Biology › Section A · The study of life and its chemistry › Topic A.2
Themes and concepts of biology
What is life? No single sentence pins it down, but a shared checklist nearly does - and it draws a sharp line that leaves viruses on the outside. From that checklist comes the ladder of organization running from atoms to the whole biosphere, and the family tree that organizes every species that ever lived.
In this topic
- Defining life by checklist
- Properties of life: structure and response
- Properties of life: stability and energy
- Worked example: sorting life into levels
- Cells: the fundamental unit
- Diversity and evolution
- Reading a phylogenetic tree
- The three domains of life
- Worked example: placing organisms on the tree
- Branches of biological study
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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