Living Things in a New Lense
Ever wondered how exactly a fish stays afloat? Ever wondered why exactly a wolf needs to consistently maintain homeostasis? Whether in the classroom or just for fun, all your answers can be found here.
Cellular organization, the chemicals of life, energy use, response to surroundings, growth and development, and reproduction are the six characteristics of living things.
The life characteristic response to surroundings explains bird’s predatory instincts and protective tracts.
The tree, which does not move away, is considered a living thing as well. This is because it is not dead, continues to thrive off of carbon dioxide, produces oxygen, and genuinely ‘looks’ alive.
Image via Wikipedia
The idea of spontaneous generation means that something undead could produce ‘alive’ things. For example, if flies are swarming around decaying meat, hundreds of years ago it would be considered that flies could ‘appear’ from the meat. This was incorrect. It is possible for flies to lay eggs in rotting meat or other, but ’spontaneously’ appearing out of meat with no biological reproduction or other is scientifically impossible.
This idea is incorrect because it is simply not possible for dead things, or bacteria, to spontaneously generate flies, or spontaneously generate deers, or whatever might be a valid example. Although life is considered to start from bacteria and work its way to becoming animals, plants, or other, it is not possible to eradicate years of evolution and replace it with the simple spawning of something.
Pasteur’s experiment helped show that spontaneous generation does not occur by a carefully observed broth experiment; both were closed, but only one broth container was boiled. The other one was not. The one that was hadn’t been boiled gathered bacteria quickly, while the other did not. This proved that spontaneous generation does not occur.
Four things all organisms need to survive are food, living space, water, and stable internal conditions.
A thick coating of fur helps a fox maintain homeostasis by constantly adjusting to its environment and personal needs. When it gets chilly in the winter, it grows a thick, dense fur, therefore keeping it warm. A shorter fur in the summer means keeping the temperature for its cells mild and manageable (since it’s warmer, you would need less a fur coat than if you were in the middle of winter).
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16 Responses to “Living Things in a New Lense”
On April 5, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Nice article. Guess my homeostastis is reading Triond.
Thanks,
Clay
On April 5, 2009 at 12:34 pm
I read a book about Pasteur, he was a very interesting character. He wasn’t that much of a trained scientist as a great observer and thinker.
Spontaneous generation sounds so dumb now! Flies “appearing” out of meat? That’s crazy talk! Whoever thought that needs to be burned at the stake as a witch!
I’m worried. If trees aren’t alive and I hug a tree, is it hugging me back! Waah!
On April 5, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Spontaneous generation…story idea there.
On April 5, 2009 at 1:24 pm
A really interesting read. There is a lot here I never knew about before. Good work.
Christine
On April 5, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Great history and science lesson. Merci beaucoup!
On April 5, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Hi, FW, how are you?
I really liked reading this little article. Good job.
A question: in your second sentence, should the last word be traits? Also, in your fifth sentence, should the word be dead, not undead? Undead implies neither alive nor dead, but somewhere in between.
This is just a couple of re-inforcements to your article:
#1)Your argument on the spontaneous generation of flies from meat is mostly right, except for the fact that flies lay eggs in dead animals and uncovered meat. Those eggs- become larvae- become flies. That is why it was believed many years ago that spontaneous generation was real—people didn’t realize how quickly flies could lay eggs and multiply.
#2)If indeed that was the intent of Pasteur’s experiment, then perhaps you are right. However, the most common strains of bacteria require the right conditions to grow. The right conditions are between 4 and 60 degrees Celcius for more than 4 hours, the presence of oxygen, an absence of natural preservatives like salt and vinegar because of the pH level, and moistness, or depending on the kind of bacteria, dryness. Because of these requirements, the bacteria in the jar that wasn’t heated had a more viable atmosphere to multilply. So, while I have no idea what the true intent of Pasteur’s experiment was, I don’t think it had much of an effect on the explanation of spontaneous generation, except to prove that bacteria could multiply in the right conditions.
Anyway, thanks for the interesting read. Have a good day.
On April 5, 2009 at 6:03 pm
a great piece…a little too complicated for my simple brain to crack but a great article nonetheless…great pics…thanks for sharing with us…
-Abhichoco…
On April 5, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Wow…A slightly complicated article to read but was an iteresting one to read.Great pictures,the tree picture was something Ive never seen.Alot of it I didnt know about.
On April 5, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I remember learning about spontaneous generation in high school, though I tend to call it regeneration for some reason. Very interesting piece.
On April 6, 2009 at 12:14 am
Homeostasis is common to humans as well, isn’t it?
On April 6, 2009 at 12:17 am
your article took me back to my science class in school. I would love to read more on similar topics!
-manya
On April 6, 2009 at 7:34 am
I thorougly enjoyed reading this and learned a lot.
On April 6, 2009 at 8:02 am
It is interesting looking at the mindset of science in the past. I wonder if science in the future will look at us now and think what a bunch of imbeciles we were
On April 6, 2009 at 10:16 am
For once you’ve made science a little clearer for me! Was a complete dummy at school but you’ve certainly taught me a thing or two!
On April 6, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Very interesting. Makes me really think about how things really are and will be.
On April 9, 2009 at 2:38 pm
You always have something interesting and relevant.You did your research well. I always learn something from you.
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