The word biology comes from the Greek bios meaning life and logia meaning study of.

Life most likely began 3.7 billion years ago, with the Earth itself being 4.5 billion years old, with bacteria being the oldest known form.

The field of biology has been around since ancient times, but its modern form quickly boomed when Anton van Leeuwenhoek dramatically improved the microscope.

The world of biology was revolutionized after naturalist Charles Darwin visited the Galápagos Islands and discovered evolution by natural selection.

Gregor Mendel founded modern genetics in 1865 with his work on peas.

The largest animal ever is the blue whale.

Octopi have three hearts, two for the gills and one for the rest of the body.

A single teaspoon of soil can contain billions of microorganisms.

Some bacteria can survive much more radiation, even thousands of times more than a human could.

A cockroach can live without a head until it is starved or dehydrated enough.

The fastest reacting muscle in the body is your eyelid at 100–150 ms.

Wombats poop in a cube shape.

Some frogs freeze solid in winter and thaw out like nothing happened.

A certain type of jellyfish can restart its biological process and theoretically live forever.

An axolotl (water salamander) can regenerate multiple parts of its body, from its limbs to even parts of its brain.

A king cobra’s venom is strong enough to kill an elephant.

There is a type of fungus that can turn insects into zombie-like creatures that can be controlled.

Your body has more bacteria by cell count than your own cells.

The Greenland shark can typically live 400 years.

Mites have been known to hitchhike on space missions such as to the International Space Station.

Several types of fish, such as clownfish, can switch genders, being born male and becoming female.

A narwhal’s tusk is actually a tooth.