Jobs / Science and research / 19-1029.04
Biologists
Research or study basic principles of plant and animal life, such as origin, relationship, development, anatomy, and functions.
- US jobs
- 55,850 (SOC 19-1029 group, "Biological Scientists, All Other")
- Median wage
- $98,920 a year
- Job family
- Science and research
Can agents do the work of biologists?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Science and research:
- Task levelPartialThin evidence. CORE-Bench asks agents to reproduce the results of published papers in computer science, social science, and medicine from the authors' code and data. Princeton's HAL team declared it solved in December 2025: Claude Code with Claude Opus 4.5 scored 95.5% after manual regrading. No benchmark in our collection tests new experiments or lab work.
- Project levelNot yetThin evidence. On PaperBench, where agents replicate machine learning papers from scratch, the best official result is 26.0% (o1, April 2025). On a small subset, ML PhDs scored 41.4% against o1's 26.6%. No newer official results exist, and no benchmark tests research projects in other sciences.
Benchmarks for this occupation
- 95.5%Claude Code + Claude Opus 4.5 (after manual regrading) · 3 Dec 2025Solved
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in science and research, not always this occupation's tasks.
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Program and use computers to store, process, and analyze data.
- Prepare technical and research reports, such as environmental impact reports, and communicate the results to individuals in industry, government, or the general public.
- Supervise biological technicians and technologists and other scientists.
- Develop and maintain liaisons and effective working relations with groups and individuals, agencies, and the public to encourage cooperative management strategies or to develop information and interpret findings.
- Identify, classify, and study structure, behavior, ecology, physiology, nutrition, culture, and distribution of plant and animal species.
- Study basic principles of plant and animal life, such as origin, relationship, development, anatomy, and function.
- Collect and analyze biological data about relationships among and between organisms and their environment.
- Review reports and proposals, such as those relating to land use classifications and recreational development, for accuracy, adequacy, or adherence to policies, regulations, or scientific standards.
- Write grant proposals to obtain funding for biological research.
- Teach or supervise students and perform research at universities and colleges.
- Prepare requests for proposals or statements of work.
- Communicate test results to state and federal representatives and general public.
Other job titles for this occupation (38)
Aquatic Biologist · Biological Scientist · Biologist · Botanist · Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist · Fisheries Biologist · Marine Biologist · Research Biologist · Research Scientist · Scientist · Aquatic Scientist · Bioanalytical Scientist · Biological Operations Scientist (Biological Ops Scientist) · Biology Scientist · Cell Biologist · Cell Culture Scientist · Clinical Laboratory Scientist (Clinical Lab Scientist) · Clinical Researcher · Computational Biologist · Computational Scientist · Dolphin Researcher · Endangered Species Specialist · Entomologist · Field Biologist · Forest Botanist · Marine Scientist · Molecular Biology Scientist · Molecular Research Biologist · Mycologist · Nematologist · Neurobiologist · Neurophysiologist · Ocean Biologist · Physiologist · Postdoctoral Associate (Postdoc Associate) · Postdoctoral Research Fellow (Postdoc Research Fellow) · Rare Species Specialist · Research Fishery Biologist