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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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As scientists study the amazing social network of ants they are discovering we could learn a lot from these tiny animals. Dr. Biology and co-host Jane Rector visit with Jennifer Fewell, a biologist who is exploring the world of social insects including ants.…

Dr. Biology travels to the Tres Rios wetlands, a place where all types of living things can be found. He talks with local biologists about many of the species and also gets a chance to sit down and talk with Quentin Wheeler who is starting a new Institute that will be exploring…

We start off as a single tiny cell, and yet somehow we are born as whole humans. Get to know the stages of that process and how quickly we develop.

Are there really flesh-eating scarab beetles, or is it a movie myth? Dr. Biology and biologist Mary Liz Jameson talk about scarab beetles, dung, and even some insect recipes, minus the dung, for humans to try out for their next dinner or pot-luck.

How do animals keep warm when the temperatures drop? It is not like they can turn on heater or bundle up in a layers of warm clothes like humans do. Before you watch this video, try to think of ways animals might keep warm.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hold a baby Giant Panda in your lap? Listen in while Dr. Biology talks with two scientists who have gotten up close and personal with Pandas. Andrew Smith is a returning guest and WEI Fuwen is a visiting scientist…

Dr. Biology gets the skinny on our largest organ - our skin. Professor and author Nina Jablonski talks about the important ways our skin works for us each day.

The Ugly Bug Contest has been part of the Flagstaff Festival of Science and Mt. Campus Science Day since 1997. Ask-a-Biologist is pleased to extend the contest to the world via the Web.

Bee Learning Lab

Visit the Bee Learning Lab Take a trip with us today into the Bee Learning Lab. Train bees in your very own experiment and see how you can make them learn faster or…
A couple ants below some leaves

Ant Anatomy

Read Face to Face with Ants and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

a sun giving light to some plants

Snacking on Sunlight

Read Snacking on Sunlight and then take this quiz to test your knowledge!

some ants doing the word "supero"

Superorganism

Read Secrets of a Superorganism 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.

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.

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.

Time traveling seeds

Time Traveling Plants

Every year billions of babies are dried and buried, not to be unburied for weeks, months, years or even decades. Don't worry, these are not babies like your little brother or sister, these are…

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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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Nerve impulse thumbnail

A Nervous Journey

Let’s take a ride. It is going to be a fast one, so be prepared. Where are we going? We are going to start at your head and end up at your toes. It may not seem like a long trip, but it is…

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Tree lizard puzzle

Mighty Morphing Tree Lizards

Biologists at Arizona State University hope that by learning more about animal behavior, they will also be able to understand why people act the way they do. Also in:…

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