1.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
2.
Geneva
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Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic, the municipality has a population of 198,072, and the canton has 484,736 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France, within Swiss territory, the commuter area named Métropole lémanique contains a population of 1.25 million. This area is essentially spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, Geneva is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, Geneva was ranked as the worlds ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe behind London and Zürich. A2009 survey by Mercer found that Geneva has the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world, the city has been referred to as the worlds most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009 and 2011, Geneva was ranked as, respectively, the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava, probably from a Celtic toponym *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis, the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva /dʒᵻˈniːvə/ in English, French, Genève, German, Genf, Italian, Ginevra, and Romansh, Genevra. The city in origin shares its name, *genawa estuary, with the Italian port city of Genoa, Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC. It became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, and acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, around this time the House of Savoy came to dominate the city. In the 15th century, a republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In 1541, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, by the 18th century, however, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France also tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, in 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, in 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09 East, at the end of Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by two chains, the Alps and the Jura
3.
Switzerland
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Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
4.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
5.
Lichen
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A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi in a symbiotic relationship. The combined lichen has properties different from those of its component organisms, Lichens come in many colours, sizes, and forms. The properties are sometimes plant-like, but lichens are not plants, Lichens may have tiny, leafless branches, flat leaf-like structures, flakes that lie on the surface like peeling paint, or other growth forms. A macrolichen is a lichen that is either bush-like or leafy, here, macro and micro do not refer to size, but to the growth form. Common names for lichens may contain the word moss, and lichens may superficially look like and grow with mosses, Lichens do not have roots that absorb water and nutrients as plants do, but like plants, they produce their own food by photosynthesis. When they grow on plants, they do not live as parasites, Lichens occur from sea level to high alpine elevations, in many environmental conditions, and can grow on almost any surface. Lichens are abundant growing on bark, leaves, mosses, on other lichens and they grow on rock, walls, gravestones, roofs, exposed soil surfaces, and in the soil as part of a biological soil crust. Different kinds of lichens have adapted to survive in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, arctic tundra, hot dry deserts, rocky coasts and they can even live inside solid rock, growing between the grains. It is estimated that 6% of Earths land surface is covered by lichen, there are about 20,000 known species of lichens. Some lichens have lost the ability to reproduce sexually, yet continue to speciate, Lichens may be long-lived, with some considered to be among the oldest living things. They are among the first living things to grow on fresh rock exposed after an event such as a landslide, the long life-span and slow and regular growth rate of some lichens can be used to date events. In American English, lichen is pronounced the same as the verb liken, in British English, both this pronunciation and one rhyming with kitchen /ˈlɪtʃən/) are used. Lichens grow in a range of shapes and forms. The shape of a lichen is determined by the organization of the fungal filaments. The nonreproductive tissues, or vegetative body parts, is called the thallus, Lichens are grouped by thallus type, since the thallus is usually the most visually prominent part of the lichen. Thallus growth forms typically correspond to a few basic internal structure types, Common names for lichens often come from a growth form or color that is typical of a lichen genus. When a crustose lichen gets old, the center may start to crack up like old-dried paint, old-broken asphalt paving and this is called being rimose or areolate, and the island pieces separated by the cracks are called areolas. The areolas appear separated, but are connected by an underlying prothallus or hypothallus, when a crustose lichen grows from a center and appears to radiate out, it is called crustose placodioid
6.
