🆕 Next big decentralization? (not crypto) ⬇ | March 05

The idea of having an asset that is completely in your control, without any government interference, may end up being the best thing to ever happen to your money. [RelaxAndTrade]( At Capability Stocks, we keep an eye out for favorable circumstances we believe will interest our readers. The following is one such message from one of our colleagues I think you’ll appreciate. Dear Reader, Ever since cryptocurrency went mainstream in 2018, the word "decentralization" has become part of our everyday lingo. The idea of having an asset that is completely in your control, without any government interference, may end up being the best thing to ever happen to your money. Of course, the government will go to any length to keep its hands in your wallet. But while everyone is focused on cryptos, another form of decentralization has quietly made its way past the government's red tape. It has the potential to deliver a knockout punch to a $3.4 trillion industry and according to one U.N economist, completely disrupt $100 trillion in global assets. Those who position themselves today will profit massively as this decentralization plays out over the coming years. [Get the details here](. Los Angeles Article Talk Read View source View history Page semi-protected From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For the county, see Los Angeles County. For other uses, see Los Angeles (disambiguation). "City of Los Angeles" and "LA" both redirect here. For other uses, see City of Los Angeles (disambiguation) and LA (disambiguation) Los Angeles City City of Los Angeles The skyline of Downtown Los Angeles Hollywood Sign Griffith Observatory Echo Park Los Angeles City Hall Theme Building Venice Beach Flag of Los Angeles Flag Official seal of Los Angeles Seal Nickname(s): L.A., City of Angels,[1] The Entertainment Capital of the World,[1] La-la-land, Tinseltown[1] OpenStreetMap Los Angeles is located in CaliforniaLos AngelesLos Angeles Location within California Show map of California Show map of the United States Show map of North America Show all Coordinates: 34°03′N 118°15′WCoordinates: 34°03′N 118°15′W Country United States State California County Los Angeles Region Southern California CSA Los Angeles-Long Beach MSA Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim Pueblo September 4, 1781[2] City status May 23, 1835[3] Incorporated April 4, 1850[4] Named for Our Lady, Queen of the Angels Government • Type Strong mayor–council[5] • Body Los Angeles City Council • Mayor Karen Bass (D) • City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto (D) • City Controller Kenneth Mejia (D) Area[6] • Total 501.55 sq mi (1,299.01 km2) • Land 469.49 sq mi (1,215.97 km2) • Water 32.06 sq mi (83.04 km2) Elevation 305 ft (93 m) Highest elevation 5,075 ft (1,576 m) Lowest elevation 0 ft (0 m) Population (2020)[7] • Total 3,898,747 • Estimate (2021)[7] 3,849,297 • Rank 2nd in the United States 1st in California • Density 8,304.22/sq mi (3,206.29/km2) • Urban[8] 12,237,376 (US: 2nd) • Urban density 7,476.3/sq mi (2,886.6/km2) • Metro[9] 13,200,998 (US: 2nd) Demonym(s) Angeleno, Angelino, Angeleño[10][11] Time zone UTC–08:00 (PST) • Summer (DST) UTC–07:00 (PDT) ZIP Codes List Area codes 213/323, 310/424, 747/818 FIPS code 06-44000 GNIS feature IDs 1662328, 2410877 Website lacity.gov Los Angeles (US: /lɔːs ˈændʒələs/ (listen) lawss AN-jəl-əs;[a] Spanish: Los Ángeles [los ˈaŋxeles], lit. 'The Angels'), often referred to by its initials L.A.,[14] is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California, the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, and one of the world's most populous megacities. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits as of 2020,[7] Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The majority of the city proper lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to its east. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2),[6] and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million residents as of 2022.[15] The area that became Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tongva people and later claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga.[16] It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and thus became part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city.[17] The city was further expanded with the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which delivers water from Eastern California. Los Angeles has a diverse economy with a broad range of industries. It has the busiest container port in the Americas.[18][19] In 2018, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of over $1.0 trillion,[20] making it the city with the third-largest GDP in the world, after New York City and Tokyo. