Almost all of our cells contain identical copies of DNA. But wait...with the same instructions, shouldn't all cells look and function the same? Learn how our bodies use the same instructions to make all kinds of different cells.Also in: Español | Italiano | Bahasa Indonesia
Ask A Biologist
Biology Stories
Explore the world of biology and meet some of our biologists. Here you can learn about the living world and find out what is so cool about biology that someone would do it for a living. Pick a story to read or listen to one of our podcast shows filled with guest scientists who share their experiences and passion for discovery.
We study cooperation in humans a lot, but what about cooperation in... cancer? Learn how researchers are applying the same behavioral dilemmas experienced by people to the outcomes of cell cooperation.
Humans have evolved to work together, but it isn't always straightforward. Some people try to bend the rules, or cheat. Athena Aktipis studies what makes cooperation work, and why cheating sometimes backfires.
How do wild animals defend themselves against infections? Biologists studied a wild population of sheep to work out whether being tolerant of infections could be as good a strategy as killing infections.
Our oceans are becoming warmer and more acidic. How might these changing conditions put marine food webs in danger?
Look closely at John Alcock's critter littered yard and you'll be bug-eyed. He decorates the front with cow patties, spends hours watching sleeping bees and occasionally wolfs down a cricket or mealworm to amuse or horrify his guests. "I'm just considered a mildly eccentric person," admits the Arizona State University biology professor.
Climate is a hot topic in the news and on internet websites and blogs. But what exactly is climate? And how do we know it is changing?Also in: Español
Most organisms have just one set of DNA. So why would some scientists want to work with or create organisms that have two sets of DNA?
Professor Ferran Garcia-Pichel sweats the small stuff. The really, really small stuff to be exact. The easygoing Arizona State University-based microbiologist loves to look beyond the surface to explain what is happening in the tiny world of microbes.
Also in: Español
They might be colorful. They might be cute to some people. But don’t let that fool you. These bright-colored frogs are poisonous. Dr. Biology talks with biologist Molly Cummings to learn about her work with some frogs that advertise to predators to stay away and other frogs that take advantage of this signal by copying the colors of their poisonous cousins.
What is gene editing? And how does the one of the most-used gene editing tools, called CRISPR, work?
Also in: Español
The race is on. It is one where biologists and citizen scientists are working as quickly as possible to find and identify all the species on Earth before some go extinct. It might not seem like an important race, but we learn from entomologist Kelly Miller that not knowing what species we are losing might be more important than we think. To speed up the search scientists are using traditional and newer tools that are part of the world of cybertaxonomy.
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.
If aliens were to contact us, what would you say? How would you say it? These are just a few of the questions that Dr. Biology talks about with guest Lucy Hawking. The two have fun with these ideas and more as part of the Dear Aliens essay contest.
Signals from the brain have been used to help scientists understand how people see, move, and make decisions. In this experiment scientists tested whether they could also use these signals to record a person's emotional state. Would they be able to detect fear, surprise, sadness, and more by looking inside the brain?
Cacti live in one of the harshest climates on the planet: the desert. Scientists are investigating how we can make life easier for these desert-dwelling plants.
Deserts can be a bit of a mystery--we picture them as hot, barren places, but that's not always true. Deserts are found in both the hottest and coldest places on Earth, and some of them have lots of plant and animal life, you just need to know where to look to find it.
Also in: Español | Français | Italiano | Português
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.Also in: Español
