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Controversial new research suggests that contrary to the history books, the "Black Death" that devastated medieval Europe was not the bubonic plague, but rather an Ebola-like virus. History books have long taught the Black Death, which wiped out a quarter of Europe's population in the Middle Ages, was caused by bubonic plague, spread by infected fleas that lived on black rats. But new research in England suggests the killer was actually an Ebola-like virus transmitted directly from person to person.

In 2005, PLoS Medicine published a now-famous paper with the attention-grabbing but exasperating title, "Why Most Published Research Findings Are False".1 It was written by John Ioannidis, MD, PhD, an American doctor from Greece, a distinguished author of about 400 peer-reviewed papers, 40 books and book chapters or so, and much more. Ioannidis is a giant, and I am really nobody to criticize.

Book section on NCBI

Book Chapter of gene therapy, nice figure on different approaches.

The tale is further muddled by Chinese fossils analysed over the past four decades, which cast doubt over the linear progression from African H. erectus to modern humans. They show that, between roughly 900,000 and 125,000 years ago, east Asia was teeming with hominins endowed with features that would place them somewhere between H. erectus and H. sapiens, says Wu (see'Ancient human sites'). "Those fossils are a big mystery," says Ciochon. "They clearly represent more advanced species than H. erectus, but nobody knows what they are because they don't seem to fit into any categories we know."

Trialer for book written about the wrongful conviction of Ronald Cotton

On this page we have compiled resources for educators to use in the classroom.  The first section consists of modules developed at NESCent.  "Other Curriculum Resources" includes a list of various resources ranging from single lessons, to books, to computer simulations.  The "Audio and Video Lecture" section has links to single lectures, interviews, and science shows.  Some are are audio only while others include video. 

Have you ever wondered why people look the way they do? Why our hands and feet have five digits instead of six? Why we stand on two legs instead of four? It took 350 million years of evolution to produce the amazing machine we call the human body and in Your Inner Fish, a three-part series based on the best-selling book of the same name, author and evolutionary biologist Dr. Neil Shubin looks into the past to answer these and other questions.

Fascinating narrative science that explores the next frontier in medicine and genetics through the very personal prism of the children and families gene therapy has touched. Eight-year-old Corey Haas was nearly blind from a hereditary disorder when his sight was restored through a delicate procedure that made medical history.  Like something from a science fiction novel, doctors carefully introduced viruses bearing healing genes into Corey's eyes-a few days later, Corey could see, his sight restored by gene therapy.

PBS created a three-part television series based off of Neil Shubin's best-selling book, Your Inner Fish. Along with the series, they have created an excellent website with teaching resources, video clips, and interactive features to guide you through the record of evolution in our bodies.

Interactive media book with areas to learn, explore, and analyze microarray data

This case study introduces students to the "Red Queen Hypothesis." The hypothesis states that when two species compete for a limited resource or exist in a predator-prey relationship, in order for the antagonists to remain in relative population equilibrium, there must be ongoing and reciprocal adaptation on each side. If one species fails to adapt, it may quickly face extinction. Students are introduced to the Red Queen Hypothesis through an excerpt from Lewis Carroll's novel, Through the Looking Glass, in which Alice meets the Red Queen. They then review experiments from the research literature to evaluate the validity of the hypothesis in extant populations.  Students culminate their learning by contrasting their knowledge of the Red Queen Hypothesis to Darwinian evolutionary theory based on a passage from On the Origin of Species.  Students then craft a letter to Darwin helping to explain his "wedge" theory, a notion he originally developed but removed from later iterations of his book due to a lack of experimental evidence. Originally developed for advanced high school biology students, the case also may be used in a college-level introductory course on evolutionary biology.

Teaching K-12 Science and Engineering During a Crisis aims to describe what high quality science and engineering education can look like in a time of great uncertainty and to support practitioners as they work toward their goals. This book includes guidance for science and engineering practitioners - with an emphasis on the needs of district science supervisors, curriculum leads, and instructional coaches. Teaching K-12 Science and Engineering During a Crisis will help K-12 science and engineering teachers adapt learning experiences as needed to support students and their families dealing with ongoing changes to instructional and home environments and at the same time provide high quality in those experiences.

Online biology textbook from Estrella Mountain Community College, Michael J. Farabee, Ph.D.

The question of cell renewal is one that all of us have intuitive daily experience with. We all notice that our hair falls out regularly, yet we don't get bald (at least not until males reach a certain age!).  Similarly, we have all had the experience of cutting ourselves only to see how new cells replaced their damaged predecessors. And we donate blood or give blood samples without gradually draining our circulatory system. All of these examples point to a replacement rate of cells, that is characteristic of different tissues and in different conditions, but which makes it abundantly clear that for many cell types renewal is a part of their story.

Not surprisingly, Hambrick and Tucker-Drob found a correlation between practice and musical accomplishment. But they also found that the amount of practice young musicians engaged in was influenced by their genetic make-up.

Teachers wanting to expand the conversation to genetic work with other "races" -- scroll down to view "Multimedia and Links," "Questions for Classroom Discussion," and other features.

"Performance-based learning and assessment represent a set of strategies for the acquisition and application of knowledge, skills, and work habits through the performance of tasks that are meaningful and engaging to students."

calorimetry carbon transfer: snails/elodea investigating bacterial growth mutations in fruit flys Gel Electrophoresis bacterial transformation comparing hominoid skulls testing antibacterial agents plant transpiration exploring plant responses insects and crime scene analysis interpreting bird response blood typing