This Catalyst article describes how fish can help scientists to learn more about human biology. Understanding how human bodies work and what causes human disease is the key to future medical breakthroughs. Most discoveries in medical science are a result of experiments that cannot be performed on humans. Animal...

This resource, produced by SEPNet and Queen Mary University of London, uses Lego to represent the building blocks of matter. Different colour and size Lego bricks are assigned to protons, neutrons and electrons. Fusion is shown by joining bricks together and fission by breaking large collections of bricks apart....

This Catalyst article explores 'Biomodels', biological species which are increasingly well-understood and which have been chosen because they can help us to test new biological theories, particularly in the field of genetics.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2011, Volume 22, Issue 2....

This challenge, from Practical Action, requires students to design and build a model structure that will enable farmers to grow crops even in an area that may become flooded. A floating garden, built on a base of aquatic weeds, is a low cost and sustainable way of allowing people to grow vegetables. The resource...

This podcast from the Planet Earth Online collection and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) looks at why removing some man-made coastal flood defences might not be such a bad idea, what it is like studying gas exchange in the wilds of the Southern Ocean, and – in what could be the first case of '...

These videos highlight the problems caused by flooding in the developing world, and show how Practical Action works with local communities to help reduce the impact of future floo...

The aim of this experiment is to investigate the velocity of charged ions in an electric field. This is of the same order as the drift velocity of electrons in a wire under the influence of the same field.  A variety of analysis and conclusions that can be draw are provided.

This resource has been provided...

This Catalyst article looks at the use of fluoride in water supplies. The UK health secretary has announced that more water companies would be encouraged to add fluoride to the water supplies. The article looks at why fluoride is added, what the advantages and risks are and why should it be put into water.

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This Catalyst article explores how high-speed photography can reveal how mosquitoes can keep dry while flying in the rain.

To find out how mosquitoes survive impacts with raindrops, a group of engineers from Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) developed a system which allowed them to photograph collisions...

This Catalyst article looks at what it means to say that an astronaut is 'weightless'. The article looks at how astronauts are trained in aircraft and how underwater work can also help prepare them for space travel.

This article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2008, Volume 19, Issue 1.

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This publication, from the Technology Enhancement Programme (TEP), looks at the topic of flywheels and how they can be used to store or smooth energy flows. The book initially provides information for students on the following topics:

• The energy-storage system
• Cyclicity of supply
• ...

What do dental fillings, catalytic converters, mobile phones and jewellery have in common? They all make use of the metal palladium. This Catalyst article explains the properties of this metal, and how it can be used for a vast array of objects.

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