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An electric eel can generate enough current to stun its prey. Johns Hopkins University neuroethologist Eric Fortune traveled to Ecuador to study electric knifefish in their native habitat. Back at Johns Hopkins University, research collaborator mechanical engineer Noah Cowan and the rest of the team use Fortune's field data to help with their observations and experiments in the lab. With support from the National Science Foundation, they are studying the knifefish to learn more about how the brains of animals work to control their behavior.
(Source: DCMP)
Snakes certainly make it look easy when they slither forward, leaving perfect S-curve tracks behind them, but scientists have long been puzzled by the mechanics of their locomotion. Now, after a series of experiments and some computer modeling, David Hu has cracked the case. With funding from the National Science Foundation, he’s using math to determine how snakes slither and it turns out they move in a much different way than scientists have long thought.
As a boy growing up in Brazil 40 years ago, Marc Meyers marveled at the lightweight toughness of toucan beaks that he occasionally found on the forest floor. Now, with support from the National Science Foundation, the materials scientist and mechanical and aerospace engineer at UC San Diego, is conducting the first ever detailed engineering analysis of toucan beaks. He says makers of airplanes and automobiles may benefit from his findings. In fact, panels that mimic toucan beaks may offer better protection to motorists involved in crashes.
The Magic School Bus is an award winning animated children’s television series based on the book series of the same title by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It is notable for its use of celebrity talent and being both highly entertaining and educational. Arnold's dream comes true-- he doesn't have to go on a field trip. Ms. Frizzle lets him stay behind with Liz. However, it seems Arnold can't be completely left out because he accidentally swallows the bus. He then becomes the field trip as his classmates explore Arnold's digestive system.
Cyborg technology is a revolutionary development in rehabilitation medicine. It allows the brain and nervous system to manipulate specially engineered devices that help people regain the use of impaired body function. Once a dream of science fiction, this revolutionary technology is now becoming a reality. Demostrates a deep brain stimulation that can help stop the violent shaking of victims of Parkinson's disease. Presents two professors from the State University of New York and Duke University who discuss their cutting-edge research.
The connections between neurons in the brain are involved in everything humans do, and no one’s pattern is the same. Imagine the medical breakthroughs if doctors understood more about the brain’s circuitry. With support from the National Science Foundation, neuroscientist and psychiatrist Karl Deisseroth and his multidisciplinary team at Stanford University have developed a new imaging technology that essentially makes the brain transparent. They can then generate detailed 3-D images that highlight specific neuronal networks. Deisseroth has named this process “CLARITY.” Part of the National Science Foundation Series “Science Nation.”
What happens in your brain when you get lost or forget something? Johns Hopkins University Neuroscientist Amy Shelton believes she can find the answer. With funding from the National Science Foundation, she’s testing human spatial recognition. Study subjects learn and recall their way around a virtual maze while an MRI scans their brains. By analyzing MRI images of blood flow in the human, Shelton can get a picture of how the brain learns and recalls the spatial world outside the body. By understanding those processes, she believes she can develop techniques that will help improve human memory.
Bilge Mutlu, a computer scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison knows a thing or two about the psychology of body language. With support from the National Science Foundation, Mutlu and his fellow computer scientist, Michael Gleicher, take a gaze into the behavior of humans and create algorithms to reproduce it in robots and animated characters. Both Mutlu and Gleicher are betting that there will be significant benefits to making robots and animated characters look more like humans.
Human ancestors in Africa likely had dark skin, which is produced by an abundance of the pigment eumelanin in skin cells. In the high ultraviolet (UV) environment of sub-Saharan Africa, darker skin offers protection from the damaging effects of UV radiation. Dr. Jablonski explains that the variation in skin color that evolved since human ancestors migrated out of Africa can be explained by the tradeoff between protection from UV and the need for some UV absorption for the production of vitamin D.
A mutagen is any agent (physical, chemical, or biological) capable of altering the structure of DNA within human cells. This program explores how some mutations are a natural process resulting from errors in the copying and repair of DNA and how some mutagens naturally exist in the world (e.g., UV radiation, cosmic rays, and some radioactive isotopes). Others are specific chemicals that have been synthesized for use in manufacturing or other industries. Mutagens may also arise during the metabolism of certain foods. In many cases mutagens may also lead to the development of cancers.
Explores the strange and relatively unknown world of sleep-a world in which we spend approximately one-third of our lives. Shows how the discovery of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) during our dream period in the early 1950s by Dr. Nathaniel Kleitman at the University of Chicago brought about an understanding of the mechanism of sleep. Before his discovery, it was believed that during sleep the brain was in a state of rest. Also, overviews the nature and frequency of dreams and nightmares, and sleep disorders such as insomnia, apnea, and narcolepsy that affect millions of Americans.
