Building blocks of life (cells)

1. The Cell Theory states that cells are the basic units of life, and that cells come from other cells. Cells got their name from an Englishman named Robert Hooke in the year 1665. He first saw and named "cells" while he was experimenting with a new instrument we now call a "microscope. For his experiment he cut very thin slices from cork. He looked at these slices under a microscope. He saw tiny box-like shapes. These tiny boxes reminded him of the plain small rooms that monks (монахи) lived in called "cells".

2. All living beings are made up of cells. Some of them are made up of only one cell and others have many cells. Sometimes people think of cells as a balloon filled with fluid (жидкость, газ). That is not really true because a balloon does not let things move in and out like the membrane of a cell. It is important for cells to be able to move materials in and out of the cell. Cells are amazing. They are all made of similar building blocks, but they do many different things depending on how they are programmed.

3. Prokaryotic cells have no nucleus or organelles enclosed within membranes. Eukaryotic cells have a nucleus and organelles that are surrounded by membranes. Each organelle does a specific cell function. Individual protists (протисты, простейшие) have only one cell, while plants and animals can have trillions of cells.

4. The adult human body is made up of about 37 trillion cells. If you lined up all the cells of an average human, end to end, the line could circle the earth almost 19 times! Complex creatures like humans have special cells for special functions like carrying oxygen around the body, digesting food, or making bone. Other cells defend us against invading (вторга́ющиеся) bacteria and viruses. There are cells that transmit signals through out the body like the signals from your eyes to your brain while reading this article. There are hundreds of jobs that cells can do.


Comment on how many different types of cells does the average human body have ?

a)20
b)200
c)400
d)1000

A Cell is a building block of life

There is a great variety of living things on our planet. Living material is called protoplasm that is not a chemical compound but a complex mixture varying in different organs and organisms. The amazing fact is that apart from viruses all living matter is made up from the same building blocks called cells. This was discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665 (Studying a piece of cork under a microscope he saw hundreds of little boxes).

A cell is a smallest unit of life. Sometimes one cell is one being as for Paramecium, a  unicellular that is  widespread in marine, brackish and freshwater environments.  Sometimes thousand trillions cells combine to form one organism that behaves as one unit.  And when a cell has grown to a characteristic size it divides and forms two cells. For a one-celled organism it is a process of reproduction. And for a multicellular copying of cells is only growth of organism and the process of reproduction is much more complex and is sexual or asexual.

In a multicellular organism large number of cells of the same type group to form tissue; tissues form organs. Thus different cells have different structure and are specialized to do a particular job they all have certain features in common. Cell contains organic molecules made mainly of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. Substances constantly get into a cell and chemical processes take place.

Cells differ in shape and size. Different structures have animal and plant cells. Follow the link below to know more about an animal cell:

Cells: the building blocks of life

Try to produce your glog about a plant cell. Good luck!

Words to know:
be made up from , be specialized,  behave, carbon , cells, chemical, chemical compound, combine, contain, copy, differ, discover, divide, environment, Eukaryote, feature; certain features, function, get into, hydrogen, in common/in general, organic, inorganic, living material/matter, living thing/being/organism, membrane , mixture; complex mixture, multicellular, nitrogen, nucleus, organelle , oxygen, particular, Prokaryotes,  protein, reproduction, sexual, asexual, shape, size, storage , substance, take place, the same /alike, tissue, under a microscope,  unicellular/one-celled organism, unit, variety, vary, widespread.

Заимствования

 

Не секрет, что языки расширяют свой словарный запас многочисленными заимствованиями из других языков, с кем они входят во взаимодействие.

Английский язык в том смысле не исключение, а скорее яркий пример.


Так, происхождение слова piano мало у кого вызовет вопросы, оно пришло из итальянского языка как в английский, так и в русский языки.


Слово «моски́т» тоже практически международное и было заимствовано в первой половине XIX в. из исп. яз., где mosquito — суф. производное от mosca «муха» (лат. Musca).

А вот слово zerba перебралось в английский и русский из французкого языка, где есть слово zèbre, которое, предположительно, восходит к слову zerba в конголезском диалекте бунда (Ангола).


Из китайского языка было позаимствовано слово ketchup 鮭汁 (кит. kōe — лосось или сёмга и tsiap — соус). Позже это слово пришло и в русский язык.


А у слова «робот» интересная история. Чешский писатель Карел Чапек использовал слово «робот» в своем произведении. Это слово он в сою очередь позаимствовал у словацкого языка robota).

Introduction to the Animal Kingdom

Vocabulary list

lack - to not have something, or not have enough of something: An animal cell lacks cell walls.

share - to have the same interest/opinion, etc as someone else: All plants share certain characteristics.

enable - to make someone able to do something, or to make something possible: Many body functions enable animals to maintain homeostasis.

vertebral column / backbone - a ​spine, the line of bones down the centre of animal’s back

vertebrate - an ​animal that has a ​spine /invertebrate - an ​animal with no ​spine: Invertebrates, such as ​worms, are the ​main ​diet of these ​water ​birds.

bilateral symmetry - the fact of the two halves of something on either side of a particular line being exactly the same / radial symmetry - the condition of having similar parts regularly arranged around a central axis

homeostasis - internal conditions remain stable and relatively constant.

body cavity - any fluid-filled space in a multicellular organism other than those of vessels.

All members of kingdom Animalia share certain characteristics. Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic heterotrophs whose cells lack cell walls. The bodies of most animals contain tissues. Over 95 percent of all animal species are often grouped in a single, informal category: invertebrates. Invertebrates are animals that have no backbone, or vertebral column. The other 5 percent of animals are called vertebrates, because they have a backbone.

Animals carry out the following essential functions: feeding, respiration, circulation, excretion, response, movement, and reproduction. The study of the functions of organisms is called physiology. The structure, or anatomy, of an animal’s body enables it to carry out physiological functions. Many body functions help animals maintain homeostasis. Homeostasis is often maintained by internal feedback mechanisms. Most of these mechanisms involve feedback inhibition, in which the product or result of a process stops or limits the process. Complex animals tend to have high levels of cell specialization and internal body organization, bilateral symmetry, a front end or head with sense organs, and a body cavity.

Answer the questions:

What is an animal?

What animals can be called invertebrates?

What essential physiological functions do animals carry out?

 What type of symmetry do vertebrates have?