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
biometric verification
Any means by which a person can be uniquely identified by evaluating one or more distinguishing biological traits.
Unique identifiers include fingerprints, hand geometry, earlobe geometry, retina and iris patterns, voice waves, DNA, and signatures.
The oldest form of biometric verification is fingerprinting. Historians have found examples of thumbprints being used as a means of unique identification on clay seals in ancient China.
Biometric verification has advanced considerably with the advent of computerized databases and the digitization of analog data, allowing for almost instantaneous personal identification.
biometry
1. The application of statistical methods to the study of numerical data based on biological observations and phenomena.
2. The measurement of life; the calculation of the average duration and expectation of life.
3. The application of mathematics to biology; especially, the study of resemblances between living things by statistical methods.
4. In the field of life insurance, the calculation of life expectancy.
biomicrite
A limestone composed of skeletal remains in a matrix of carbonate mud.
biomicroscope
1. A microscope for examining living tissue in the body.
2. A microscope used with a slit lamp for viewing segments of the living eye.
biomicroscopy
1. Microscopic examination of living tissue in the body.
2. Examination of the cornea, aqueous humor, lens, vitreous humor, and retina by use of a slitlamp combined with a binocular microscope.
biomicrosparite
1. Biomicrite in which the carbonate-mud matrix has recrystallized to microspar.
2. Microsparite containing fossil fragments or fossils.
biomicrudite
Biomicrite containing fragments or whole fossils greater than one millimeter in diameter.
biomimetic
Relating to a substance or process that uses biomimicry.
biomimetics
A branch of biology that uses information from biological systems to develop synthetic systems.
Biomimetics: Imitating Biological Processes
Perspectives about how some scientists are utilizing the forces of nature through
biomimetics or biomimesis; that is, mimicing nature with technology.
Don't confuse this field of science with a similar term known as biometrics.
biomimicry
Manufacturing principles and practices that mimic natural materials or processes.
biomineralization
1. The process by which organisms produce skeletal structures containing crystalline or amorphous inorganic substances.
2. The production of partly or wholly mineralized internal or external structures by living organisms.
Organisms use a wide variety of minerals to make their skeletons, including silica, apatite, and several polymorphs of carbonate, in particular aragonite and calcite.
It is unclear, however, why different taxa evolved to use one mineral rather than another. Lineages rarely switched their mineralogy after acquiring skeletons, suggesting that, for most taxa, ambient seawater chemistry does not strongly influence skeletal mineralogy.
Mineralization of most animal skeletons is biologically controlled, occurring in an environment isolated from seawater. As a result, seawater chemistry does not have a direct influence on the mineralogy of most animal skeletons the way it does for biomineralizers that induce mineralization directly from seawater.
—Excerpts from "Seawater Chemistry and Early Carbonate Biomineralization"
by Susannah M. Porter, Science, June 1, 2007; page 1302.
biomodeling
The mathematical modeling of biological reactions or the scientific discipline of building advanced mathematical models of biochemical systems.
biomolecule
1. A compound that occurs as a component of a living organism, such as a protein or nucleic acid.
2. A molecule of a compound produced by or important to a biological organism.
3. A molecule which is a part of the protoplasm.
biomonitoring
In the environment, a method of testing water quality at a site by using living organisms.
If you would like to take a series of self-scoring quizzes over some of the words in this
bio- unit, then click this
Bio-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-.
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