Basic Concepts in Science

Feel free to edit this page and add relevant links. The editing password is "science!"

Physics

• Chad Orzel at Uncertain Principles: "Force", "Fields", "Energy".

Biology

• PZ Myers at Pharyngula: "Gene".

• Larry Moran at Sandwalk: "|Evolution", "The Central Dogma of Molecular Biology" Larry also has two articles on genes: "What is a Gene?", and "The Richard Dawkins Definition of a Gene Is Seriously Flawed".

• John Wilkins at Evolving Thoughts: "Clade", "Fitness", "Species".

• Ask Dr Science at Discovering Biology in a Digital World: "How do you sequence a Genome? Parts I, II, III, IV, V, and VI".

• Razib at Gene Expression: "8th Grade Math (Hardy Weinberg, Genetic Variance, Molecules and Phylogenies, Kin)", "Linkage Disequilibrium".

• Greg Laden at his own blog: "Gene", "The Three Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Natural Selection", "Modes of Natural Selection", and see his series "Human Evolution 1001".

• Bora Zivkovic at A Blog Around the Clock: "Biological Clock".

• Matt, at Behavioral Ecology Blog: "Anisogamy".

• Mike Dunford at The Questionable Authority: "Measuring Fitness".

• Dan, at Migrations: "Cell migration".

• Jeremy Bruno at The Voltage Gate: "Why Spiders aren't Insects, parts I, II, III, IV, and V"

Medicine

• Tara C. Smith at Aetiology: "Introduction to Microbiology and Infectious Disease"

Mathematics, Philosophy, Logic and Computer Science

• Mark Chu-Carroll at Good Math, Bad Math: "Normal Distribution", "Mean, Median and Mode" and "Standard Deviation", "Margin of Error", "Correlation (and Causation, and Random Variables), basic concepts of statistics. "Recursion", "Logic" (this one is a good intro to basic first order predicate calculus, taught to every intro to logic student), "Syntax and Semantics", "Sets".

• Jason Rosenhouse at EvolutionBlog: "Infinity and Infinite Sums", "Numbers".

• Dr Joan Bushwell at Chimpanzee Refuge: "Metric System"

• Janet Stemwedel at Adventures in Ethics and Science: "Arguments" "Falsifiable Claims".

• Echidne of the Snakes: Statistics Primer, Part #115999142934881949 1, #116002687873002939 2, #116037527195954961 3, #116097203371467559 4, and #116132218283480515 5. [Unfortunately, each post does not open in a separate window, but the whole thing is accessible from here]
• Zuska, at Thus Spake Zuska: "The Feminist Theory of Science".

Historical sciences

• Cfeagans at Hot Cup of Joe: Pottery in Archeology.

In each case, read the comments too.

Teaching resources for biology

Bora Zivkovic at A Blog Around the Clock has a series of lectures as posts that teachers may find useful, his BIO101 speed-course lecture(and lab) notes. Almost none of them cover a very narrow term or concept (some come close):

• Introduction
• Biology and the Scientific Method
• Lab 1
• Cell Structure
• Protein Synthesis: Transcription and Translation
• Cell-Cell Interactions
• Cell Division and DNA Replication
• Lab 2
• From Two Cells To Many: Cell Differentiation and Embryonic Development
• From Genes To Traits: How Genotype Affects Phenotype
• From Genes To Species: A Primer on Evolution
• What Creatures Do: Animal Behavior
• Organisms In Time and Space: Ecology
• Lab 3
• Origin of Biological Diversity
• Evolution of Biological Diversity
• Current Biological Diversity
• Lab 4
• Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology
• Physiology: Regulation and Control
• Physiology: Coordinated Response