Air pollutants arise from natural processes and human activities. In this SATIS Revisited resource, students investigate air pollution, how it is monitored and some effects on human health. Air pollutants arise from a wide variety of sources, although they are mainly a result of the combustion process. It is easy...

This podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection looks at invasive species of plants and animals. Many of them are well-known. Grey squirrels, harlequin ladybirds, buddleia, Japanese knotweed - the list goes on. Some of these aliens, or invasive species to give them...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Richard Hollingham finds out that the freezing seas around Antarctica are not barren and lifeless. The Census of Marine Life is building up a picture of the richness and diversity of life in the world's oceans and...

In this podcast from the Natural Environment Research Council's (NERC) Planet Earth Online collection, Richard Hollingham reports from an unusual and somewhat cold location - onboard the British Antarctic Survey's RRS James Clark Ross which was stuck in the ice for two weeks 1000 kilometres from the North Pole. He...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). As the map of Earth's gravity – as revealed by the European Space Agency's (ESA) sleek GOCE satellite – comes into sharper focus, Richard Hollingham speaks to a researcher who tells us what early results from 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...

This resource from the European Space Agency climate change resource pack explores the topic of biodiversity and how habitat loss is a key driver of global biodiversity loss occurring today. In a series of activities students explore the importance of biodiversity focusing in particular on distributions of common...

This SATIS Revisited resource looks at the environmental and ecological consequences of further expansion of biofuel crops due to deforestation, biodiversity and landscapes.

Biodiesel is a fuel derived from biomass (...

A podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Richard Hollingham finds out that bowerbirds are not just brilliant at making elaborate bowers, they are also good at mimicking other birds and most other sounds they hear, including human voices.

He also...

This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at what UK farmers are doing to protect the country's vanishing bumblebees, butterflies and other pollinating insects; how scientists are trying to figure out how many types of microbes there are on our...

In this podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Sue Nelson goes to the Eden Project in Cornwall, southwest England and to the South Downs in southeast England to find out what butterfly research is telling us about climate change. As well as the bad news...

In this SATIS Revisited resource students consider the factors that contribute to the greenhouse effect, the possible effects of global warming, and how they as individuals are contributing to carbon dioxide emissions.

Climate change is affecting the natural world. The distribution of some species appears to...

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...

Catalyst Magazine is a science journal for young people aged 14-19 and their educators. It brings STEM subjects to life with insights into cutting-edge scientific research and industry R&D exploring the practical applications of complex science in the world around us. Catalyst magazine is a digital only...