Characteristics of Life
The smallest basic unit of structure and function in all living organisms.
What is a cell?
The state of maintaining stable internal physical and chemical balance despite external changes.
What is homeostasis?
This biomolecule group includes sugars and starches, serving as the body's primary quick energy source.
What are carbohydrates?
Enzymes belong to this major macromolecule category.
What are proteins?
The largest organ of the human body, acting as our primary protective barrier against the outside world.
What is the skin?
The universal genetic code shared by all living organisms to store hereditary information.
What is DNA?
Shivering when exposed to cold air is a body response designed to generate this.
What is heat?
Amino acids serve as the fundamental monomers for this macromolecule category.
What are proteins?
The specific reactant or molecule that an enzyme binds to and acts upon.
What is a substrate?
The essential gas that humans breathe in to help produce energy for their cells.
What is oxygen?
Sunflower heads turning toward the sun throughout the day is a response to this external trigger.
What is a stimulus?
The type of feedback loop that counteracts a change to bring the body back to its normal set point.
What is a negative feedback loop?
Hydrophobic biomolecules used for long-term energy storage, insulation, and cell membranes.
What are lipids?
The precise location on an enzyme where the substrate locks in to undergo a reaction.
What is the active site?
People who are lactose intolerant don't produce enough of this specific enzyme needed to digest milk sugar.
What is lactase?
All the chemical reactions occurring within an organism to build up or break down materials.
What is metabolism?
This mechanism amplifies a biological response to drive a process to completion, such as during childbirth or blood clotting.
What is a positive feedback loop?
DNA and RNA belong to this macromolecule family responsible for storing and expressing genetic information.
What are nucleic acids?
Enzymes speed up biochemical reactions by lowering this specific energy barrier.
What is activation energy?
Roughly 60% of the adult human body is composed of this essential compound.
What is water?
The process by which a species changes over generations to better fit its environment.
What is adaptation/evolution?
The ideal, target value or narrow range that the body strives to maintain for physiological variables like body temperature or blood pH.
What is a set point?
Cholesterol, testosterone, and estrogen belong to this specific class of lipids.
What are steroids?
Extreme pH or high temperatures permanently alter an enzyme's active site through this process
What is denaturation?
The famous scientist who proposed the theory of evolution by natural selection after studying wildlife on the Galápagos Islands.
Who is Charles Darwin?