Looking for the legacy site? Click here

Welcome to Ask A Biologist. This site has a large collection of biology learning materials that includes stories, games, activities, videos, and a podcast.

Read our stories

Listen and watch

Enjoy our activities

View zoom galleries

Solve puzzles

Have you ever wished for a place on the Web where you could find quality science content that you can count on and trust? Your wish has been granted. Learn about the National Science Digital Library and all the projects and resources created just for science, technology, engineering and math. It…

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.

Our biological sex is mainly controlled by our sex chromosomes. But sex hormones also influence what body parts and characteristics we have.

No, that is not a typo in the episode title. My guests today are collaborating on the study of animal movement, including humans. Both researchers use tools to document and analyze movement in animals. One tool is a symbolic language that has been in use since 1928 and the other is a new…

A True Bug is triumphant in the Ugly Bug Contest 2010.

No, this episode is not about the rock band or the cute German car that people love. This show is about some curious insects that have very different relationships with ants. To be exact, this is about three species of beetles that either battle ants, live close by an ant colony, or in one case…

According to an old German proverb the animal that is the subject of this show was made by the devil. Dr. Biology gets a lesson about this devilish study subject from biologist Raghavendra Gadagkar. They talk about what he has learned from years of observing these misunderstood…

What happens when our brain fails us? As Dr. Biology, my work has never been involved with diseases that affect the mind, but I do have a personal experience with the shadowy realm of Alzheimer's and other dementias. My mother battled against this relentless adversary and I am not alone. …

a cartoon of nerves

Nervous System

Read A Nervous Journey and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

a phyton with some eggs on it

Phyton Parenting

Read Perfect Python Parenting and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

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.

Pollen Gallery (Pollen up-close)

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

Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)

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

Feather Zoom Gallery (Feathers up-close)

There is nothing like seeing a feather up close.

Ants in nest

Ant Farm

Farming ants might sound like a crazy thing to do unless you might like to eat chocolate covered ants. It turns out we can learn a lot from ants and the best way is to build your own ant farm.…

Wordsearch | Crossword
Monarch butterfly puzzle

Migrating Monarchs

Thousands of orange and black shapes flutter through the trees. Welcome to one of the few wintering homes of the monarch butterfly. Also in: Español…

Wordsearch | Crossword
Ants in nest

Ant Farm

Farming ants might sound like a crazy thing to do unless you might like to eat chocolate covered ants. It turns out we can learn a lot from ants and the best way is to build your own ant farm.…

Wordsearch | Crossword
A classroom Globe

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