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...

This briefing discusses how bioethics issues affect us all and how we hear about issues which fall into this category on a daily basis. News items about...

This issue covers the background in selective plant breeding over the centuries and then describes the more recent advances and the introduction of...

This edition covers issues concerning assisted conception and "designer babies", which is a term which is often heard in the popular media. Today an ever-...

As human-to-human transplantation has become more and more successful, it has almost become a victim of its own success. There is a shortage of donor organs...

Stem cells have the potential to develop into different cell types in the human body and as such, can be used for tissue repair or, perhaps in the distant...

A Catalyst article describing how glow worms and other insects emit light by bioluminescence. All over the world, on land and in the sea, living things have been making light for millions of years. From the glow of the sea on a dark night due to myriads of phytoplankton, to the dance of the male fireflies trying to...

This Catalyst article looks at orchids, their breeding, and why they have great commercial value. The family of Orchidaceae is one of the largest plant families, with about 900 genera and 25,000 species. Orchids are amongst the oldest flowering plants. After a long evolution, they have developed a very intimate...

This Catalyst article explains how chemists build molecular 'traps' to mimic the surface of a cell. To scientists, sugar is much more than a food; sugar molecules can also form polymers which act as ‘molecular bar codes’ to help cells recognise each other. The article describes how chemists made a synthetic...

This articles article looks at the work of astrobiologists, and how the study of extremophiles on Earth can help us to understand how we might colonise another planet in space exploration. ...

This Catalyst article explores the processes undertaken during the construction of a white water canoe course for the Olympic Games which requires a huge range of practical skills, but also great science skills too. The scientist must calculate how much noise from both the course's construction and its use during...

Produced by the Wellcome Trust, this issue of the Big Picture explores some of the careers that are available to students who have studied biological science. It goes...

This Catalyst article looks at young people working in biochemistry, detailing how they got to where they are and what their job involves.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2.

 Catalyst is a...

A Catalyst article explaining how scientists with qualifications in ecology and environmental science play an increasingly important role in assessing the human impact on the Earth. Ecology is the branch of biology that looks at how organisms, plants and animals, depend on each other and their surroundings. It also...

This issue of Catalyst contains the following articles:

Diamond: more than just a gemstone