Ciencias naturales, ciencias de la naturaleza, ciencias físico-naturales o ciencias experimentales son aquellas ciencias que tienen por objeto el estudio de la naturaleza siguiendo la modalidad del método científico conocida como método experimental. Estudian los aspectos físicos e intentando no incluir aspectos relativos a las acciones humanas. Así, como grupo, las ciencias naturales se distinguen de las ciencias sociales o ciencias humanas (cuya identificación o diferenciación de las humanidades y artes y de otro tipo de saberes es un problema epistemológico diferente). Las ciencias naturales, por su parte, se apoyan en el razonamiento lógico y el aparato metodológico de las ciencias formales, especialmente de la matemática y la lógica, cuya relación con la realidad de la naturaleza es indirecta. A diferencia de las ciencias aplicadas, las ciencias naturales son parte de la ciencia básica, pero tienen en ellas sus desarrollos prácticos, e interactúan con ellas y con el sistema productivo en los sistemas denominados de investigación y desarrollo o investigación, desarrollo e innovación (I+D e I+D+I). No deben confundirse con el concepto más restringido de ciencias de la tierra o geociencias.

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Natural science is a branch of science concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on observational and empirical evidence. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatability of findings are used to try to ensure the validity of scientific advances. Natural science can be divided into two main branches: life science (or biological science) and physical science. Physical science is subdivided into branches, including physics, astronomy, chemistry, and Earth science. These branches of natural science may be further divided into more specialized branches (also known as fields). In Western society's analytic tradition, the empirical sciences and especially natural sciences use tools from formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, converting information about nature into measurements which can be explained as clear statements of the "laws of nature". The social sciences also use such methods, but rely more on qualitative research, so that they are sometimes called "soft science", whereas natural sciences, insofar as they emphasize quantifiable data produced, tested, and confirmed through the scientific method, are sometimes called "hard science". Modern natural science succeeded more classical approaches to natural philosophy, usually traced to ancient Greece. Galileo, Descartes, Francis Bacon, and Newton debated the benefits of using approaches which were more mathematical and more experimental in a methodical way. Still, philosophical perspectives, conjectures, and presuppositions, often overlooked, remain requisite in natural science. Systematic data collection, including discovery science, succeeded natural history, which emerged in the 16th century by describing and classifying plants, animals, minerals, and so on. Today, "natural history" suggests observational descriptions aimed at popular audiences.

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