Pelagornis sandersi

Pelagornis sandersi

Paleontologists have identified the fossilized remains of what could be the biggest flying bird ever found. With an estimated wingspan of between 20 and 24 feet, it surpasses the previous record holder, the extinctArgentavis magnificens,and is twice as big as the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans), which has the longest wingspan of any living bird.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012

Sir John B. Gurdon, Shinya Yamanaka

Sir John B. Gurdon

Born: 2 October 1933, Dippenhall, United Kingdom

Affiliation at the time of the award:Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Prize motivation: "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"

Field: genetics

Shinya Yamanaka

Born: 4 September 1962, Osaka, Japan

Affiliation at the time of the award:Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, Gladstone Institutes, San Francisco, CA, USA

Prize motivation: "for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent"

Field: genetics

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011

Bruce A. Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann, Ralph M. Steinman

Bruce A. Beutler

Born: 1957, Chicago, IL, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award:University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity"

Field: immunity

Jules A. Hoffmann

Born: 1941, Echternach, Luxembourg

Affiliation at the time of the award:University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity"

Field: immunity

Ralph M. Steinman

Born: 1943, Montreal, Canada

Died: 30 September 2011

Affiliation at the time of the award:Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

Prize motivation: "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity"

Field: immunity

The characteristics of living things

• living things move

Even plants move too, but in a really slow motion, like in Figure 7.5

• living things respond to stimuli  
• living things feed
• living things produce energy
• living things get rid of poisonous waste
• living things produce offspring
• living things are made of cells