Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain how the kidneys serve as the main osmoregulatory organs in mammalian systemsDescribe the structure of the kidneys and the functions of the parts of the kidneyDescribe how the nephron is the functional unit of the kidney and explain how it actively filters blood and generates urineDetail the three steps in the formation of urine: glomerular filtration, tubular reabsorption, and tubular secretion

This lesson helps students explore the functions of the kidney and its place in the urinary system. Students learn how engineers design instruments to help people when kidneys are not functioning properly or when environmental conditions change, such as kidney function in space.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"What constitutes a healthy genitourinary microbiome? We’re not exactly sure, which can make diagnosing UTIs difficult, especially when conventional tests reveal nontraditional pathogens or low bacteria levels in urine from patients experiencing symptoms. To learn more about healthy microbiome states, researchers recently used shotgun metagenomics to characterize the urinary microbial profiles of 30 asymptomatic volunteers. The microbial taxonomic groups and functions fluctuated over time, indicating the dynamic nature of the microbiome. The researchers also compared the asymptomatic profiles to urine samples from 122 patients with UTI symptoms. Interestingly, most of the suspected-UTI profiles overlapped with the asymptomatic profiles. In addition, suspected-UTI samples with insignificant or no culture growth had WBC counts indicating inflammation, suggesting that bacterial presence alone doesn’t explain the onset of clinical UTI symptoms..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Even though you probably don't choose to spend a lot of time thinking about it, your pee is kind of a big deal. Today we're talking about the anatomy of your urinary system, and how your kidneys filter metabolic waste and balance salt and water concentrations in the blood. We'll cover how nephrons use glomerular filtration, tubular reabsorption, and tubular secretion to reabsorb water and nutrients back into the blood, and make urine with the leftovers.

Chapters:
Introduction: Urinary System
What Do Kidneys Do?
Urinary System Structure
Nephrons
Glomerular Filtration
Tubular Reabsorption
Tubular Secretion
Urine
Review