Coaching Centre
Chapter 4: Body Systems Notes
How the nervous and endocrine systems coordinate the body, reflexes and the brain, hormones, homeostasis and feedback, the senses, how body systems work together, infectious disease, the immune system and vaccination, and non-infectious disease.
Sections
-
4A Nerve cells and the nervous system Mastered
Why multicellular organisms need coordination, the structure of a neuron, sensory, motor and interneurons, how impulses travel and cross synapses, myelin and multiple sclerosis, and the divisions of the nervous system.
-
4B Reflexes and reaction time Mastered
Voluntary and reflex responses, the reflex arc, why reflexes are faster than decisions, examples of human reflexes, and how to measure reaction time with a falling ruler.
-
4C The brain and spinal cord Mastered
How the brain and spinal cord are protected, the jobs of the lobes of the cerebrum, the cerebellum, brain stem and hypothalamus, how scientists learnt what each part does, brain plasticity, and spinal cord injury.
-
4D Hormones and the endocrine system Mastered
What hormones are and how they reach target cells, the main endocrine glands and their hormones, the fight-or-flight response, how the nervous and endocrine systems compare and work together, and what happens when glands go wrong, including diabetes and goitre.
-
4E Homeostasis and feedback Mastered
Why the body keeps its internal conditions steady, negative feedback loops, how the hypothalamus controls body temperature, fever, heat stroke and hypothermia, positive feedback, and how other animals control their temperature.
-
4F Detecting and responding to stimuli Mastered
Types of receptors, why humans have more than five senses, how the eye, ear, tongue, nose and skin detect stimuli, the two-point touch test, electroreception in the platypus, and how plants respond without a nervous system.
-
4G Body systems working together Mastered
How the digestive, respiratory, circulatory and excretory systems depend on each other to supply cells and remove wastes, how the nervous and endocrine systems coordinate them during exercise, aerobic and anaerobic respiration in muscles, fitness, and anaemia.
-
4H Infectious disease and pathogens Mastered
Infectious and non-infectious disease, the six main types of pathogen, how diseases spread, virulence and transmissibility, diseases of plants and animals including Phytophthora dieback and devil facial tumour disease, pandemics, biosecurity, and First Nations use of tea tree.
-
4I The immune system and vaccination Mastered
The three lines of defence, phagocytes and lymphocytes, antigens and antibodies, primary and secondary immune responses and memory cells, active and passive immunity, how vaccines including mRNA vaccines work, antibiotics and resistance, and when the immune system goes wrong.
-
4J Non-infectious disease Mastered
Causes of non-infectious disease including genes, lifestyle, diet and the environment, how cancer develops from mutations, benign and malignant tumours, skin cancer and smoking in Australia, rheumatic heart disease, and how research and public health campaigns reduce disease.
-
4K Body systems review Mastered
A summary of the whole Body Systems chapter, key words, and a mixed test covering the nervous and endocrine systems, reflexes, the brain, homeostasis, the senses, systems working together, infectious disease, immunity and non-infectious disease.