Revision notes.

Try this with Human Biology

1. Close your notes and write the main idea in two sentences from memory.
2. Reopen the source and correct the first mistake or omission you find.
3. Add one example and one question to test whether you can apply the idea.

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Topics in the resource inventory

• Endocrine glands, their hormones and target organs
• Hypothalamus–pituitary control and hormone modes of action (lipid-soluble vs water-soluble, secondary messengers)
• Divisions of the nervous system: central–peripheral, afferent–efferent, autonomic–somatic, sympathetic–parasympathetic
• The central nervous system: brain regions, spinal cord and their protection
• Receptors and the reflex arc
• Nerve impulse transmission: generation, propagation and the synapse
• Nervous versus endocrine control and the principles of homeostasis (feedback, tolerance limits)
• Thermoregulation: physiological and behavioural mechanisms
• Blood sugar regulation: pancreatic and adrenal hormones, and treating endocrine dysfunction
• Body fluid regulation (ADH, aldosterone, thirst) and gas concentration control
• Pathogens, transmission and the body's external defences
• Immune responses: inflammation and fever, B and T lymphocytes, active and passive immunity, vaccines, antibiotics and antivirals
• Mutations as the source of variation: causes, new alleles and differential survival
• Gene pools and allele frequency change: mutation, selection pressures, genetic drift and founder effect, gene flow
• Natural selection, speciation and genetic disease in populations (sickle-cell anaemia)
• Phylogenetic trees, comparative biochemistry and biotechnology (PCR, gel electrophoresis, DNA sequencing, bioinformatics)
• The fossil record and relative and absolute dating techniques
• Primates and the great apes: cerebral cortex, digits, locomotion, prognathism and dentition
• Hominin fossils from Australopithecus afarensis to Homo sapiens
• Tool cultures and the evolution of cognitive abilities and lifestyles