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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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What happens when a person wants to have a baby, but after years of trying, it just doesn’t happen? A lot of people want to become pregnant, but let’s learn about what may prevent pregnancy.

They say mother knows best; this may be especially true when it comes to moms sharing protective immune molecules with their babies.

Dr. Biology sits down to learn from two of the best science journalists in the world. Listen in as he gets some pointers from Pauline Davies and Robyn Williams.

Dead men tell no tales, but their bones can. It just takes a particular kind of scientist to read the clues that tell the story. Dr. Biology sits down with guest Tony Falsetti, a forensic anthropologist who knows his way around a skeleton. They talk about the…

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.
Cooperation is something that humans and animals are known to do. It turns out that the 30 trillion cells in our body also need to cooperate. Like some humans, there are cells that are cheaters when it comes to cooperation. They do not do their share of the work and cause a lot of other problems.…
Dr. Biology has a chance to learn some interesting things about exploring for new species from biologists Vicki Funk and Richard Pyle from the Smithsonian Institute and the Bishop Museum. This episode might just put the explorer bug into your head.

Ugly Bug Contest 2014

2014 Ugly Bug Contest

Beetle Dissection

Beetle Dissection

Explore the Beetle Dissection

The outside of beetles can be shiny, dull, or extremely colorful. But what is going on inside of beetles? Take a…

a bird singing

Birds Hormones and Seasons

Read Singing in the Rain and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

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.

Pollen Gallery (Pollen up-close)

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

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.

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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Endangered animal list

Making the List

By the time the first endangered species list was made, many species had already gone extinct.  Some species, like whooping cranes, were almost extinct at that time.  But the US…

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Peas

Solving a Genetic Mystery

The life and work of Gregor Mendel has some surprising pieces. Known as the father of genetics, his work was mostly unnoticed for 30 years after he published his famous paper. It is also…

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Scorpion with laser beams

Not So Scary Scorpions

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:…

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