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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.
The desert is a tough place to live – food may be tough to find, rain only comes in certain seasons, and the temperatures can be hard to handle. How does one special lizard, the Gila monster, deal with these difficulties?
When you think of the Arctic, you might picture mostly empty ice. But the Arctic ecosystem is home to many organisms, from microscopic bacteria to large animals like whales and polar bears. Much of this life in the Arctic depends on tiny organisms called plankton which make up the base of the…
A Common Kingsnake, Lampropeltis getula californiae, but this snake was anything but common. From the title of our story, you may have guessed that our snake, or maybe we should call it snakes, had two heads.
Dive into the behavior and physiology of two different primate species that are helping biologists explore the science of stress, aging, and immunity. Dr. Biology sits down with scientist Noah Snyder-Mackler from Arizona…
Dive into the behavior and physiology of two different primate species that are helping biologists explore the science of stress, aging, and immunity. Dr. Biology sits down with scientist Noah Snyder-Mackler from Arizona…
Remember your last paper cut, or the bad cold that had you coughing and blowing your nose? It was your immune system that was busy trying to make you better by battling the bacteria or virus that was attacking your body. How your immune system works is the discussion Dr. Biology has with…
Dr. Biology sits down to learn from two of the best science journalists in the world. Listen in as he gets some pointers from Pauline Davies and Robyn Williams.
Here is something special you can add to your trick-or-treating this year. Find out if there are vampire bats waiting to drink your blood - or if we really have a funny bone in our body? These are just a few of the things Dr. Biology and his guests Rebecca Fisher and …
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…
Beetle Dissection
The outside of beetles can be shiny, dull, or extremely colorful. But what is going on inside of beetles…
Venom!
The shape of a molecule is very important. It’s what makes it possible for proteins to interact with other parts of the cell. In…
Cell Size SIM
Certain cell types should have a general size and have proportionate parts. But what if those sizes and proportions are…
Nano Building
Play the Bionanoengineering Game
Basic building patterns can be used to think about how technologies are built at the nano-scale. Try your hand…
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'…
Monster Maker
Build your own monster by decoding the monster genome in Monster Maker, a DNA game. It is not very different from what…