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Welcome to Ask A Biologist. This site has a large collection of biology learning materials that includes stories, games, activities, videos, and a podcast.
Around 4,000 years ago, on the wind-swept island of St. Kilda, Scotland, people started creating a food storage of sorts. They moved a population of sheep to the island, likely as a backup food resource for when times were tough. Little did they know that their actions would affect 21st-century…
You are now entering another dimension. A dimension of insects determined to be crowned the next ugly bug champion.
If you had x-ray vision, where would you look first? Some of our biologists have looked inside of beetles to learn more about how they breathe and fly.
Tobacco may have a bad reputation, but that is starting to change. Learn more about how Charles Arntzen is using this plant to treat the often-fatal disease Ebola.
If you could travel back in time what would you find 50 million years ago? What was the climate like? Would you find the same plants? What animals were crawling, walking, and flying around? Paleoentomologist Bruce Archibald takes Dr. Biology back in time to explore the planet…
Could these shy cats be living in Southern Arizona? Dr. Biology learns about these amazing animals from wildlife biologist Emil McCain. The two talk about the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project and how two long-time hunters became the biggest fans and supporters for Jaguar…
Not everyone has been on a hike and very few have hiked with a park ranger. Dr. Biology hikes South Mountain Park with not one but two park rangers. Park Rangers Liz Smith and Justin Olson are our guides for the 2.5 mile trip up Holbert Trail. This episode…
Cooperation is something that humans and animals are known to do. It turns out that the 30 trillion cells in our body also need to cooperate. Like some humans, there are cells that are cheaters when it comes to cooperation. They do not do their share of the work and cause a lot of other problems.…
Collecting Ants
There are several different ways to get ants for an ant farm, depending on when you would like to start the farm and how long you would like for your ant farm to last.
Bird Finder
Test drive our Bird Finder tool based on our virtual bird aviary of the southwest. A great way to learn about birds in your own backyard. Image of Northern Cardinal above by Robert Shantz.
Cracking CRISPR
DNA is the key to life, so it's no wonder that we've been working to crack the code. With the tool CRISPR Cas9, we'…
EcoChains
EcoChains is a game that introduces you to arctic life and ice that is so very important for survival. This is a fun way to learn about…
Monster Maker
Build your own monster by decoding the monster genome in Monster Maker, a DNA game. It is not very different from what…
Cell Parts Game
Cells are the basic building blocks of life, but what all do cells hold? You can now look inside of cells to learn…