Diatom
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Diatoms are a major group of algae, and are among the most common types of phytoplankton. Diatoms are unicellular, although they can form colonies in the shape of filaments or ribbons, fans, zigzags, the first diatom formally described in scientific literature, the colonial Bacillaria paradoxa, was found in 1783 by Danish naturalist Otto Friedrich Müller. Diatoms are producers within the food chain, a unique feature of diatom cells is that they are enclosed within a cell wall made of silica called a frustule. These frustules show a diversity in form, but are usually almost bilaterally symmetrical. The symmetry is not perfect since one of the valves is slightly larger than the other, fossil evidence suggests that they originated during, or before, the early Jurassic period. Only male gametes of centric diatoms are capable of movement by means of flagella, diatom communities are a popular tool for monitoring environmental conditions, past and present, and are commonly used in studies of water quality. More than 200 genera of living diatoms are known, with an estimated 100,000 extant species, diatoms are a widespread group and can be found in the oceans, in fresh water, in soils, and on damp surfaces. They dominate over phytoplankton in nutrient-rich coastal waters and during oceanic spring blooms since they can more rapidly than phytoplankton. Most live pelagically in open water, although some live as surface films at the water-sediment interface and they are especially important in oceans, where they contribute an estimated 45% of the total oceanic primary production of organic material. Spatial distribution of phytoplankton species is restricted both horizontally and vertically. Though most are microscopic, some species of diatoms can reach up to 2 mm in length, diatoms belong to a large group called the heterokonts, including both autotrophs and heterotrophs. Their yellowish-brown chloroplasts are typical of heterokonts, having four membranes, individuals usually lack flagella, but they are present in male gametes of the centric diatoms and have the usual heterokont structure, except they lack the hairs characteristic in other groups. Most diatoms are nonmotile, as their relatively dense cell walls cause them to readily sink, planktonic forms in open water usually rely on turbulent mixing of the upper layers by the wind to keep them suspended in sunlit surface waters. Some species actively regulate their buoyancy with intracellular lipids to counter sinking, a feature of diatoms is the urea cycle, which links them evolutionarily to animals. This was discovered in research carried out by Andrew Allen, Chris Bowler and their study showed that while diatoms and animals use the urea cycle for different ends, they are seen to be evolutionally linked in such a way that animals and plants are not. Diatom cells are contained within a unique cell wall known as a frustule made up of two valves called thecae, that typically overlap one another. The biogenic silica composing the wall is synthesised intracellularly by the polymerisation of silicic acid monomers. This material is extruded to the cell exterior and added to the wall
7.
Hydrozoa
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Hydrozoa are a taxonomic class of individually very small, predatory animals, some solitary and some colonial, most living in salt water. The colonies of the species can be large, and in some cases the specialized individual animals cannot survive outside the colony. A few genera within this class live in fresh water, hydrozoans are related to jellyfish and corals and belong to the phylum Cnidaria. Some examples of hydrozoans are the freshwater jelly, freshwater polyps, Obelia, Portuguese man o war, chondrophores, air fern, most hydrozoan species include both a polypoid and a medusoid stage in their lifecycles, although a number of them have only one or the other. For example, Hydra has no stage, while Liriope lacks the hydroid stage. The hydroid form is usually colonial, with multiple polyps connected by tubelike hydrocauli, the hollow cavity in the middle of the polyp extends into the associated hydrocaulus, so that all the individuals of the colony are intimately connected. Where the hydrocaulus runs along the substrate, it form a horizontal root-like stolon that anchors the colony to the bottom, the colonies are generally small, no more than a few centimeters across, but some in Siphonophorae can reach sizes of several meters. They may have a tree-like or fan-like appearance, depending on species, the polyps themselves are usually tiny, although some noncolonial species are much larger, reaching 6 to 9 cm, or, in the case of the deep-sea Branchiocerianthus, a remarkable 2 m. The hydrocaulus is usually surrounded by a sheath of chitin and proteins called the perisarc, in some species, this extends upwards to also enclose part of the polyps, in some cases including a closeable lid through which the polyp may extend its tentacles. In any given colony, the majority of polyps are specialized for feeding and these have a more or less cylindrical body with a terminal mouth on a raised protuberance called the hypostome, surrounded by a number of tentacles. The polyp contains a central cavity, in which initial digestion takes place, partially digested food may then be passed into the hydrocaulus for distribution around the colony and completion of the digestion process. Unlike some other groups, the lining of the central cavity lacks stinging nematocysts. All colonial hydrozoans also include some polyps specialized for reproduction and these lack tentacles and contain numerous buds from which the medusoid stage of the lifecycle is produced. The arrangement and type of these reproductive polyps varies considerably between different groups, in addition to these two basic types of polyps, a few colonial species have other specialized forms. In some, defensive polyps are found, armed with large numbers of stinging cells. In others, one polyp may develop as a float, from which the other polyps hang down. The medusae of hydrozoans are smaller than those of typical jellyfish, although most hydrozoans have a medusoid stage, this is not always free-living, and in many species, exists solely as a sexually reproducing bud on the surface of the hydroid colony. Sometimes, these medusoid buds may be so degenerated as to entirely lack tentacles or mouths, the body consists of a dome-like umbrella ringed by tentacles
8.
