A Catalyst article about the working life of Dr Gillian Lockwood, a reproductive biologist who specialises in IVF. The article looks at the ethical issues surrounding fertility treatments for problems such as polycystic ovary syndrome.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2007, Volume 17, Issue...

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. The article looks at how this result is achieved and how the body copes with alcohol and how it breaks alcohol down.

This article is from...

A Catalyst article about the fruit fly which has played a succession of key roles in developments in biological science over the last 100 years as a laboratory subject in genetics.

Researchers have found that many aspects of the biochemistry of fruit flies and humans are similar. It is due to the fact that...

Published by the Wellcome Trust, the 'Big Picture' explores issues around biology and medicine.

While providing immense benefits, drugs are not the perfect solution. They only work on a proportion of patients,...

This Catalyst article looks at harlequin ladybirds, just one of the invasive species that has spread through Western Europe. Over the last century there has been a dramatic increase in the movement of so called alien species around the world as a consequence of international trade and travel. Invasive alien species...

A Catalyst article devoted to food chains. This article looks at photosynthesis and the loss of energy from plants to animals throughout the food chain. How this limits the number of animals that can survive on the energy fixed by a patch of vegetation is explained. Foraging characteristics and how many animals can...

Published by the Wellcome Trust, the 'Big Picture' explores issues around biology and medicine. How do we stop new diseases emerging or re-emerging infections getting out of hand?

How does this happen in a world of...

Since the discovery of antibiotics, many people believe that the pathogenic microorganism threat to the population has been removed, with fatal infections and infectious diseases brought under control. This has discouraged research into drugs containing natural compounds such as essential oils. However, humans are...

Published by the Wellcome Trust, the 'Big Picture' explores issues around biology and medicine. Why does Darwinian evolution raise controversy when, say, quantum mechanics scarcely registers on the public consciousness?

A Catalyst article looking at the evidence for evolution and which considers the ongoing conflict between scientists and creationists. The work of Charles Darwin is central to the article which summarises his theory of natural selection and also covers creation myths and creationists.

This article is from...

Produced by the Wellcome Trust, this issue of the Big Picture looks at the physiology and sociology of exercise and movement.

For humans, movement is for more than just basic survival. They move for fun, to compete and to be healthy. This resource looks at the biological systems that keep humans moving and...

A Catalyst article looking at the benefits of exercise and how it affects bone structure and hence physical fitness. Furthermore, obesity in Britain is on the rise and so the population is encouraged to do regular exercise, not only for cardiovascular and respiratory health, but also for general well-being. But...

This Catalyst article describes discovering hydrothermal vents at ocean sea-beds. Hydrothermal vents form along mid-ocean ridges. A mid-ocean ridge is where the Earth’s tectonic plates are moving apart, usually at a rate of about 6 to 18 centimetres a year. The presence of hydrothermal vents had been predicted by...

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.

Catalyst...

A Catalyst article about what happens as plants grow. During their growth, plants remove compounds of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from soil which need to be replaced to maintain the soil’s fertility. For centuries farmers have used organic manures, crop rotation or ploughed in specially grown crops; today...