Biology: Life, ecology, and the Future of Life

I. Biology

Biology is the study of living things and their life processes, involving all the physical and chemical properties of life. The trend of modern interdisciplinary research and the unification of scientific knowledge and research in different fields have resulted in a great deal of overlap between the field of biology and other scientific disciplines. Modern principles from other fields such as chemistry, medicine, and physics are combined with biological principles from fields such as biochemistry, biomedicine, and biophysics.

For purposes of study, biology is subdivided into several separate branches, but all of them are related to each other based on fundamental principles. Thus, although it is customary to separate the study of plants (botany) from the study of animals (zoology), and the study of biological structure (morphology) from the study of biological function (physiology), there are certain biological phenomena in common with all living things - for example, reproduction, cell division, and the various ways in which genetic material is transmitted.

Biological research is usually conducted on the basis of dealing with the basic units of life. For example, at the level of molecular biology, life is seen as a manifestation of the chemical and energy conversion that takes place between the many chemical components that make up an organism. With the development of powerful and sophisticated experimental instruments and technologies, people can not only understand and define the most basic physical and chemical organization (ultrastructure) of biological molecules with high precision, but also understand and define the reproduction mode of living matter with high precision at the molecular level. The rise of genomics in the late 20th and early 21st centuries was particularly important to these biological advances.

A brief history of biology

In all the history of science, two factors have caused the discipline to make remarkable progress in a relatively short period of time. One is a creative mind that can discard hitherto accepted theories and propose new hypotheses. The other is technical tools and capability experiments to test hypotheses.

In biology, for example, people have speculated about the basic structure of plants and animals for hundreds of years, but it was not until the widespread use of optical instruments revealed the concept of the cell that a widely accepted hypothesis was developed: the cell theory. For example, the importance of Gregor Mendel's work on the genetic patterns of peas was ignored for many years until technological advances made it possible to discover chromosomes and their role in cell division and inheritance and confirmed Mendel's work.

Although the origin of biological studies is not known, early humans must have had some knowledge of the plants and animals around them to survive. The archaeological record shows that humans domesticated almost all tamed animals long before the development of civilization and developed sufficiently stable and efficient agricultural systems. Therefore, it is certain that the history of biology predates the beginning of human writing and recording.

It can also be seen from the myths and records of Fuxi, Shennong and Huangdi that in ancient China people already had the ability to use animals and plants in farming, living and medicine. But it was not until the 4th century BC in ancient Greece, with the development of philosophy and physics, that scholars gradually shifted their focus from the supernatural world to understanding the natural world. For example, early anatomists dissected animals not to understand their structure, but to study their organs for the ability to predict the future.

And then in Europe science lay dormant for almost 1,000 years. Until the 9th century, the Arab sphere of influence extended to Spain, and as with other disciplines, Arab scholars became the main promoters of science and biology. At the same time, due to the resurgence of technological development in China, new technological inventions are flowing from there to the West. The Chinese discovered how to make paper and how to print with movable type, two achievements that had an immeasurable impact on learning. Another important development that also took place during this period was the introduction of the so-called Arabic numerals into Europe from India. Later in the Renaissance, artists carried out a lot of anatomical work in order to study the structure of the human body, and also greatly promoted the development of biology.

The microscope was invented in the 17th century. Biology throughout the 17th and 18th centuries focused on the systematic classification of biology, and this period produced a large number of great works of human anatomy and illustrations of flora and fauna.

The 19th century was one of the great advances in biology: in addition to the development of the theory of evolution, the cell theory was established, which laid the foundation for modern embryology, and the discovery of the laws of heredity.

Biology in the 20th and 21st centuries

Just as the 19th century is considered the age of cell biology, the 20th and 21st centuries are considered to be characterized by developments in molecular biology.

The 20th and 21st centuries have seen significant progress in the field of biology involving ecosystems, the environment and conservation. In the 20th century, scientists realized that humans and other animals are equally dependent on the Earth's natural resources, however, humans have continuously caused damage to the environment, partly due to increasing population pressure and certain technological advances. For example, medical advances have allowed people to live longer and death rates to fall dramatically (mainly in developed countries), leading to explosive population growth; Harmful pollutants that enter the environment through manufacturing processes, pesticides, vehicle exhaust, and other means pose a serious threat to all life forms. As a result, biologists have begun to pay more attention to the relationships between organisms and their living and abiotic environments.

