The Living World

“We are all of us scientists. We live in a world where science impacts our lives daily. Atomic bombs are the product of science, and so are antibiotics and cancer treatments. This year, human babies had their genes edited, and climate change was debated in the halls of Congress. What are we to make of the science that is forming the world in which we will live our lives? How do we know what to fear and what to seek? The first step is to understand how science is done. How does a scientist “know” something? Understanding how to evaluate a scientific claim has become a necessary tool for every educated citizen. Analyzing Important Experiments Biology is at its core a detective story. Over many years, scientists have performed experiments to solve mysteries. Faced with a question, they have, like Sherlock Holmes, devised ways to test alternative possibilities. And it doesn’t stop there. Learning the answer to one question has led scientists to other questions, addressed by other experiments. Every major concept taught to students taking a biology course is the result of a chain of experiments. In this text, you will analyze many of the most important experiments that have taught us what we know. By seeing how scientists conducted the experiments you can see how scientists think and how ideas are tested”–