene --> first hope
for cures for genetic disorders such as CF and
MD
C. Biology and the Environment
- in year 1 AD, the world contained about 300 million people

-when you were born, the world contained about 4 billion

people

- in the year 2000, the world contained over 6 billion people

- by the year 2050, the world will contain over 9 billion

people

- overpopulation creates great stress on our environment:

- energy, resources, waste disposal, food,
species, etc.
 - biologists are exploring ways to relieve stress
on our environment:
- increase food production
- alternatives to pesticides
- pollution cleanup
- maintain biodiversity
“We do not inherit the world from our parents...
we borrow it from our children.”
Some Questions to Discuss:

1. What makes science different and different

from what?

2. Is there a scientific method? And, if so, a

method to do what?

3. What does the general public think about

science? What do YOU think about science?

4. Why does our society support science?

5. Could we do without science?