RIDDLES — INTRODUCTION TO BIOLOGY, THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD, ORGANISMS AND MICROSCOPES
Branches of Biology
Riddle 1: I am a branch of natural science, not a single living thing. I study the structure and function of every living thing, from the tiniest microbe to the largest elephant. I also study how living things interact with their environment. Doctors, farmers, teachers and biomedical scientists all rely on knowledge of me in their daily work. My three major branches are botany, zoology and microbiology. Who am I?
ANSWER: Biology
Riddle 2: I am one of the three major branches of biology. Everything I study moves, breathes, and belongs to the animal kingdom. Elephants, fish, toads and fiddler crabs are all examples of the things I study. I have nothing to say about plants or microscopic organisms. Who am I?
ANSWER: Zoology
Riddle 3: I am one of the three major branches of biology. Everything I study is rooted in the ground and makes its own food from sunlight. Mangoes, oranges, watermelons and pumpkins are all examples of the things I study. I say nothing about animals or microscopic organisms. Who am I?
ANSWER: Botany
Riddle 4: I am one of the three major branches of biology. Everything I study is too small to be seen with the naked eye. Bread, kenkey, cheese and pito all exist because of processes I explain. Food preservation techniques, like salting fish, work by starving the organisms I study of the conditions they need. Who am I?
ANSWER: Microbiology
Riddle 5: I am a branch of biology, but I am not one of the three major ones. I care less about a single organism's body and more about the web of relationships it sits inside. Forestry, fisheries, water and wildlife management all depend on my principles. I study how living things interact with each other and with their surroundings. Who am I?
ANSWER: Ecology
Riddle 6: I am a branch of biology devoted to a single kingdom of organisms. Bread rising and cheese ripening both depend on the organisms I study, and so does the mould that ruins forgotten food. I am neither botany nor zoology, though I am one of biology's other branches. Fungi are my entire subject. Who am I?
ANSWER: Mycology
Riddle 7: I am a branch of biology working at the smallest scale of a living thing. I do not study whole organisms, or even whole organs, but the basic unit every organism is built from. Genetics and histology both depend on the groundwork I lay. A microscope is essential to anyone who wants to practise me. Who am I?
ANSWER: Cytology
Riddle 8: I am a branch of biology one level up from cytology. I do not study single cells in isolation, but groups of similar cells working together for one function. Skin, muscle and blood are all subjects I would study. I am listed in the notes alongside ecology, mycology and cytology. Who am I?
ANSWER: Histology
Riddle 9: I am a branch of biology concerned with why children resemble their parents. I explain both heredity and variation within a population. A farmer choosing a disease-resistant crop variety is applying my principles. I make genetic engineering possible. Who am I?
ANSWER: Genetics
Riddle 10: I am a branch of biology that plays out over generations, not over a single lifetime. I explain the gradual change in heritable characteristics among species in a population over time. No single organism experiences me; only a population, across time, reveals me. I sit alongside genetics as one of biology's other branches. Who am I?
ANSWER: Evolution
The Scientific Method
Riddle 11: I am a method, not a single experiment. I am empirical, meaning I rely on observation and evidence rather than belief. I am used to investigate natural phenomena by formulating hypotheses and testing them. Biologists use me to solve everyday problems, not just problems in a laboratory. My results should be replicable by anyone who repeats my steps. Who am I?
ANSWER: The scientific method
Riddle 12: I am a way of thinking, not a fact. I take specific observations and turn them into a broad, general conclusion. Noticing that every grandmother you have met has grey hair, and concluding all grandmothers have grey hair, is an example of me at work. I am considered less reliable than my opposite. I move from the specific to the general. Who am I?
ANSWER: Inductive reasoning
Riddle 13: I am a way of thinking, not a fact. I start from a general principle and apply it to a specific situation to predict an outcome. "All mammals give birth to live young; sheep are mammals; therefore sheep give birth to live young" is an example of me. I am considered more reliable than my opposite. I move from the general to the specific. Who am I?
