Organism
hideIn 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.
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News tagged with living organisms
IBM Reveals Five Innovations that Will Change Cities in the Next Five Years (w/ Video)
Dec 17, 2009 |
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Today, IBM unveiled a list of innovations that have the potential to change how people live, work and play in cities around the globe over the next five to ten years.
Peptides control crystal growth with 'switches, throttles and brakes'
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Nov 23, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By producing some of the highest resolution images of peptides attaching to mineral surfaces, scientists have a deeper understanding how biomolecules manipulate the growth crystals. This research ...
Scientists Reproduce a Building Block of Life in Laboratory
Nov 06, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory.
Digging deeper below Antarctica's Lake Vida
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 14, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (8) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Antarctica's Lake Vida, a geologic curiosity that is essentially an ice bottle of brine, is home to some of the oldest and coldest living organisms on Earth. Perpetually covered by more than 60 feet of ice, ...
First discovery of life's building block in comet made
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Aug 17, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (18) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA scientists have discovered glycine, a fundamental building block of life, in samples of comet Wild 2 returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft.
Hydrocarbons in the deep Earth?
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 26, 2009 |
4.3 / 5 (42) |
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The oil and gas that fuels our homes and cars started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediments in the Earth's crust. Scientists have debated for years ...
Researchers Find Key 'Conductor' of Nature's Synchronicity
Jul 22, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (8) |
3
(PhysOrg.com) -- Synchronicity in nature is seen in beating hearts, the flashing of fireflies' lights, the ebb and flow of infectious disease—and the simultaneous rise and fall of populations across vast reaches ...
Chemists see first building blocks to life on Earth
May 13, 2009 |
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Scientists at The University of Manchester have developed an experiment that sheds new and fascinating light on how life on Earth might have begun.
Cooperative forces boost collective mobility of cells
May 06, 2009 |
4 / 5 (5) |
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An article by Dr. Xavier Trepat, senior researcher of the Cellular and respiratory biomechanics group at the University of Barcelona, Spain, contributes for the first time an experimental answer to the question ...
Chemists synthesize herbal alkaloid
Apr 15, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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The club moss Lycopodium serratum is a creeping, flowerless plant used in homeopathic medicine to treat a wide variety of ailments. It contains a potent brew of alkaloids that have attracted considerable scient ...
Study of protein structures reveals key events in evolutionary history
Mar 10, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (12) |
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A new study of proteins, the molecular machines that drive all life, also sheds light on the history of living organisms.
