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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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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.

Estrogen and testosterone are two hormones that cause puberty. But what happens when the body doesn’t produce the amounts of hormones that it usually does?

Scorpions are often misunderstood. Many people say that scorpions are so aggressive they will sting themselves to death, but this is not a natural behavior of scorpions in the wild. Also in: Français |…

Growing cells outside our bodies in tiny plastic dishes might seem a bit complex. But scientists have been doing this for many years now. It has opened our eyes to the bustling life inside our tiny cells and has led to some life-saving technologies.
Have you looked at DNA? Really, you can see DNA if you follow along with biologist Melissa Wilson. This kitchen and classroom experiment is perfect for budding biologists.

An interview with biologist Gro Amdam, one of the members of the group that brought us the bee genome. Hey just what is a genome and could bees hold the answer to aging? In this show we learn the answers to these questions and why researchers are buzzing around bees.

Dr Biology sits down with well known science correspondent, Robert Krulwich (Radiolab), for a fun conversation about communicating science. The two talk about media, old and new, and maybe some that may not have been developed.

Step-by-step tutorial for building your own Pocket Seed Viewer. You can use it to test the effects of light, dark, temperature and gravity on seed germination and plant growth.

How can we fight mosquitoes? Image is an illustration of a mosquito laying eggs, with insecticide being sprayed

Managing Mosquitoes

Learn about mosquito life cycles, the dangers of mosquitoes, and how to protect yourself and reduce breeding grounds for mosquitoes around your home.
a time machine with plants on it

Seeds

Read Time Traveling Plants and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

a cartoon of nerves

Nervous System

Read A Nervous Journey and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

Ant Gallery (Get up-close to ants)

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

Plankton Zoom Gallery (Plankton up-close)

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

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.

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.

Birds and their Songs

Birds and Their Songs

We see them practically everywhere. They are found flying in the high mountains and soaring along the thermal winds in the low deserts. There are those that are reclusive and others you can…

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Saguaro

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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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…

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Half human, half animal eye

Seeing Color

Did you ever wonder why you see the colors you do or if other animals see the same colors that you see? We see light that bounces off of things around us. When the light enters our eyes,…

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