paleontology
Paleontology, another branch of biology, uses fossils to study lifes history Figure 1.20 . Zoology and botany are the study of animals and plants, respectively. Biologists can also specialize as biotechnologists, ecologists, or physiologists, to name just a few areas. This is just a small sample of the many fields that biologists can pursue. Biology is the culmination of the achievements of the natural sciences from their inception to today. Excitingly, it is the cradle of emerging sciences, such as the biology of brain activity, genetic engineering of custom organisms, and the biology of evolution that uses the laboratory tools of molecular biology to retrace the earliest stages of life on earth. A scan of news headlineswhether reporting on immunizations, a newly discovered species, sports doping, or a genetically-modified fooddemonstrates the way biology is active in and important to our everyday world.