A Catalyst article about in vitro fertilisation. About one in six couples gets help from specialists because they cannot conceive. One possibility is to use in vitro fertilisation (IVF). ‘In vitro’ means ‘in glass’ and refers to the fact that fertilisation takes place in a laboratory dish or test tube, hence the...

This Catalyst article explains how in nature, bioamplification causes substances to become more concentrated as they move from eater to eaten along a food chain. This sequence occurs in relation to the concentration of pesticides like DDT along a food chain, and causes problems for those animals, like birds of prey...

Published by the Wellcome Trust, the 'Big Picture' explores issues around biology and medicine. Written at the time of the H1N1 swine flu outbreak, it looks at the nature of influenza, drugs and vaccines that can fight it.

This Catalyst article looks at the teenage brain.The way the human brain changes, particularly during adolescence, can be studied using magnetic resonance imaging.

The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2014, Volume 25, Issue 2.

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These resources from the Wellcome Trust explore how imaging research has changed the way we look inside one of our most fascinating organs, the brain. ...

Investigating serious crimes such as murder, rape and terrorism requires forensic science experts. These people work alongside the police to find the evidence that will bring the culprit to court.

In this Catalyst article, Tony Hargreaves looks at criminal poisoning and shows how forensic science is used to...

This Catalyst article looks into Alzheimer’s disease which affects around 465 000 people in the UK, with the number of sufferers is growing as the population ages. It is a form of dementia that causes cell death in the brain and leads to memory loss and mood swings. The article investigates whether the presence of...

The rush to permit controversial methods to avoid mitochondrial disease in babies raises questions, say two bioethicists.

This resource is part...

This Catalyst article looks at a newspaper report, which carried the headline “It’s life, but not as we know it”, following NASA’s supposed discovery of a ‘second form of life’. The scientific paper, published by the eminent journal Science, even created widespread speculation about the existence of extra-...

A Catalyst article about John Snow who discovered the cause of cholera, how it spreads and how to avoid it. Snow's work is what is now referred to as epidemiology and his persistent investigative work and resulting publications resulted in health authorities using his findings.

This article is from Catalyst...

A Catalyst article about homeostasis describing how the process enables birds and mammals to be active on cold days when other species are not.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2004, Volume 14, Issue 3.

Catalyst is...

A Catalyst article discussing how the human body has to handle all sorts of variations, balancing its inputs and outputs, if it is to work efficiently. The article concentrates on one organ, the kidney, and the way it helps to keep things on an even keel through the functions of homeostasis and excretion. What...

This Catalyst article looks at scuba diving, and how having a knowledge of physics is vital in helping divers to get out of dangerous situations. Divers must be trained to control their buoyancy, and to ascend and descend at a safe pace to avoid injury. Other factors explored in the article are the effects of...

A Catalyst article describing how a decaying log is used by many different invertebrates and vertebrates. The damp environment is suitable for many species. This well illustrated article looks at some of them.

This article is from Catalyst: GCSE Science Review 2011, Volume 21, Issue 3.

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Each issue of the Big Picture is on a different topic in biology and comes with its own sprinkling of ‘fast facts’, fascinating snippets of information on the topic. This booklet brings together the best of the fast facts from the last fourteen issues, sorted into eight themes, for use in project work, as part of...