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

You might have heard of both gender and sex before, but what’s the difference? Sex is based in the biology of body parts, but gender is socially constructed and based on much more.

On this podcast, we like to explore how science meets the public. In this episode, we examine the art of communication, with biologist, author, and filmmaker Randy Olson. Dr. Biology learns how Olson uses humor and creativity as powerful tools. Inspired by platforms like The…

These fluttering icons of North America are a favorite of many people across the world, but they may be having some population problems. Don’t worry though, there are ways you can help. Conservation specialist Gail Morris talks with our student guest host Kayna Lantz…

Pierre Deviche's love for the outdoors led him to doing field research on the timing of breeding in birds.

Yes! You can do science at home and in your classroom. Biologist Melissa Wilson walks you through a fun experiment with proteins.

Imagine a world where animals have the capacity to show their natural behaviors and even engineer their own environments. For this episode, we're thrilled to have Danielle Wong, the Behavioral Enrichment and Animal Welfare Coordinator at the…

An interview with biologist Dave Pearson research professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University and Audubon environmental educator Cathy Wise. Dr. Biology learns from his two guests that bird watching is pretty cool and fun.

So you think zombies are only on television and in the movies, think again. Dr. Biology learns the details of a nasty fungus and something called the "death grip" from biologist David Hughes. It turns out there are real live, well maybe not live, zombies. The good news is this…

Can you see DNA?

Seeing DNA

Every living thing uses DNA as the instructions for life. But how can we be sure that something so small is actually there at all? Here is one experiment that you can do at home or school that…

a cartoon of the savanna biome

Savanna Biome

Read Searching the Savanna and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

An illustration of different cell sizes and a ruler, to measure nuclear cytoplasmic ratios

Cell Size SIM

Play the Cell Size SIMCertain cell types should have a general size and have proportionate parts. But what if those sizes and proportions are different than…

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.

Pollen Gallery (Pollen up-close)

Pollen 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.

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
Leafhopper

True Bugs

Not all insects are bugs, but all bugs are insects. How can this be? Learn about some particular insects that biologists call true bugs. Also in: Español…

Wordsearch | Crossword
crystallography

Making Life Crystal Clear

Much like a mechanical watch, living things only work when all the gears work together. Some of the tiniest of gears are proteins. Learning about the shape and size of these proteins is the job…

Wordsearch | Crossword
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.

Wordsearch | Crossword