From the National Non-Food Crops Centre, this factsheet looks at the issues that surround using land for the growth of biofuel crops rather than food crops. Growing biomass for the energy market could reduce dependence on finite petrochemicals, potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enrich rural businesses...

The Advanced Physics Project for Independent Learning (APPIL) was written for students preparing for the Advanced Level examinations – especially in the small A-level groups which existed in some comprehensive schools. The project was sponsored by the Inner London Education Authority and the materials were tested...

Although written to support the Scottish Advanced Higher Project, this is a useful resource for all advanced independent research projects.   The philosophy behind the booklet is that students should be supported in developing their skills of investigation. Students should not be abandoned to their fate, nor should...

In this Catalyst article, Laura Plant describes the time she spent in the Amazon rainforest in northern Peru on a project researching the impacts of forestry on the plants and animals that live there.

In tropical regions, large areas of rainforests have been untouched for centuries. This means that many rare...

Steve analyses the flow of air over racing cars. He studied aero-mechanical engineering at university and following a two week summer placement, at Lola cars, he was offered a position in the company.

This Catalyst article investigates the nature of aerogels, which are among the least dense solid materials, not much denser than air. Aerogels were made as the result of a bet and ended up going into space to capture comet dust. They are the lightest solids which exist and have some unusual features.

The...

A Catalyst article about using the ISIS accelerator to study the structures of materials. ISIS is one of the UK's world leading research centres and this article explains how the centre uses neutrons to study materials at an atomic level. Acting as a super microscope the ISIS accelerator can be used for physics,...

From the ABPI these are interactive resources for students aged 16-19. Topics include: Diabetes, Hormones and Their Effects, and Skin Structure and Function.

This opinion piece was written by an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funded researcher to provoke debate and discussion about the issue of ageing. The piece was written for the Debating Matters competition, which the ESRC sponsors, and discusses vital questions about whether extending the human lifespan...

The Grand Challenges – Our Futures programme (2018 to 2023) aimed to help young people develop the skills needed to bridge the gap between today’s learners and tomorrow’s career choices. The Government’s Industrial Strategy set out key Grand Challenge themes, aimed at putting the UK...

This resource forms part of the ageing society resources from the Grand Challenges resource collection.  The introductory video can be found here.

The ageing society – level 3 resource package consists of activities designed to run for around two to three hours...

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...

This Nuffield Working with Science unit was designed to enable students to investigate the sources, nature and impacts of air pollution.

Guidance for teachers and technicians appears in...

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...