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the 2028 Summer Olympics. More recently, statewide droughts in California have strained both the city’s and Los Angeles County’s water security.[21][22] Pronunciation of the name Olvera Street in Downtown Los Angeles The local English pronunciation of the name of the city has varied over time. A 1953 article in the journal of the American Name Society asserts that the pronunciation /lɔːs ˈændʒələs/ lawss AN-jəl-əs was established following the 1850 incorporation of the city and that since the 1880s the pronunciation /loʊs ˈæŋɡələs/ lohss ANG-gəl-əs emerged out of a trend in California to give places Spanish, or Spanish-sounding, names and pronunciations.[23] In 1908, librarian Charles Fletcher Lummis, who argued for the name's pronunciation with a hard g (/ɡ/),[24][25] reported that there were at least 12 pronunciation variants.[26] In the early 1900s, the Los Angeles Times advocated for pronouncing it Loce AHNG-hayl-ais (/loʊs ˈɑːŋheɪleɪs/), approximating Spanish [los ˈaŋxeles], by printing the respelling under its masthead for several years.[27] This did not find favor.[28] Since the 1930s, /lɔːs ˈændʒələs/ has been most common.[29] In 1934, the United States Board on Geographic Names decreed that this pronunciation be used.[27] This was also endorsed in 1952 by a "jury" appointed by Mayor Fletcher Bowron to devise an official pronunciation.[23][27] History Main article: History of Los Angeles For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Los Angeles. Pre-colonial history The Los Angeles coastal area was settled by the Tongva (Gabrieleño) and Chumash tribes. Los Angeles was founded on the village of iyáanga’ or Yaanga (written "Yang-na" by the Spanish), meaning "poison oak place".[30][31][16] Maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire in 1542 while on an official military exploring expedition moving northward along the Pacific coast from earlier colonizing bases of New Spain in Central and South America.[32] Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769.[33] Spanish rule A statue of Felipe de Neve, who led the Los Angeles Pobladores in 1781, in the Los Angeles Plaza. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area.[34] On September 4, 1781, a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores" founded the pueblo (town) they called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, 'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels'.[35] The original name of the settlement is disputed; the Guinness Book of World Records rendered it as "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula";[36] other sources have shortened or alternate versions of the longer name.[37] The present-day city has the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States. Two-thirds of the Mexican or (New Spain) settlers were mestizo or mulatto, a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry.[38] The settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820, the population had increased to about 650 residents.[39] Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles.[40] Mexican rule New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, and the pueblo now existed within the new Mexican Republic. During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles, Alta California's regional capital.[41] By this time, the new republic introduced more secularization acts within the Los Angeles region.[42] In 1846, during the wider Mexican-American war, marines from the United States occupied the pueblo. This resulted in the siege of Los Angeles where 150 Mexican militias fought the occupiers which eventually surrendered.[43] 1847 to present See also: Victorian Downtown Los Angeles and Los Angeles in the 1920s Hill Street looking north from 6th Street. Viewable are Central Park (today's Pershing Square) on the lower left, Hotel Portsmouth on the lower right, and Hill Street tunnel at the end of the street, circa 1913 General George Patton during a welcome home parade in Los Angeles following the allied victory in World War II, June 9, 1945 Mexican rule ended during the Mexican–American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847.[44] Railroads arrived with the completion of the transcontinental Southern Pacific line from New Orleans to Los Angeles in 1876 and the Santa Fe Railroad in 1885.[45] Petroleum was discovered in the city and surrounding area in 1892, and by 1923, the discoveries had helped California become the country's largest oil producer, accounting for about one-quarter of the world's petroleum output.[46] By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000,[47] putting pressure on the city's water supply.[48] The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, under the supervision of William Mulholland, ensured the continued growth of the city.