Interactive Biology, by Leslie Samuel

In this section, I give an introduction to what biology is. This is the first section in the book, Biology, the dynamics of life. It gives the foundation of everything we cover in my Biology 1 class.

I go talk about what an organism is and talk about the 5 characteristics of living things.

Internal control of the body is directed by two systems: 1, The Nervous System and 2, The Endocrine System. In this lecture, I discuss the endocrine system and how endocrine glands control functions in the body through the release of hormones. The pituitary gland is known as the Master Endocrine Gland and plays a major role in controlling the other glands of the endocrine system.

McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Olive Garden and China Garden – they all have something in common, they all serve FOOD. But all foods are not created equally. I you want to be healthy, you want to make sure that you are getting what you need. In this lecture, I talk about nutrition, starting with the 6 vital nutrients and where you ind them and how your body deals with those nutrients.

I end the section by talking about Calories and metabolism. What determines how many calories we need on a daily basis? Watch the video to find out.

Do you like to eat? I do, and since I’m a biologist, I like to also look at what happens in our bodies when we take stuff in. In this lecture, I first deal with the functions of the digestive system. We then take a journey through the digestive system by following your food from your mouth all the way through your body and even through the elimination of waste.

What would the skeletal system be without muscles to move our bones. Muscles are an essential part of what makes us humans and in this lecture, I talk about the three types of muscle, and more importantly, how they work. How does muscle contraction happen at the cellular level? Why does the heart beat on its own? What is actin and myosin and what happens to our muscles in response to exercise? These are a few of the questions I answer in this lecture.