The Great Turtle Race
Sea turtles make huge journeys across the Pacific, to and from egg-laying sites. Turtles laying eggs in Indonesia paddle (and use currents) all the way to California to forage for jellyfish, and leatherbacks from Costa Rica travel right down to the south Pacific.
Some researchers have been using GPS technology to track migrations to see if their route is the same each year:
There is even an annual event called The Great Turtle Race (this year is the second – The Olympiad!)
Head on over to their website to find out more about sea turtle conservation and visit some of their links.
There’s even a flash game or two to play, or a sea turtle survival lesson from Bridge: National Marine Educators Association
And, of course, there is a facebook group devoted to the race.
This is all organised by the leatherback trust.
Transport in Angiospermophytes
Don’t forget the useful resources from the Plant and Soil Sciences eLibrary
Mineral uptakes from steve.gb.com
Cell turgor animations from kscience.com
Transport in plants from University of Alberta
Stomata from Terry Brown
Phloem transport from Kellogg
Plant and Soil Sciences eLibrary
With all the webspace devoted to genetics and biotechnology at the moment, it’s great to stumble upon a site that is bringing ‘old school’ Science into the new millenium. Though no-one seems to call it botany any more!
The Plant and Soil Science eLibrary hosts a collection of animations on plant science topics and cell biology that are useful, clear and can be easily downloaded. They are all also available in Spanish and many have pdf help notes for students.
The site is designed primarily for people who wish to earn credit for further studies in crop science and contains such units as plant physiology, crop technology and nutrition technology. There’s even some genetics in there.
Click on the image to see their transpiration example.
Rediscovering Biology – web-based Bio course
Rediscovering Biology is a comprehensive free learning resource that covers 13 different topics- mostly with an emphasis on Biochemistry and Genetics.
Each topic has an introductory video, downloadable texbook, course outline, learning activities and a selection of images and animations in quicktime, which are high-quality. One of the highlights of the site is the selection of immersive case studies. There is also a useful pop-up glossary.
Topics: Genomics, Proteins and Proteomics, Evolution and Phylogenetics, Microbial Diversity, Emerging Infectious Disease, HIV and AIDS, Genetics of Development, Cell Biology and Cancer, Human Evolution, Neurobiology, Biology of Sex and Gender, Biodoversity, Genetically Modified Organisms.
“Girl, It’s Time to Automate” & “The PCR Song”
This was first posted by TheIntersection over at ScienceBlogs.
It seems the latest way to market expensive Science lab toys (by which I mean equipment beyond the reach of your average school), is to produce a cheesy pop video.
Our first example is clearly aimed at the ladies in the lab and has been produced by Eppendorf to sell their automated pipetting system:
The next makes a mockery of cheesy ensemble charity singles and has been made by BioRad to market their PCR equipment:
“I’s amazing what heating and cooling and heating can do-oooo!”
More choice lyrics after the jump.
Walking the Amazon
This is some project.
Earlier this year, Ed Stafford and Luke Collyer from the UK started an epic journey – to walk the full length of the Amazon from the source in Peru to the mouth in Brazil. This has never been done before and will cover 4,000 miles and take about 18 months. Their aim is to raise money and awareness for a load of charities, as well as serving as a spotlight on issues related to environmental and social change in the Amazon region.
Recently, Luke left the expedition after 90 days – so if you’re up to it, head on over to the website and apply for the position of Ed’s new partner!
The team are posting regular videos of their progress to the website, which can also be found on GoogleVideo:
edited to correct Luke Collyer’s name.
Shark vs Octopus – National Geographic Videos
1. Place bets.
2. Play video.
3. Oh yeah.
National Geographic have been playing the YouTube game for two years now and have posted over 600 videos on their channel. Just put ‘science’ into the search box to filter the videos.
i-Biology 