ANSWER: Deductive reasoning
Riddle 14: I am a statement, not yet a proven fact. I am often described as an "educated guess." I propose an explanation for something observed in nature, but I have not yet been tested. An experiment is designed specifically to test whether I am true. Who am I?
ANSWER: A hypothesis
Riddle 15: I am a process, not a conclusion. I am carried out under carefully controlled conditions. My purpose is to find an unknown effect, test a hypothesis, or illustrate a known law. Without me, a hypothesis remains only a guess. Who am I?
ANSWER: Experimentation
Riddle 16: I am the final step of the scientific method, not the first. I come only after a conclusion has already been reached. Publishing findings in a scientific journal or magazine is one way I happen. Without me, no one beyond the original researcher would ever learn what was discovered. Who am I?
ANSWER: Communication
Riddle 17: I am the very first step of the scientific method. I begin the moment a scientist notices something unusual in their surroundings. Observation and questioning are the tools that carry me out. Problem-solving diagrams and flowcharts are sometimes used to help with me. Who am I?
ANSWER: Identifying the problem (by observation/questioning)
Symmetry, Orientation & Sectioning
Riddle 18: I am a type of body symmetry, not an organism myself. Any organism that has me can be divided along exactly one plane into two mirror-image halves. Human beings, elephants, fish and toads all possess me. An organism with radial symmetry does not possess me. Who am I?
ANSWER: Bilateral symmetry
Riddle 19: I am a type of body symmetry, not an organism myself. Any organism that has me can be divided along more than one plane and still produce mirror-image halves. Oranges, starfish and sea urchins all possess me. An organism with bilateral symmetry does not possess me in the same way. Who am I?
ANSWER: Radial symmetry
Riddle 20: I am not a type of symmetry at all, but the absence of one. An organism with me cannot be divided along any plane to produce identical, mirror-image halves. Sponges, snails, fiddler crabs and narwhals are all examples of organisms with me. I am neither bilateral nor radial. Who am I?
ANSWER: Asymmetry
Riddle 21: I am an imaginary line or plane, not a physical object. I divide an organism into two halves that are identical or mirror images of each other. Whether an organism is bilaterally symmetrical, radially symmetrical, or asymmetrical depends entirely on how many times I can be drawn through it. I cannot be seen, only imagined. Who am I?
ANSWER: Line (of) symmetry
Riddle 22: I am one of five directions used to describe how an organism is being viewed. I am not the back, the underside, or the view from above. I show the front or head region of a specimen. Which of the five directions is used affects how an organism's posture and position are described. I am the opposite of the view showing the back or tail region. Who am I?
ANSWER: Anterior (view)
Riddle 23: I am one of five directions used to describe how an organism is being viewed. I am not the front, the underside, or the view from above. I show the back or tail region of a specimen. Which of the five directions is used affects how an organism's posture and position are described. I am the opposite of the view showing the front or head region. Who am I?
ANSWER: Posterior (view)
Riddle 24: I am one of five directions used to describe how an organism is being viewed. I am not the front, the back, the underside, or the view from above. I show the sideways view, the view from the side of a specimen. Which of the five directions is used affects how an organism's posture and position are described. I am not one of the two views that face straight up or straight down. Who am I?
ANSWER: Lateral (view)
Riddle 25: I am one of five directions used to describe how an organism is being viewed. I am not the front, the back, or the view from above. I show the view from beneath, the underside region of a specimen. Which of the five directions is used affects how an organism's posture and position are described. I am the opposite of the view from above. Who am I?
ANSWER: Ventral (view)
Riddle 26: I am one of five directions used to describe how an organism is being viewed. I am not the front, the back, or the underside. I show the view from above, the upper view of a specimen. Which of the five directions is used affects how an organism's posture and position are described. I am the opposite of the view from beneath. Who am I?
ANSWER: Dorsal (view)
Riddle 27: I am a cut, not a whole organism. I am made through an organism or object so that its internal structures can be seen. A razor blade or scalpel knife is the tool most often used to make me. Once I have been made, the specimen can be described as longitudinal, transverse or vertical, depending on how the cut was carried out. Who am I?
