NEW! Curriculum Units combine videos and experiments into an organized curriculum.
Food Webs: Follow energy through a living system as it passes from one organism to the next.
Tuesday May 21 2013
| Videos |
|---|
Attracting Wildlife  How to attract a variety of wildlife to your yard. |
Our New Home  Our new home in Utah. |
Calling a Woodpecker  A simple technique for attracting woodpeckers. |
Bendable Bones - Updated  A classic investigation into the chemistry of bones. |
Reading a Skeleton  A bit of forensic osteology can help you read the bones. |
Food Chain: Scavengers and Decomposers  Meet the "clean-up crew" of the Food Web |
Bird Bones  Dissect a bird to compare its skeleton with ours. |
Foodchain: Secondary Consumers  Take the next step up the foodchain to take a look at predators. |
Foodchain: Primary Consumers  Following the Producers video, take the next step up the food chain, and learn about herbivores. |
Laser Projection Microscope  Turn a $5 laser pointer into a projection microscope! |
Orange Flash  Can you make flames shoot out of an orange? Of course you can! |
Heartless Plants  How do plants move water and food without a heart for a pump? |
Is That a Color Photo?  Trick your brain into seeing color in a black and white photograph. |
Selective Smelling  How long can you smell something before the scent vanishes? |
Measuring in Feet  Instead of measuring with a ruler, try measuring with your foot. |
Reaction Time  How quick are you? |
Hear the Ocean?  Why do you seem to hear the ocean inside a sea shell? |
Got the Red Green Blues  Does your TV really only have three colors? |
Foot Circles  Try this fun experiment to trick your brain. |
Producers  Learn about the lifeforms that make up the base of the foodchain. |
Emergency Glasses  Learn how to make quick, easy, emergency eyeglasses. |
A Walk in the Park  You don't have to go on safari to see some amazing wild life. |
When Sugar Isn't Sweet  How can sugar not taste sweet? |
Why We Sweat  Why do people sweat? |
Fingerprints  Learn an easy technique for collecting fingerprints. |
Seed Search  How do plants spread their seeds to new areas? |
Illusions  Learn some of the science behind optical illusions. |
A Color You Can't See  Use your cell phone to see a color you can't see |
Feathers  For such simple things, feathers have an amazing amount of science built in. |
Spoon Bells  Use simple science to make spoons sound like church bells. |
Koffka Ring Illusion  An easy illusion to trick your brain. |
Two Coins  Instant science: An illusion to make two coins look like three. |
Osmosis  Explore a chemical process that keeps your cells going. |
Just a Suggestion  Can you resist scratching your nose? |
The Stroop Effect  How well does your brain work with two bits of information at the same time |
Iron Cereal  What do they put into breakfast cereal to give you your daily requirement of iron? |
Kneesy, Earsy, Nosey  How good are you at moving across the midline? |
Taking a Marshmallow Apart  Take a marshmallow apart to see what it is made of. |
Stable Image  Learn how your brain stabilizes images. |
Science Fair Panic, part 2  This time we talk about research and forming a hypothesis. |
White Balance  Have you ever taken a photo that turned out very yellow or with a blue tint? Now you will know why. |
The Waterfall Effect  Try this natural, optical illusion, which tricks your eyes and brain with motion instead of color. |
Nature Watching  Are you a bird watcher or a bird spotter? |
Hunting With an Umbrella  What strange creatures would you hunt with an umbrella? |
Curves Illusion  Which of these curved pieces of paper is longer? |
Orange Slices  A neat trick for predicting the number of slices in an orange before you slice it. |
| Written Experiments |
|---|
Cat Wiggles  Why do cats often wiggle their back legs just before they pounce on their prey? |
| Pepper Hot |
| Talking to Frogs |
| The Place You Can't See |
| Where Plants Grow |
| Heart Watching |
The Knuckle Trick  A fun science trick to make you think your arm is getting shorter. |
Bird Behavior  Are you a bird watcher or a bird spotter? |
Hold Your Nose  Can you tell what flavor candy you are eating? |
Spore Prints  Study fungi by making spore prints |
Cat Twisting  How do cats manage to land on their feet? |
How Does a Butterfly Fly?  Explore the strange way butterflies flap their wings. |
| Knuckle Cracking |
| Have a Heart |
| One Eye or Two |
| Spiders |
| Building a Nest |
| Feeling a Point (or two) |
| Through Rose Colored Glasses |
| Hay Infusion |
Eye Shine  Why do some animals eyes glow when you shine a light on them? |
| Smelling in Stereo |
3D Photos  Make and view your own 3D photos. |
| Pinecone Weather |
| Science Photos |
|---|
Science Photo of the Day #862 Another potential garden visitor. If you see one of these in your garden, what should you do? |
Science Photo of the Day #860 If you see one of these in your garden, what should you do? |
Science Photo of the Day #859 Without looking it up, what is philopatry-faithfulness? |
Science Photo of the Day #858 There is an easy way to tell if this bird has a mate or not. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #857 We found this clump of strange, yellow-green leaves on a nearby juniper tree. What caused it? |
Science Photo of the Day #856 This bird is well known for a specific adaptation. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #855 What is unusual about the way this bird molts? |
Science Photo of the Day #854 Why do cats often wiggle their back legs just before they pounce on their prey? |
