Unraveling the Mystery of Biology: Understanding Cells

AI Thread Summary
The discussion centers on the fundamental concept of cell theory, which posits that all living organisms are composed of cells. This principle is crucial for defining life on Earth, as it excludes entities like viruses that do not fit this criterion. The conversation raises questions about the necessity of cells for life and the possibility of alternative structures in extraterrestrial organisms. To address inquiries about specific biological structures and their functions, understanding evolution is emphasized as it provides a unifying framework for biology. Additionally, the diversity of cell types, including prokaryotes and eukaryotes, is highlighted as an important aspect of biological study.
Avichal
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I recently started studying biology because suddenly I started getting curious about this subject. I read about the cell theory which states that all living things have cells.
Is this necessary - that all living things have cells? Can't they have some different structure?

Also these type of questions are repeatedly occurring like - Why this organism has this kind of structure? Why does this membrane exist?...and more. How do I answer such questions?
 
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Avichal said:
I recently started studying biology because suddenly I started getting curious about this subject. I read about the cell theory which states that all living things have cells.
Is this necessary - that all living things have cells? Can't they have some different structure?

For life on earth, part of the definition of "living" we use is typically "has cell/s". Its important to remember that we are defining life here. There are things, like say a virus, which are excluded by this definition. Its very possibly somewhere out there, non-earth life isn't made of cells, but here at home cells are the theme for the most part.

Avichal said:
Also these type of questions are repeatedly occurring like - Why this organism has this kind of structure? Why does this membrane exist?...and more. How do I answer such questions?

Read about evolution. It is what unifies the main axioms of biology.
 
Well, keep in mind there are many different types of cells. There are prokaryotes and eukaryotes and so on.
 
Popular article referring to the BA.2 variant: Popular article: (many words, little data) https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/ba-2-covid-severity/index.html Preprint article referring to the BA.2 variant: Preprint article: (At 52 pages, too many words!) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.14.480335v1.full.pdf [edited 1hr. after posting: Added preprint Abstract] Cheers, Tom
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