Kazan (Volga region) Federal University
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Kazan Federal University is located in Kazan, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. Founded in 1804 as Kazan Imperial University it is the second oldest among Russian universities, famous mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky served there as the rector from 1827 until 1846. In 1925, the university was renamed in honour of its most famous student Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, in 2010, Kazan University received the federal status. As of November 1,2015, the University consists of 16 Institutes,3 Higher Schools, Faculty of Law, more than 40,000 students enrolled in 479 degree programs at undergraduate and postgraduate level. It was not until 1814 that the university underwent its full opening and it was restructured as a classical university comprising four departments, moral and political sciences, physical and mathematical sciences, medical sciences and philology. In 1819, M. L. Magnitsky conducted a review of the university, in which he reported on the spirit of dissent and irreligion that he had observed at the university. In his report to the Emperor, he spoke of the destruction of the university and demanded it be closed. In addition, a strict barrack domestic regime was introduced for students of the university, in 1819-1821 an alumnus and scholar of Kazan University Ivan Simonov participated in the discovery of Antarctica during the first round-the-world expedition and pioneered Antarctic studies. In 1825, the Main Building of the university was built and, in 1830 and this included the Library Building, Chemical Laboratory, dissection facilities, astronomical observatory, and clinics. Resultantly the university became a centre of education and science. It was the scientific faculties that were, at time, organised into a number of research schools. In 1844, Karl Klaus, a professor at the university, discovered, and named in honour of Russia, Ruthenium, a renowned linguistic school was forming at the university during 1875-1883. Around that time Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, a leader of the Soviet Union. Subsequently, many of them were enrolled in universities in Siberia. This allowed the University of Kazan, which had lost the vast majority of its staff during the turmoil of the civil war, to restart proper education. The university soon opened a faculty, which aimed to provide the education for peasants. On 1 November 1919 peasant workers started their first classes without the requirement to pass an entrance exam, in 1922 the Universitys Faculty of Forestry merged with the Faculty of Agriculture of Kazan Polytechnic university to form Kazan Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. In 1925 by the decision of All-Russian Central Executive Committee Kazan State University was renamed to the V. I and this was done in order to recognise the period of time Vladimir Lenin spent as a student at the University of Kazan
9.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
10.
Biologist
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A biologist, is a scientist who has specialized knowledge in the field of biology, the scientific study of life. Biologists involved in fundamental research attempt to explore and further explain the mechanisms that govern the functioning of living matter. Biologists involved in applied research attempt to develop or improve more specific processes and understanding, in such as medicine, industry. While biologist can apply to any scientist studying biology, most biologists research, in this way, biologists investigate large-scale organism interactions, whole multicellular organisms, organs, tissues, cells, and small-scale cellular and molecular processes. Other biologists study less direct aspects of life, such as phylogeny, Biologists conduct research based on the scientific method, to test the validity of a theory, with hypothesis formation, experimentation and documentation of methods and data. There are many types of biologists, some work on microorganisms, while others study multicellular organisms. Many jobs in biology as a field require an academic degree, a doctorate or its equivalent is generally required to direct independent research, and involves a specialization in a specific area of biology. Many biological scientists work in research and development, some conduct fundamental research to advance our knowledge of living organisms, including bacteria and other pathogens. This research enhances understanding and adds to the database of literature. Furthermore, it aids the development of solutions to problems in areas such as human health. These biological scientists work in government, university, and private industry laboratories. Many expand on specialized research that started in post-graduate qualifications. Biological scientists who work in applied research or product development often use knowledge gained by research to further knowledge in particular fields or applications. For example, this research may be used to develop new pharmaceutical drugs, treatments, and medical diagnostic tests, increase crop yields. These scientists must consider the effects of their work. Some biologists conduct laboratory experiments involving animals, plants or microorganisms, however, some biological research also occurs outside the laboratory and may involve natural observation rather than experimentation. For example, a botanist may investigate the plant species present in a particular environment, swift advances in knowledge of genetics and organic molecules spurred growth in the field of biotechnology, transforming the industries in which biological scientists work. Biological scientists can now manipulate the genetic material of animals and plants, basic and applied research on biotechnological processes, such as recombining DNA, has led to the production of important substances, including human insulin and growth hormone
11.