James Watson and Francis Crick collected and interpreted key evidence to determine that DNA molecules take the shape of a twisted ladder—a double helix. The film presents the challenges, false starts, and eventual success of their bold chase. Watson relates what those early days in the Cavendish Laboratory were like, including his friendship with Crick and their shared ambition and passion. Rarely seen archival footage is combined with interviews with some of today’s leading scientists to bring this landmark discovery and all of its implications to life.
In contrast to the peaceful wildlands featured in the prior segments, the urban campus of the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) seems like an unlikely place to find field biologists studying juncos. But in the early 1980s, some juncos decided to make this atypical urban and coastal habitat their year-round home. Since then, scientists have documented a remarkable array of changes in the physical traits, behaviors, and physiology of the colonist population of juncos at UCSD when compared to juncos from the nearby native range. Part of Ordinary Extraordinary Junco (Chapter 6).
Neuroanatomist Jacopo Annese is looking for 1,000 brains. The Director of the Brain Observatory at the University of California, San Diego is on a quest to collect, dissect, and digitize images of the human brain for the Digital Brain Library, which was launched with support from the National Science Foundation. Annese and his team look for connections, mapping brain structure and connecting it to human behavior. He believes that with a large enough catalog of brains preserved as virtual models, scientists can explore the organ in ways unheard of, revealing new insights into what makes the brain tick.
The Magic School Bus is an award winning animated children’s television series based on the book series of the same title by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It is notable for its use of celebrity talent and being both highly entertaining and educational. Ms. Frizzle takes the class with her when she brings the Magic School Bus to the body shop for repairs. While there, Ralphie wants to use extra parts at the shop to make a robot. Ms. Frizzle then teaches the class how bones, muscles and joints all work together to help us move.
Sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell send sensory messages to the brain at a speed of 430km/hr. The brain deals with 11 million information signals per second, and this continual flow of information is sorted and analyzed by the brain, which directs the senses, organizes them, and improves them. The brain’s plasticity allows it to continually adapt. If and individual loses one sense, the brain reorganizes and compensates by increasing the power of the other senses. This episode highlights an artist who is blind and uses his fingers to feel the color of the paint before applying it to the canvas. Part of the “Human + The Future of Our Senses” series.
With support from the National Science Foundation, neurologist Ken Paller and his team at Northwestern University are studying the connection between memory and sleep, and the possibilities of boosting memory storage while sleeping. A lot of the evidence has shown that slow-wave sleep is particularly important for some types of memory, and Paller’s goal is to better understand the fundamental brain mechanisms responsible for memory. And that, in turn, may help people with memory problems, including those who find themselves more forgetful as they age. Part of the National Science Foundation Series “Science Nation.”
At the Body Farm, the dead speak. Follows the world's first open-air crime lab with founder Bill Bass, of The University of Tennessee, for a close-up look at how cadavers decay. As proxies for murder victims, these decomposing bodies are studied in the name of science and the cause of justice. Talks about the factors and biological markers that help pinpoint time since death, including wind and weather, insects and carnivores, fire damage, soft tissue leachate, mold, and bacteria. Presents three homicide cases that hinged on data and expertise gained at the Farm, and shows Ph.D. students using forensic science and body processing. Shows human bodies in a variety of decomposition stages.
Harvard economist Alvin Roth is a matchmaker but he’s not finding love – he’s finding kidneys. With support from the National Science Foundation, he and his team have developed a suite of computer programs that match living kidney donors with recipients. Why is an economist organizing kidney transplants? It turns out that an understanding of game theory and market dynamics is key to optimizing pairings. It's all about streamlining complicated matches using the science of the marketplace. Their matching software is the engine that has helped transplant centers in 30 states so far. Part of the National Science Foundation Series “Science Nation.”
It is the virus hunters who are leading the life-and-death battles against viruses. Ken Stedman hunts extreme viruses that live in the boiling acid pools of Lassen Volcanic National Park in California. Donald Henderson is responsible for wiping out smallpox-the only virus that humanity has conquered. Within a year of its eradication, AIDS emerged to become a worldwide pandemic. Ebola, Marburg, SARS, West Nile Virus, and a host of new infectious diseases soon followed. Also explores such chronic diseases as cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and mental illness, which are now suspected of being caused by viruses. Even autism is suspected of being caused by an infection during pregnancy.
Showing collections 1 to 4 of 4
Collection of anatomy resources
A collection containing 21 resources, curated by Benetech
Biology related concepts
A collection containing 59 resources, curated by Benetech
Resources related to vision
A collection containing 12 resources, curated by Charles LaPierre
Resources to teach younger students about animals
A collection containing 58 resources, curated by DIAGRAM Center
