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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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Could a virus that is deadly in rabbits be used to treat cancer in people? That is exactly what Arizona State University researcher Grant McFadden is trying to figure out.

The rainforest is the wettest biome on Earth and is home to half of all species.Also in: Français | Español | Italiano |

What is life and how do biologists decide if something is living or non-living? Dr. Biology visits with physicist Paul Davies and microbiologist Ferran Garcia-Pichel. They talk about life, extreme life forms (extremophiles), and the possibility of life on other…

You might think that most places on Earth experience the changing of seasons because of the distance from the Sun. But, surprise, that's not the cause. Come and learn some new information to lean on about the tilt of the Earth. 

And the winner of the 2009 Ugly Bug Contest is...

An interview with myrmecologist Rüdiger Wehner from University of Zurich. Listen in as Dr. Biology learns how these desert animals are revealing their success in the Sahara Desert. Don't know what a myrmecologist is? This is a good show to find the answer.

Step-by-step tutorial for building your own Pocket Seed Viewer. You can use it to test the effects of light, dark, temperature and gravity on seed germination and plant growth.

Very strange things have been taking place lately. Dr. Biology and his team need your help to solve the mystery and piece together what's been happening in the lab.

an example of a desert biome

Desert Biome

Read Delving into Deserts and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

Student host

Make Your Own Podcasts

Join the revolution. You can now produce podcasts for classroom, school, and beyond. Very little equipment required and costs are low. The benefits can be high. Clearly there are many different…

Bee Learning Lab

Visit the Bee Learning Lab Take a trip with us today into the Bee Learning Lab. Train bees in your very own experiment and see how you can make them learn faster or…
Teaching Kids About Germs

Let the Germs Begin

Germs are tiny organisms that can make you feel sick and cause disease. During this activity you will illustrate the steps germs take during transmission. You will learn about the different…

Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)

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

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.

Pollen Gallery (Pollen up-close)

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

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.

Bee with mites

Mite Mighty Foe to 'Killer' Bees in State

Africanized "killer" bees have fallen prey to a deadly predator of their own- parasitic mites whose infestation has dropped their wild colony numbers by as much as 70 percent statewide.

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Astronaut

Spaced Out Physiology

Being an astronaut is a cool job, but before you sign up you should know life in space isn’t all fun and games.  The lack of gravity can make our bodies act in strange ways.

Also in…

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Scorpion with laser beams

Not So Scary Scorpions

Scorpions are often misunderstood. Many people say that scorpions are so aggressive they will sting themselves to death, but this is not a natural behavior of scorpions in the wild. Also in:…

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Birds and their Songs

Birds and Their Songs

We see them practically everywhere. They are found flying in the high mountains and soaring along the thermal winds in the low deserts. There are those that are reclusive and others you can…

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