[49] Because of clauses in the city's charter that prevented the City of Los Angeles from selling or providing water from the aqueduct to any area outside its borders, many adjacent cities and communities felt compelled to join Los Angeles.[50][51][52] Los Angeles created the first municipal zoning ordinance in the United States. On September 14, 1908, the Los Angeles City Council promulgated residential and industrial land use zones. The new ordinance established three residential zones of a single type, where industrial uses were prohibited. The proscriptions included barns, lumber yards, and any industrial land use employing machine-powered equipment. These laws were enforced against industrial properties after the fact. These prohibitions were in addition to existing activities that were already regulated as nuisances. These included explosives warehousing, gas works, oil drilling, slaughterhouses, and tanneries. Los Angeles City Council also designated seven industrial zones within the city. However, between 1908 and 1915, the Los Angeles City Council created various exceptions to the broad proscriptions that applied to these three residential zones, and as a consequence, some industrial uses emerged within them. There are two differences between the 1908 Residence District Ordinance and later zoning laws in the United States. First, the 1908 laws did not establish a comprehensive zoning map as the 1916 New York City Zoning Ordinance did. Second, the residential zones did not distinguish types of housing; they treated apartments, hotels, and detached-single-family housing equally.[53] In 1910, Hollywood merged into Los Angeles, with 10 movie companies already operating in the city at the time. By 1921, more than 80 percent of the world's film industry was concentrated in L.A.[54] The money generated by the industry kept the city insulated from much of the economic loss suffered by the rest of the country during the Great Depression.[55] By 1930, the population surpassed one million.[56] In 1932, the city hosted the Summer Olympics. During World War II Los Angeles was a major center of wartime manufacturing, such as shipbuilding and aircraft. Calship built hundreds of Liberty Ships and Victory Ships on Terminal Island, and the Los Angeles area was the headquarters of six of the country's major aircraft manufacturers (Douglas Aircraft Company, Hughes Aircraft, Lockheed, North American Aviation, Northrop Corporation, and Vultee). During the war, more aircraft were produced in one year than in all the pre-war years since the Wright brothers flew the first airplane in 1903, combined. Manufacturing in Los Angeles skyrocketed, and as William S. Knudsen, of the National Defense Advisory Commission put it, "We won because we smothered the enemy in an avalanche of production, the like of which he had never seen, nor dreamed possible."[57] After the end of World War II Los Angeles grew more rapidly than ever, sprawling into the San Fernando Valley.[58] The expansion of the Interstate Highway System during the 1950s and 1960s helped propel suburban growth and signaled the demise of the city's electrified rail system, once the world's largest. As a consequence of World War II, suburban growth, and population density, many amusement parks were built and operated in this area.[59] An example is Beverly Park, which was located at the corner of Beverly Boulevard and La Cienega before being closed and substituted by the Beverly Center.[60] Racial tensions led to the Watts riots in 1965, resulting in 34 deaths and over 1,000 injuries.[61] In 1969, California became the birthplace of the Internet, as the first ARPANET transmission was sent from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park.[62] In 1973, Tom Bradley was elected as the city's first African American mayor, serving for five terms until retiring in 1993. Other events in the city during the 1970s included the Symbionese Liberation Army's South Central standoff in 1974 and the Hillside Stranglers murder cases in 1977–1978.[63] In early 1984, the city surpassed Chicago in population, thus becoming the second largest city in the United States. In 1984, the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time. Despite being boycotted by 14 Communist countries, the 1984 Olympics became more financially successful than any previous,[64] and the second Olympics to turn a profit; the other, according to an analysis of contemporary newspaper reports, was the 1932 Summer Olympics, also held in Los Angeles.[65] Racial tensions erupted on April 29, 1992, with the acquittal by a Simi Valley jury of four Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers captured on videotape beating Rodney King, culminating in large-scale riots.