Explore the science of life with this guide to understanding biology. From the plant and animal kingdoms to human biology and medicine, and the strange and tiny world of microbiology, discover how life evolves and the complex processes that keep it going.
Welcome
The Animal Kingdom
How life evolves • Discover the biological pathways through time that led to the plants and animals of today
Surprising coevolution • Amazing examples of how two species have steered each other’s evolution
Meet the mutants • How changes in DNA can cause unusual abnormalities, but also shape the evolution of a species
MODERN-DAY MUTANTS • Mutations have allowed these species to adapt and survive
The ever-evolving human • How some members of our species from around the world are evolving
Animal Domestication • How humans created modern-day farm animals
Domestication around the world • Where did our farm animals come from?
Why animals shed • What prompts some creatures to regularly lose their old outer layers and replace them with fresh new skin?
Scale separation • How snakes peel away their skin and leave a scaly sleeve behind
Stepping out of your shell • The stages of separating the crustacean from its crust
Human Biology
Journey through your blood vessels • Dive under the surface and discover the expanse of arteries, veins and capillaries that keep our cells energised and healthy
Fuelling the body • Follow the flow of blood as it travels through the circulatory system
Unravelling the nervous system • Explore the electrically charged network composed of billions of cells that coordinates your thoughts, feelings and actions from head to toe
Divisions of the nervous system • Learn the hierarchies of nerve structures that keep our bodies running and safe from harm
Relaxing or taxing • How we feel can affect our body in many ways
Diseases and Damage • As the connective network coordinating our body, damage to the nervous system can be debilitating
Multiple sclerosis
How hormones control your body • Just as the nervous system sends information around the body via electrical impulses, the endocrine system provides another messaging service that has complete control of your body
Glands of the Endocrine System • Eight major glands make up the endocrine system, and each one secretes a different hormone
Imbalances and disorders • The endocrine system plays a vital role in regulating biological functions. Any imbalance of hormones can have catastrophic results, leading to a variety of disorders
Your immune system explained • Meet the cells and organs that make up your immune system. Discover how it keeps deadly invaders at bay and what happens when it gets out of control
Your immunity army • The fleet of cells that put pathogens in their place
Fighting infections • How your immune system actively responds to a pathogen invasion
Immunity myths • Sheena Cruickshank, an immunologist and a professor of biomedical sciences and public engagement at the university of Manchester, separates immunity facts from fiction
How babies are made • The fusion of sex cells that begins the great journey of pregnancy
One baby, three parents • How doctors can use different genetic material
Microbiology
The power of pasteurisation • How the process of preheating our food keeps us safe from deadly germs
Making milk • The stages that make milk safe to drink
How bleach kills germs • This cleaning cupboard staple tears through proteins, destroying bacteria and viruses in minutes
Lab-grown meat explained • Would you eat chicken or beef...
