MEDICAL BIOLOGY, HUMAN ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY - Ya.I. Fedoniuk 2010

BIOLOGY

SECTION 1. BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN VITAL ACTIVITY

1.1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE

Life as a Cosmic and Natural Phenomenon

The Earth was formed in outer space over 4.5 billion years ago. According to A.I. Oparin's theory, life originated on Earth As a result of chemical evolution and has existed here for over 3.5 billion years. The Development of life — biological evolution — occurred in close unity with terrestrial and cosmic processes. Life evolved from simple to complex, from lower forms to higher ones. The strategy of life is such that biological evolution as a whole is gradual, adaptive, progressive, and irreversible. Its outcomes are phenomena striking to everyone: the immense diversity of species, their adaptation to habitats, and the extraordinary structural complexity of many of them. The realm of living organisms on Earth, the biosphere, is an open biological system that constantly interacts with the Cosmos. The life of all organisms on Earth, including humans, ultimately depends on the energy of a cosmic body — the Sun.

Understanding The Essence of life is one of the most complex biological challenges. Life is a qualitatively distinct form of matter's existence, superior to its Physical and Chemical forms, representing the biological form of the movement of matter. Living organisms are built from the same chemical elements as inanimate bodies, but the form of matter's Organization in living things differs from that in inanimate nature. The living is qualitatively different from the non-living. The chemical substrate of life consists of biological macromolecules, or Biopolymers. The principal ones are Proteins and Nucleic Acids. There is no known living creature on Earth that does not contain proteins and nucleic acids. A characteristic feature of the life substrate is its structural organization, a specific ordering at THE MOLECULAR LEVEL. This ordering leads to The formation of even larger complexes of Molecular and supramolecular structures. Spatial ordering is accompanied by temporal ordering, which ensures the precise sequence of processes within living organisms.



Last update: 08/08/2026

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