[66][67] In 1994, the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake shook the city, causing $12.5 billion in damage and 72 deaths.[68] The century ended with the Rampart scandal, one of the most extensive documented cases of police misconduct in American history.[69] In 2002, Mayor James Hahn led the campaign against secession, resulting in voters defeating efforts by the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood to secede from the city.[70] In 2022, Karen Bass became the city's first female mayor, making Los Angeles the largest US city to have ever had a woman as mayor. [71] Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, making Los Angeles the third city to host the Olympics three times.[72][73] Geography See also: Los Angeles Basin and San Fernando Valley Topography Aerial satellite image of Los Angeles in March 2019 The city of Los Angeles covers a total area of 502.7 square miles (1,302 km2), comprising 468.7 square miles (1,214 km2) of land and 34.0 square miles (88 km2) of water.[74] The city extends for 44 miles (71 km) north-south and for 29 miles (47 km) east-west. The perimeter of the city is 342 miles (550 km). Los Angeles is both flat and hilly. The highest point in the city proper is Mount Lukens at 5,074 ft (1,547 m),[75][76] located at the northeastern end of the San Fernando Valley. The eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains stretches from Downtown to the Pacific Ocean and separates the Los Angeles Basin from the San Fernando Valley. Other hilly parts of Los Angeles include the Mt. Washington area north of Downtown, eastern parts such as Boyle Heights, the Crenshaw district around the {NAME} Hills, and the San Pedro district. Surrounding the city are much higher mountains. Immediately to the north lie the San Gabriel Mountains, which is a popular recreation area for Angelenos. Its high point is Mount San Antonio, locally known as Mount Baldy, which reaches 10,064 feet (3,068 m). Further afield, the highest point in southern California is San Gorgonio Mountain, 81 miles (130 km) east of downtown Los Angeles,[77] with a height of 11,503 feet (3,506 m). The Los Angeles River, which is largely seasonal, is the primary drainage channel. It was straightened and lined in 51 miles (82 km) of concrete by the Army Corps of Engineers to act as a flood control channel.[78] The river begins in the Canoga Park district of the city, flows east from the San Fernando Valley along the north edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, and turns south through the city center, flowing to its mouth in the Port of Long Beach at the Pacific Ocean. The smaller Ballona Creek flows into the Santa Monica Bay at Playa del Rey. Vegetation See also: California coastal sage and chaparral The city's oldest palm tree, dating to the late 19th century, with the LA Coliseum in the background Los Angeles is rich in native plant species partly because of its diversity of habitats, including beaches, wetlands, and mountains. The most prevalent plant communities are coastal sage scrub, chaparral shrubland, and riparian woodland.[79] Native plants include: the California poppy, matilija poppy, toyon, Ceanothus, Chamise, Coast Live Oak, sycamore, willow and Giant Wildrye. Many of these native species, such as the Los Angeles sunflower, have become so rare as to be considered endangered. Although it is not native to the area, the official tree of Los Angeles is the Coral Tree (Erythrina caffra)[80] and the official flower of Los Angeles is the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae).[81] Mexican Fan Palms, Canary Island Palms, Queen Palms, Date Palms, and California Fan Palms are common in the Los Angeles area, although only the last is native to California, though still not native to the City of Los Angeles. Geology Los Angeles is subject to earthquakes because of its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The geologic instability has produced numerous faults, which cause approximately 10,000 earthquakes annually in Southern California, though most of them are too small to be felt.[82] The strike-slip San Andreas Fault system, which sits at the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, passes through the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The segment of the fault passing through Southern California experiences a major earthquake roughly every 110 to 140 years, and seismologists have warned about the next "big one", as the last major earthquake was the 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake.[83] The Los Angeles basin and metropolitan area are also at risk from blind thrust earthquakes.