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In many instances, the solution is of practical value in medicine or helps to improve the understanding of both human beings and other animals. Physiology, study of the functioning of living organisms and of the functioning of their constituent tissues or cells.
homeostasis, any self-regulating process by which biological systems tend to maintain stability while adjusting to conditions that are optimal for survival. If homeostasis is successful, life continues; if unsuccessful, disaster or death ensues.
Reflex, in biology, an action consisting of comparatively simple segments of behaviour that usually occur as direct and immediate responses to particular stimuli uniquely correlated with them. Many reflexes of placental mammals appear to be innate. They are hereditary and are a common feature of.
Characteristic of the vertebrate form, the human body has an internal skeleton with a backbone, and, as with the mammalian form, it has hair and mammary glands. Learn more about the composition, form, and physical adaptations of the human body.
Organisms are adapted to their environments in a great variety of ways: in their structure, physiology, and genetics, in their locomotion or dispersal, in their means of defense and attack, in their reproduction and development, and in other respects.
Biology, study of living things and their vital processes that deals with all the physicochemical aspects of life. Modern principles of other fields, such as chemistry, medicine, and physics, for example, are integrated with those of biology in areas such as biochemistry, biomedicine, and biophysics.
Biochemistry is the study of the chemical substances and processes that occur in plants, animals, and microorganisms and of the changes they undergo during development and life.
Comparative anatomy, the comparative study of the body structures of different species of animals in order to understand their adaptive changes as they evolved from common ancestors. Modern comparative anatomy began with the work of Pierre Belon, who showed the similarities in the skeletons of humans and birds.
Homology, in biology, similarity of the structure, physiology, or development of different species of organisms based upon their descent from a common evolutionary ancestor. Homology is contrasted with analogy, which is a functional similarity of structure based not upon common evolutionary origins.
Osmosis, the spontaneous passage or diffusion of water or other solvents through a semipermeable membrane (one that blocks the passage of dissolved substances—i.e., solutes). The process, important in biology, was first thoroughly studied in 1877 by a German plant physiologist, Wilhelm Pfeffer.