bio
ˈbaɪoʊ
An antibiotic and a fingerprint clock-in both mark what is alive
The picture Leaning in close to something that looked still and finding it warm, breathing, stirring, growing. Only what turns out to be alive changes. bio is what breathes and lives; geo is the ground lying underneath it.
Where the picture shows up in bio
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Aimed at living germs
The doctor prescribed an antibiotic.
ðə ˈdɑːktər prɪˈskraɪbd ən ˌæntibaɪˈɑːtɪk
The doctor prescribed an antibiotic.
Tiny creatures spreading inside the body losing their strength and stopping after one tablet.
anti(against) + bio(life) = medicine set against living germs.
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Studying living things
My daughter studies biology at night school.
maɪ ˈdɔːtər ˈstʌdiz baɪˈɑːlədʒi ət naɪt skuːl
My daughter studies biology at night school.
A leaf, a beetle and a bone laid side by side on a desk, each getting a name.
bio + log(set in order and reasoned about).
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A piece taken from a living body
The doctor ordered a biopsy.
ðə ˈdɑːktər ˈɔːrdərd ə ˈbaɪɑːpsi
The doctor ordered a biopsy.
A grain-sized piece lifted out of a living body and set on a glass slide.
opsy means looking — looking at what was taken alive.
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Eaten away by living things
These bags are biodegradable.
ðiːz bæɡz ər ˌbaɪoʊdɪˈɡreɪdəbəl
These bags are biodegradable.
A bag buried in soil being eaten away, bite by invisible bite, by creatures too small to see.
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The living body as the key
Clock in with the biometric scanner.
klɑːk ɪn wɪð ðə ˌbaɪoʊˈmetrɪk ˈskænər
Clock in with the biometric scanner.
Not a card, not a number, but one living finger pressed onto the glass.
bio + metric(measure) = measuring the living body itself.
All of it in one picture
bio is one thing you lean in close on and find still breathing. Go after living germs and you have an antibiotic; line living things up to study them and you have biology. Take a piece out of a living body to look at it and that is a biopsy; let soil creatures eat a bag away and it is biodegradable; measure the living body itself as a key and it is biometric. So when bio appears, find what is alive in the picture.