Life

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Terrestrial (Earth)
Sphere Land, Ice, Water (Ocean), Air, Life (Cell, Gene, Microscope)
Ecosystem Forest, Grassland, Desert, Arctic, Aquatic

Tree of Life
Microorganism
Plant Flower, Tree
Animal
Invertebrate Octopus, Ant, Bee, Butterfly, Spider, Lobster
Vertebrate Fish, Seahorse, Ray, Shark, Frog, Turtle, Tortoise, Dinosaur
Bird, Ostrich, Owl, Crow, Parrot
Mammal Bat, Rabbit, Giraffe, Camel, Horse, Elephant, Mammoth
Whale, Dolphin, Walrus, Seal, Polar Bear, Bear, Cat, Tiger, Lion, Dog, Wolf
Monkey, Chimpanzee, Human

Resources

These are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma. More…

General

Dictionary

life : an organismic state characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction — Webster

OneLook, Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, Urban Dictionary

Encyclopedia

Life is a characteristic distinguishing physical entities having biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased, or because they never had such functions and are classified as inanimate. Various forms of life exist, such as plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea, and bacteria. The criteria can at times be ambiguous and may or may not define viruses, viroids, or potential artificial life as “living”. Biology is the primary science concerned with the study of life, although many other sciences are involved.

The definition of life is controversial. The current definition is that organisms maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond to stimuli, and reproduce. However, many other biological definitions have been proposed, and there are some borderline cases of life, such as viruses. Properties common to all organisms include the need for certain core chemical elements to sustain biochemical functions. — Wikipedia

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)
Encyclopædia Britannica

OneZoom Tree of Life Explorer
Tree of Life Web Project (David Maddison, Katja-Sabine Schulz, and Wayne Maddison)
Web Lift to Taxa (University of California Museum of Paleontology)





New Study Shows Viruses Can Have Immune Systems (Tufts Now)

Biosphere also known as the ecosphere, is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on Earth, a closed system (apart from solar and cosmic radiation and heat from the interior of the Earth), and largely self-regulating. By the most general biophysiological definition, the biosphere is the global ecological system integrating all living beings and their relationships, including their interaction with the elements of the lithosphere, geosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. — Wikipedia

Life and the Biosphere (Encyclopædia Britannica)


Science

Life sciences comprise the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life and organisms – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. — Wikipedia

Encyclopædia Britannica
Life Sciences (National Network of Libraries of Medicine)
Life Sciences (Wolfram Alpha)

Biology is the natural science that studies life and living organisms, including their physical structure, chemical processes, molecular interactions, physiological mechanisms, development and evolution. Despite the complexity of the science, there are certain unifying concepts that consolidate it into a single, coherent field. Biology recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity, and evolution as the engine that propels the creation and extinction of species. Living organisms are open systems that survive by transforming energy and decreasing their local entropy to maintain a stable and vital condition defined as homeostasis. — Wikipedia

Encyclopædia Britannica
Biology (National Network of Libraries of Medicine)
Biology Subject Guide (Library of Congress)
Biological Science Portal (Wikipedia)

Outline



Outline of Biology (Wikipedia)

Philosophy

Philosophical research online: Philosophy of Biology (PhilPapers)

Preservation

History


The history of biology (Encyclopædia Britannica)
History of biology (Wikipedia)
Journal of the History of Biology

Museum

Museum of Life Sciences (Official Site)
Museum of Life Sciences (Wikipedia)

Library

WorldCat, Library of Congress, UPenn Online Books, Open Library

Participation

Education

Biosphere: A Big Ball of Life (Geography4Kids)
Biology Basics (Biology4Kids)
Life Sciences (TED Ed)
Great Sites for Kids (ALA)
Science Projects in Biology, Natural History and Agriculture (Library of Congress)

Course



Crash Course Biology (YouTube Channel)

MIT Biology Courses (MIT Opencourseware)
OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

The Company of Biologists

News

AAAS EurekAlert, Phys.org, Scientific American, NPR Archives

Book

ISBNdb

Government

Document

USA.gov

returntotop

More…

EurekAlert! - Biology The premier online source for science news since 1996. A service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  • Skoltech scientists discovered a new biomarker...
    on September 30, 2020 at 4:00 am

    (Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech)) A group of Skoltech scientists led by a Skoltech and MSU professor Olga Dontsova discovered a novel liver-specific non-coding RNA. The researchers tracked the RNA amounts in a healthy liver and that affected by carcinogenesis and suggested using the RNA as a biomarker, thus creating a new panel of potential biomarkers for postoperative diagnosis of various liver cancers.

  • Cancer cells use nerve-cell tricks to spread from...
    on September 30, 2020 at 4:00 am

    (Rockefeller University) New research suggests that breast and lung tumors metastasize by hijacking a neural signaling pathway, potentially opening the door to better diagnostics and treatments.

  • Pandemic provides unique opportunity for...
    on September 30, 2020 at 4:00 am

    (American Chemical Society) As the COVID-19 pandemic slowed travel and business around the world, pollution emission rates dropped in response. With fewer cars on the road and clearer skies, atmospheric chemists jumped at the opportunity to study the impact of reduced emissions outside the lab. A news story in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details early findings, which could help address climate change and air quality problems. 

  • Hand pollination, not agrochemicals, increases...
    on September 30, 2020 at 4:00 am

    (University of Göttingen) Agroecologists from Göttingen University compare pesticides, fertilisers, manual pollination and farming costs in Indonesia

  • Developing algorithms to detect earliest signs of...
    on September 30, 2020 at 4:00 am

    (Purdue University) Purdue University researchers are helping to develop physIQ software that could indicate that a person should get tested for COVID-19 by detecting specific changes in heart and breathing rates while the person wears a smartwatch.


Biology News - Evolution, Cell theory, Gene theory, Microbiology, Biotechnology Phys.org provides the latest news on biology, evolution, microbiology, biotechnology

  • Disease-spreading ticks keep marching north as...
    on September 30, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    Ticks are among nature's most hardy survivors. They've been around for at least 100 million years and used to feast on dinosaur blood. Their bodies contain anti-freeze to help them survive cold weather and their two front legs have carbon dioxide and infrared sensors to help detect when a warm-blooded mammal is approaching. Tiny hairs on their legs increases friction and allows ticks to latch onto animals that brush by. And blacklegged ticks, which spread the most disease in the U.S., are […]

  • As rats swarm California cities, Gov. Newsom bans...
    on September 30, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Tuesday that seeks to protect mountain lions and other wildlife from being poisoned by a popular form of pesticide.

  • 6 dolphins found dead in 'historic' stranding in...
    on September 30, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    Six dolphins were found dead in an Alabama marsh last week in what experts call an "historic mass stranding."

  • Acropora spp. coral still thrives in the holdout...
    on September 30, 2020 at 6:00 pm

    Coral Gardens Reef in Belize remains a refuge for Acropora spp. coral despite widespread devastation in other areas of the western North Atlantic/Caribbean, according to a study published September 30, 2020 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lisa Greer from Washington and Lee University, Virginia, U.S., and colleagues.

  • Problems with reproduction in birds
    on September 30, 2020 at 4:57 pm

    In birds and other species alike, pairs can face considerable difficulties with reproduction. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen have now shown in an extensive analysis of 23,000 zebra finch eggs that infertility is mainly due to males, while high embryo mortality is more a problem of the females. Inbreeding, age of the parents and conditions experienced when growing up had surprisingly little influence on reproductive failures.


Scientific American Science news and technology updates from Scientific American