In its broadest sense, biology is the study of living things-the science of life. Living things come in an astounding variety of shapes and forms, and biologists try to understand the sources of this diversity. Hence, they study life in many different ways. They life with gorillas, collect fossils, and listen to whales. They isolate viruses, grow mushroom, and examine the structure of fruit flies. They read the messages encode in the long molecules og heredity and count how many times a hummingbird’s wings beat each second.