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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.
Imagine being the size of an ant. Be careful - a face-to-face encounter with an ant would be scary and potentially life-threatening! But, if you avoided being eaten, you could learn a lot about ant anatomy from a close-up view. Ants have many body parts that are normally hard to see without a…
Fascinating and bizarre interactions control the world around us, at a scale too small to see—the nanoscale. By studying the nanoworld, we can create nanomachines that mimic nature.Also in: Italiano | عربى…
When you think of kangaroos, you may just think of a hopping furry creature that has a pouch... but there is so much more to learn about them. Let's jump into the lives of kangaroos.
Most organisms have just one set of DNA. So why would some scientists want to work with or create organisms that have two sets of DNA?
When was the last time you folded a piece of paper to make a fun shape? Maybe you made a paper plane or tried origami to make a swan. Believe it or not, the building blocks inside your body also need to fold into the right shapes to work properly. In this activity, you can build your…
Diving deep into the ocean is likely the most extreme place someone can set out to collect data, but sometimes that is what scientists need to do. In this show, Dr. Biology finds himself on board the research ship Atlantis in the floating laboratory of Colleen Hansel who is teaming…
The race is on. It is one where biologists and citizen scientists are working as quickly as possible to find and identify all the species on Earth before some go extinct. It might not seem like an important race, but we learn from entomologist Kelly Miller that not knowing what…
Embark on a journey through the buzzing world of grasshoppers and locusts with Dr. Biology. In this episode, biologists Rick Overson and Mira Word Ries, from the Global Locust Initiative at Arizona State University dig into the world of these insects. The…
Ant Gallery (Get up-close to ants)
Now is the time to check out these amazing animals from the safety of your own computer.
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.
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.
Big Bad Beetles
A story of blood, love, and family… Learn about one of the biggest and fanciest blister beetles anywhere. This species goes by the scientific name of Lytta magister but has also been called the…
Wordsearch | Crossword
I Spy an Ecosystem
We hear the word ecosystems in the news and at school but just what are ecosystems? It turns out there are lots of ecosystems. You might even learn you have some inside you! Also in:…
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Sonoran CSI
Little water, sweaty, hot summer days and frigid winter nights make the desert an uninviting place for most animals and plants. But hiding just below the surface, the desert is alive with…
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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