[84] Major earthquakes that have hit the Los Angeles area include the 1933 Long Beach, 1971 San Fernando, 1987 Whittier Narrows, and the 1994 Northridge events. All but a few are of low intensity and are not felt. The USGS has released the UCERF California earthquake forecast, which models earthquake occurrence in California. Parts of the city are also vulnerable to tsunamis; harbor areas were damaged by waves from Aleutian Islands earthquake in 1946, Valdivia earthquake in 1960, Alaska earthquake in 1964, Chile earthquake in 2010 and Japan earthquake in 2011.[85] Cityscape Main article: List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles The skyline of Downtown Los Angeles The city is divided into many different districts and neighborhoods,[86][87] some of which were incorporated cities that have merged with Los Angeles.[88] These neighborhoods were developed piecemeal, and are well-defined enough that the city has signage which marks nearly all of them.[89] Overview A clear evening view of Mount Lee and the Hollywood Sign as seen from the Griffith Observatory lawn The city's street patterns generally follow a grid plan, with uniform block lengths and occasional roads that cut across blocks. However, this is complicated by rugged terrain, which has necessitated having different grids for each of the valleys that Los Angeles covers. Major streets are designed to move large volumes of traffic through many parts of the city, many of which are extremely long; Sepulveda Boulevard is 43 miles (69 km) long, while Foothill Boulevard is over 60 miles (97 km) long, reaching as far east as San Bernardino. Drivers in Los Angeles suffer from one of the worst rush hour periods in the world, according to an annual traffic index by navigation system maker, TomTom. LA drivers spend an additional 92 hours in traffic each year. During the peak rush hour, there is 80% congestion, according to the index.[90] Los Angeles is often characterized by the presence of low-rise buildings, in contrast to New York City. Outside of a few centers such as Downtown, Warner Center, Century City, Koreatown, Miracle Mile, Hollywood, and Westwood, skyscrapers and high-rise buildings are not common in Los Angeles. The few skyscrapers built outside of those areas often stand out above the rest of the surrounding landscape. Most construction is done in separate units, rather than wall-to-wall. That being said Downtown Los Angeles itself has many buildings over 30 stories, with fourteen over 50 stories, and two over 70 stories, the tallest of which is the Wilshire Grand Center. Also Los Angeles is increasingly becoming a city of apartments rather than single-family dwellings, especially in the dense inner city and Westside neighborhoods.[citation needed] Climate Main article: Climate of Los Angeles Los Angeles (Downtown) Climate chart (explanation) J F M A M J J A S O N D 3.3 6849 3.6 6850 2.2 7052 0.7 7255 0.3 7458 0.1 7761 0 8265 0 8465 0.1 8364 0.6 7960 0.8 7353 2.5 6748 Average max. and min. temperatures in °F Precipitation totals in inches Source: NOAA[91] Metric conversion Los Angeles has a two-season Mediterranean climate of dry summer and very mild winter (Köppen Csb on the coast and most of downtown, Csa near the metropolitan region to the west), but it receives less annual precipitation than most other Mediterranean climates, so it is near the boundary of a semi-arid climate (BSh), though narrowly missing it.[92] Daytime temperatures are generally temperate all year round. In winter, they average around 68 °F (20 °C) giving it a tropical feel although it is a few degrees too cool to be a true tropical climate on average due to cool night temperatures.[93][94] Los Angeles has plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually.[95] Temperatures in the coastal basin exceed 90 °F (32 °C) on a dozen or so days in the year, from one day a month in April, May, June and November to three days a month in July, August, October and to five days in September.[95] Temperatures in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys are considerably warmer. Temperatures are subject to substantial daily swings; in inland areas the difference between the average daily low and the average daily high is over 30 °F (17 °C).[96] The average annual temperature of the sea is 63 °F (17 °C), from 58 °F (14 °C) in January to 68 °F (20 °C) in August.[97] Hours of sunshine total more than 3,000 per year, from an average of 7 hours of sunshine per day in December to an average of 12 in July.[98] The Los Angeles area is also subject to phenomena typical of a microclimate, causing extreme variations in temperature in close physical proximity to each other. For example, the average July maximum temperature at the Santa Monica Pier is 70 °F (21 °C) whereas it is 95 °F (35 °C) in Canoga Park, 15 miles (24 km) away.