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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.

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Imagine you want to pull a long cylinder-shaped piece of soil (called a core) out of the ground in your backyard. What kind of tools would you need? Find out how researchers collect cores in the Frozen Arctic.

We peek behind the curtain of SICB and the band of scientists who are investigating the world of animal communication. Scientists Kim Hoke and Nate Morehouse sit down with Dr. Biology and talk about how the Spatio-temporal Dynamics in Animal Communication group…

Plateau Pikas are one of the 30 species of pika worldwide. All 30 species of pika are similar in appearance. They look like round balls of fluff about 6 inches long with prominent round ears and a small tail hidden under their fur.

The majority of life in the ocean is found near the shore, in the coastal biome.Also in: Français | Español

Wait - there's more! Dr. Biology and co-host Jane Rector continue their visit with Jennifer Fewell, a biologist who is exploring the world of social insects including ants. There is even some talk of how professional basketball teams could learn a thing or two…

An interview with mathematicians Cassie Pawling and Genevieve Toutain from the ASU Department of Mathematics and Statistics. A show filled with fun math tricks and even a bit of mind boggling mind reading.
Dr. Biology takes trip to visit Michael Berens, adjunct professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and Senior Investigator at Translational Genomics Institute (TGen).

When was the last time you folded a piece of paper to make a fun shape? Maybe you made a paper plane or tried origami to make a swan. Believe it or not, the building blocks inside your body also need to fold into the right shapes to work properly. In this activity, you can build your…

An illustration of pea pods with different genes (yellow and green, and round and wrinkled)

Genetics Game

Play Garden Gene GeniusOur genes control much of how we look and who we are. But do you really know how genetics work? Take a moment to gather some genetic…
monarch butterflies in puzzle pieces

Monarchs

Read Migrating Monarchs and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

Hummingbird cartoon

Hummingbird Lunch

These daredevil birds can be perfect subjects for a backyard experiment.

Feather Zoom Gallery (Feathers up-close)

There is nothing like seeing a feather up close.

Bone Zoom Gallery (Up-close Inside Bones)

Take a look at the microscopic world of bone in our virtual bone histology lab. Just pick a microscope slide from below and click on it to view under the virtual microscope.

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.

Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)

Plankton comes in many shapes and sizes. These are just a few of the thousands of examples.

Ant close-up

Secrets of a Superorganism

Ants are everywhere - they thrive in forests, fields, deserts, and cities all over earth. But what is the secret behind their success? Like humans, ants are social. They live and work together…

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Itty Bitty Beasts

Itty Bitty Beasts

Tardigrades are some of the toughest animals on earth. They can survive freezing, drying up, radiation, and space, all while being smaller than the tip of a pencil.

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Mouse and snail taxonomy

Linnaeus and the World of Taxonomy

Have you ever wondered how animals and plants get their names? People give them names, lots of different names! That was how it used to be before Carl Linnaeus created the world of taxonomy.…

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Tree lizard puzzle

Mighty Morphing Tree Lizards

Biologists at Arizona State University hope that by learning more about animal behavior, they will also be able to understand why people act the way they do. Also in:…

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