Syllabus. Anthropology. Anthropology /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/ is the study of humankind, past and present,[1][2] that draws and builds upon knowledge from social and biological sciences, as well as the humanities and the natural sciences.[3][4] Since the work of Franz Boas and Bronisław Malinowski in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anthropology in Great Britain and the US has been distinguished from ethnology[5] and from other social sciences by its emphasis on cross-cultural comparisons, long-term in-depth examination of context, and the importance it places on participant-observation or experiential immersion in the area of research.
In those European countries that did not have overseas colonies, where ethnology (a term coined and defined by Adam F. Origin of the term[edit] The term anthropology originates from the Greek anthrōpos (ἄνθρωπος), "human being" (understood to mean humankind or humanity), and -λογία -logia, "study.
" Fields[edit] According to Clifford Geertz, Sociocultural[edit] Biological[edit] Biology. History The objects of our research will be the different forms and manifestations of life, the conditions and laws under which these phenomena occur, and the causes through which they have been effected. The science that concerns itself with these objects we will indicate by the name biology [Biologie] or the doctrine of life [Lebenslehre]. Although modern biology is a relatively recent development, sciences related to and included within it have been studied since ancient times.
Natural philosophy was studied as early as the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indian subcontinent, and China. However, the origins of modern biology and its approach to the study of nature are most often traced back to ancient Greece.[6] While the formal study of medicine dates back to Hippocrates (ca. 460 BC – ca. 370 BC), it was Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) who contributed most extensively to the development of biology.
Foundations of modern biology Cell theory Main article: Cell theory Genetics. Charles Darwin. Charles Robert Darwin, FRS (/ˈdɑrwɪn/;[1] 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist and geologist,[2] best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. [I] He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors,[3] and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.[4] Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species.[5][6] By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact.
Biography Early life and education Painting of seven-year-old Charles Darwin in 1816. Voyage of the Beagle Death and funeral Works. Heredity & Evolution. My reflection when I first made myself master of the central idea of the Origin was, "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that. " — Thomas Huxley, on reading Charles Darwin's seminal book on Evolution, On the Origin of Species Genes: the units of heredity One of the key things we see in the living world all around us is the principle of heredity: the rule that like begets like. A seed from an apple gives rise to another apple tree, not an orange tree or a beanstalk.
Children invariably resemble their parents, both in looks and in personality. How does this come about? In his most famous experiments, done between 1856–63, Mendel took two different varieties of the plant, a tall one and a short one, and produced offspring by hybridising them (i.e., using pollen from one to fertilise the other).
We use the terms genotype and phenotype to distinguish between what genes an individual has and what its physical characteristics are. Inferrring allele dominance The creation of variation. Introduction to DNA Structure. A Molecular Graphics companion to an Introductory Course in Biology or Biochemistry. Copyright 1995, Richard B. Hallick. All rights reserved Contents Components of DNA DNA is a polymer. A is for adenine G is for guanine C is for cytosine T is for thymine Purine Bases Adenine and guanine are purines. Structure of A and G The 9 atoms that make up the fused rings (5 carbon, 4 nitrogen) are numbered 1-9. Pyrimidine Bases Cytosine and thymine are pyrimidines.
Structure of C and T Deoxyribose Sugar The deoxyribose sugar of the DNA backbone has 5 carbons and 3 oxygens. Structure of deoxyribose Nucleosides A nucleoside is one of the four DNA bases covalently attached to the C1' position of a sugar. Structure of dA In dA and dG, there is an "N-glycoside" bond between the sugar C1' and N9 of the purine. Nucleotides A nucleotide is a nucleoside with one or more phosphate groups covalently attached to the 3'- and/or 5'-hydroxyl group(s). DNA Backbone Example of DNA Backbone: 5'-d(CGAAT): DNA Double Helix.