One of the most important themes in biology is that of the organization of matter. Upon each level of matter, emergent processes and systems can be built or grown, creating something more than what the individual components alone could have created or developed.

Another important theme is the correlative relationship between structure and function. Function (behavior) is dependent on structure, and structure itself is built through lower-level processes/systems/functions.

Regulation is the unification of processes interacting with each other throughout the biospheres (and larger contexts). Regulation is responsible for positive and negative feedback cycles/loops along with homeostasis as studied through our understanding of metabolism.

Evolution, in general, is the idea of changes in a population of species over a long period of time, and is highly related to structure-function relationships (niches) and regulation of processes in ecosystems and so on.

The continuous change in life provides for evolution and regulation. Some basic processes pervade the entire biosphere, such as carbon molecular structures or the common `language' throughout DNA.

All processes can be seen as twigs on a constantly branching tree of life (or, as I would prefer to say, `of everything'). This provides for the interdependence of all processes—such as predator-prey relationships and niche roles among the open systems.

Technology provides for further investigations into biosystems and also provides for applications to society and culture.

(Note: social structural levels could be added for completeness).

The properties of life are built protein-by-protein. Specific combinations of proteins in various quantities amount to large-scale processes. Through the complex organization of amino acids these processes can be built from an underlying pattern (stored in DNA). Also, the three other primary organic molecules (carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids) provide the energy for organisms, create barriers, and provide a base for heredity (respectively). All of these are primary biomacromolecules and each are built from carbon thanks to the innumerable ways that carbon could be arranged into molecules.

Growth and development as a property of life refers to an increase in size or number of cells.

Cellular organization (or as we called it last year, “cells with jobs”) in levels of cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and groupings of organ systems (like mammalians, arthropods, and many others).

Reproduction refers to the ability and property of life to replicate and initialize another organism with very similar genetic information, effectively building the same proteins.

Metabolism is the sum total of chemical processes and reactions in an organism or cell. There are two parts to metabolism, (1) hydralysis (builds molecules) and (2) dehydration (breaks down molecules).

Homeostasis is a balancing act between a cell or organism and its environment.

Heredity refers to the set of characteristics passed from parent to offspring.

The ability to respond to the environment is a major characteristic of life that we see throughout the kingdoms of classification, although in some instances it is important to note that it is very difficult to see how an organism is responding to its environment.

Reductionism is the idea of breaking down a concept / model into more fundamental elements. Unfortunately, we have discovered that the whole sometimes does more than the parts, creating a field we now call “complexity science”, as significantly uncovered by Stephen Wolfram (though not initialized). This requires a healthy balance between peering into how parts influence the overall behavior and understanding the individual components.

The continued development of the microscope led Robert Brown to discover the cellular nucleus around 1833. In 1953, Watson and Crick published a suggestion that deoxyribonucleic acid stores genetic (hereditary) information that they could not have developed without crystallography (x-ray diffraction technology). Wilkins, Franklin, Watson, and Crick all contributed to modern molecular biology and were awarded the Nobel Prize for their contributions (except Franklin, who died prematurely). Now we have computational biology and detailed analyzing technology for sequencing DNA such as the human genome project. We also have tools for amateur genetic engineering [1].

The main difference between eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells is that prokaryotes do not contain membrane-bound organelles and do not contain a cellular nucleus or nuclear envelope (whereas eukaryotes do).

Deoxyribonucleic acid is in the structure of a double-helix, meaning that the nucleically-expressed information is present on both strands which preserves meaning by adding redundancy. DNA consists of a link changed of nucleotides (sugar, phosphate, and a nucleobase). Each nucleotide is a part of a triplet code that codes for a specific amino acid in the assembly of the protein as coded by the overall strand of DNA (some triplet codes are like a signal to start a new protein).

The form (structure) of something defines what it does (function). For example, the structure of a single-celled organism has a specific niche in its microscopic environment and serves a role in the regulation of energy throughout that environment.

Our understanding of thermodynamics (heat flow) suggests that there is indeed no closed system anywhere. Even though skin might look like a boundary, it has many holes and is constantly using energy to regulate what goes in and what goes out (or in many cases, what doesn't). An organism must consume resources (food or energy) and somehow get rid of the unused materials.

The energy cycle [5] is an important process to focus on. The local star serves as a powerhouse as the biological systems have organized to take advantage of the energy transmitted in the star's electromagnetic radiation. The energy, of course, does not stop there, going through many chemical pathways, becoming distributed throughout heterotrophic populations, and one day being completely dissipated as heat from the planet on the cold cyclic nights as the other side of the planet faces that very same star.

Another major process of an ecosystem is the path that matter flows through, especially in the nitrogen cycle [3], carbon cycle [2], and hydrological cycle [4]. Each of these materials is fundamental for the development of life. Carbon can be reorganized into many different molecular structures. Nitrogen is used in DNA providing a medium of continuity across generations. Water has special characteristics such as polarity and an interesting behavior of climbing up tubes. Each play an important role through the complex paths that they follow as they weave their way through the biosphere and atmosphere.

Hormones (a type of protein) control reactions in organisms. These reactions are regulated by large-scale feedback networks, classified as either positive or negative, and sometimes span across multiple organ systems, or locally in a single cell. Hormones are like messengers that trigger a specific process that would not start unless told to do so.

The three domains of life as categorized by Carl Woese in the early 1990s have been divided into the Bacteria, Archaea, and the Eucarya. The Archaeans are very similar to Bacteria though they have eukaryotic genetic transcription techniques and other unusual features. The Bacteria are prokaryotes, so they lack the membrane-bound organelles that can be found throughout eukaryotes, have gram negative or gram positive cellular walls, and have peculiar grouping behaviors. The eukaryotes have membrane-bound organelles, chloroplasts, and mitochondria, unlike prokaryotic bacteria and archaeans.

Eukaryotic life can be divided into multiple kingdoms.

Darwin put forth the idea that species change over time and that the mechanism of this was natural selection. In other words, he looked at the evidence and put what happens into words: “Species that don't work out, frankly cease to continue.” Along with Mendel's works on plant heredity this forms the framework of the modern biology synthesis from both a population (such as entire species) point of view and more cell-oriented, or individualist, genetics point of view.

Establish a challenge, problem, topic or question.

Research facts (what do we already know?)

Render a hypothesis (a predictive solution to the problem)

Plan the procedures

Discern how the procedures effect the variables

Measure the changes

Generate conclusions from the collected measurements and data (“what do or could we know now?”)

Deductive reasoning builds conclusions drawn from analysis and synthesis. Inductive reasoning derives principles from the collected facts. It could be said that philosophical approaches are more deductive than inductive.

The scientific hypothesis is a predictive solution for the problem or challenge at hand. The scientific theory is our model of a natural phenomena or system.

The major cultural “metaphor” of life is important, for it guides the member of the society/culture towards specific interpretation of problems and sometimes even data (though hopefully not) that may not be founded with a solid basis in scientific understanding. For example, the ancient Greeks thought of many gods and goddesses controlling various elements (thunder, fire, the moon (Salene), the sun (Sol)) and this likely prohibited their further understanding of their position in this vast universe. However, this does not mean their culture was “right” or even “wrong”, merely a different interpretation (which happened to be less useful than what we have now).

Technology consists of all of our tools, whereas science could be said to consist of all of our knowledge. By applying our knowledge we can build tools to increase our knowledge, to furthermore increase our available tools (and thus available knowledge on the “horizons”).