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Missed one of our lead stories? The links here will take you to content highlighted previously on BioEd Online.

The Index Elephant
Reading
In this storybook, young students track a mysterious illness that is killing baby elephants. They learn how doctors and scientists identified the pathogen, found a treatment and are working to make a vaccine.

Grades: 6-8 9-12
Library

BioEd Online’s library contains student storybooks, magazines, supplemental teaching aids and materials, and other items integrated with lessons found on this website.
Introduction to Mendelian Genetics
Presentation
Mendel used experimental approaches to characterize a particulate model of inheritance. In doing so, he developed the three Laws of Inheritance. Examine how Mendel made his important discoveries.
Food
Teacher Guide
Students investigate food sources, food webs and food chains, healthy eating and food groups, food safety and overall nutrition. (11 activities)

Grades: 3-5
Microbes
Teacher Guide
Students explore microbes that impact our health (e.g., bacteria, fungi, protists and viruses), and learn that microbes play key roles in the lives of humans, sometimes causing disease. (12 activities)

Grades: 6-8 9-12
Engineering: Using Newton's Laws of Motion
Slide Set
What are Newton’s three Laws of Motion, and how are they applied in order to create design and engineering solutions?
Complex Traits
Teacher Guide
Students use the domestic dog as a model to learn about genetics, DNA, genetic testing, phenotypes, alleles, SNPs, and mutations related to desirable and/or harmful effects in certain dog breeds. (6 activities)

Grades: 6-8 9-12
The Brain, Neurons and Brain Chemistry
Lessons
Students learn about the brain, neurons and chemical communication in the brain and nervous system, while building understanding of the powerful effects of drugs in the brain and body, and how our choices can affect brain function and performance.
Overview of the Endocrine System
Slide Set
The endocrine system is comprised of ductless glands that produce messengers, called hormones, which regulate reproduction, development, metabolism and behavior. It interacts with the nervous system to control the activities of other organ systems.
Safe Food Preparation
Lesson
Students learn about safe food preparation by making fruit ice cream in class.

Grades: 3-5
HIV/AIDS
Teacher Guide
Students read essays, conduct activities, and use actual data from the CDC and other sources to learn about HIV/AIDS and the spread of disease. (5 activities, 5 essays)

Grades: 6-8 9-12
Explorations: Global Atmospheric Change
Reading
Students learn about Earth's atmosphere and the greenhouse effect, identify where children live based on their clothing, make a sundial, and model Earth's atmosphere.

Grades: K-2 3-5
Complex Traits
Slide Set
Students use the domestic dog as a model to learn about genetics, DNA, genetic testing, phenotypes, alleles, SNPs, and mutations related to desirable and/or harmful effects in certain dog breeds.

Grades: 6-8 9-12
Allergies and Allergens
Teacher Guide
The Allergy Busters Teacher’s Guide uses an integrated approach including survey techniques and graphing to help students learn about allergies and allergy-causing organisms. (8 activities)

Grades: 3-5
Roller Coasters
Lesson
Students build roller coasters from foam insulation tubing and use marbles as the roller coaster cars.

Grades: 6-8
Static Electricity
Presentation
Electrify your science teaching! Static electricity is an electric charge on the surface of an object. Watch the sparks produced by a Van de Graaff generator, find out how lightning is created, and see how static charges attract and repel.
Viruses
Slide Set
Viruses have always lived among humans, and they killed many millions of people. As scientists discover the chemical rules by which each virus plays, they can begin to control how a virus affects us.
Genetics and Inheritance
Lessons
Patterns of inheritance, Mendelian genetics, variation of traits, pedigrees
Mass
Presentation
Learn the difference between mass and weight.
The Global Carbon Cycle
Presentation
Join Nancy Moreno, PhD, as she discusses Earth’s atmosphere, climate change, factors that influence the atmosphere, and other topics related to our planet’s carbon cycle.
Legacy of Lost Canyon
Reading
Adolescent friends investigate ancient cave ruins, and learn how and why drugs were used to create cave art.

Grades: 6-8 9-12
Measuring and Counting with a Light Microscope
Slide Set
Learn how to calibrate a light microscope for measurement, how to estimate field diameter, and how to count the number of objects in a single field.
The Cinnamon Challenge
Hot Topic
The “Cinnamon Challenge” is a social phenomenon, spread largely through social media, which carries serious risks. Remarkably, people who participate in this “challenge” willingly accept entirely avoidable risk, even though there is no apparent benefit. The rise of the “Cinnamon Challenge” demonstrates how social media can quickly spread a cultural trend among teenagers, comedians, NBA players, and even politicians.
Bird Flu, Updated
Hot Topic
Bird flu is once again in the news. Cases of human infection with the H7N9 subtype of influenza A have been reported in China. This subtype of the virus already spreads more easily from birds to humans than H5N1 did, and there is concern that it might adapt to be sustainably transmitted from human to human. This, of course, is the recipe for a pandemic.
Japanese Earthquake and Tsunamis: Before and After
Hot Topic
On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck northeastern Japan. The earthquake, aftershocks and related tsunamis devastated miles of the Japanese coastline.