As in most areas of biology, the study of mitosis and the cell cycle involves a

Another answer I might offer is that understanding the principles of heredity and genetics are not essential for understanding *natural selection*, but the theory of evolution has move way beyond just natural selection (although nat. sel. is still at its CORE). But then I felt a mini-essay coming on. :-) (People around these parts know I do this.) This is a really interesting question that brings out a key point about science. First, it is really great that you use the word "understanding." Too many people ask questions about what we "believe" to be "true" ... and they use words like "prove" or "proof" or "just a theory" ... as if a 'theory' is in doubt until it is "proved". In other words, they think the world is divided into the absolutely True and the absolutely False, and that science is about putting things into those two categories. This COMPLETELY misunderstands science. Science is not about "belief" it is about *understanding*. Whether something is "True" or no is impossible to measure by scientific means ... all we care about is whether an idea leads to *understanding* ... does it *explain* something. Unlike "truth", which is not measurable, understanding *is* measurable ... does it help make predictions? does it help combine categories? ... and thus our level of understanding helps us know if we're making *progress*. If an idea increases understanding of a lot of things, then we call it a 'theory' ... again, not because it is "in doubt" or hasn't been "proved" ... but because it *EXPLAINS* something. You got that point, when you asked about whether understanding genetics is essential for understanding evolution. So I thought about two different answers. Certainly Darwin didn't have access to the principles of heredity and genetics ... but he certainly *understood" evolution. He really *got* it. But I could hardly say *today* that I understood evolution without understanding the principles of heredity and genetics ... our understanding of evolution has gone so much farther than Darwin's understanding. So then I realized the problem. The word "understanding" is not a yes/no state of mind ... any more than "truth" is a yes/no question in science. In science we can never say we fully *understand* anything ... all we can say is that we understand something a little *better* today than we did yesterday. Science is not static. It progresses. An example: Is is an understanding of the principles of gravity essential for understanding of the motions of the planets? Well, Copernicus and Galileo had never heard of 'gravity', and yet we would not say they did not "understand" the motions of the planets. They *got* it! They understood that the observations pointed to a sun-centered system, even though they had no idea WHY the planets circled the sun. Galileo died the same year that Isaac Newton was born, and it would be another 42 years before Newton published his theory of gravitation. And today, teaching astronomy without gravity would be as unintelligible as teaching biology without evolution and cell theory, or chemistry without atoms and molecules. So understanding is never absolute. It always progresses. What constitutes "understanding" 100 years ago, is not enough to call it "understanding" today.

3 stages of the Cell Cycle - interphase, mitosis, cytokinesis: Interphase - first stage of the cell cycle, during which a cell grows, matures, and replicates its DNA. Mitosis - cell division into two nearly identical daughter cells; both cells contain 46 chromosomes. Cytokinesis - the final stage of the cell cycle, in which the cell's cytoplasm divides, distributing the organelles into each of the two new cells. Normal functioning of cells: Mitosis - cell division in which the nucleus divides into nuclei containing the same number of chromosome Stages of mitosis - prophase, metaphase, anaphase, telophase. Prophase - the first phase of mitosis in which the nuclear membrane disappears and the chromosomes begin to coil up and a spindle of fibers forms in the cell. Metaphase - second phase of mitosis, during which the chromosomes line up across the center of the cell. Anaphase - the stage of meiosis or mitosis when chromosomes move toward opposite ends of the nuclear spindle. Telophase - the final stage of mitosis or meiosis, during which a nuclear membrane forms around each set of new chromosomes.

thanks

Thank You