Biology

• Homeostasis is the regulation of conditions inside the body to maintain a stable internal environment in response to changes in both internal and external conditions
• Our body regulates everything to ensure that conditions are kept around the right levels
• Temperature and glucose levels fluctuate but only within small bounds
• Automatic control systems have three main components:

  • Receptors detect changes
  • Coordination centers interpret changes and decide what needs to be done
  • Effectors carry out the necessary changes, such as muscles contracting or glands releasing hormones
• The nervous system sends fast and precise electrical impulses through nerves for quick responses, while the endocrine system relies on hormones released into the bloodstream to affect specific cells with the right receptors
• Negative feedback is the mechanism where if a level gets too high, it decreases to return to normal, and if it gets too low, it increases again to maintain balance
• In a scenario of walking into a cold room:

  • Receptors detect the low temperature
  • Nervous system sends impulses to coordination centers
  • Coordination centers send signals to effectors, like muscles, to respond, such as shivering
  • Shivering increases body temperature until it returns to normal
  • If the temperature gets too high, a different set of receptors detect the rise and trigger a different response, like sweating, to bring the temperature back to normal