[99] The city, like much of the Southern Californian coast, is subject to a late spring/early summer weather phenomenon called "June Gloom". This involves overcast or foggy skies in the morning that yield to sun by early afternoon.[100] More recently, statewide droughts in California have further strained the city's water security.[101] Downtown Los Angeles averages 14.67 in (373 mm) of precipitation annually, mainly occurring between November and March,[102][96] generally in the form of moderate rain showers, but sometimes as heavy rainfall during winter storms. Rainfall is usually higher in the hills and coastal slopes of the mountains because of orographic uplift. Summer days are usually rainless. Rarely, an incursion of moist air from the south or east can bring brief thunderstorms in late summer, especially to the mountains. The coast gets slightly less rainfall, while the inland and mountain areas get considerably more. Years of average rainfall are rare. The usual pattern is a year-to-year variability, with a short string of dry years of 5–10 in (130–250 mm) rainfall, followed by one or two wet years with more than 20 in (510 mm).[96] Wet years are usually associated with warm water El Niño conditions in the Pacific, dry years with cooler water La Niña episodes. A series of rainy days can bring floods to the lowlands and mudslides to the hills, especially after wildfires have denuded the slopes. Both freezing temperatures and snowfall are extremely rare in the city basin and along the coast, with the last occurrence of a 32 °F (0 °C) reading at the downtown station being January 29, 1979;[96] freezing temperatures occur nearly every year in valley locations while the mountains within city limits typically receive snowfall every winter. The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles was 2.0 inches (5 cm) on January 15, 1932.[96][103] While the most recent snowfall occurred in February 2019, the first snowfall since 1962,[104][105] with snow falling in areas adjacent to Los Angeles as recently as January 2021.[106] At the official downtown station, the highest recorded temperature is 113 °F (45 °C) on September 27, 2010,[96][107] while the lowest is 28 °F (−2 °C),[96] on January 4, 1949.[96] Within the City of Los Angeles, the highest temperature ever officially recorded is 121 °F (49 °C), on September 6, 2020, at the weather station at Pierce College in the San Fernando Valley neighborhood of Woodland Hills.[108] During autumn and winter, Santa Ana winds sometimes bring much warmer and drier conditions to Los Angeles, and raise wildfire risk. vte Climate data for Los Angeles (USC, Downtown), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1877–present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °F (°C) 95 Organism Article Talk Read Edit View history From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Biological form" redirects here. For the informal taxonomic term in botany, see Race (biology) § Physiological race. "Form of life" redirects here. For the philosophical concept, see Form of life (philosophy). "Living creatures" redirects here. For the biblical concept, see Living creatures (Bible). "Fauna and flora" redirects here. For the organization, see Fauna and Flora International. The bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a single-celled prokaryote. An amoeba is a single-celled eukaryote. Part of a series on Biology DNA simple.svg Science of life IndexOutlineGlossary History (timeline) Key components Branches Research Applications icon Biology portal Category vte Polypore fungi and angiosperm trees are large multicellular eukaryotes. In biology, an organism (from Ancient Greek ὄργανον (órganon) 'instrument, implement, tool', and -ισμός (-ismós)) is any living system that functions as an individual entity.[1] All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory).[1] The idea of organism is based on the concept of minimal functional unit of life. Three traits have been proposed to play the main role in qualification as an organism: noncompartmentability – structure that cannot be divided without its functionality loss,[2] individuality – the entity has simultaneous holding of genetic uniqueness, genetic homogeneity and autonomy,[3] distinctness – genetic information has to maintain open-system (a cell).[4] Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi; or unicellular microorganisms such as protists, bacteria, and archaea.[5] All types of organisms are capable of reproduction, growth and development, maintenance, and some degree of response to stimuli. Beetles, squids, tetrapods, mushrooms, and vascular plants are examples of multicellular organisms that differentiate specialized tissues and organs during development. A unicellular organism may be either a prokaryote or a eukaryote. Prokaryotes are represented by two separate domains – bacteria and archaea. Eukaryotic organisms are characterized by the presence of a membrane-bound cell nucleus and contain additional membrane-bound compartments called organelles (such as mitochondria in animals and plants and plastids in plants and algae, all generally considered to be derived from endosymbiotic bacteria).