Chapter 5: Explaining Life

The nineteenth century saw not only the rapid development of the physical sciences but also the advent of biology, from Darwin’s account of the origin and diversity of species, to the development of microbiology and the first understandings of genetics. These developments continued into the twentieth century with the development of molecular biology and the cracking of the genetic code. These advances in understanding have had an enormous impact on our lives in fields ranging from agriculture to medicine. We explore the history and impacts of the development of biology in this section as well and looking more closely at the glitches in our mental operating systems that often make scientific finding so hard to grasp.