News tagged with organisms
New finding may hold key to Gaia hypothesis of Earth as living organism
(Phys.org) -- Is Earth really a sort of giant living organism as the Gaia hypothesis predicts? A new discovery made at the University of Maryland may provide a key to answering this question. This key of sulfur ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 15, 2012 |
3.4 / 5 (33) |
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Hitachi unveils motor without 'rare earths'
Japanese high-tech firm Hitachi Wednesday unveiled an electric motor that does not use "rare earths", aiming to cut costs and reduce dependence on imports of the scarce minerals from China.
Apr 11, 2012 |
3.8 / 5 (25) |
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Professor's hypothesis may be game changer for evolutionary theory
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new hypothesis posed by a University of Tennessee, Knoxville, associate professor and colleagues could be a game changer in the evolution arena. The hypothesis suggests some species are ...
Apr 04, 2012 |
4.2 / 5 (22) |
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Is it snowing microbes on Enceladus?
There's a tiny moon orbiting beyond Saturn's rings that's full of promise, and maybe -- just maybe -- microbes.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 28, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (12) |
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Scientists find 'man's remotest relative' in lake sludge
After two decades of examining a microscopic algae-eater that lives in a lake in Norway, scientists on Thursday declared it to be one of the world's oldest living organisms and man's remotest relative.
Apr 26, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (11) |
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The first chemical circuit developed
Klas Tybrandt, doctoral student in organic electronics at Linkoping University, Sweden, has developed an integrated chemical chip. The results have just been published in Nature Communications.
May 29, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (10) |
3
Safer way to make diazomethane developed
(PhysOrg.com) -- Diazomethane is a toxic, explosive reagent prepared as needed in laboratories, where it is commonly used in cyclopropanation, but its explosive nature prevents it being used widely on an industrial ...
Mar 23, 2012 |
5 / 5 (9) |
0
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Stable electrodes for improving printed electronics
Imagine owning a television with the thickness and weight of a sheet of paper. It will be possible, someday, thanks to the growing industry of printed electronics. The process, which allows manufacturers to ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Apr 19, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (10) |
0
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Scientists sound acid alarm for plankton
The microscopic organisms on which almost all life in the oceans depends could be even more vulnerable to increasingly acidic waters than scientists realised, according to a new study.
May 15, 2012 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
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Strategy discovered to activate genes that suppress tumors and inhibit cancer
(Medical Xpress) -- A team of scientists has developed a promising new strategy for "reactivating" genes that cause cancer tumors to shrink and die. The researchers hope that their discovery will aid in the ...
May 21, 2012 |
5 / 5 (8) |
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Researchers solve structure of human protein critical for silencing genes
In a study published in the journal Cell on May 24, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists describe the three-dimensional atomic structure of a human protein bound to a piece of RNA that "guides" the pr ...
May 25, 2012 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
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Organic compounds found in proto-planetary disks
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study from scientists in the US has reported that organic compounds could be formed in proto-planetary disks, and could have seeded the development of life in our own and other planetary ...
Mar 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (7) |
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Bringing Mars back to Earth
The search for life should be an essential component of a sample return mission from Mars, according to a recent report examining the science behind such a venture.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Apr 20, 2012 |
4.4 / 5 (8) |
12
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Group finds circadian clock common to almost all life forms
(Phys.org) -- A group of biology researchers, led by Akhilesh Reddy from Cambridge University have found an enzyme that they believe serves as a circadian clock that operates in virtually all forms of life. ...
May 17, 2012 |
5 / 5 (7) |
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Battery cathode made of waste byproducts from paper industry promises sustainable energy storage
A breakthrough for inexpensive electricity from solar cells, and a massive investment in wind power, will mean a need to store energy in an intelligent way. According to research at Linköping University (Sweden), published ...
Mar 22, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
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Organism
In biology, an organism is any living system (such as animal, plant, fungus, or micro-organism). In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole. An organism may either be unicellular (single-celled) or be composed of, as in humans, many billions of cells grouped into specialized tissues and organs. The term multicellular (many-celled) describes any organism made up of more than one cell.
The terms "organism" (Greek ὀργανισμός - organismos, from Ancient Greek ὄργανον - organon "organ, instrument, tool") first appeared in the English language in 1701 and took on its current definition by 1834 (Oxford English Dictionary).
Scientific classification in biology considers organisms synonymous with life on Earth. Based on cell type, organisms may be divided into the prokaryotic and eukaryotic groups. The prokaryotes represent two separate domains, the Bacteria and Archaea. Eukaryotic organisms, with a membrane-bounded cell nucleus, also contain organelles, namely mitochondria and (in plants) plastids, generally considered to be derived from endosymbiotic bacteria. Fungi, animals and plants are examples of species that are eukaryotes.
More recently a clade, Neomura, has been proposed, which groups together the Archaea and Eukarya. Neomura is thought to have evolved from Bacteria, more specifically from Actinobacteria.
For more information about Organism, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
