Seeing Inside Cells
Each individual blade of grass consists of various tissues, each made of cells in their thousands. In these cells an as yet unknown number of reactions and interactions are constantly taking place. The cells contain different parts known as organelles, which can be thought of as the cellular equivalent of the organs in animals and…
The Other Genome Project
This Catalyst article details how the genome of a plant called Arabidopsis has been unravelled so that this species can act as a model in genetic studies. Arabidopsis thaliana is a model species like the fruit fly Drosophila, yeast, and the bacterium Escherichia coli. Scientists work on these species in order to understand as…
Tuberculosis: Can the Spread of This Killer Disease be Halted?
With an increase in tuberculosis (TB) throughout the world during the 21st century, this resource looks at what scientists are doing to combat a disease that many believed was a problem of the past. The TB fact file describes the disease, its symptoms and incidence and reviews current research into its cause, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.…
H1N1 Swine Flu Pandemic
This booklet, from the Society for General Microbiology, gives an overview of the swine flu story so far. In eight pages it covers the disease, the causal virus, how it is transmitted, who is affected and how the disease can be treated. The National Immunisation Programme, international pandemic preparedness and the development of…
Malaria: a Global Challenge
Malaria is one of the world's biggest killers. It infects up to 250 million and kills nearly 800,000 people per year. This resource, from the Society for General Microbiology, takes a look at the history of the disease along with its causes, diagnosis, treatment and the prevention strategies employed to tackle this global problem.…
Influenza: a Seasonal Disease
Influenza or flu is a common viral infection of the upper respiratory tract. This resource, from the Society for General Microbiology, gives an overview of the disease, how the infection is transmitted, infection, replication of the virus inside the body, the immune response and how vaccines are developed. It also explores the nature…
HIV and AIDS
The resource, from the Society for General Microbiology, clarifies the difference between HIV and AIDS. The booklet describes the HIV virus, how it replicates and how it causes the disease. The stages of the infection are charted and transmission of HIV is explained, together with sections covering tests, treatments and work on developing…
Microbes and Climate Change
This booklet, from the Society for General Microbiology, discusses the role microbes could play in tackling global climate change. The resource provides an overview of the effect of greenhouse gases on climate and the role of microbes in the carbon and nitrogen cycles. Carbon-fixation in cyanobacteria and the carbon-releasing…
Cholera: Death by Diarrhoea
Cholera is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. There have been seven worldwide disease outbreaks or pandemics since 1817, killing millions of people and infecting millions more. This resource, from the Society for General Microbiology, charts the history of the disease and investigates the causes, diagnosis,…
Investigating Poisoning
Investigating serious crimes such as murder, rape and terrorism requires forensic science experts. These people work alongside the police to find the evidence that will bring the culprit to court. In this Catalyst article, Tony Hargreaves looks at criminal poisoning and shows how forensic science is used to solve serious murder cases.
A Century of Crystallography
This poster, from the Science and Technology Facilities Council, celebrates 100 years since two scientists in the UK pioneered a technique for crystallography. Crystallography uses x-rays to create a diffraction pattern to examine the atomic structure of crystals. The poster explains Bragg’s Law, which allows the calculation…
How Does Nature Sense?
Adelheid Fischer, Biomimicry Fellow and Coordinator of InnovationSpace at Arizona State University, explains how she finds inspiration in the star-nosed mole. The mole does not use its unusual nose for smell, but as a touch sensing organ. The mole can also smell under water by sending out bubbles to catch odour molecules, and then…
How Does Nature Cool?
In this video from The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, Sherry Ritter describes how the red kangaroo stays cool in temperatures of up to 45°C. The kangaroo licks its wrists, where there are a large number of blood vessels close to the surface, and this cools through evaporation. Sherry asks whether we could learn from this cooling technique…
How Does Nature Convert Energy?
