Read our stories
Listen and watch
Enjoy our activities
View zoom galleries
Solve puzzles
Welcome to Ask A Biologist. This site has a large collection of biology learning materials that includes stories, games, activities, videos, and a podcast.
A quiet western town waits for the arrival of the swarm of contestants for the 2011 Ugly Bug Contest. Who will be this year's most WANTED bug?
Are there really flesh-eating scarab beetles, or is it a movie myth? Dr. Biology and biologist Mary Liz Jameson talk about scarab beetles, dung, and even some insect recipes, minus the dung, for humans to try out for their next dinner or pot-luck.
Arianne Cease isn't just any locust biologist. She's also a sustainability scientist, as she's bringing together all kinds of researchers to work on reducing the number of locust swarms, which affect 1 in 10 people across the globe.
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…
Building Your Own Ant Farm (Part 2 of 2). Ask A Biologist video with Dr. Biology and Rebecca Clark on how to build an ant farm with recycled CD cases. Watch part one.
If you think of the instruments used to study and explore the world of biology it is clear that most are visual. So what if you cannot see? How would you understand the structure of – say a cell? Dr. Biology discusses a new tool for learning about biology with newly graduated…
Dr. Biology interviews research scientist Kate Ihle at Barro Colorado Island in Panama. BCI is part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Ugly Bug Contest 2009
The Ugly Bug Contest has been part of the Flagstaff Festival of Science and Mt. Campus Science Day since 1997. Ask-a-Biologist is pleased to extend the contest to the world via the Web.
Picking off the Peppered Moth
Get your beaks ready, it's moth-hunting time. In the Peppered Moths Game, you take on the role of the hunter and…
Tiger Beetle Zoom Gallery (Up-close with tiger beetles)
Some of the fastest animals on Earth are below. That’s right, if these tiny insects were as large as a horse they would be running 200 miles an hour.
Ant Gallery (Get up-close to ants)
Now is the time to check out these amazing animals from the safety of your own computer.
Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)
Plankton comes in many shapes and sizes. These are just a few of the thousands of examples.
Time Traveling Plants
Every year billions of babies are dried and buried, not to be unburied for weeks, months, years or even decades. Don't worry, these are not babies like your little brother or sister, these are…
Wordsearch | Crossword
Sea Urchins Do Research
No, urchins are not indigenous to the desert. The usual home for Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is the ocean's rocky floor for grazing along the intertidal and subtidal areas. Also in:…
Wordsearch | Crossword
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.
Wordsearch | Crossword
Where In The World Is Kazakhstan?
Where in the world is Kazakhstan (Ka-zakh-ston)? This may be a puzzling question to some, but no longer. This story we will help put the pieces together.
Wordsearch | Crossword