Biology Facts

• People that study biology are known as biologists.
• Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on Earth. Reaching over 2000 kilometres (1240 miles) in length.
• The first person to see a live cell with a microscope was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, in 1674.
• Ecology is the study of ecosystems and how organisms interact with their environment.
• While some bacteria can make you sick, others have positive benefits such as helping you digest food or even make yoghurt.
• Moulds, yeasts and mushrooms are types of fungus.
• The common cold is a type of virus.
• Viruses can be treated with antiviral drugs.
• Bacteria are extremely small and are made up of just one cell.
• Bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics.
• Animals that eat plants as their primary food source are known as herbivores.
• Endangered species are those that are in danger of being completely wiped out, they include blue whales, tigers and pandas. Without protection these species may eventually become extinct.
• Born on July 5th 1996, Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.
• When the DNA of an organism changes and results in a new trait (characteristic) it is known as mutation.
• French chemist and microbiologist Louis Pasteur was well known for inventing a process to stop various foods and liquids making people sick. Called Pasteurization, it reduces the amount of microorganisms that could lead to disease without having a noticeable effect on taste and quality in a way which methods such as sterilization might.
• Charles Darwin developed the idea of natural selection, sometimes called survival of the fittest. It is a process that involves living things with favorable traits being more likely to reproduce, passing on their favorable traits to future generations.