Feeding Bread to Birds Feeding Bread to Birds. The Science Photo that turned into a blog post. |
Science Photo of the Day #853 Nancy and I found this on our hike yesterday. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #852 Is it a bad idea to feed bread to birds? |
Science Photo of the Day #847 I was VERY tempted to keep him in hopes of observing his amazing behavior. What does he do that is so unusual? |
Science Photo of the Day #846 I found this creature in our garden, along with many of its relatives. In many parts of the country, that would be a bad thing, |
Science Photo of the Day #845 Is the blood in your veins ever blue? |
Science Photo of the Day #844 A microphoto of something from our refrigerator. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #843 Different species of centipede have different numbers of legs, but whether they have 20 pairs or 200 pairs, they all follow one |
Science Photo of the Day #842 Is it true that touching a baby bird will cause the parents to abandon it? |
Science Photo of the Day #841 Nancy found this spider today, and I thought at first that it might be a Hobo spider. What is special about Hobo spiders? |
Science Photo of the Day #840 What is unusual about this creature's heart? |
Science Photo of the Day #839 This raven flies back and forth along the cliff behind our house all day long. Why does it fly beside the cliff instead of out |
Thoughts on an Exoskeleton What would it be like to have your skeleton on the outside instead of the inside? |
Science Photo of the Day #837 Notice that the spider is bigger than the exoskeleton it came out of. How is that possible? |
Science Photo of the Day #836 I was extremely pleased to take this photo today. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #835 What is making this sound? |
Science Photo of the Day #834 |
Science Photo of the Day #833 Besides plants and animals, what other kinds of living things are there? |
Science Photo of the Day #831 Snakes do not chew their food into bite-sized pieces. Instead, they swallow their food whole, even if the food is larger than t |
Science Photo of the Day #830 Wild Turkeys are native to North America, but English settlers brought turkeys with them from Europe. Where did the European tu |
Science Photo of the Day #829 If one of our founding fathers had gotten his way, this would not have been our national bird. Who was he, and what bird did he |
Science Photo of the Day #828 This flock of birds found our feeders today. You can't see it in this photo, but there are no feathers covering each bird's nos |
Science Photo of the Day #827 I found this track in the snow today. What made it? |
Science Photo of the Day #826 You have probably heard this bird's call many times, but you may not have know it. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #825 This bird has a difficult time finding the nesting material that it used in the past. What is the bird, and what does it like t |
Science Photo of the Day #823 What special trick does this squirrel use to protect itself from snakes? |
Science Photo of the Day #821 This bird gets its name from the orange feathers under its tail. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #820 Do cows have horns? |
Science Photo of the Day #817 This Mule Deer visited our yard recently. It is an excellent example of how natural selection works. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #815 How did Tarantulas get their name? |
Science Photo of the Day #813 In recent years, people started throwing bird seed at weddings instead of rice. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #812 Our cat Ethylene spends quite a bit of her time sitting on fence posts, and we often jokingly call her a "pole cat." In some ar |
Science Photo of the Day #811 Today, a hoax video showed up on the internet which supposedly showed a Golden Eagle trying to carry away a baby. Besides the f |
Science Photo of the Day #809 What made this footprint in the snow? |
Science Photo of the Day #807 How did this hawk get its name? |
Science Photo of the Day #805 What creature did this skull come from? |
Science Photo of the Day #804 This bird's scientific name might make you think it is related to dinosaurs (which it may be), but its name really tells about i |
Science Photo of the Day #801 We put out a salt block to help attract mule deer to our Crittercam. Why does salt attract deer and other animals? |
Science Photo of the Day #798 This little bird is a common visitor to our garden. Next spring, I am hoping to find some of their nests, because they are very |
Science Photo of the Day #797 An important step in identifying many flowers is to count the number of petals. How many petals do you see here? |
Science Photo of the Day #796 Very few predators will eat this insect. Its most common predator is the grasshopper mouse. How can the mouse eat this insect, |
Science Photo of the Day #793 I photographed this lizard in our garden. It is a very strange creature. What is so strange about it? |
Science Photo of the Day #792 Mule deer escape from predators by stetting. Without looking it up, what is stotting? |
Science Photo of the Day #791 With the cold weather, a large number of mule deer have moved into the canyon. Why are their eyes glowing in this photo? |
Science Photo of the Day #789 I was very surprised to see this bird in the garden of our new home in Utah. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #787 This interesting plant is very common in our area. We have been collecting seeds to plant around our new home, and we found out |
