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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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Not all exercise is the same, but all exercise can help you grow strong and keep you healthy. Exercise can also help you with your homework and that science project due at the end of the year.

Humans think about food... A LOT. Our mouths might water thinking about the taste of pizza or a big salad or our favorite fruits. But how, exactly, does taste work? Also in: Español | Français
Almost all life forms start out as small cells, but how do they grow into entire animals? Read about the first step here: when cells in an embryo form germ layers that give rise to every organ and tissue in the body.

All living beings are made up of cells. Some of them are made up of only one cell and others have many cells. Also in: Español | Français | Deutsch…

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.

Dr. Biology interviews research scientist Kate Ihle at Barro Colorado Island in Panama. BCI is part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

Could fire be important for life on Earth? Would Earth be the same without fire? These are just a few of the many questions we have for fire researcher Stephen Pyne about fire and its role with life. Did we also mention his battle with a dragon? If you have a burning desire to…

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…

Preserving plant specimens

Create Your Own Herbarium

Have you ever seen an interesting plant that you wanted to keep? The best way to preserve a plant specimen is to press it and dry it. Here are the simple materials and steps you need to make…

an ant farm

Ant Farm

Read Ant Farm and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

a bat in the moon light

Bats

Read Bats and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)

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

Ant Gallery (Get up-close to ants)

Now is the time to check out these amazing animals from the safety of your own computer.

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.

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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Endangered animal list

Making the List

By the time the first endangered species list was made, many species had already gone extinct.  Some species, like whooping cranes, were almost extinct at that time.  But the US…

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Peas

Solving a Genetic Mystery

The life and work of Gregor Mendel has some surprising pieces. Known as the father of genetics, his work was mostly unnoticed for 30 years after he published his famous paper. It is also…

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Python

Perfect Python Parenting

Being a parent is hard work. Though a snake might not seem comforting to you, pythons are actually very dedicated moms that take good care of their kids.Also in:…

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