Big biology ideas
Sir Paul Nurse won the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 2001 for his work on the genes that control cell division. Here, Sir Paul explains some of the key ideas in biology, such as cells, genes and evolution.
In 2006, Sir Paul toured New Zealand as part of a speaking tour organised by the Royal Society of New Zealand in conjunction with the Royal Society (London). He spoke in Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.
During his lecture, he spoke about The Five Great Ideas of Biology.
Click on the following for more details:
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The first big idea: The cell
Cells are the basic building blocks of life. It is hard for us now to imagine scientists not knowing about cells, but until microscopes were developed, they couldn’t be seen, let alone described or observed.
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The second big idea: The gene
Why do offspring resemble their parents? The discovery of the molecule that is passed from a parent to their offspring was a key development in biology.
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The third big idea: Evolution
Evolution is the process of change in an organism that occurs over a long period of time.
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The fourth big idea: Life as chemistry
Organisms carry out a complex set of chemical reactions in order to function.
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The fifth big idea: Biological organisation
DNA has a famous and distinct structure that obeys all the laws of chemistry. This structure gives DNA the ability to store complex information and pass it on to future generations.
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High school students ask the questions
After Sir Paul Nurse’s lecture on The Five Great Ideas of Biology, the audience were invited to ask questions. Students from Wellington Girls’ High School made the most of this opportunity.
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- Published:
- 16 November 2007
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- text/html
