Category Archives: Uncategorized
Pawan Sinha: How the Brain Learns to See (TED 2010)
Perfect timing for our Neurobiology unit, and a real showcase for the interdisciplinary nature of science and humanitarian work – here is Pawan Sinha talking about how the brain learns to see, and how we can help the children who are born blind in India. Find out more about Sinha’s work and Project Prakash at his university website (MIT).
DNA Replication (Core & AHL)
Class Presentation:
–
Essential Biology 3.4 DNA Replication (SL Students)
Essential Biology 3.4 & 7.2 DNA Replication (HL Students)
–
DNA Replication animations:
St. Olaf’s nice and clear animation.
Another clear one from Wiley.
Nicely illustrated one from Harvard.
John Kyrk’s complicated molecular animation.
The Meselsohn Stahl experiment from Sumanas.
More animations from North Harris College and from LearnersTV.
–
Revision materials:
Click4Biology pages: Core & HL
–
Here is the top-rated video on the subject on YouTube:
E5 The Human Brain (HL)
Almost there, HL’s!
Check out the excellent resources from the NewScientist: The Human Brain
PBS has a great site called The Secret Life of the Brain (with 3D animation), and there’s Slate’s special issue on The Brain.
Class presentation:
–
Essential Biology E5: The Human Brain
–
Regions of the brain:
PBS: 3D brain animation
–
Evidence for functions of brain structures
Reader on brain technologies, from Nature
How does fMRI work? Video from 60 minutes:
Investigating Broca’s area:
Ferrier’s animal experiments reader (from 1881)
–
Sympathetic vs Parasympathetic control
Simple animation from GFisk
Heart rate control animation, from McGraw Hill
Put some ACh into it, music video:
–
Pupillary Reflex
Pathways of the pupil reflex animation from Utah Medicine
How to test the pupil response:
–
Perception of Pain
Pain pathways animation, from Bay Area Pain Medical
Effect of endorphins on pain, from Wadsworth Psychology
–
Do fish feel pain? Reader from Science Daily
DNA Structure (Core and AHL)
Start with a decent tour of the basics, from Learn.Genetics.
Class presentation is here (click shadowed images for animations and movies):
Essential Biology: 3.3 (SL Only) DNA Structure
Essential Biology: 3.3 & 7.1 (HL) DNA Structure
Here’s a decent video from BBC AS Guru with David Suzuki:
–
And here’s a very stylized video of DNA structure from Hybrid Medical Animation. See if you can narrate it:
–
The story of the discovery of the double-helix structure is a good example international collaboration and competition, and led to the Nobel prize for Crick, Watson and Wilson (who we never hear about). You’ve got to feel for Rosalind Franklin – her work was key in their discovery and she wasn’t cited for it until after her death.
Here’s a great video, though the presenter sound like he has a mouth full of marbles:
LifeSaver Bottle: Michael Pritchard at TED
TED2010 is on right now in California, so it’s a good opportunity to look at some of their best talks of the past year. This one is short and inspirational – how to meet the UN’s Millenium Development Goal to “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water and sanitation“ – for just $8bn! 
Michael Pritchard’s LifeSaver bottle is a solution to clean water needs. For just $150, it can filter even the dirtiest water, in remote areas, or following disasters such as the Haiti quakes. Spurred on by the problems following the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, see Pritchard demonstrate the technology at TED 2009:
There’s a nice little link there to cell theory and magnification, also.
This year, who is going to be worth watching? Check out the list of presenters here.
Robin Hood Tax
OK, so it’s not science – but Economics, Health and Ecology work pretty well together, so here goes:
This is a recent clip from the UK, made by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Boat That Rocked), outlining the potential benefits of a so-called Robin Hood Tax. The idea proposes that just 0.05% of profits made from city banking deals are taken and used to help the poor and support the economy. Watch Bill Nighy acting the banker as he answers some questions from an interviewer on the benefits of the tax:
E3 Innate and Learned Behaviour
Class Presentation:
Essential Biology E3: Innate and Learned Behaviour
–
Animations and Tutorials:
Collection from The Animated Brain
Classical Conditioning from NobelPrize.org
Indiana Univerity Song Learning in Cowbirds: Social effect on birdsong:
–
TOK:
To what extent is human behaviour innate in nature?
Watch this video from the California Academy of Sciences’ Science in Action series: Facial Expressions
What is the effect of the observer on human behaviour when they know they are being observed?
Why do the blind olympians provide a good sample population for the study?
What conclusions could be drawn from the investigation? Why?
E2 Perception of Stimuli
Class presentation:
–
Essential Biology: E2 Perception of Stimuli
–
- Hermann Grid Illusion
Sight:
Collection of animations from North Harris College
Eye structure tutorial from Sumanas
Simple how-the-eye-works from BiologyMad
The Sense of Sight from Wisconsin Online
How many megapixels is the human eye? from Brainiac.
–
Hearing:
How the Ear Works, from NobelPrize.org
The Sense of Hearing from Wisconsin Online
Neat Ear Tutorial from University of Alaska Fairbanks
McGraw Hill Effect of Sound Waves on Cochlear Structures
Test your hearing range (carefully) from the University of New South Wales
–
- Mantis Shrimp: Awesome Vision
Interesting reading:
The peer-iodic table of illusions, from NewScientist.com
The Mantis Shrimp’s amazing visual capabilities, from NotExactlyRocketScience
–
The eye is not irreducably complex – it is the product of natural selection
Evolution of vertebrate eyes from Pharyngula
Owl monkey example of eye evolution, from NotExactlyRocketScience
Video, The Evolution of the Eye, from PBS:
E1 Stimulus and Response
Class Presentation:
Essential Biology: E1 Stimulus and Response
–
For Reflex Arcs (including the pain reflex):
Start with this tutorial from Sumanas
And this animation from the University of Minnesota
Lots more CNS animations from North Harris College
–
Some good readers from Not Exactly Rocket Science for the effect of natural selection on response to stimulus:
Nerves, Hormones and Homeostasis
The final topic for Standard Level (if you don’t need to go onto the Neurobio unit)
As usual, click on the shadowed images to see an animation.
– Essential Biology 6.5: Nerves, Hormones and Homeostasis
–
Introduction to the nervous system
Loads of useful resources from Neuroscience for Kids
Reflex arc animation from msjensen.
–
Nerve impulses: resting potential and action potential
Cool tutorial from the Harvey Project
McGraw Hill nerve impulse animation
Nice and simple from mrothery
Another good one from Alberta Psychology
Propagation on myelinated and non-myelinated nerves from Blackwell Publishing
–
Synaptic Transmission
Great animation from McGraw Hill
Good tutorial from Harvard Outreach
Another WHS Freeman tutorial (lifewire)
–
The Endocrine System
Good visual introduction from Delmar Learning
Really good animation – lots of info – from e-learning for kids
–
Homeostasis
Tutorial and game from think-bank
Detailed tutorial from the University of New South Wales
Homeostasis in Newfoundland from Memorial University
Another good Freeman tutorial
–
Blood Glucose and Diabetes
–
Link to Neurobiology and Behaviour: E4 – Neurotransmitters and Synapses
–
Cool music video from the Stanford students- Put some ACh into it:
If you can understand that, you’re doing well…
i-Biology 