bio-, bi-, -bia, -bial, -bian, -bion, -biont, -bius, -biosis, -bium, -biotic, -biotical
(Greek: life; living, live, alive)
Don’t confuse this element with another bi- which means "two".
The most important things in life are not things.
2. A biotic community of plants and animals; specifically, such a community in a prehistoric period.
3. A biogeographical region or formation; a major regional ecological community characterized by distinctive life forms and principal plant (terrestrial biomes) or animal (marine biomes) species.
4. A climatically controlled group of plants and animals of a characteristic composition and distributed over a wide area; such as, tropical rain forest, tundra, temperate grassland, desert, savanna, mountain habitats, taiga (a northern coniferous forest zone, especially in Siberia, adjacent to tundra), and other northern coniferous forests, etc.
5. A major regional community of plants and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions.
It is the largest geographical biotic unit, group, or mass; and is named after the dominant type of vegetation; such as, tropical rain forest, grassland, or coral reef.
6. A complex biotic community existing in a given region, produced by the interaction of climatic factors, living organisms, and substrate.A community that has developed to take advantage of existing vegetation; such as, tundra, coniferous forest, or grassland.
"Biomechanical functions include the muscles, heart, lungs, and gravity on the skeletal structure."
2. The study of the mechanical laws relating to the movement or structure of living organisms.
3. The study of body movements and of the forces acting on the musculoskeletal system.
4. The application of mechanics to the structures of living animals; especially, to the forces on the skeleton caused by the muscles, gravity, and resulting movements of the locomotor system.
Biomechanics is a curious blend of mechanical engineering and biology. It was born of the recognition that parts of a living organism may be viewed as mechanical devices to which engineering concepts; such as, fluid pressure, mechanical stress and friction can be applied.
2. The applications of various aspects of biology, mechanics, and electronics.
3. The use of biomedical knowledge for the development and optimization of mechatronic systems.
Interactivity of biological and electromechanical devices
This covers bionics (biology for engineering) as well as biomedical engineering and its related (engineering for biology).
Biomechatronics focuses on the interactivity of biological organs (including the brain) with electromechanical devices and systems.
- Universities and research centers worldwide have taken notice of biomechatronics in light of its potential for development of advanced medical devices and life-support systems.
- Primitive biomechatronic devices have existed for quite awhile.
- The heart pacemaker and the defibrillator are examples.
- More advanced-pragmatic biometchatronic possibilities that scientists foresee in the near future include:
- Pancreas pacemakers for diabetics.
- Mentally controlled electronic muscle stimulators for stroke and accident survivors.
- Cameras that can be wired into the brain allowing blind people to see.
- Microphones that can be wired into the brain allowing deaf people to hear.
2. Biological and medical, i.e., encompassing both the science(s) and the art of medicine.
3. A reference to or relating to both biology and medicine.
4. Of or having to do with medicine considered in the context of the biological sciences, with emphasis on its relationship to the basic sciences underlying clinical practice.
2. Clinical medicine based on the principles of the natural sciences (biology, biochemistry, biophysics, etc.) to solve medical problems.
3. The science concerned with the effects of the environment on the human body; especially, environments associated with space travel.
2. Any membrane, such as a cell membrane of an organism.
2. That branch of ecology that deals with the effects on living organisms of the extra-organic aspects of the physical environment; such as, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, rate of air flow, and air ionization.
It involves not only natural atmosphere but also artificially created atmospheres; such as, those to be found in buildings and shelters, and in closed ecological systems; for example, satellites and submarines.
2. An instrument by which minute quantities of carbon dioxide can be measured; used in measuring the carbon dioxide given off from functioning tissue.