Science Photo of the Day #786 Nancy found this amazing "half and half" flower in our garden. My first thought was to make sure to save the seeds to grow more |
Science Photo of the Day #785 This bird has been the subject of a tremendous amount of research studying bird songs. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #784 Seconds after I took the previous photo, I took this one of the same bird. Notice that the Hummingbird's throat has changed col |
Science Photo of the Day #783 Hummingbirds use their long, thin beaks to get at the nectar in tube-shaped flowers and hummingbird feeders. Like most birds, t |
Science Photo of the Day #782 This Golden Eagle visited our garden, and seems to be taking up residence on the cliff behind our home. Golden Eagles were not |
Science Photo of the Day #780 While these two birds look very different, they are male and female of the same species. They are known for eating something th |
Science Photo of the Day #779 These small lizards are common around out house. Their spiny appearance helps protect them from predators, but they have anothe |
Science Photo of the Day #778 The plant that produces these tiny flowers is well known from movies and television shows. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #777 This interesting plant has been growing in our garden, but now it is gone. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #775 How is this bird similar to a flamingo? |
Science Photo of the Day #774 What is this common wild flower, and have you ever eaten this species? |
Science Photo of the Day #773 We are making progress in our trip to Utah. I spotted this strange object on a cypress tree near our hotel. What is it? |
Science Sound of the Day #2 What is making this sound? |
| Science Photo of the Day #772 |
Science Photo of the Day #762 Besides humans, what other creatures yawn? |
Science Photo of the Day #761 Another interesting beach find. What is it? |
Science Photo of the Day #760 Like many other animals, this squirrel is dark colored on its back, and light colored on its underside. Why? |
Science Photo of the Day #759 This is a piece of fossil turtle bone. Alligators, some turtles and some fish have bones with ridges like this. What function |
Science Photo of the Day #758 What is unusual about the reproduction of this creature? |
Science Photo of the Day #757 These interesting bugs gathered in our yard. (Yes, these really are bugs.) They are being studied extensively by a variety of |
Science Photo of the Day #756 I photographed these honeybees yesterday. Why are they gathered in this tree? |
Science Photo of the Day #755 What are these birds doing? |
Science Photo of the Day #748 I found this plant growing in a nearby pond. What is unusual about it? |
Science Photo of the Day #747 While playing with my camera, I decided to take a closeup of my eye. When we talk about eye color, we are talking about the col |
Science Photo of the Day #746 I noticed these creatures in the yard today. The small ones are called aphids, and they are feeding on the plant. What is the |
Science Photo of the Day #745 I was very pleased to take this photograph. What makes it special? |
Science Photo of the Day #742 What is unusual about this reptile? |
Science Photo of the Day #741 This is a clear pool of water. What caused the strange dark spots on the bottom? |
Science Photo of the Day #738 Vultures eat carrion, animals that are already dead. What sort of relationship is that? |
Science Photo of the Day #736 What adaptation does White Clover have in Southern states that it rarely has in Northern states? |
Science Photo of the Day #734 Why are trees an important part of the water cycle? |
Science Photo of the Day #732 Why is it dangerous to kill a hornet near its nest? |
Science Photo of the Day #731 How do these numbers relate to this photo? 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21.... |
Science Photo of the Day #730 While we are talking about pine trees, why would these be useful for someone studying meteorology? |
Science Photo of the Day #729 With our warm weather, the pine trees have already started producing huge amounts of pollen, covering cars, patio furniture, and |
Science Photo of the Day #728 What adaptation lets this bird make an amazing variety of sounds? |
Science Photo of the Day #726 This is a closeup of an adult Antlion. Insects use their eyes for seeing. What do they use their antennae for? |
Science Photo of the Day #724 This one was taken at Shark Valley, in Everglades National Park. The area is flat as a pancake, and more than thirty miles from |
Science Photo of the Day #723 Do dogs see in color? |
Science Photo of the Day #722 The Portuguese man o' war floats due to its gas filled air sac. What gases are inside, and how do they get there? |
Science Photo of the Day OK, how good are your eyes? How many flowers can you find in this photo? |
Science Photo of the Day #17 What color are Water Moccasin eggs? |
Science Photo of the Day #15 What is so special about these eggs, and how can they tell you where this photo was taken? |
Science Photo of the Day #14 Why is this Blue Jay blue? |
Science Photo of the Day #13 What makes this creature so important to people? |
| Manatee Video |
| A Day of Nature Photography, part 2 |
| A Day of Nature Photography |
| A New Fossil Site in Alabama |
| Baby Birds Along the Road |
| Birds on the Beach |
| Toad in the Garden |
