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Relations with Other Disciplines

In the 17th century, with the invention of the microscope, which made possible study of the cellular level of organization, biology began to receive the benefits of scientific developments in physics. In the 18th century such developments in chemistry as a better understanding of the nature of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water began to have important implications for biology. Today, through the disciplines of biochemistry and biophysics, both chemistry and physics have continued to make significant contributions to biology, particularly in the area of molecular biology.

Biology is also very closely related to the disciplines of medicine and agriculture, out of which it developed as an independent discipline. In a sense, the roles have been reversed in the 20th century, for it is basic research being conducted in biology that is contributing to major advances currently being made in medicine and agriculture. It was biological research in the structure and function of viruses, for example, that led directly to the development of a vaccine against poliomyelitis. Another scientific discipline, that of geology, is closely related to the biological study of paleontology. The technique of radiocarbon dating, which was developed by chemists to determine the age of biological remains, has been of great use in the fields of archaeology and anthropology as well as biology.

A new discipline, space biology, has arisen through the activities of the scientists and engineers concerned with the exploration of space. The conceptual framework of biology has had to be altered to accommodate newly discovered facts. In the process biology has received contributions from and made contributions to many other disciplines, in the humanities as well as in the sciences.

Changing Social and Scientific Values

The biologist's role in society as well as his moral and ethical responsibility in the discovery and development of new ideas has led to a reassessment of his social and scientific value systems. A scientist can no longer ignore the consequences of his discoveries; he is as concerned with the possible misuses of his findings as he is with the basic research in which he is involved. This emerging social and political role of the biologist and all other scientists requires a weighing of values that cannot be done with the accuracy or the objectivity of a laboratory balance. As a member of society, it is necessary for a biologist now to redefine his social obligations and his functions, particularly in the realm of making judgements about such ethical problems as man's control of his environment or his manipulation of genes to direct further evolutionary development.

Philosophy of Biology

The sharp increase in man's understanding of biological processes that has occurred in recent years has stimulated philosophical interest in biology to an extent unprecedented since the development of evolutionary theory in the 19th century. Biologists and philosophers alike have devoted much attention to a variety of issues regarding the subject matter and the methodology of biology, resulting in a sizable output of written material, formulating philosophical questions that are still arising and framing answers to acknowledged difficulties. Most of the problems of the philosophy of biology are old questions now being investigated afresh in the light of biological advances and new standards of philosophical rigour. In this account contemporary questions will be stressed.

Behaviour and Interrelationships

As was mentioned earlier, the study of the relationships of living things to each other and to their environment is known as ecology. Because these interrelationships are so important to the welfare of Earth and because they can be seriously disrupted by man's activities, ecology is becoming one of the most important branches of biology. Whether an organism is man or a bacterium, its ability to reproduce is one of the most important characteristics of life. Because life comes only from pre-existing life, it is only through reproduction that successive generations can carry on the properties of a species.

Biology (chemical compound)

Metal complexes play a variety of important roles in biological systems. Many enzymes, the naturally occurring catalysts that regulate biological processes, are metal complexes (metalloenzymes); for example, a hydrolytic enzyme important in digestion, carboxypeptidase, contains a zinc ion co-ordinated to several amino acid residues of the protein.

Another enzyme, catalase, which is an efficient catalyst for the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, contains iron-porphyrin complexes. In both cases, the co-ordinated metal ions are probably the sites of catalytic activity. Hemoglobin also contains iron-porphyrin complexes, its role as an oxygen carrier being related to the ability of the iron atoms to co-ordinate oxygen molecules reversibly. Other biologically important co-ordination compounds include chlorophyll (a magnesium-porphyrin complex) and vitamin B12, a complex of cobalt with a macrocyclic ligand known as corrin.