Characteristics of Life
The basic unit of the structure and function of living things
What is a cell?
A distinctive way of gaining knowledge about the natural world that starts with a question and then tries to answer the question using evidence and logic
What is science?
Make observations, ask a question, research background, form a hypothesis, test the hypothesis, draw conclusions, communicate results
What is the scientific method?
The variable in a scientific experiment that is measured, affected by another variable
What is a dependent variable?
A claim, belief, or practice that is presented as scientific but does not adhere to the standards and methods of science
What is pseudoscience?
The process by which organisms give rise to offspring
What is reproduction?
Any type of data that may be used to test a hypothesis
What is evidence?
A tentative explanation to a scientific question that can be tested.
What is a hypothesis?
The variable in a scientific experiment that is manipulated by the researcher to investigate its effect on another variable
What is an independent variable?
Astrology, phrenology, ghost hunting, cryptozoology
What are some examples of pseudoscience?
The process of maintaining a stable internal environment in a cell or an entire organism
What is homeostasis?
Anything detected with the senses or with instruments or measuring devices that extend human senses
What is an observation?
A statement that tells what will happen under certain conditions, usually in an if/then format
What is a prediction?
The repeating of an experiment, validating the results
What is repetition?
1. The use of vague, exaggerated, or untestable claims
2. An over-reliance on confirmation rather than refutation
3. A lack of openness to testing by other experts
4. An absence of progress in advancing knowledge
5. Personalization of issues
6. The use of misleading language
What are the characteristics of pseudoscience?
When a fly lands on a venus flytrap, it senses the movement and closes its leave around the fly
What is response to stimuli?
A statement that describes what always happens under certain conditions in nature
What is a scientific law?
A plan for asking questions and testing possible answers
What is a scientific investigation?
The group in an experiment that receives the experimental treatment, meaning the independent variable is manipulated
What is an experimental group?
An elaborate medical research fraud that was reported in 1998 falsely associating MMR vaccines with autism
What is the vaccine-autism fraud?
Describes the molecular makeup of organisms and the metabolic processes they perform that keep them alive
What is complex chemistry?
Radical changes in scientific ideas
What are paradigmshifts?
A hypothesis that is able to be proven false by an observation or experiment
What is a falsifiable hypothesis?
The group in an experiment that does not receive the experimental treatment, meaning the independent variable is not manipulated and conditions stay the same
What is a control group?
Just because two variables are correlated does not necessarily mean that either variable causes the other
What is the correlation-causation fallacy?