Life Sciences in the 21st Century: Introduction
Lecture 2: Outline
prepared by Dr. Donald Mullins, Professor of Entomology
The human story so far (based on the evolutionary history which generally has wide acceptance)...
- Ramapicthecus -- 8 million years ago ancestor of apes and man
- Australopithecus robustus -- 2.5 million years ago, the vegetarian dead-end
- Australopithecus africanus -- 2.5 million years ago, the adaptable survivor
- Homo habilis -- 1.5 million years ago, the tool maker
- Homo erectus -- 500,000 years ago, the fire-maker
- Homo sapiens neanderthalensis -- 15,000 years ago, our less successful cousin was located in the tundra plains of Germany
- Homo sapiens sapiens -- Cro-Magnon man, the direct ancestors of modern man
Geographic location of emerging human societies
Beginnings in biology:
- Communication:
- Sign language
- Vocalization
- Symbols
- Writing:
- Early Chinese wrote on strips of bamboo
- Babylonians (Mesopotamians) used blocks of clay
- Egyptians used papyrus: it was flexible and could be rolled on a scroll for filing and safekeeping
- Chinese invented paper in 105 AD
- Medicine:
- Drugs
- Physical therapy
- Psychological factors:
- Focus of ancient medicine
- Knowledge of reproductive processes
- Agriculture:
- Diversity of agricultural products:
Evolution of the scientific effort:
- Early Man; before the written record
- Ancient Greece
- Middle Ages
- Founding of universities and artistic renassiance
- Scientific observations and experimental methods
- Development of physiology as a science
- Development of scientific societies and experimental science
- Scientific publications
Evolution and organization of biological sciences:
- Makers and early users of microscopes
- Systematizers of plants and animals
- Collectors and comparers
- Observations on reproduction and development
- Explorers seeking plants, animals and fossils
- Explainers of changes in populations
- Organization in living systems
- Biogenesis and microbiology
- Explainers of life processes
- Genetics, as a unifying science
Biology: Past and present:
- Population studies
- Biotic potential
- The human population
- Behavior patterns
- Aggression
- Differentiation
- Genetic engineering
- Environmental studies
Challenges for people in the 21st Century that are life-science-based
References:
- Gardner, E. J 1972. History of Biology. Burgess Publishing Co. 464 pp. 3rd Ed. QH 305 G 3
- Sirks, M. J., and C. Zirkle. 1966. The Evolution of Biology. Ronald Press Co. New York. 376pp . QH 305 S6
- Dixon, D. 1990. Man After Man. 1990. St. Martin's Press, New York. 128pp.
- "Big Questions for a Small Planet" Frontiers in Biology and Ecology in Science 269: 324-360.
- Key Technologies for the 21st Century. 150th Anniversary Issue of Scientific American. September 1995.
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