INTRODUCTION TO LIFE SCIENCE

Life science, also known as biology, is the study of living organisms and their
interactions with their environment. It is a broad field that encompasses various sub-
disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, genetics, ecology, and evolutionary biology.
Life scientists explore the complex structures, functions, and behaviors of organisms,
from the cellular level to ecosystems.

One of the key goals of life science is to understand the fundamental principles and
processes that govern life on Earth. This includes studying the chemical and physical
properties of living organisms, as well as their growth, development, and reproduction.
Life scientists also investigate how organisms interact with each other and their
surroundings, such as the ecological relationships within ecosystems or the impact of
human activities on biodiversity.

Life science encompasses research and applications in various fields, such as

medicine, agriculture, biotechnology, conservation, and environmental science. Medical
researchers study diseases and develop treatments, while agricultural scientists work
on improving crop yields and developing sustainable farming practices.
Biotechnologists manipulate the genetic makeup of organisms for various purposes,
and conservationists strive to protect endangered species and ecosystems. The field of
life science is constantly evolving, driven by new discoveries, technologies, and the
pressing need to address global challenges.

Overall, life science is a multidisciplinary field that seeks to deepen our understanding
of the complexity and diversity of life. It plays a crucial role in advancing our
knowledge, improving human health and well-being, and promoting the conservation
and sustainability of our planet.
 THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF LIFE
It took Earth nearly one billion years to cool enough for the first life forms to appear.
Scientists have been Studying living things and the world around us for several
Hundred years, but only in the last few decades have we Really begun to understand
how the world around us Came to be the way it is. Earth is much older than life. Based
on radioactive decay studies of rocks, it Was revealed that Earth is around 4.5 billion
years old – 1 billion years older than the oldest fossils.
You will learn about the evolving concept of life based on Emerging pieces of evidence.
1. Extraterrestrial Origin – The hypothesis explains that life originated on another
Planet outside our Solar System. Life was then carried to Earth on a meteorite or
an Asteroid and colonized Earth. However, this hypothesis has not been proven.
2. Panspermia – The theory presumes that the “seed” of life exists all over the
Universe and can be propagated through space, and that life on Earth originated
from Those seeds.
3. Divine Creation – Many people believe that life was put on Earth by divine forces.
Creation theories are common to many of the world’s religions and cultures.
4. Origin from Nonliving Matter – Scientists believe that life arose on Earth from
Inanimate matter after Earth had cooled. They stated that random events
probably Produced stable molecules that could self-replicate. Then, natural
selection favored Changes in the rate of reproduction, which eventually led to
first cell.
The first three possibilities fall outside realm of science, and thus, are not considered
for scientific studies. Scientists hypothesized that life began back when Conditions
were quite different from Earth’s current environment. Earth’s age, as estimated by
several independent studies, is about 4.5 billion years. So far, no fossils have been
found in the oldest rocks, which are about 3.8 billion years Old. The oldest fossils that
have been discovered were found in 3.5-billion-year-old Rocks that were once
sediments on the ocean floor. The tiny fossils that were found in These ancient rocks
were bacteria.
As time went by, scientists questioned the early beliefs on the origin of life and began
to Explore an opposing idea, biogenesis. It is the belief that life originates from
preexisting life. Since then, several experiments have been conducted to prove these
contracting beliefs to Know how life came about.
 THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRST LIFE FORMS
There were lots of hypotheses regarding the origin of life on earth. Certain experts
suggested that life came from outer space as spores while another group explained
that life came from a non-cellular component such as decaying matters like mud. The
latter theory was known as the theory of spontaneous generation, which was discarded
later.
In the year 1953, Oparin and Haldane suggested that life originated from non-living
organic molecules like proteins and RNA. This was followed by the theory of chemical
evolution which suggested that atmospheric conditions of the earth led to the formation
of organic molecules from inorganic molecules. Few scientists conducted experiments
regarding the same. However, once the first life came into existence, they started to
evolve in different ways and forms. This laid a stepping stone to the theory of evolution.
The Oparin-Haldane hypothesis suggests that life arose gradually from inorganic
molecules, with “building blocks” like amino acids forming first and then combining to
make complex polymers.
The Miller-Urey experiment provided the first evidence that organic molecules needed
for life could be formed from inorganic components.
Some scientists support the RNA world hypothesis, which suggests that the first life
was self-replicating RNA. Others favor the metabolism-first hypothesis, placing
metabolic networks before DNA or RNA.
Simple organic compounds might have come to early Earth on meteorites.
 UNIFYING THEMES IN THE STUDY OF LIFE
In addition to the characteristics, life science is unified by certain themes. These six
general themes are levels of organization, the flow of energy, evolution, interacting
systems, structure and function, ecology, and science and society.
Levels of Organization
There is a hierarchy of increasing complexity within cells, from the molecular level of
DNA (where the chemistry or life occurs), to the organelle level (where the cellular
activities are organized), to the cellular level (the smallest level of organization).
The Flow of Energy
Is used by organisms to grow and do work. Without its life stops. Almost all the energy
that living things need is obtained from the sun. Plants capture the energy from sunlight
and use it to make complex molecules in a process called photosynthesis. These
Molecules then serve as the source of fuel for animals that eat them. The flow of
energy among organisms helps determine how organisms interact within their
environment.
Ecology
To fully understand the biological world, biologists have recognized and studied the
interdependence of organisms with each other and with their environment. This branch
of biology is called ecology. Ecology’s the study of complex communities of organisms
in relation to their environment. Organisms’ need the physical environment to survive.
They need substances like water, nutrients, and gases from the environment. The
stability of the environment, in turn, depends on the healthy functioning of organisms in
that environment. For example, all organisms depend on the oxygen-carbon dioxide
cycle, which releases vital gases in the atmosphere. However, this complex web of
interactions is easily disrupted when the environment is polluted and individual species
become extinct, similar to what is happening in the world today. Science and Society
Knowledge from biological science can be applied to specific problems in the society to
improve human life. For example, the development of a vaccine against poliomyelitis
virus in the 1950s was a scientific breakthrough that had a large impact on society. By
producing the polio vaccine in bulk and distributing it throughout the world, scientists,
business