photobiology

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The study of how light affects living things

noun
/ˌfoʊtoʊbaɪˈɑːlədʒi/

Specialized

: fotobiología

Research in photobiology has shown how plants use light for photosynthesis.

That was the beauty of learning about laser and photobiology is how we target a certain structure and avoid damaging all the other ones.

Examples

The field of photobiology helps us understand the effects of UV radiation on skin cells.
That was the beauty of learning about laser and photobiology is how we target a certain structure and avoid damaging all the other ones.

Andrew Huberman
Scientists in photobiology study how different wavelengths of light influence plant growth.

Surface Forms

photobiology singular

photobiologies plural

Morphology

photobiology = biology (semi-transparent) = photo + bio + logy

The term is a regular scientific formation based on biology with the prefix photo-, but its exact field meaning is specialized and not fully predictable for a novice learner.

Etymology

Photobiology comes from photo- meaning 'light' (as in photograph) and bio- meaning 'life' (as in biology), with -logy meaning 'study'. So photobiology is the study of how light affects living things.