[6] Fungi, animals and plants are examples of kingdoms of organisms within the eukaryotes. Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 2 million to 1 trillion,[7] of which over 1.7 million have been documented.[8] More than 99% of all species, amounting to over five billion species,[9] that ever lived are estimated to be extinct.[10][11] In 2016, a set of 355 genes from the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) of all organisms from Earth was identified.[12][13] Etymology The term "organism" (from Greek ὀργανισμός, organismos, from ὄργανον, organon, i.e. "instrument, implement, tool, organ of sense or apprehension")[14][15] first appeared in the English language in 1703 and took on its current definition by 1834 (Oxford English Dictionary). It is directly related to the term "organization". There is a long tradition of defining organisms as self-organizing beings, going back at least to Immanuel Kant's 1790 Critique of Judgment.[16] Definitions An organism may be defined as an assembly of molecules functioning as a more or less stable whole that exhibits the properties of life. Dictionary definitions can be broad, using phrases such as "any living structure, such as a plant, animal, fungus or bacterium, capable of growth and reproduction".[17] Many definitions exclude viruses and possible man-made non-organic life forms, as viruses are dependent on the biochemical machinery of a host cell for reproduction.[18] A superorganism is an organism consisting of many individuals working together as a single functional or social unit.[19] There has been controversy about the best way to define the organism[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][4] and indeed about whether or not such a definition is necessary.[30][31] Several contributions[32] are responses to the suggestion that the category of "organism" may well not be adequate in biology.[33][page needed] Viruses Main article: Non-cellular life Viruses are not typically considered to be organisms because they are incapable of autonomous reproduction, growth or metabolism. Although some organisms are also incapable of independent survival and live as obligatory intracellular parasites, they are capable of independent metabolism and procreation. Although viruses have a few enzymes and molecules characteristic of living organisms, they have no metabolism of their own; they cannot synthesize and organize the organic compounds from which they are formed. Naturally, this rules out autonomous reproduction: they can only be passively replicated by the machinery of the host cell. In this sense, they are similar to inanimate matter. While viruses sustain no independent metabolism and, thus, are usually not classified as organisms, they do have their own genes, and they do evolve by mechanisms similar to the evolutionary mechanisms of organisms. Thus, an argument that viruses should be classed as living organisms is their ability to undergo evolution and replicate through self-assembly. However, some scientists argue that viruses neither evolve nor self-reproduce. Instead, viruses are evolved by their host cells, meaning that there was co-evolution of viruses and host cells. If host cells did not exist, viral evolution would be impossible. This is not true for cells. If viruses did not exist, the direction of cellular evolution could be different, but cells would nevertheless be able to evolve. As for reproduction, viruses rely on hosts' machinery to replicate.[34] The discovery of viruses with genes coding for energy metabolism and protein synthesis fuelled the debate about whether viruses are living organisms. The presence of these genes suggested that viruses were once able to metabolize. However, it was found later that the genes coding for energy and protein metabolism have a cellular origin. Most likely, these genes were acquired through horizontal gene transfer from viral hosts.