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...

This unit looks at biofuels and how these relate to the climate crisis, fossil fuels and the food industry and whether they are the future of fuels.

In this unit students consider the relationship between the growing of crops for food or for fuel and conduct independent research to write a policy brief on...

A Catalyst article about how burning fossil fuels releases extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. However, burning renewable biofuels is part of the normal carbon cycle and does not contribute to an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This article looks at the ways in...

This Catalyst article examines the differences between fossil fuels and biofuels. At present, fossil fuels are used to provide most of our global energy requirements. Fossil fuels are a finite resource as they take millions of years to form and the remaining supplies are being used at a greater rate than can be...

This booklet contains a range of suggested teaching activities and contexts for teaching about membranes at A level.  Topics covered include: including fluid mosaic, phospholipids, cholesterol, receptors, permeability, diffusion, facilitated diffusion, active transport, exocytosis, and osmosis.

Although...

This booklet contains a range of suggested teaching activities and contexts for teaching about biological molecules at A level.  Topics covered include: hydrogen bonding, monomers, polymers, glucose, ribose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, glycosidic, starch, glycogen, cellulose, phospholipid, ester, amino acid, protein...

From the Integrating Mathematical Problem Solving project by Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), this activity for post-16 students demonstrates that if a link is suspected between a risk factor and an illness, statistical methods can be used to test whether such a link exists. Topic areas covered are:...

These We Are Aliens! related biology activities for the class room have been devised by Chris Carr. The resources includes practical activities and worksheets. Supporting videos demonstrate the activities. The following curriculum areas are covered: • Cell biology • Food tests, including starch, sugar, protein and...

Produced by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), these naked Scientist podcasts look at biology questions in an accessible and informative way.

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In this cluster of articles, students investigate aspects of plant biology and behaviour including chloroplast genes and how they have helped biologists understand plant evolution; how plants monitor the intensity, direction, colour and duration of the light they receive and if attacked by herbivores or pathogens...

In this biochemistry-based activity students consider why many industrial chemical reactions are being catalysed by enzymes. They find out about an important coenzyme, NADH and act in role as industrial chemists by evaluating the different ways of recycling it.