The growing importance of climate change and its impact on ecosystems is driving advances not only in ecology, but also in fields such as conservation biology and conservation genetics. In almost every other area of biology, molecular biology plays an important role, from the use of techniques such as whole genome sequencing to gather information on the genetic diversity of endangered species, to the use of cloning and genome editing to increase the likelihood of extinct species coming back to life (a process known as "de-extinction"). In addition, the study of the DNA sequences of a large number of species also contributes to scientists' understanding of evolution and systematics (the study of evolutionary relationships and the diversity of life).

Interdisciplinary research and changing social and scientific values

Many areas of study in the biological sciences cross the boundaries that traditionally divide the disciplines. Taking biophysics as an example, researchers use the principles and methods of physics to study biological problems and find ways to solve biological problems; Evolutionary biologists and paleontologists are familiar with geological principles and may even work closely with geologists in determining the age of biological remains; Anthropologists and archaeologists also apply knowledge of human culture and society to biological discoveries in order to gain a more complete understanding of humanity; Astrobiology comes about through the activities of scientists and engineers concerned with space exploration. Thus, the field of biology benefits from both the scientific disciplines and the humanities, while also contributing to these disciplines.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, as biology has become increasingly linked to other fields of science, biology itself has come to encompass many disciplines. In these disciplines, many levels of organization are recognized - for example, population biology (the study of populations of organisms) and organismal biology (the study of whole organisms) as well as cell biology and molecular biology. In the second half of the 20th century, molecular biology gave rise to more disciplines, and the emergence of genetics led to the emergence of complex subdisciplines such as developmental genomics and functional genomics. The continued development of genetics has led to the creation of new fields, such as conservation genetics. Despite their differences in scope, many areas of the biological sciences continue to adopt common unifying principles and ideas in the 21st century, especially those central to taxonomy, genetics, and evolution.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, the role of lifeologists in society and their moral and ethical responsibilities in the discovery and development of new ideas have led to a reassessment of their individual social and scientific value systems. Scientists cannot ignore the consequences of their scientific discoveries; They need to be concerned about both the basic research they are doing and the potential for misuse of their findings. In the 20th century, the social and political roles that emerged for biologists and all other scientists required value trade-offs that could not be as precise and objective as the electronic scale. As members of society, it is necessary for biologists to redefine their social responsibilities and functions, especially when making judgments about ethical issues such as human control over the environment or the manipulation of genes to guide further evolutionary development.

5. Dealing with future issues

The development of genetic engineering has had a particular impact on the biological sciences. In the case of genetic defects and diseases, genetic engineering creates the possibility of correcting genetic defects to restore normal physiological function, which is likely to improve the quality of life of patients. Gene therapy is one way researchers may be able to achieve this goal. With this therapy, a normal gene is introduced into an individual's genome to repair the disease-causing mutation. But the potential for misuse and harm of genetic engineering is still enormous. For example, there has been a great deal of concern about genetically modified organisms, particularly genetically modified crops, and their effects on human and environmental health. The emergence of cloning techniques, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, has also attracted people's attention. In 2005, the United Nations adopted the UN Declaration on Human Cloning, which called on member states to ban human cloning, but left room for therapeutic cloning.

Similarly, in 2015, researchers who developed gene-editing techniques called for a moratorium on their use in humans. Gene editing technology allows scientists to customize an organism's genetic makeup by altering specific bases in the organism's DNA sequence. But the impact of gene editing on human genetics is unclear, and there are no regulations to guide its use.

In fact, in the absence of strict regulation, a Chinese scientist has made progress in human gene editing, announcing in late 2018 that the world's first babies carrying edited genomes had been born. The scientist claimed that he had edited human embryos to disable a gene that would normally help HIV enter cells, and that the embryos were then implanted into a woman and delivered without problems. At the same time, researchers in the United States are trying to use gene editing to change genes in human sperm so that the edited genes can be passed on to future generations. In particular, researchers are trying to reduce the risk of developing cancer in future generations by altering certain genes that increase the risk of cancer. The debate over gene editing has reignited earlier discussions about the ethical and social implications of genetic engineering, particularly with regard to its potential to alter traits such as intelligence and physical appearance.

Biologists also face a number of other challenges, including how to control environmental pollution without compromising progress in improving the quality of human life. The main cause of pollution is overpopulation. The growth of the global population has increased the demand for land, especially in the field of food production, which requires the operation of modern industries, which in turn pollute the air, water and soil with fertilizers. To find solutions to global warming, pollution, and other environmental problems, biologists and sociologists, as well as other members of society, work together to determine the conditions necessary to maintain a healthy and productive planet.

For while many of humanity's present and future problems appear to be primarily social, political, or economic in nature, they all have biological consequences that could affect the existence of life itself.