This activity provides brief instructions and recommended reliable sources for students to investigate and report on a genetic disorder of their choice.
In this interview, Mark Siddall talks about his work as an invertebrate systematist and how marine organisms eat. Using a question and answer format, information is presented on the feeding habits, behaviors and strategies of various types of marine animals.
The Maryland Science Center is working with formal education providers in local underserved schools around a combined project including an interactive exhibit, a Davis Planetarium program and associated Educator Workshops, and will provide outreach to the informal science education community to explore the subject of Astrobiology. Topics covered in both the exhibit and the Davis Planetarium program will include Earthly extremophiles (organisms that survive in extreme conditions), potential other life in the Solar System, locations on nearby worlds where life may exist, the search for exoplanets, the techniques used to discover them, and the NASA missions engaged in the hunt. With an engaging, interactive approach, the exhibit will detail the challenges, questions and techniques of the search for exoplanets, especially Earth-like worlds. The exhibit will help visitors understand the scale of both the Milky Way galaxy and the Universe, and by doing so comprehend the difficulty in searching for other worlds, especially smaller Earth-like worlds.
In this activity on page 1 of the PDF, learners compare the relative sizes of biological objects (like DNA and bacteria) that can't be seen by the naked eye. Learners will be surprised to discover the range of sizes in the microscopic world. This activity can be followed up with a second activity, "What's in a microbe?", located on page 3 in the same resource.
Produced by the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, Life in the Leaf Litter is a guide to the diversity of soil organisms and the crucial role that invertebrates play in woodland ecosystems. The booklet was based, in part, on a leaf litter survey conducted by the CBC's Metro Program and the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology in Central Park's woodlands, which led to the discovery of a new genus and species of centipede, Nannarrup hoffmani. The booklet may be downloaded as a pdf or ordered free of charge.
This video segment from a WPSU documentary Liquid Assets connects public health to the availability of clean and safe drinking water and elaborates on the threats our bodies face due to increasing kinds and quantities of pollutants.
This reference list identifies six of the best herbaria housed and maintained by large research institutions and universities in the U.S. Where possible, it includes the following information for each herbarium: mailing address and phone number,Web site and email address, details about its specimen collection,whether it is open to the public or only to scientists and researchers, and the type of support offered, including whether a searchable database of its collection is available on the Web.
This Nature video shows the migratory patterns and habits of the Rufous hummingbird.
Produced by the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, these four guides form a four-part series, Living With Biodiversity: What You Can Really Do For the Environment. The four guides in pdf format are: Biodiversity and Your Food, Biodiversity and Your Energy Use, Biodiversity and What You Buy and Biodiversity and Your Water Supply.
What is it that distinguishes a living organism from a nonliving object? This collection of images presents examples that aren't as clear-cut as one might think, enticing students to question the meaning of life.
This video, adapted from material provided by the ECHO partners, illuminates how living on the coast affects individuals and communities, particularly humans' interrelationships with natural resources.
In this activity, learners explore the "nuts and bolts" of gene chips. Learners construct a simple model of a DNA microarray (also known as gene chips) and learn how microarrays can be used to identify and treat disease--including cancer. This resource includes references and an explanation of microarrays.
Students enjoy this Jeopardy game review of introductory chemistry, including organic compounds and chemical reactions.
This article, part of Biodiversity Counts, provides insight into what it takes to maintain an arthropod collection. The article contains advice to students for setting up and maintaining a small-scale collection, including what tools are needed, safe alternatives to chemicals for killing and preserving specimens and some of the techniques the museum uses to protect specimens that students may want to adopt.
Even experienced divers rarely get to see the Mandarinfish, a colorful reef fish that is so shy, it only comes out of hiding for a half-hour a day. In this video, Jonathan travels to the south Pacific to film spawning Mandarinfish and witnesses an incredible secret ritual. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.
Where the tropical ocean meets the sea, a peculiar kind of plant thrives in shallow, salty water. These mangrove plants are incredibly important for shoreline protection and baby fish habitats. In this video, Jonathan investigates life in mangroves by visiting both Caribbean and Pacific mangroves. Please see the accompanying study guide for educational objectives and discussion points.
In this video, Jonathan travels to the Micronesian island of Yap in the middle of the Pacific to investigate large gatherings of the world's largest rayŰÓthe manta. A research program there is tracking dozens of these animals and Jonathan learns what they're doing hanging around certain coral heads every morning. Please see the accompanying lesson plan on tides for educational objectives, discussion points and classroom activities.
This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores how the migratory patterns of shorebirds have evolved to coincide with the spawning of horseshoe crabs.
In the first part of this video, we derive the law of mass action from one example of a picture of molecular collisions. For this course, we use the "law of mass action" to refer to an idea that chemical reaction kinetic rates can be expressed using products of the abundances of reactants raised to exponents. Studying cooperativity and Hill functions in the second part of the video allows us to investigate a simple example of bistability in the third video segment.
Meiosis is the process by which gametes (eggs and sperm) are made. Gametes have only one set of chromosomes. Therefore, meiosis involves a reduction in the amount of genetic material. Each gamete has only half the chromosomes of the original germ cell. Explore meiosis with a computer model of dragons. Run meiosis, inspect the chromosomes, then choose gametes to fertilize. Predict the results of the dragon offspring and try to make a dragon without legs. Learn why all siblings do not look alike.