This Catalyst article describes how biophysics is helping in the search for novel antibiotics. Bacteria produce an array of proteins to kill off their competitors. These proteins, called bacteriocins, are very efficient at penetrating the defensive outer layers of bacteria cells by moving through specific membrane...

In these resources from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), students look at the scientific and factual side of this important aspect of the curriculum. The Key Stage Three lessons look at how plants can be used to clean up contaminated land and the science of acid rain. The Key Stage Four lessons...

In these STFC resources, students discover fascinating facts about materials and their properties. The Key Stage Three resources look at the many different facets of cement. The Key Stage Four resources examine ethics and science of oil drilling, oil being the basis for the plastics industry. The resource also...

As transistors become smaller, the doping of semi-conductors becomes a significant challenge. This Catalyst article looks at how Scanning Tunnelling Microscopes can be used to manipulate individual atoms, to create electronic devices of unprecedented accuracy. The technique could also be used to fabricate quantum...

Learn about the cooling down of liquids and thermal insulators in this colourful comic aimed at students in Key Stage Two. Written to promote enquiry skills in a context, it focuses on making predictions before carrying out an investigation on how quickly a hot liquid...

Learn about the properties of gases in this colourful comic aimed at Key Stage Two. Written to promote scientific enquiry, it contains a linked investigation which focuses on how to plan and carry out an investigation when considering which materials are good at...

Learn about the properties of solids, liquids and gases in this colourful comic aimed at students in Key Stage Two. Written to promote enquiry skills, it contains a linked investigation which focuses on planning and evaluating evidence when investigating how to create...

Learn about the properties of materials and changing state in this colourful comic aimed at students in Key Stage Two. Written to promote enquiry skills, it contains a linked investigation which focuses on planning and recording when finding out how to make the best...

Learn about the properties of materials in this colourful comic aimed at students in Key Stage Two. Written to promote enquiry skills in a context, it focuses on making careful observations when carrying out an investigation testing the hardness of materials.

These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop understanding of filtration, evaporation and distillation as methods to separate...

These materials look at three possible projects that relate to cleaning products and tackling microbes that spread disease: * Communications project - students act as health promotion specialists trying to persuade people about the need to wash hands after using the toilet. * Practical project - students...

Students research, and then try out, ways of detecting analgesic compounds in mixtures:

• Chemical tests for particular organic functional groups.

• Paper and/or thin-layer chromatography to separate and identify analgesic...

In this project students use chromatography to detect forged cheques and other documents and various types of counterfeit goods.  They will also investigate the best solvents to extract the inks and run TLC plates in order to compare the inks from the same part of a document printed on different models of a printer...

This resource describes 30 hours of independent project work for a silver Crest Award on the subject of art restoration.  Students start by carrying out some research about paint pigments:

• What did early artists use? How did they colour their paints? What pigments were available to them?
• ...