We have written a Biology textbook. Notice that in the title we talk both about Living Organisms and their Home, planet Earth. So one feature you’ll notice about this book that’s different is that we discuss the origin of Earth before life as well as the origin of our Solar System, and our Galaxy. Called the Milky Way, our Galaxy contains around 400 billion stars, perhaps 100 billion to several trillion planets and perhaps 300 million planets that might offer a home to life forms. Our planet, solar system, and galaxy are part of a universe. The parts of that universe we can see have around 400 billion stars. We don’t know if it’s the only universe or if there are others….maybe many others in a Multiverse. It seems odd that we haven’t given our Universe a name, so we would propose calling it New Amanda.

Here’s a link to an interesting article, with many cool pictures, about planets in our galaxy: The article is named How Many Planets Are There In The Universe? Click on the link to check it out.

Although we talk some about astronomy, and geology, and science fiction, mostly we talk about the origin and development of life forms on Earth. The number of species of life currently living on Earth is difficult to estimate, but a recent, well-researched guess is that 8.7 million species are currently on board the planet and kicking. We also frequently read that 99% of species that have lived are extinct. In that case, one percent of 870 million equals 8.7 million (870,000,000 X 0.01 = 8,700,000). So if 8.7 million species are extant (now living) then 870,000,000 minus 8,700,000 = 861,307,448 are now extinct. Although the math is correct, the entire exercise involves huge amounts of guessing, and there is no real way of checking the accuracy of the figures.

We’ve tried to make this book more interesting than most. You’ll see frequent blue links, which are clickable and lead to interesting articles or videos. Be sure to check them out. We also don’t dodge controversial subjects like evolution and religion, or what happened before the big bang. Many of the figures have a + at the top which indicates that if you click, the figure will automatically enlarge so you can actually read it!

ARACELY NEWTON

Aracely Newton, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, MO. She was raised in Kansas City, KS and graduated with dual BS degrees in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Kansas Medical Center in collaboration with the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, MO. Under the mentorship of Peter Baumman, PhD, her dissertation studies investigated the reproduction of parthenogenetic whiptail lizards (genus Aspidoscelis).  Postdoctoral studies took Dr. Newton to Harvard University in Cambridge, MA to the laboratory of Cassandra Extavour, PhD, where she studied arthropod-plant relationships. Dr. Newton’s professional activities include teaching nonmajors Biology and Anatomy & Physiology to undergraduates and creating engaging classroom and laboratory activities for non-majors biology students.