ANSWER: A section
Riddle 28: I am a type of cut made through an organism or object so its internal structures can be seen. A razor blade or scalpel knife is the tool most often used to make me. I run along the long axis, or length, of whatever is being cut. In the notes I am abbreviated as L.S. or L/S. I am not the cut made across the width, nor the one made perpendicular to the horizontal plane. Who am I?
ANSWER: Longitudinal section
Riddle 29: I am a type of cut made through an organism or object so its internal structures can be seen. A razor blade or scalpel knife is the tool most often used to make me. I am made across an object at a right angle to its long axis, a cross-wise cut along its width. In the notes I am abbreviated as T.S. or T/S. I am not the cut made along the length, nor the one made perpendicular to the horizontal plane. Who am I?
ANSWER: Transverse section
Riddle 30: I am a type of cut made through an organism or object so its internal structures can be seen. A razor blade or scalpel knife is the tool most often used to make me. I am made perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the organism or object. In the notes I am abbreviated as V.S. or V/S. I am not the cut made along the length, nor the one made across the width. Who am I?
ANSWER: Vertical section
The Microscope
Riddle 31: I am an instrument, not a living thing. The unaided human eye cannot resolve two points closer together than about 0.1mm, but I can. Viruses, bacteria and cells that no eye could ever see become visible through me. A hand lens magnifies far less than I do. Who am I?
ANSWER: The microscope
Riddle 32: I am a type of microscope, not the only kind that exists. I am the most widely used type of my kind in the world. In schools and colleges, my magnification usually tops out around 400 times, though I can theoretically reach 1,500 times. An electron microscope leaves me far behind, reaching a million times magnification. Who am I?
ANSWER: The light microscope
Riddle 33: I am a part of the light microscope, not the whole instrument. I sit at the very top, and it is through me that an observer looks. My magnification is usually 10x or 15x. I may be monocular, with a single lens, or binocular, with two. Who am I?
ANSWER: Eyepiece lens
Riddle 34: I am a part of the light microscope, not a lens myself. I connect the eyepiece lens to the objective lenses below. Without me, the two sets of lenses would have no way of working together. I have no magnifying power of my own. Who am I?
ANSWER: The tube
Riddle 35: I am a part of the light microscope, and there are three of me on a single instrument. My magnifications are 4x, 10x and 40x. I am mounted on the revolving nosepiece, waiting to be rotated into position. Together with the eyepiece lens, I determine the total magnification of whatever is being viewed. Who am I?
ANSWER: Objective lenses
Riddle 36: I am a part of the light microscope, not a lens myself. I hold and house the three objective lenses. I am designed to rotate so that the desired lens can be brought into position. The rule when using me is always to start with the lowest power first. Who am I?
ANSWER: Revolving nosepiece
Riddle 37: I am a part of the light microscope, not a lens myself. I connect the base of the instrument to the eyepiece above. Whoever carries or tilts the microscope holds me while doing so. Without me, the instrument would have no safe place to grip. Who am I?
ANSWER: The arm
Riddle 38: I am a part of the light microscope, not a lens myself. I am the firm platform on which a specimen or slide is placed for viewing. Clips are used to hold whatever rests on me in place. Beneath me sit the aperture, condenser and illuminator. Who am I?
ANSWER: The stage
Riddle 39: I am a part of the light microscope, not a lens myself. I control the amount of light that reaches the specimen being viewed. Too much light passing through me can wash out fine detail; too little can leave the specimen too dark to see. I work alongside the illuminator and condenser. Who am I?
ANSWER: The diaphragm
Riddle 40: I am a type of prepared slide, not a permanent one. If the specimen placed on me is pale or translucent, it must first be stained with iodine, eosin or methylene blue. A cover slip is lowered onto me at an angle to avoid trapping air bubbles. Unlike a dry mount, I am temporary rather than permanent. Who am I?
ANSWER: A wet mount