Botany
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Botany, also called plant science, plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who specialises in this field, the term botany comes from the Ancient Greek word βοτάνη meaning pasture, grass, or fodder, βοτάνη is in turn derived from βόσκειν, to feed or to graze. Nowadays, botanists study approximately 410,000 species of plants of which some 391,000 species are vascular plants. Medieval physic gardens, often attached to monasteries, contained plants of medical importance and they were forerunners of the first botanical gardens attached to universities, founded from the 1540s onwards. One of the earliest was the Padua botanical garden and these gardens facilitated the academic study of plants. Efforts to catalogue and describe their collections were the beginnings of plant taxonomy, in the last two decades of the 20th century, botanists exploited the techniques of molecular genetic analysis, including genomics and proteomics and DNA sequences to classify plants more accurately. Modern botany is a broad, multidisciplinary subject with inputs from most other areas of science, dominant themes in 21st century plant science are molecular genetics and epigenetics, which are the mechanisms and control of gene expression during differentiation of plant cells and tissues. Botany originated as herbalism, the study and use of plants for their medicinal properties, many records of the Holocene period date early botanical knowledge as far back as 10,000 years ago. This early unrecorded knowledge of plants was discovered in ancient sites of human occupation within Tennessee, the early recorded history of botany includes many ancient writings and plant classifications. Examples of early works have been found in ancient texts from India dating back to before 1100 BC, in archaic Avestan writings. His major works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, constitute the most important contributions to science until the Middle Ages. De Materia Medica was widely read for more than 1,500 years, important contributions from the medieval Muslim world include Ibn Wahshiyyas Nabatean Agriculture, Abū Ḥanīfa Dīnawarīs the Book of Plants, and Ibn Bassals The Classification of Soils. In the early 13th century, Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, and Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany in a systematic and scientific manner and these gardens continued the practical value of earlier physic gardens, often associated with monasteries, in which plants were cultivated for medical use. They supported the growth of botany as an academic subject, lectures were given about the plants grown in the gardens and their medical uses demonstrated. Botanical gardens came much later to northern Europe, the first in England was the University of Oxford Botanic Garden in 1621, throughout this period, botany remained firmly subordinate to medicine. German physician Leonhart Fuchs was one of the three German fathers of botany, along with theologian Otto Brunfels and physician Hieronymus Bock, Fuchs and Brunfels broke away from the tradition of copying earlier works to make original observations of their own. Bock created his own system of plant classification, physician Valerius Cordus authored a botanically and pharmacologically important herbal Historia Plantarum in 1544 and a pharmacopoeia of lasting importance, the Dispensatorium in 1546. Naturalist Conrad von Gesner and herbalist John Gerard published herbals covering the medicinal uses of plants, naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi was considered the father of natural history, which included the study of plants
12.
Cell (biology)
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The cell is the basic structural, functional, and biological unit of all known living organisms. A cell is the smallest unit of life that can replicate independently, the study of cells is called cell biology. Cells consist of cytoplasm enclosed within a membrane, which contains many such as proteins. Organisms can be classified as unicellular or multicellular, while the number of cells in plants and animals varies from species to species, humans contain more than 10 trillion cells. Most plant and animal cells are only under a microscope. The cell was discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665, who named the unit for its resemblance to cells inhabited by Christian monks in a monastery. Cells emerged on Earth at least 3.5 billion years ago, Cells are of two types, eukaryotic, which contain a nucleus, and prokaryotic, which do not. Prokaryotes are single-celled organisms, while eukaryotes can be either single-celled or multicellular, prokaryotic cells were the first form of life on Earth, characterised by having vital biological processes including cell signaling and being self-sustaining. They are simpler and smaller than eukaryotic cells, and lack membrane-bound organelles such as the nucleus, prokaryotes include two of the domains of life, bacteria and archaea. The DNA of a prokaryotic cell consists of a chromosome that is in direct contact with the cytoplasm. The nuclear region in the cytoplasm is called the nucleoid, most prokaryotes are the smallest of all organisms ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 µm in diameter. Though most prokaryotes have both a cell membrane and a wall, there are exceptions such as Mycoplasma and Thermoplasma which only possess the cell membrane layer. The envelope gives rigidity to the cell and separates the interior of the cell from its environment, the cell wall consists of peptidoglycan in bacteria, and acts as an additional barrier against exterior forces. It also prevents the cell from expanding and bursting from osmotic pressure due to a hypotonic environment, some eukaryotic cells also have a cell wall. Inside the cell is the region that contains the genome, ribosomes. The genetic material is found in the cytoplasm. Prokaryotes can carry extrachromosomal DNA elements called plasmids, which are usually circular, linear bacterial plasmids have been identified in several species of spirochete bacteria, including members of the genus Borrelia notably Borrelia burgdorferi, which causes Lyme disease. Though not forming a nucleus, the DNA is condensed in a nucleoid, plasmids encode additional genes, such as antibiotic resistance genes
