Biology, what does it make you think of you see the word “biology”? I am sure that all of us must have taken the ‘Biology’ course for at least one time in our life right? You may think it is just the study of animals and people on their body system. But, it is a lot more than that. Biology is the study of living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolutions and distribution. It is the study of yes, human and animals, but the range of living organisms are so big you cannot even imagine. Living organism can varies from the biggest animal on earth, to human, to plants, fish, reptiles to the smallest of living things such as cells and bacteria. Now, biology is also a journey, in which you will be able to explore inventions, theories and studies people have found out in the olden times. All of these people made contributions to all the knowledge we have on living things today. They led us into another big and complicated world.
And this is what this blog is going to be about. I would like to dedicate my blog to all explorers and scientists who have changed the way people view the world today. How about we get started now?
Ok, so in the very olden days, people tried not to hard, or did not really bother to learn about living things, since it was a topic out of reach. They only depended on religion and beliefs. Until the Black Plague hit and the church could not find a way to explain the event so people turned to science. From then on, science developed and became a liable source to explain phenomena.
So everything started in 1674 where the real journey began, Anton Van Leeuwenhoek, a microscope lens grinder accidentally observed microorganisms swimming around in a drop of water. After that point on, Leeuwenhoek started observing things human related such as sperm, bacteria and red blood cells. Leeuwenhoek’s microscopic lens opened doors for later generation of scientists to enter the world where we have yet explored.
In 1879, Walter Flemming watched animal cells divide and conclude the process of mitosis, then in 1884 August Weismann figured that sex cells must have divided differently and he established the process of meiosis. After that in the late 1900’s, several scientists collaborated into the discovery of cell differentiation which led to the isolation of human embryonic stem cells. Now, let me ask you a question, can you see a pattern there?
In the year 1937, Hans Krebs established the Krebs cycle, where he identifies steps cell takes to convert material into usable energy. Then came the study of hormones and photosynthesis of plants. Then the study of ecosystem and biodiversity of life.
Now, can you see a pattern? As we all can see, each findings, experiments and studies lead to many other, more complicated studies. It is apparent that the studies of life have been through many struggles, such as coming up with some good and sane ideas to run with, or proving theories to be correct. Those are not something you can think of one day when you wake up but through long years of exploring many aspects, experiments, and of course to keep on going when you do not have much support.
This is why I want to emphasize how much of a break-through the study of life and science has been and I am happy with what our ancestors have accomplished for the world.
