Newest BioInteractive Features

Here are the newest links to the BioInteractive Features from HHMI!  Enjoy!

NOVEMBER 12, 2014 - VOLUME 34

Zoom Inside a Coral       This stunning animation will take you from thousands of feet up in the air to inside the cell of a reef-building coral to see its resident photosynthetic algae. The coral depends on these algae for its survival, but the symbiotic relationship turns sour when ocean temperatures rise. Narrated by this year's Holiday Lectures presenter Stephen Palumbi, the animation weaves together themes in environmental science, ecology, and molecular and cellular biology.

When Kinases Act Up Kinases are enzymes that normally play important functions in cells. But when mutated, they can cause havoc. This Click and Learn focuses on the structure and function of BCR-ABL—a mutant kinase that's produced in certain types of cancers—and on a drug that blocks its activity.

A Date With Your Fishy Past The three-hour series, Your Inner Fish, starring Neil Shubin, is now available on Netflix and Amazon Prime. If you have not yet seen the film you are in for a treat. You will find a wealth of supporting resources, including discussion guides and Click and Learns, on BioInteractive.

Food's Pleasure Signals Jeff Friedman, a 2004 Holiday Lectures presenter, is back on BioInteractive to fill us in on his latest research — his new findings about what tells our brain to stop eating or to keep eating more, and some updates on experiments that didn't work as well as expected. It's all explained in this 3-minute clip.

Tool Maker or Not? After years of unearthing ancient stone tools from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, Mary Leakey and colleagues discovered the jaw of a 1.76 million-year-old hominid. Had they finally found the toolmaker? Find the answer in our latest Image of the Week.

BioInteractive on "Tour" We'll be presenting workshops and giving away free resources at a conference near you! Join us in Virginia (VAST), Texas (CAST), Connecticut (CSTA), Colorado (CBTA), Pennsylvania (PSTA), or California (NSTA Long Beach and AGU) in the next two months.

What's That Bug? This bug stumped E.O. Wilson in the now famous bioblitz scene in The Guide: A Biologist in Gorongosa. Find out what that organism was from the list of species identified during the bioblitz in the In-Depth Film Guide. The document also includes discussion questions and suggested pause points for the film.

Name-That-Photo Contest It's time for another Facebook Contest! We'll post one thumbnail image from this newsletter on our Facebook page for the next 6 days. Be the first one to give us the scientific name of the species or molecule pictured and win a super-limited edition "Great Transitions" t-shirt. It makes a great conversation piece.

Educator Tip: The Rock Stars of the Desert     "I love the furry little 'rock stars' (rock pocket mice) in the film The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation. After showing the 10-minute film, I have students create an infographic, a summary, or discussion board post so that I can assess their understanding of the content. In under 30 minutes, I can elicit students' understanding of the term 'adaptation,' reveal their misconceptions, get them excited, and level the playing field on their basic understanding of evolution. I use this in both my high school and college courses." –Melissa Csikari (Colonial Forge High School & Germanna Community College, VA)

Strategic or Random?

Interesting article out of HHMI:

Strategic or Random? How the Brain Chooses 

Summary 

Janelia scientists are learning how the brain switches between random and strategic modes. Many of the choices we make are informed by experiences we've had in the past. But occasionally we're better off abandoning those lessons and exploring a new situation unfettered by past experiences. The new studies look at how the brain generates strategic and random behavior, and how it switches between the two modes.

Newest Post from BioInteractive! Check it out!

JANUARY 2014 - VOLUME 20

Watch the 2013 Lectures If you missed the live stream of the 2013 Holiday Lectures on Science, you can now watch this exciting program viaon-demand streaming. Dr. Charles Sawyers and Dr. Christopher Walsh reveal how genomic technologies have advanced our understanding of complex diseases like cancer and autism.

Test Your Lactose Knowledge You may know someone who is lactose intolerant, but do you really know what that means? This fun miniquiz will test your knowledge by having you evaluate several statements about lactose intolerance. Then watch the film, Got Lactase? The Co-Evolution of Genes and Culture, to see how you did!

Sorting Finch Species The 13 species of Galápagos finches do not look all that different from one another, so how do they tell each other apart? Play with this new Click and Learn to learn how. Put your auditory and visual senses to the test as you try to sort members of two closely related finch species by song and appearance.

The Animated Life of Wallace This animated short video tells the story of Alfred Russel Wallace, who independently formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection at the same time as Charles Darwin. Use this video in conjunction with the short film, The Making of a Theory, for an informative overview of the two naturalists’ epic adventures and their contributions to science.

Double Helix Film Guides How did an Austrian monk, a British physicist, and an American biochemist contribute to Watson and Crick’s famous discovery? To find out, read the In-Depth Guide to the film The Double Helix. The document provides detailed background information and tips for using the film in the classroom.

BioInteractive Web Hunt It’s your chance to win some great prizes from BioInteractive! Visit the BioInteractive Facebook pageevery Thursday for the next 4 weeks. Each week we will post a new question, the answer to which can be found somewhere on BioInteractive.org. In the comments section, post the correct answer with a link to theBioInteractive page where you found it. Everyone who posts a unique link will receive a prize! Like our Facebook page to see contest postings in your newsfeed!