In this video Janine Benyus, co-founder of The Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, describes a surprising adaptation of the pistol shrimp. The pistol shrimp has a very large claw and uses this to fire a bubble and stun its prey. The shrimp can close its claw so quickly that a vacuum is created behind the bubble. The vacuum collapses and for…
4/5- Publication year: 2010 to date
- Video
Hunting and Gathering for Ideas
This resource describes an outdoor activity which can be used to introduce students to the concept of biomimicry. Janine Benyus, founder of the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, explains how systematically observing nature and then emulating it can lead to innovative and sustainable technologies and designs. She describes how to conduct…
Dye-sensitized Solar Energy
The activity, from the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, provides an illustration of biomimetic technology. Students explore how to produce electricity by constructing a dye-sensitised solar cell at ambient temperatures, using a few simple materials. In the manufacturing of most solar cells, silica must be heated to separate the silicon…
Concrete Without Quarries
This practical activity, from the Biomimicry 3.8 Institute, allows students to explore how nature creates calcium carbonate, a compound needed to manufacture cement, at ambient temperatures and using abundant, readily available raw materials. The cement used in concrete is manufactured from calcium carbonate, which is extracted from…
Colour Mixing
This video from the Royal Institution describes how colour mixing works. Colours of light cannot be mixed in physics but different cones in your eyes are sensitive to different colours. The brain interprets a mixture between the two as a colour somewhere between the two. In the case of magenta, your brain invents this colour…
Cloud Chamber
This video from the Royal Institution shows tracks within a cloud chamber. A supersaturated layer of alcohol vapour exists just above the floor of the chamber and the ionisation radiation causes vapour to condense along the path of the radiation. An Americium source is introduced into the chamber so that tracks from alpha radiation…
How Rich Is Your Habitat?
This practical activity uses a simple and convenient model of the real environment in order to demonstrate the principles of random sampling and how to estimate biodiversity. Students use different coloured sugar balls to represent different species in order to put Simpson's Diversity Index to the test, which takes into account…
Battle of the Beaks
This practical activity explores beak adaptations in bird populations and looks at the way in which variation in beak shape is related to the available food sources within an environment. Students simulate bird feeding by using a ‘beak’ to collect food and place it into a stomach. There are four different beak shapes…
Biofuels
Produced by Debating Matters, this topic guide puts the biofuel debate in context, providing information, a reading list and weblinks. The resource encourages students to debate issues such as: • Are biofuels environmentally friendly? • Fuel versus food • A waste if time, money and energy? • Should governments…
What to Conserve?
With the increasing pressure of a growing human population it is becoming increasingly difficult to conserve natural habitats. Ultimately, not every green space can be afforded conservation protection. This field study encourages students to act as environmental scientists to compare different habitats and decide which habitat should…
Pony Grazing
This field study encourages students to act as environmental scientists to compare two heathlands one of which has been grazed, one of which has not. Students use the data collected to decide which heathland is better in terms of the plant species present, especially heathers, and soil chemistry. Four activities are suggested: Activity…
Mapping for Climate Change
This field study encourages students to investigate the vegetation in a lowland heathland habitat and to use a GPS unit to map habitat fragments. Students could also make management decisions, deciding where to place habitat corridors to help prepare for the possible effects of climate change. Four activities are suggested depending…
Introduction to Lowland Heathlands
This resource is an interactive activity which aims to provide an introduction to the lowland heathland habitat. The five topics relating to lowland heathlands covered by the resources include: • The biotic components of lowland heathlands, focusing on plants • The biotic components of lowland heathlands, focusing on…
How Polluted?
This field study resource pack encourages students to act as environmental scientists to assess the ‘health’ of a heathland habitat. The resource contains three separate activities that students can complete, depending on the time available and suitability of the site: • Measuring nitrogen pollution in the soil…
Designing Investigations
This resource, from the University of Nottingham, describes a number of investigations which could be carried out in heathland habitats. Heathlands are excellent habitats to use for designing and carrying out experiments. Plants are often relatively easy to identify when compared with other habitats and invertebrate communities are…
Introducing Stem Cells
This presentation and collection of short activities, from Eurostemcell, introduce basic stem cell concepts and include teacher’s notes with each slide and useful diagrams. The materials include: Presentation: Introducing stem cells • Stem cell biology basics: for post-16 students, or adult audiences with little…
Ready or Not? A Role Play on Taking Stem Cells to the Clinic
This role-play activity, from Eurostemcell, allows students to explore some of issues around stem cell research and its medical applications, enabling them to think about and develop their own views on this very exciting, controversial field. The role play has been designed to address the following issues: • Why use embryos…
Hope Beyond Hype
It is long journey from basic stem cell research to a reliable stem cell therapy. This comic book explores the role of stem cell researchers and the process they undertake as they try to move stem cell research on towards clinical trials and therapies. A selection of card games is provided which can be used to explore the ideas…
Adventures in the Amazon
In this Catalyst article, Laura Plant describes the time she spent in the Amazon rainforest in northern Peru on a project researching the impacts of forestry on the plants and animals that live there. In tropical regions, large areas of rainforests have been untouched for centuries. This means that many rare and unique plants…
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