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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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Hospitals try to stay clean and reduce the spread of germs within their walls, but what happens when medicines and bacteria from the hospitals reach bacteria in the sewer?

Most of us don’t think of the sewers as an exciting place. But these and other waterways are where Rolf Halden is finding and solving many mysteries.

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. …

You may have heard of autism before, but do you know what it really is? Learn about what it’s like to live with autism.
This is the story of wild rabbits, humans, and a virus that might lead to a treatment for cancer. It is also a lesson about learning from history and how a virus that is deadly to some rabbits could become a new cancer-fighting tool for humans. Twice humans moved wild rabbits from Europe to other…
Get the 411 or in this case the ATGC on DNA and the new gene editing tool called CRISPR.
Feeling stressed out? Wonder what stress is or how to best to deal with stress? Then you might like to listen in as Dr. Biology talks with Miles Orchinik, Associate Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, about his work on stress.

Part of what makes science fun and challenging is solving puzzles and investigating mysteries. For this episode, Dr. Biology sits down with ecologist Charles Brown and the two talk about his 40-year journey of discovery and rediscovery. This is a curious story that involves an…

some puzzle pieces with pollen cells

Pollen

Read Pollen - Nature's Tiny Clues and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

sketch activity

Catch and Sketch Plankton

Learn to focus on detail and make keen observations that could be overlooked in a picture in this lesson on scientific sketching.

Human skeleton game

Skeleton Viewer

Explore the Skeleton ViewerTo explore the bones of the human skeleton, check out our Skeleton Viewer. Take a look further inside of a bone with our…

What's Lurking in Lunch?

A game about discovering the cause of a foodborne illness outbreak.

Ant Gallery (Get up-close to ants)

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

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.

Feather Zoom Gallery (Feathers up-close)

There is nothing like seeing a feather up close.

Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)

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

Digger Bees

Desert Diggers

The digger bee is just one of about a thousand species of native bees in Arizona, many of which have females that burrow into the ground with their jaws and legs when constructing a nest.

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jigsaw sail boat

Why Are English Sailors Called Limeys?

Imagine you are on a sailing ship in 1747. You left England only a couple of months ago and you felt fine. Now you are so tired you can barely walk. Dr. Lind wants to discover what is causing…

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Orchid bee

Bee Jeweled

Orchid bees come in an amazing array of shapes and colors. You could call them the jewels of the bee kingdom. Also in: Nederlands |

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Monarch butterfly

Metamorphosis – Nature’s Ultimate Transformer

Transforming robots are favorites of television and movies, but nature has some of the best transformers. Animals that can change in ways that almost seem unbelievable. Also in:…

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