John Wilkins is maintaining a nice list of basic concepts in science, like energy, evolution, gene, and algorithm.

Some of these seem a bit more than just "basic," although Wilkins tried to start an intermediate concepts list and it didn't seem to take off as well.

There are a number of concepts that I deal with in my own research that I don't see listed, such as neural network, genetic/evolutionary algorithm, learning (and different types of learning, such as supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement), emotion, cognition, concept, intelligence, neuron, and neocortical minicolumn. Some of these are highly contentious, but then, so are some of the concepts already on the list. I may pick one or more and do a write up to see how it goes.

It's always useful to revisit the fundamentals, which are often the most difficult concepts to wrap your head around, but end up being the most important.