algae: Single-celled organisms, as soon as thought-about vegetation (they aren’t). As aquatic organisms, they develop in water. Like inexperienced vegetation, they depend upon daylight to make their meals.
atom: The fundamental unit of a chemical component. Atoms are made up of a dense nucleus that accommodates positively charged protons and uncharged neutrons. The nucleus is orbited by a cloud of negatively charged electrons.
biology: The research of dwelling issues. The scientists who research them are often known as biologists.
cell: (in biology) The smallest structural and practical unit of an organism. Usually too small to see with the unaided eye, it consists of a watery fluid surrounded by a membrane or wall. Relying on their dimension, animals are manufactured from wherever from hundreds to trillions of cells. Most organisms, comparable to yeasts, molds, micro organism and a few algae, are composed of just one cell.
chemical: A substance shaped from two or extra atoms that unite (bond) in a hard and fast proportion and construction. For instance, water is a chemical made when two hydrogen atoms bond to 1 oxygen atom. Its chemical components is H2O. Chemical additionally may be an adjective to explain properties of supplies which are the results of varied reactions between completely different compounds.
cysteine: That is an amino acid that performs a task in making many proteins and driving sure metabolic actions in dwelling issues. Cysteine is part of beta-keratin, which is the primary protein in your hair, pores and skin and nails. In chemistry, cysteine can act as an anti-oxidant.
dormant: Inactive to the purpose the place regular physique features are suspended or slowed down.
electron: A negatively charged particle, normally discovered orbiting the outer areas of an atom; additionally, the service of electrical energy inside solids.
free radical: (in chemistry) A molecule (sometimes extremely reactive and short-lived) having a number of unpaired outer electrons. It would try to steal electrons to make itself complete once more by a course of often known as oxidation.
operate: The precise position some construction or system performs. (in math) A relationship between two or extra variables by which one variable (the dependent one) is precisely decided by the worth of the opposite variables.
glass: A tough, brittle substance created from silica, a mineral present in sand. Glass normally is clear and pretty inert (chemically nonreactive). Aquatic organisms referred to as diatoms construct their shells of it.
hydrogen peroxide: A molecule manufactured from two hydrogen and two oxygen atoms. Extremely reactive, it could kill many tiny organisms, together with germs.
mechanism: The steps or course of by which one thing occurs or “works.” It might be the spring that pops one thing from one gap into one other. It might be the squeezing of the guts muscle that pumps blood all through the physique. It might be the friction (with the street and air) that slows down the velocity of a coasting automobile. Researchers usually search for the mechanism behind actions and reactions to grasp how one thing features.
metabolism: (adj. metabolic) The set of life-sustaining chemical reactions that happen inside cells and greater buildings, comparable to organs. These reactions allow organisms to develop, reproduce, transfer and in any other case reply to their environments.
microscopic: An adjective for issues too small to be seen by the unaided eye. It takes a microscope to view objects this small, comparable to micro organism or different one-celled organisms.
molecule: An electrically impartial group of atoms that represents the smallest potential quantity of a chemical compound. Molecules may be manufactured from single kinds of atoms or of various varieties. For instance, the oxygen within the air is manufactured from two oxygen atoms (O2), however water is manufactured from two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (H2O).
moss: A small, flowerless inexperienced plant that lacks true roots. It tends to develop as carpets or rounded cushions in damp habitats. It may well reproduce asexually, by fragmentation, or by way of spores launched from stalked capsules.
oxidant: A chemical that may oxidize — steal an electron — from one other molecule as a part of sure chemical reactions.
oxidation: (adj. oxidative) A course of that entails one molecule’s theft of an electron from one other. The sufferer of that response is alleged to have been “oxidized,” and the oxidizing agent (the thief) is “lowered.” The oxidized molecule makes itself complete once more by robbing an electron from one other molecule. Oxidation reactions with molecules in dwelling cells are so violent that they’ll trigger cell demise. Oxidation usually entails oxygen atoms — however not at all times.
peroxide: A bunch of chemical substances that comprise a “bivalent” pair of oxygen atoms. Every oxygen atom has an unpaired electron orbiting it that’s out there to kind bonds (attachments) with different atoms. Peroxides are oxidizing brokers, which means that they’ll react vigorously at room temperatures. Some are used as bleaches.
physiologist: A scientist who research the department of biology that offers with how the our bodies of wholesome organisms operate beneath regular circumstances.
protein: A compound created from a number of lengthy chains of amino acids. Proteins are a vital a part of all dwelling organisms. They kind the idea of dwelling cells, muscle and tissues; additionally they do the work inside cells. Antibodies, hemoglobin and enzymes are all examples of proteins. Medicines incessantly work by latching onto proteins.
radical: (in chemistry) A molecule having a number of unpaired outer electrons. Radicals readily participate in chemical reactions. The physique is able to making radicals as one means to kill cells, and thereby rid itself of broken cells or infectious microbes.
salt: A compound made by combining an acid with a base (in a response that additionally creates water). The ocean accommodates many various salts — collectively referred to as “sea salt.” Widespread desk salt is a manufactured from sodium and chlorine.
sensor: A tool that picks up data on bodily or chemical situations — comparable to temperature, barometric stress, salinity, humidity, pH, mild depth or radiation — and shops or broadcasts that data. Scientists and engineers usually depend on sensors to tell them of situations which will change over time or that exist removed from the place a researcher can measure them instantly. (in biology) The construction that an organism makes use of to sense attributes of its setting, comparable to warmth, winds, chemical substances, moisture, trauma or an assault by predators.
species: A bunch of comparable organisms able to producing offspring that may survive and reproduce.
stress: (in biology) An element — comparable to uncommon temperatures, actions, moisture or air pollution — that impacts the well being of a species or ecosystem. (in psychology) A psychological, bodily, emotional or behavioral response to an occasion or circumstance (stressor) that disturbs an individual or animal’s normal state of being or locations elevated calls for on an individual or animal; psychological stress may be both optimistic or adverse. (in physics) Strain or rigidity exerted on a fabric object.
suspended animation: A short lived shutdown of most or all dwelling features with out inflicting demise. Examples can embrace a saved seed, hibernating animal or permafrost-trapped rotifer.
tardigrade: An eight-legged creature not a lot bigger than the interval on the finish of a sentence. Tardigrades reside in lots of locations, together with ponds, the ocean flooring and components of Antarctica the place rock sticks above the ice.
X-ray: A sort of radiation analogous to gamma rays, however having considerably decrease power.
