Bacteria are one of the simplest forms of independent life with no nucleus or membrane bound organelles. These animations, from the Wellcome Trust, show that, despite this apparent simplicity, bacterial diseases pose a profound threat to world health. The animations are suitable as a lesson starter, to introduce...

This resource from Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is a practical, classroom activity that allows the students to make a balloon model of a disease-causing bacterium. This illustrates its basic shape and structure. Students can choose from three bacteria species...

This article from Catalyst looks at the ageing process in bananas. As bananas age, spots develop on their skins. These contain fluorescent substances which can be seen with a UV torch.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2.

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This manual, from the Microbiology Society, provides a basic introduction to microbiology, aseptic technique and safety.

Part 1 of the book includes information on good microbiological laboratory practice, equipment, preparation of culture media, sterilisation and disinfection, inoculation, aseptic technique...

A Catalyst article about biologists looking for patterns in the distribution of barnacle species on the sea shore. Barnacles are arthropods which live as tiny larvae in the sea and then cement themselves, head down, on suitable rocks, build a shell, poke their legs out of the top of it and start to filter feed. The...

A Catalyst article about Darwin's travels on the Beagle which gave him ideas about evolution. Darwin spent almost five years on board HMS Beagle as it sailed around the world. The purpose of the voyage was to map navigation channels around the coast of South America. Darwin was the ship’s naturalist and companion...

Produced by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) as part of their 'At Work With Science' series, this resource looks at a hypothetical, but realistic, project aimed at producing a new way of treating bacterial infections. In this activity, students first consider what features are important...

Amy is an ecologist working with the Forestry Commission. Amy is very frank in the video about her school history, describing her school reports as "less than shiny", and the video conveys how applied scientific research focuses her naturally curious nature.

In the video Amy describes how she writes computer...

Produced by the Wellcome Trust, the Big Picture magazine was aimed at post-16 students and explored contemporary issues within biology and medicine. Each contains accessible information, that is directly relevant to the curriculum, along with supporting resources such as stimulus materials, activity sheets and...

Learning ...

This Biochemical Society careers resource is aimed at students and provides an overview of the impact of biochemistry on other areas of science, a description of what biochemistry is and an illustration of the range of organisations which employ biochemists.

There is also a description of the types of...

This colourful leaflet from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at what biodiversity is and why it matters. It also explains how human activities threaten the natural environment, endangering species and habitats and what we are doing about the problem. The resource includes a list of research...

This booklet contains a range of suggested teaching activities and contexts for teaching about biodiversity at A level.  Topics covered include: sampling, species, Simpson's, diversity, conservation, population, and ecology.

Although produced to support the teaching of OCR AS and A Level Biology A...

From ARKive, this hands-on activity is designed to remind post-16 students about the concepts of biodiversity, evolution and Darwin’s theory of natural selection. By investigating biodiversity and the process of evolution students learn how traits beneficial for survival are selected for and genetically passed on...