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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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A tiny creature that flies and swims at the same time caught the attention of Arizona State University Professor Richard Satterlie a few years ago.

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…

An imaginary conversation between two great thinkers, Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel. While the monk, Mendel, had read Darwin’s publications - Mendel's work only came to be known later. We can only imagine what the two might have talked about.

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…

As the town faces unspeakable forces of nature, who will save the day?

Around 4,000 years ago, on the wind-swept island of St. Kilda, Scotland, people started creating a food storage of sorts. They moved a population of sheep to the island, likely as a backup food resource for when times were tough. Little did they know that their actions would affect 21st-century…

Beyond viral cat videos and the millions of cute pictures of our feline friends found on various social media channels, these four-legged animals might help us to better understand science. At least my guest thinks they can give us some insights into the world of bile acids, digestion, cholesterol…
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.
Microbes cartoon

Microbes

Microbes: The Good, the Bad, The Ugly takes you on comic book journey inside the human body where there are both good and bad bacteria and viruses.

Observing ants

Collecting Ants

There are several different ways to get ants for an ant farm, depending on when you would like to start the farm and how long you would like for your ant farm to last.

a cartoon of the rainforest biome

Tropical Rainforest Biome

Read Revealing the Rainforest 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.

Pollen Gallery (Pollen up-close)

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

Feather Zoom Gallery (Feathers up-close)

There is nothing like seeing a feather up close.

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.

Sea Urchin

Sea Urchins Do Research

No, urchins are not indigenous to the desert. The usual home for Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is the ocean's rocky floor for grazing along the intertidal and subtidal areas. Also in:…

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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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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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Cloning Sheep

Cloning Ewe

What is cloning and do we have clones living among us today? The answers might surprise you or maybe we should say ewe.

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