Unit 2 - Evolution

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Glossary Germans

Anthropology: The social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings.
Astrochemistry, the overlap of the disciplines of astronomy and chemistry, is the study of the abundance and reactions of chemical elements and molecules in space, and their interaction with radiation. The word Astrochemistry can refer to both the Solar System, and the interstellar medium. One important aspect of astrochemistry is spectroscopy, the use of telescopes to measure the absorption and emission of light from molecules and atoms in various environments. By comparing astronomical observations with laboratory measurements scientists are able to infer the elemental abundances, chemical composition, and temperatures of stars and interstellar clouds.
Brownlee Particles: Is an interstellar dust localizated in the Earth's atmosphere and speculated that they may be the left over remnants of comets which passed through the Earth's orbit.
Buckyballs: A nano-structure consisted of 60 atoms of carbon (His chemical name is C60) constructed in a closed and perfectly symmetrical space, they have extraordinary properties, specially as superconductors. It is a new form of the carbon and has a geometry similar to an icosaedro, with the structure in the shape of a soccer ball. The surface of the image guesses the forms of buckyballs in his structure. The superconductive buckyballs show the highest critical temperature that one has found in organically compounds The mixture of poliuretano and the Buckyballs in a thin movie on a flat surface, the particles of light that travel across the material the bosses adopt with facility of other increasing the power of the transport and process of communications.

Paleontology: The earth science that studies fossil organisms and related remains.
Panspermia is the hypothesis that "seeds" of life exist already all over the Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these "seeds", and that they may deliver or have delivered life to other habitable bodies. The related but distinct idea of exogenesis is a more limited hypothesis that proposes life on Earth was transferred from elsewhere in the Universe but makes no prediction about how widespread it is. Because the term "panspermia" is more well-known, it tends to be used in reference to what should strictly speaking be called exogenesis. Spores are a potential vector for transporting life through inhospitable and inimical environments, such as the depths of interstellar space. Spores are produced as part of the normal life cycle of many plants, algae, fungi and some protozoans, and some bacteria produce endospores or cysts during times of stress. These structures may be highly resilient while metabolically inactive, and some can function when favorable conditions are restored after exposure to radiation, temperature extremes, desiccation, or other conditions fatal to the parent organism.
Primordial Soup Theory: This theory suggest that life began in a pond or ocean as a result of the combination of chemicals from the atmosphere and some form of energy to make amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, which would then evolve into all the species.
Speciation: the evolution of a biological species.
Taxonomy: practice of classifying plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships.
Vacuum: a region empty of matter or with absence of matter.

Glossary Swiss

Afarensis: Australopithecus afarensis is an extinct hominid which lived between 3.9 and 2.9 million years ago. In common with the younger Australopithecus.Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afarensis

Ancestor: Any organism, population, or species from which some other organism, population, or species is descended by reproduction.Source: www.phylo.org/sub_sections/outreach/outreach_files/glossary.doc

Astrochemistry: (1)the study of the chemical elements found in outer space, generally on larger scales than the Solar System, particularly in molecular gas clouds, and the study of their formation, interaction and destruction. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrochemistry
(2)The branch of science that explores the chemical interactions between dust and gas interspersed between the stars.Source: www.seasky.org/astronomy/astronomy_glossary.html

Creationism: is the religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in their original form by a deity.Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_theory

DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses.
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
Evolution: development. A process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage) (2) (biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms.
Source: wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Mutation: any event that changes genetic structure; any alteration in the inherited nucleic acid sequence of the genotype of an organism Source: wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Panspermia: The hypothesis that life on Earth originated from microorganisms from outer space. Source: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/panspermia

Species: grouping of individuals that interbreed successfully to produce more of the same species.
Source: reptileguides.herpcenter.com/showthread.php

Speciation: the process by which one or more populations of a species become genetically different enough to form a new species.Source: www.pbs.org/strangedays/glossary/S.html

Glossary Greeks

1. Anthropology: is the scientific study of the origin and behavior of man in all its aspects, including the development of societies and cultures.
2. Biology: is the science that studies living organisms. Examines the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution and classification of all living things.
3. Cell: very small piece of the substance of which all living things are made.
4. DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses.
5. Evolution: gradual development. The development of the higher kinds of animals, plants, etc from the lower kinds.
6. Fossil: the hardened remains of an animal or vegetable found in rock
7. Genetics: the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms
8. Species: a specific kind of something; "a species of molecule"; "a species of villainy"
9. Taxonomy: is the practice and science of classification. The word finds its roots in the Greek τάξις, taxis (meaning 'order', 'arrangement') and νόμος, nomos ('law' or 'science'). Taxonomy uses taxonomic units, known as taxa (singular taxon).
10. Paleontology: study of FOSSILS as a guide to the history of life on earth.