[34] Chemistry Organisms are complex chemical systems, organized in ways that promote reproduction and some measure of sustainability or survival. The same laws that govern non-living chemistry govern the chemical processes of life. It is generally the phenomena of entire organisms that determine their fitness to an environment and therefore the survival of their DNA-based genes. Organisms clearly owe their origin, metabolism, and many other internal functions to chemical phenomena, especially the chemistry of large organic molecules. Organisms are complex systems of chemical compounds that, through interaction and environment, play a wide variety of roles. Organisms are semi-closed chemical systems. Although they are individual units of life (as the definition requires), they are not closed to the environment around them. To operate, they constantly take in and release energy. Autotrophs produce usable energy (in the form of organic compounds) using light from the Sun or inorganic compounds, while heterotrophs take in organic compounds from the environment. The primary chemical element in these compounds is carbon. The chemical properties of this element such as its great affinity for bonding with other small atoms, including other carbon atoms, and its small size making it capable of forming multiple bonds, make it ideal as the basis of organic life. It is able to form small three-atom compounds (such as carbon dioxide), as well as large chains of many thousands of atoms that can store data (nucleic acids), hold cells together, and transmit information (protein). Macromolecules Compounds that make up organisms may be divided into macromolecules and other, smaller molecules. The four groups of macromolecule are nucleic acids, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids. Nucleic acids (specifically deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA) store genetic data as a sequence of nucleotides. The particular sequence of the four different types of nucleotides (adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine) dictate many characteristics that constitute the organism. The sequence is divided up into codons, each of which is a particular sequence of three nucleotides and corresponds to a particular amino acid. Thus, a sequence of DNA codes for a particular protein that, due to the chemical properties of the amino acids it is made from, folds in a particular manner and so performs a particular function. These protein functions have been recognized: Enzymes, which catalyze the reactions of metabolism Structural proteins, such as tubulin, or collagen Regulatory proteins, such as transcription factors or cyclins that regulate the cell cycle Signaling molecules or their receptors, such as some hormones and their receptors Defensive proteins, which can include everything from antibodies of the immune system, to toxins (e.g., dendrotoxins of snakes), to proteins that include unusual amino acids like canavanine A bilayer of phospholipids makes up the membrane of cells that constitutes a barrier, containing everything within a cell and preventing compounds from freely passing into, and out of, the cell. Due to the selective permeability of the phospholipid membrane, only specific compounds can pass through it. Structure All organisms consist of structural units called cells; some contain a single cell (unicellular) and others contain many units (multicellular). Multicellular organisms are able to specialize cells to perform specific functions. A group of such cells is a tissue, and in animals these occur as four basic types, namely epithelium, nervous tissue, muscle tissue, and connective tissue. Several types of tissue work together in the form of an organ to produce a particular function (such as the pumping of the blood by the heart, or as a barrier to the environment as the skin). This pattern continues to a higher level with several organs functioning as an organ system such as the reproductive system, and digestive system. Many multicellular organisms consist of several organ systems, which coordinate to allow for life. Cell A eukaryotic cell (left) and prokaryotic cell (right) The cell theory, first developed in 1839 by Schleiden and Schwann, states that all organisms are composed of one or more cells; all cells come from preexisting cells, and cells contain the hereditary information necessary for regulating cell functions and for transmitting information to the next generation of cells. There are two types of cells, eukaryotic and prokaryotic. Prokaryotic cells are usually singletons, while eukaryotic cells are usually found in multicellular organisms. Prokaryotic cells lack a nuclear membrane so DNA is unbound within the cell; eukaryotic cells have nuclear membranes. Regards, Sam Latter Editor in Chief, Empire Financial Research P.S. If nothing else, this decentralization could help you put $2,500 back into your pocket every year, even if you don't buy a single stock.  [Click here to see how](  [RelaxAndTrade]( From time to time, we send special emails or offers to readers who chose to opt-in. We hope you find them useful. 135 Auburn Ave NE Suite 201, Atlanta, GA 30303, United States To be sure our emails continue reaching your email box, please add our email address to your [whitelist](. [Privacy Policy]( | [Terms & Conditions]( | [Unsubscribe]( Copyright © 2023 Relax And Trade | All Rights Reserved