The digger bee is just one of about a thousand species of native bees in Arizona, many of which have females that burrow into the ground with their jaws and legs when constructing a nest.Also in: Español
Ask A Biologist
Biology Stories
Explore the world of biology and meet some of our biologists. Here you can learn about the living world and find out what is so cool about biology that someone would do it for a living. Pick a story to read or listen to one of our podcast shows filled with guest scientists who share their experiences and passion for discovery.
Knowing when you are sick and what illness you have is the first step to helping your body fight back. Immunologist Douglas Lake gets to design and build tests that can tell us what virus we have, or how well our body is fighting it.
Diabetes affects nearly one tenth of the population in the United States, but we still have a lot to learn about the disease. Researchers are finding that a lack of specific proteins might reduce our abilities to absorb sugar, making it a key player in the diabetes problem.
As you watch a butterfly navigate the flowers in your back yard, or a pesky fly avoid your flyswatter, keep in mind their vision is quite different than yours and mine.
DNA is the ultimate how-to guide used by all living things. It packages all the instructions for building maintaining all our life forms and it easily fits inside a cell.
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How much has the human brain changed from the brains of our ancient ancestors? Evolutionary psychologists think that the modern human brain has not changed much over the past 50,000 years, but other scientists disagree.
You might think of your parents as being old, or being fairly young; maybe they are many years apart in age. Did you know that parental age may affect the likelihood that a child will develop a brain disorder?
Depression affects millions of people worldwide yet anti-depressive medications only work on a handful of people who suffer from the disorder. By looking at depression through the lens of evolution, scientists may learn more about depression and how it can be treated.
Everyone gets stressed. Many of us find that listening to our favorite song usually brightens up our mood. Scientists wanted to study whether music can actually affect stress levels in the body.
How well does social distancing work to control a global pandemic? With people’s lives turned upside-down due to COVID-19, many have been left to wonder if social distancing is worth it.
Scientists are finding out that even though dogs look very different on the outside, what causes them to look that way is much similar than we thought.
Hospitals try to stay clean and reduce the spread of germs within their walls, but what happens when medicines and bacteria from the hospitals reach bacteria in the sewer?
Travel with Dr. Biology as he heads to Washington D.C. to interview three people who are all involved with science even though two of them are not scientists. Interviews include Cheryl Zook (independent film maker), Elizabeth Pennisi (science writer), and Nancy Pelaez (program director - NSF-NSDL).
Dr. Biology drops in on biologist Michael Angelletta and the researchers in his labortory. Besides getting a fun tour of the place, he learns how they study animals and their methods of heating and cooling their bodies.
Giant beetles, flying treadmills, oxygen and prehistoric insects are just a few of the things that Dr. Biology learns about when visiting with biologist Jon Harrison.
Giant beetles, flying treadmills, oxygen and prehistoric insects are just a few of the things that Dr. Biology learns about when visiting with biologist Jon Harrison.
Dr. Biology interviews research scientist Kate Ihle at Barro Colorado Island in Panama. BCI is part of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Television portrays the lives and work of forensic artists, but what is it like to really be a forensic artist? Are the tools you see on the big and little screen really used by the people who recreate the face of someone when there might only be a skull or parts of a scull to use as a starting point. Dr. Biology visits with forensic artist and author Catyana Falsetti to learn the answers to these questions and a lot more.
It is surprising how much of the land on Earth is what scientists call drylands. You might think that these areas are not crucial to life on the planet, but in fact, they are. They are also some of the most challenging places to do research. Part of the challenge is what we see above ground is only a fraction of what is underground. And investigating what is going beneath the surface comes with its own set of challenges. Dr. Biology gets the inside story, what you might also say is the upside-down story of drylands from ecosystems scientist Heather Throop.