In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system. In at least some form, all types of organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homeostasis as a stable whole. An organism may be either unicellular (a single cell) or, as in the case of humans, comprise many trillions of cells grouped into specialized tissues and organs. The term multicellular (many cells) describes any organism made up of more than one cell.
All stories in Organism
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Tipping point? Humanity's stuff now weighs more than all living things
Our deficiencies have always driven us, even among our distant ancestors, back in the last Ice Age. Having neither the speed ...
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Epidemologist explains why COVID-19 mutations shouldn't scare you
A new strain of the coronavirus may be responsible for the faster spread of the virus in London and south-east England, it ...
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The 4 most promising worlds for alien life in the solar system
The Earth’s biosphere contains all the known ingredients necessary for life as we know it. Broadly speaking these are liquid ...
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New study suggests we all might be children of alien organisms
Panspermia means “seeds everywhere,” and the concept represents the idea that life on Earth may have been seeded by biological ...
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New artificial evolution research could finally prove Darwin was right
An international team of researchers may have just figured out why single-celled organisms such as the AIDS virus and cancer ...
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Programmable living robots can help cure cancer — but how ethical are they?
A remarkable combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and biology has produced the world’s first “living robots”. This ...
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An astrobiologist explains why invisible aliens could be among us
Life is pretty easy to recognize. It moves, it grows, it eats, it excretes, it reproduces. Simple. In biology, researchers ...
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How to recognize an alien when you see one
What would convince you that aliens existed? The question came up recently at a conference on astrobiology, held at Stanford ...
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How birds drop ‘unnecessary’ genes can help us understand evolution
Humans, the latest tally suggests, have approximately 21,000 genes in our genome, the set of genetic information in an organism. ...
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[Best of 2019] Slimy fish mucus can help chemists develop new antibiotics — here's how
One day in the future, you may take a pill to treat an illness – and owe your recovery to the tiny microbes that flourish ...
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[Best of 2019] Cornell scientists create 'living' machines that eat, grow, and evolve
The field of robotics is going through a renaissance thanks to advances in machine learning and sensor technology. Each generation ...
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New evidence shows the first cells could have formed at the bottom of the ocean
Where did life come from? In recent years, many scientists have shifted from favoring a “primordial soup” in pools of ...
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If humans disappeared, which species would dominate the Earth?
In a post-apocalyptic future, what might happen to life if humans left the scene? After all, humans are very likely to disappear ...
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Evolution tells us we might be the only intelligent life in the universe
Are we alone in the universe? It comes down to whether intelligence is a probable outcome of natural selection or an improbable ...
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Moon rocks could help us resurrect extinct species???
Life is the last thing you would associate with the eternally dark craters of the lunar poles. But these craters could hold ...
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We're now polluting the moon with near indestructible little creatures
An Israeli spacecraft called Beresheet almost made it to the moon in April. It took a selfie with the lunar surface in the ...
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How plants’ ability to ‘think’ might force us to redefine intelligence
Some might balk at the idea that plants made of roots, stems and leaves could have intelligence or consciousness. But scientists ...
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Why this geneticist says we should stop human evolution
Measles cases in the US have hit a 25-year high, with 78 new infections in the past week alone. In a sign of the times, a ...
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Research: Humans can sense the Earth’s magnetic fields (just like bees)
Do human beings have a magnetic sense? Biologists know other animals do. They think it helps creatures including bees, turtles ...
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Why probing this new artificial DNA molecule could help us discover aliens
In a monumental achievement on this journey, scientists funded by NASA and led by the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution ...
