In the 19 th century, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace sought to explain how these processes work together to produce new species. The theory of evolution can be observed anywhere-from exotic tropical rain forests to our own backyards-and is based on three main principles: heredity, variation, and selection. Health-related fields are particularly prominent destinations for students of the life sciences.įacts on File | 2009 | ISBN-13: 9781438117409 Those who study the life sciences can apply their knowledge in the fields of medicine, engineering, scientific research, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, food science, natural resource management, and conservation. The diversity within this discipline means that the life sciences have a broad application in society. And still others focus on the life that cannot even be seen with the naked eye, such as molecular biology and microchemistry. Others examine aspects that are common to all or many life forms, such as anatomy and genetics. Some life sciences focus on a particular type of organism, such as animals (zoology) or plants (botany).

There are many disciplines included in the life sciences, however, such as anthropology, ecology, entomology, botany, zoology, microbiology, physiology, biotechnology, evolutionary biology, genetics, human anatomy, marine biology, molecular and cell biology, neuroscience, paleontology, plant biology, and biochemistry. Life science is one of two major branches in the sciences, with physical science-or the sciences dealing with nonliving matter-being the other.īiology, which is the study of life and how living things survive and change, is so foundational to the life sciences that some people use the terms interchangeably. Explore the world of the life sciences, which are concerned with the study of living things, such as people, plants, animals, and even microscopic organisms.

What is life science