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.

—Anonymous
biofacies
A subdivision of a sedimentary unit based on a distinctive assemblage of fossils.
biofeedback
A training technique that enables an individual to gain some element of voluntary control over autonomic body functions; based on the learning principle that a desired response is learned when received information; such as, a recorded increase in skin temperature (feedback) indicates that a specific thought complex or action has produced the desired physiological response.

In theory, a subject can learn to control his internal organs and vital functions; it might therefore be possible for a patient with essential hypertension to learn how to reduce his/her blood pressure.

Biofeedback has been used to control heart rate, blood pressure, migraine head aches, and to relax spastic muscles.

biofidelity (s) (noun), biofidelities (pl)
The quality of being lifelike in appearance: "Biofidelities or dummies representing humanoid bodies that are used in safety investigations of motor vehicles or in demonstrations of cardiopulmonary resuscitation."
biofilm
A method of cell immobilization in which a microbe population grows in a thin layer of a living or nonliving surface.
biofinery
A factory employing various processing steps for the production of chemical and fuel products from biomass, including pretreatment, separation, and catalytic and biochemical transformations.
bioflavonoid
1. A generic term for a group of compounds that are widely distributed in plants and that are concerned with maintenance of a normal state of the walls of small blood vessels.
2. A biologically active compound found in the rinds of citrus fruits and some other plants.

Any of a group of water-soluble yellow compounds, present in citrus fruits, rose hips, and other plants, that in mammals maintain the resistance of capillary walls to permeation and change of pressure.

biofog
1. A steam fog caused by contact between very cold air and the warm moist air that surrounds human or animal bodies.
2. A fog, resembling steam fog, produced by the contact of very cold air with the warmth and moisture issuing from animal or human bodies.
biofraud, bio-fraud (s); biofrauds, bio-frauds (pl) (noun forms)
The fraudulent manipulation of data in a biological study or survey; such as, when someone "submits false samples of a threatened species".
biofuel, biomass fuel
1. A solid, liquid, or gaseous fuel that is obtained from biological raw material; the conversion is accomplished through thermochemical or biological methods.
2. Gas such as methane or liquid fuel such as ethanol (ethyl alcohol) made from organic waste material, usually by microbial action.
3. A renewable fuel, e.g., biodiesel, biogas, and methane, that is derived from biological matter.
biogas, bio-gas
1. A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide along with traces of other gases, such as nitrogen, hydrogen, and water vapor, that is produced during anaerobic digestion.
2. A combustible gas produced by microbial activity, usually referring to methane produced by microbial fermentation of organic wastes.
3. Any gas fuel derived from the decay of organic matter, as the mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by the bacterial decomposition of sewage, manure, garbage, or plant crops.
4. A gaseous fuel of medium energy content, composed of methane and carbon dioxide; produced from the anaerobic decomposition of organic material in land fills.
biogasification
The conversion of organic matter into biogas.
biogenesis (s) (noun), biogeneses (pl)
1. The generation of living things from other pre-existing life forms.
2. The principle that living organisms develop only from other living organisms and not from nonliving matter.
3. The theory that living things can arise only from other living things and cannot be spontaneously created.

A term presented by Thomas Huxley to the principle that life originates from pre-existing life only and never from nonliving material.

biogenetic
A reference to the principle that all living organisms have derived from previously existing living organisms not through spontaneous generation.
biogenetic hydrocarbon
Naturally occurring hydrocarbon compounds, including VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that are emitted from trees and vegetation.

High VOC-emitting tree species; such as, eucalyptus can contribute to smog formation, and therefor the relative emission rates of various species can be a consideration in large-scale tree plantings.

biogenetics
1. Produced by the activity of living organisms.
2. That part of biology that seeks to account for the resemblances and the differences in organisms related by descent.

It is the science that simply studies in living organisms such genetic phenomena as heredity and evolution, development and variation; whereas the doctrinal movement that tries to anticipate or enforce the practical utilization of the scientific principles studied is eugenics.

Quiz If you would like to take a series of self-scoring quizzes over some of the words in this bio- unit, then click this Life, Live, Living Quiz link so you can check your knowledge. You may also try several additional quizzes in this listing.

Related life, live-word units: anima-; -cole; vita-; viva-.