Democs is a series of resources produced by the new economics foundation (nef). Their aim is to promote discussion about contemporary issues. Materials contain teacher guidance and the information and structure that students need to develop ideas on difficult issues. They help students to gain confidence in their...

Produced by the Wellcome Trust, these animations take a detailed look at the molecular mechanisms that allow the dengue virus to subvert the cells of its mammalian host, allowing it to replicate and spread. Dengue is an example of an RNA virus.

This video for a-level and GCSE high ability students looks at how we derive units.  It looks at why speed can be measured in m/s and then goes onto to look at the units for force using F=ma and also why we use Joules for energy.  It also discusses the seven main base units and how all units are derived from these...

Aerospace engineers need to take into account the heat generated when the space craft move through the atmosphere at extreme speeds, both during launch and at re-entry, as without proper thermal protection the space craft could be destroyed. Insulating blankets, foams and tiles are used to protect the spacecraft....

In this project, students will develop an automatic ‘ball boy’ for tennis or cricket practice. They could also decide to make the robot for something entirely different - the scope is endless, and it’s up to them what you do! 

This resource gives students a brief overview of the different options available when building a parachute for the CanSat Competition. Students will learn about the underlying physics of parachutes and their design and how to control the speed of their CanSat. 

Learning objectives:

• Understand...

A case study from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) archives looking at how viruses and bacteria also take advantage of manmade infrastructure to travel and spread. People are not the only things to hop on and off buses and trains. The University College London Healthy Infrastructure...

This resource, from the University of Nottingham, describes a number of investigations which could be carried out in heathland habitats. Heathlands are excellent habitats to use for designing and carrying out experiments. Plants are often relatively easy to identify when compared with other habitats and...

A Catalyst article about designing, building and testing a spacecraft. There are thousands of man-made satellites orbiting the Earth. Some are only a few hundred kilometres above the Earth and complete one orbit roughly every 90 minutes. Geostationary satellites are located around 40 000 kilometres from the surface...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1973, describes two methods for determining the vitamin C in foods. The leaflet describes the estimation of vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) in foodstuffs, after extraction with metaphosphoric acid, by titration with a standardized dye, 2,6 dichlorophenolindophenol,...

This Unilever Laboratory Experiment, published in 1970, describes the procedure for a titration with EDTA and Eriochrome Black T to determine the total hardness of water. The details cover the preparation of a standard solution of EDTA as well as the steps of the titration.

As the number of cells in a microbial culture increases, turbidity increases. In this experiment students calculate doubling time and growth rate constant using absorbance as the measure of growth. Turbidity is caused by suspended cells in the growth medium scattering light, and may be measured using a colorimeter...