Lecture OutlineOverview: Inquiring About Life• Organisms are adapted to the environments they live in.• These adaptations are the result of evolution, the fundamental organizing principle of biology and thecore theme of this book.• Posing questions about the living world and seeking science-based answers are the central activitiesof biology, the scientific study of life.• Biologists ask a wide variety of ambitious questions.○ They may ask how a single cell becomes a tree or a dog, how the human mind works, or how theliving things in a forest interact.• Biologists can help answer questions that affect our lives in practical ways.• What is life?○ The phenomenon of life defies a simple, one-sentence definition.○ We recognize life by what living things do.