Digestion involves the mechanical and chemical breakdown of food molecules into their smallest subunits. Digestion begins in the mouth and continues in the stomach and small intestine. Man muss kein Vorwissen haben, um die Bücher die Dummies-Reihe zu lesen. So ist es auch bei "Biologie für Dummies". Alles wird ganz einfach erklärt und die Autoren verwenden oft plastische Beispiele oder Sinnbilder, sodass der Leser sich leichter merken kann, wie der beschriebene Vorgang funktioniert. Plant cells communicate with each other via messengers called hormones, chemical signals produced by cells that act on target cells to control their growth or development. Plant hormones control many of the plant behaviors you’re used to seeing, such as the ripening of fruit, the growth of shoots upward and roots downward, the growth of plants toward the light, the dropping of leaves in the fall, and the growth and flowering of plants at particular times of the year. Organisms are made of organ systems, which are made of organs, which are made of tissues, which are made of cells, which are made of molecules, which are made of atoms.

You have wetlands to thank for the clean water you enjoy. Wetlands are areas that are saturated by water most of the time. They act like natural sponges, holding onto water and slowly filtering it around the plants that live there. As water slowly filters through wetlands, plants and microorganisms have time to absorb human wastes such as fertilizers and sewage, cleaning the water and making it safer for humans and other animals to consume. Homeostasis is the balance, or equilibrium, of the body. Regulation of all the body’s systems seeks to keep the body in homeostasis. Ich bin ein großer Fan der „...für Dummies“-Bücher und habe so schon das ein oder andere Thema erlernen oder auch verbessern können, sodass ich schon sehr auf „Biologie für Dummies“ von René Kratz und Donna Rae Siegfried gespannt war. These better-suited variations tend to thrive in the given area, whereas less-suited variations of the same species either don’t do as well or just die off. Thus, over time, the traits seen in a population of organisms in a given area can change. The importance of Darwin’s theory of natural selection can be seen today in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.When people burn carbon-containing molecules from fossil fuels, they produce carbon dioxide as waste. And carbon dioxide is an important greenhouse gas, a gas that traps heat in our atmosphere. In part due to our use of fossil fuels, the Earth is warming, which is already affecting the survival and distribution of life on Earth. Plus, people are now facing the fact that our reserves of fossil fuels won’t last forever.

Cells are the smallest living component of your body, and they can do amazing things. Every minute of every day, your cells are quietly working away, digesting your food, sending signals that control your responses, transporting oxygen around your body, contracting so you can move, and making all of your other bodily processes happen. If your cells weren’t functioning, your tissues, organs, and organ systems wouldn’t be either. Providing you with clean water Rene Fester Kratz und Donna Rae Siegfried erklären dem Leser, wie die Welt funktioniert. Genauer - die Pflanzen, Tiere, Menschen, Viren, Bakterien...Wir gehen hinein in die Körper der Lebewesen und erforschen sie von Grund auf. Dies ist wahnsinnig spannend, teilweise etwas verwirrend aber die Lektüre lohnt sich definitiv! Ethylene stimulates the ripening of fruit and signals deciduous trees to drop their leaves in the fall. Fruit growers use ethylene to partially ripen fruit for sale. In 1983, Kary Mullis discovered the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a process that allows scientists to make numerous copies of DNA molecules that they can then study. Today, PCR is used for Was ist eine Zelle und wofür ist sie überhaupt gut? Was passiert, wenn wir krank werden? Diese und weitere Fragen werden in diesem Buch beantwortet. Hier werden die Geheimnisse des Lebens gelüftet und ein spannendes Feld der Wissenschaft erläutert.Through his experiments, Mendel was able to establish that genetic factors are passed from parents to offspring and remain unchanged in the offspring so that they can be passed on again to the next generation. Although his work was done before the discovery of DNA and chromosomes, the genetic principles of dominance, segregation, and independent assortment that Mendel originally defined are still used to this day.

Organisms with the best-suited characteristics for their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.This is the heart of natural selection. If there’s competition for survival and not all the organisms are the same, then the ones with the advantageous traits are more likely to survive. If these traits can be inherited, then the next generation will show more of these advantageous traits. Ich habe dank diesem Buch sehr viel darüber gelernt, was in meinem Körper alles vor sich geht. Da wir in der Schule tatsächlich keinen Biologieunterricht hatten (!), fehlte mir dieses Wissen oder zumindest vieles davon. Nun habe ich ein neues Verständnis für die teilweise sehr komplexen Vorgänge in uns Lebewesen.Cytokinins stimulate cell division, promote leaf expansion, and slow down the aging of leaves. Florists actually use them to help make cut flowers last longer.

If you have houseplants that are growing in bent shapes toward the window, you’re seeing the effect of the hormone auxin at work. The auxin is collecting on the shady side of your plants’ stems, and those cells are growing longer, pushing the stems toward the light. To keep your plants evenly shaped, rotate them occasionally. Perhaps you don’t think about extinction much, but it’s something worth being aware of. If you need an example, consider the case of polar bears. As global temperatures rise, the polar ice is melting, leaving polar bears with less and less habitat. Not quite so noticeable, but also endangered, are 1,900 other species of plants and animals. Some people object to the idea of GMOs in their diets, but genetic modification of organisms has enabled some amazing health breakthroughs. If you know someone who takes insulin to treat diabetes, that insulin is made by bacteria that scientists engineered to contain the human gene for insulin.

The nervous system consists of two main systems, the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system. The CNS is made up of the brain and spinal cord and sends out instructions. The peripheral nervous system contains the nerves that send the messages from the CNS to the rest of the body. Before 1675, people believed the only living things that existed were the ones they could see. That year, a Dutch cloth merchant named Antony van Leeuwenhoek discovered the microbial world by peering through a homemade microscope. Van Leeuwenhoek was the first person to see bacteria, which he described as little animals that moved about here, there, and everywhere. His discovery of a previously unseen universe not only turned people’s worldviews inside out but also laid the foundation for the understanding that microbes cause disease. Individuals in the population must produce more offspring than can survive.Human beings are somewhat unique among living things in that we can make conscious choices about how many offspring we have. Most other organisms, however, produce as many offspring as they can. On August 24, 1989, scientists announced their discovery of the first known cause of a genetic disease: They found a tiny deletion from a gene on Chromosome 7 that resulted in the deadly genetic disease cystic fibrosis. This identification of a genetic defect, and the realization that this defect causes a disease, opened the floodgates of genetic research Scientists are working with cells, the smallest unit of life, to come up with new therapies to help people with organ failure and devastating injuries. Stem cells, which have the potential to become any kind of cell, have the most potential for this research. Scientists working on ways to coax cells to grow into new organs in the lab were recently able to get human cells to grow into an organized structure that looked like an immature heart and that started beating when they gave it some electricity.