These technical briefs look at agricultural production in many parts of the world, carried out on a small-scale by farmers. Relatively small improvements in agricultural practice can have a big impact on yield and dramatically improve the life of a farmer and their family.

Technical briefs are documents...

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 resource consists of two field work activities. The first records lichens on trees as an indicator of air quality and the second looks for tar spot fungus on sycamore leaves. This links to curriculum work on plants, habitats, air quality and improving the environment. This resource includes a workbook, field...

This resource uses the context of long distance runner Eliud Kipchoge trying to be the first person to run a marathon under 2 hours, to look at air resistance.  The video below is a good introduction to the challenge facing Eliud. 

The presentation, which contains teacher notes, looks at the forces involved...

Alan works at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, and is designing software for the James Webb Space Telescope.  Alan talks about his work on the mid infrared instrument which will look at the formation of galaxies in the early universe.  He uses coding in his job and explains how you need to write algorithms to a...

A Catalyst article about the life and ideas of Albert Einstein. He is most famous for his ideas on relativity which formed the theory of general relativity, in which he showed that gravity could be explained as the effect of large masses on space. After the Second World War he also worked with other scientists and...

A Catalyst article about alchemy, the study of eternal life, salvation, and the answer to the ultimate questions about life, the universe and everything. It flourished for more than 1500 years until, in the late 1600s, the beginnings of modern, scientific chemistry edged it aside. The article looks at what was...

Adults drink more frequently than adolescents, but when adolescents drink they tend to drink larger quantities. There is evidence to suggest that the adolescent brain responds to alcohol differently from the adult brain. Scientists at the University of Oxford are...

This Catalyst article looks at the work of Alfred Russel Wallace who developed a theory of evolution in parallel with Charles Darwin; they published their findings jointly. As a scientist he was interested in lots of different things, from how different species came into existence to the question of whether ghosts...

This reliable practical allows students to use algae to look at the rate of photosynthesis with quantifiable and replicable results. In this protocol, the...

Alice and Bob in Wonderland are animations produced by the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. They are based around the questions that Alice has about the physical world and how these can lead to "powerful ideas" in physics, such as energy-mass equivalence and relativity. Topics include time travel, the...

Produced by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, this booklet gives instructions on a practical demonstration of the Doppler effect. The practical uses a portable speaker an audio software to calculate the change in frequency. Included is an online video that shows the demonstration and places it in the context of...

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...