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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.
Whether in the sands of the desert or the ice of Antarctica, viruses play a larger role in our ecosystems than you might realize. Arvind Varsani searches for these viruses, studying them in all kinds of habitats across the globe.
Ants are everywhere - they thrive in forests, fields, deserts, and cities all over earth. But what is the secret behind their success? Like humans, ants are social. They live and work together in highly organized societies called colonies.Also in: Español…
We are often taught that germs are bad, but what if exposure to germs or other microorganisms has long-term positive effects? Recent studies show that certain microbes in our environment might actually offer a protective effect against Alzheimer’s Disease.
Arianne Cease isn't just any locust biologist. She's also a sustainability scientist, as she's bringing together all kinds of researchers to work on reducing the number of locust swarms, which affect 1 in 10 people across the globe.
Going where no one has gone before sounds exciting, but are we ready to go to Mars? Traveling long distances, and living on another planet is going to be a challenge. You could say an extreme challenge because of the conditions in which we will have to live. Dr. Biology learns a bit about the…
An interview with biologist David Pearson, an author and expert on tiger beetles. Did you know that tiger beetles can run so fast that they go blind and just what would it be like to be hunted by these tiny, but ferocious animals? These are a few of the questions that we learn…
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…
There is more to our memory than you might think. In fact, we have three types of memory. Just how these memory systems work, and work together is the subject of this episode. We also learn that there are sometimes errors in our memory. Take a few minutes to learn how we remember things and even…
Conserving Water
How can you save water? You might start by figuring out what uses the most water in your life. In this choice-…
Venom!
The shape of a molecule is very important. It’s what makes it possible for proteins to interact with other parts of the cell. In…
Monster Maker
Build your own monster by decoding the monster genome in Monster Maker, a DNA game. It is not very different from what…
Skeleton Viewer
To explore the bones of the human skeleton, check out our Skeleton Viewer. Take a look further inside of a bone…
Cracking CRISPR
DNA is the key to life, so it's no wonder that we've been working to crack the code. With the tool CRISPR Cas9, we'…
Nano Building
Play the Bionanoengineering Game
Basic building patterns can be used to think about how technologies are built at the nano-scale. Try your hand…
Doctor Know
Play doctor in the 21st century! Practice modern medicine by examining all dimensions of the body, from organs to molecules, as…