This Catalyst article explains how chemists build molecular 'traps' to mimic the surface of a cell. To scientists, sugar is much more than a food; sugar molecules can also form polymers which act as ‘molecular bar codes’ to help cells recognise each other. The article describes how chemists made a synthetic...

Purpose: Observing changes over time can result in the collection of a lot of data. One method of keeping a central record for the class is to set up a blog or a wiki for the duration of the investigation where photographs, measurements, results tables and graphs can be collated. Using a digital record rather than...

A Catalyst article about fainting and how it can be the result of a sudden drop in blood pressure, which is often part of a shock reaction. Maintaining blood pressure is an important part of keeping the human body in balance. This article examines hypertension, living with high blood pressure, and the relationship...

A Catalyst article about the use of tiny electronic sensors to monitor the movement of people. As electronic devices get smaller and more powerful, they are finding new uses in monitoring human activity. This article describes a project to develop sensors with uses in medicine, sport and electronic gaming.

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This booklet contains a range of suggested activities and contexts for teaching about bonding and structure at A level. Curriculum links include ionic, covalent and metallic bonding, properties, shapes of molecules, structure, dot-and-cross, intermolecular forces, properties, bond angles, and intermolecular bonding...

This booklet contains a range of suggested activities and contexts for teaching about bonding at A level. Curriculum links include covalent bonding, ionic bonding, metallic bonding, bond enthalpy, bond angles, intermolecular bonding, links between bonding and properties...

From the National Non-Food Crops Centre, this factsheet looks at the crop Borago officinalis. This crop has been grown in the UK for a number of years as a high value, speciality oil crop. Similar to evening primrose, borage is recognised as a key source of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), contained in the seed oil....

From Nelson Thornes, these materials are aimed at A2 level students and help them to understand the energy changes involved in Born-Haber cycles. The student activity sheet follows on from the study of Born-Haber cycles and the calculation of lattice enthalpies. The activities requires students to apply this...

These resources can be used independently or in conjunction with the STFC Borrow the Moon scheme.

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...

A pair of videos that investigates the Boyle’s law relationship. The first demonstrates how to undertake the experiment using a pressure sensor and syringe.  The second explains how to interpret the data, plot the graph and determine if there is a relationship between the volume of a gas and the pressure. 

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The brain is one of our most fascinating organs. Developments in technology and medicine mean that doctors and scientists can examine our brains in more ways and more detail than ever before, all without having to open up the body. In these articles, we find out more about how imaging research has changed the way...

This unplugged activity from Peter McOwan and Paul Curzon mingles computer science with biology. A group activity is used that mimics the firing of neurons within the brain. These trigger other neurons to fire – these can be compared to AND gates in logic circuits.

The ‘brain in a bag’ kits used in the...