Control mechanisms
A collection of Catalyst articles about control mechanisms.
Keeping Things Steady *suitable for home teaching*
A Catalyst article about homeostasis describing how the process enables birds and mammals to be active on cold days when other species are not.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2004, Volume 14, Issue 3.
Quick Reactions *suitable for home teaching*
A Catalyst article which explores how the nervous system works. Sensitivity, the ability to respond to stimulation, is a product of nervous system activity.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2004, Volume 14, Issue 4.
Kidneys *suitable for home teaching*
A Catalyst article discussing how the human body has to handle all sorts of variations, balancing its inputs and outputs, if it is to work efficiently.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2005, Volume16, Issue 2.
Eyes
A Catalyst article examining the basic functioning of the eye and what can be done to maintain function when something goes wrong. In particular, the article looks at problems with focus, cataracts and colour blindness and how these problems can be detected and treated.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2007, Volume 17, Issue 3.
Memory Myths
This Catalyst article looks at the topic of human memory. This article explores some of these fairytales and explains what modern psychological science has discovered about how memory really works and why it is so important.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2013, Volume 23, Issue 3.
How the Leopard Gets Its Spots
The animal kingdom contains an abundance of exquisite natural patterns from the stripes of an angelfish to the spots of a leopard. But how do these arise during early development? This Catalyst article looks at Turing mechanisms as a way of explaining how patterns develop as an animal grows.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2013, Volume 24, Issue 1
Inside the Teenage Brain
This Catalyst article looks at the teenage brain.The way the human brain changes, particularly during adolescence, can be studied using magnetic resonance imaging.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2.
The brain and crime
This Catalyst article looks at research suggesting that the social world influences the activity of human genes, in turn affecting brain function.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2016, Volume 26, Issue 3.
In Vitro Fertilisation
A Catalyst article about in vitro fertilisation. About one in six couples gets help from specialists because they cannot conceive. One possibility is to use in vitro fertilisation (IVF). ‘In vitro’ means ‘in glass’ and refers to the fact that fertilisation takes place in a laboratory dish or test tube, hence the term ‘test-tube babies’.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2005, Volume 15, Issue 4.
Body Sensor Networks
A Catalyst article about the use of tiny electronic sensors to monitor the movement of people. As electronic devices get smaller and more powerful, they are finding new uses in monitoring human activity.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 18, Issue 4.
To Sleep...Perchance to Dream
A Catalyst article about the study of electrical activity of the brain during sleep. The article looks at brain waves, REM (Rapid Eye Movement) and the effects of sleep deprivation.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 18, Issue 4.
Probiotics, Prebiotics
A Catalyst article about the human gut and the many microbes it hosts, mainly bacteria.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 18, Issue 4.
Fishing for Clues
This Catalyst article describes how fish can help scientists to learn more about human biology. Understanding how human bodies work and what causes human disease is the key to future medical breakthroughs.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2009, Volume 20, Issue 2.
How Science Works in Africa
A Catalyst article about a Kenyan scientist who is searching for better treatments for malaria, a disease which kills more than a million people in Africa each year.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2010, Volume 20, Issue 3.
Memories Are Made of This?
In this Catalyst article scientists investigate the basis of memory using lab animals; this can lead to insights into human memory, and treatments for people suffering deteriorating memory.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2010, Volume 20, Issue 4.
Exercise: Working It to the Bone
A Catalyst article looking at the benefits of exercise and how it affects bone structure and hence physical fitness.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2010, Volume 21, Issue 1.
Circadian Rhythms
This Catalyst article looks at how an internal biological clock within every cell of the human body helps to co-ordinate and organise human behaviour and metabolism into approximately 24-hour rhythms – allowing organisms to synchronise with, and anticipate, day and night.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 1.
The One-Footed Ape
There has been a great deal of research into footedness in football. However, careful observations of what players do on the pitch reveal that the elite football heroes are much more one-footed than it was previously assumed.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 1.
Metabolomics at Work
This article shows how a new understanding of how cells respond to lack of oxygen can help to reduce the tissue damage caused in heart attacks and strokes.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2015, Volume 25, Issue 4.
Fighting Fit *suitable for home teaching*
This Catalyst article looks at how exercise affects our immunity and susceptibility to infection.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2012, Volume 22, Issue 4.
Express Delivery
This article from Catalyst investigates how cells transfer packets of control hormones from one cell to another using subcellular packages called exosomes.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2.
Oxygen Supply *suitable for home teaching*
A Catalyst article about oxygen and how it is essential for most respiration, which goes on all the time in all live cells all living organisms.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2004, Volume 15, Issue 1.
Drink Driving
A Catalyst article about preventing drink driving. Since 1980, the UK's government estimates it has saved over 20,000 lives by its campaign to reduce drink driving.
This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2005, Volume 15, Issue 4.
Diabetes in Young People *suitable for home teaching*
A Catalyst article about juvenile diabetes, a genetic disease also known as Type 1 diabetes, which affects over 200,000 people in the UK.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 18, Issue 3.
The Systems Physiology of Exercise *suitable for home teaching*
This Catalyst article looks at the effect exercise has on the body. Poor fitness contributes to shorter life expectancy, and inability to exercise reduces quality of life in the ill or aged.
The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2012, Volume 22, Issue 4.
Uncovering the Magical World of Signalling
This Catalyst article takes a look at the winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 2012 who revealed how cells communicate.
This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2013, Volume 23, Issue 3.