Sources:
· Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary. Third Edition
· Larousse. Learner’s. Chambers English Dictionary.
· Oxford. Advanced Learner´s Dictionary. 7 th edition.
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
· Diccionarios Microsoft Encarta 2007

Glossary British

- Ancestors

An ancestor is a parent or (recursively) the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, and so forth).
Two individuals have a genetic relationship if one is the ancestor of the other, or if they share a common ancestor. In evolutionary theory, species who share an evolutionary ancestor are said to be of common descent.
As far as contribution to one's autosomal DNA is concerned (this does not include Y-chromosomal DNA or mitochondrial DNA) assuming that none of one's ancestors had children with relatives (even distant relatives), an individual has a total of 2046 ancestors up to the 10th generation, 1024 of which are 10th-generation ancestors. With the same assumption, any given person has over a million 20th-generation ancestors (generally equivalent to around 500 years) and this theoretical number increases past the total population of the world at around 1400 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestors

- Astrochemistry

Astrochemistry, the overlap of the disciplines of astronomy and chemistry, is the study of the abundance and reactions of chemical elements and molecules in space, and their interaction with radiation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrochemistry

- Creationism

Creationism is the belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in their original form by a deity (often the Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and Islam) or deities. In relation to the creation-evolution controversy the term creationism is commonly used to refer to religiously motivated rejection of evolution as an explanation of origins. Creationism in the West is usually based on a literal reading of Genesis 1-2, and in its broad sense covers a wide range of beliefs and interpretations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism

- DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid):

Is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. The sequence of nucleotides determines individual hereditary characteristics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
- Fossils

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossils

- Genes

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cells and pass genetic traits to offspring. In general terms, a gene is a segment of nucleic acid that, taken as a whole, specifies a trait. The colloquial usage of the term gene often refers to the scientific concept of an allele.

In cells, a gene is a portion of DNA that contains both "coding" sequences that determine what the gene does, and "non-coding" sequences that determine when the gene is active (expressed). When a gene is active, the coding and non-coding sequences are copied in a process called transcription, producing an RNA copy of the gene's information. This piece of RNA can then direct the synthesis of proteins via the genetic code. In other cases, the RNA is used directly, for example as part of the ribosome. The molecules resulting from gene expression, whether RNA or protein, are known as gene products, and are responsible for the development and functioning of all living things.

In more technical terms, a gene is a locatable region of genomic sequence, corresponding to a unit of inheritance, and is associated with regulatory regions, transcribed regions and/or other functional sequence regions. The physical development and phenotype of organisms can be thought of as a product of genes interacting with each other and with the environment. A concise definition of a gene, taking into account complex patterns of regulation and transcription, genic conservation and non-coding RNA genes, has been proposed by Gerstein et al.:[4] "A gene is a union of genomic sequences encoding a coherent set of potentially overlapping functional products".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creationism

- Panspermia

Panspermia is the hypothesis that "seeds" of life exist already all over the Universe, that life on Earth may have originated through these "seeds", and that they may deliver or have delivered life to other habitable bodies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

- Primordial Soup

The primordial soup is a liquid rich in organic compounds and providing favorable conditions for the emergence and growth of life forms. Oceans of primordial soup are thought to have covered the Earth during the Precambrian Eon billions of years ago. The organic compounds in the primordial soup, such as amino acids, may have been produced by reactions in the Earth's early atmosphere, which was probably rich in methane and ammonia.
The complex self-replicating organic molecules that were the precursors to life on Earth may have developed in this primordial soup.

From: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/primordial+soup

- Species

In biology, a species is:

A taxonomic rank (the basic rank of biological classification) or a unit at that rank (in which case the plural is "species". This is sometimes abbreviated: "spec." or "sp." singular, or "spp." plural).

There are many definitions of what kind of unit a species is (or should be). A common definition is that of a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring, and separated from other such groups with which interbreeding does not (normally) happen. Other definitions may focus on similarity of DNA or morphology. Some species are further subdivided into subspecies, and here also there is no close agreement on the criteria to be used

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is the widely held notion that all life is related and has descended from a common ancestor: the birds and the bananas, the fishes and the flowers -- all related. Darwin's general theory presumes the development of life from non-life and stresses a purely naturalistic (undirected) "descent with modification". That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as "natural selection." These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature).

http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.com/

The Origin of Species

The Origin of Species:

The author of this magnificent work is Charles Darwin; it was the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book introduced the theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection, and presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose through a branching pattern of evolution and common descent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species

Charles Darwing

Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist who realized and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection came to be widely seen as the primary explanation of the process of evolution in the 1930s, and now forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory.
In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, providing logical explanation for the diversity of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Darwin