The Scientific Method and links for Biological Methods

• Attitudes about science.
• The Nature of Science - An excellent definition of, and discussion about, Science. (from Scientific American)
• The Scientific Method (from Wikipedia)
• A brief demonstration of the Scientific Method, from Ghetto Science and YouTube.
• Basic Research - The Lifeline of Medicine (Why it is important that biologists study things like viruses that attack bacteria!)
• People Doing Science - Profiles of some interesting scientists and their research
• Statistics for Journalists - How to interpret numbers that your read in the newspaper, an excellent intro to statistical interpretation.
• Discovery, Chance and the Scientific Method - From the Access Excellence Collection
• The Annals of Improbable Research (formerly the Journal of Irreproducible Results) - Most famous for their annual IgNobel prizes, but contains lots of other articles to show you that scientists do indeed have a sense of humor!
• Human stem cells - Some facts to help you understand the news articles.
• Microscopy and "powers of 10" - A java-based tutorial taking you at 10X levels of magnification from the level of the universe to the level of a proton in an atom in the DNA of a plant cell.
• Light Microscopy - A brief description of the various techniques used by cell biologists today
• Electron Microscopy - Descriptions of transmission and scanning electron microscopy techniques
• Microscopy - Online textbook of microscopy, history, and methods.
• Dennis Kunkel's Microscopy Page - Fabulous images of microscopic organisms!
• Practice how to make serial dilutions - You WILL NEED TO KNOW HOW TO DO THIS for the first exam!
• Animated tutorial on serial dilutions.
• Animated tutorial on making and using a standard curve.

Links for additional insights into Evolutionary Biology

• EvoDots - A fast-paced computer game, similar to the beetles, bark and leaves game you used in the BIOL 198 studio
• EVIDENCE for common descent - Five videos that help you understand the evidence behind the conclusion that humans and modern apes shared a common ancestor.
• The Pocket Darwin (PDF) - Quick and easy answers to lots of questions about evolutionary history and theory (sponsored by a church in Norman, Oklahoma)
• Understanding evolution - Your one-stop shopping place for information about the glue that holds modern biology together. Learn the history of evolutionary thought, how evolution affects your everyday life, and lots more
• New York Times article from August 21, 2005 on Politics, Evolution, and "Intelligent Design"
• Show me the Science! - Is Intelligent Design really science? (both this link and the one above are copyrighted articles from the New York Times, and can ONLY BE ACCESSED FROM COMPUTERS WITH A KSU.EDU domain name)
• The Origin of Species - Full text version of Darwin's book (over 900 KB)
• Darwin Research Station - See what modern biologists are doing in the Galapagos today.
• The Theory of Evolution - History of thought behind evolution. A valuable resource for scientist and non-scientists; this historical treatment should help you understand the thoughts and theories leading up to Darwin's synthesis, as well as the experimental basis for modern evolutionary thinking.
• "Do you believe in Evolution?" A teacher talks about beliefs and evolution
• Answers to questions from creationists - A Scientific American article from 2002 (PDF file, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat program to open and read this).
• Index to Creationist Claims - A well-organized and thorough set of facts to help you understand (and rebut) the things that creationists say about evolution, philosophy, and a lot more
• FAQ about evolution and Intelligent Design
• The facts about Archaeopteryx - an intermediate between birds and reptiles
• World Wide Web Virtual Library on Evolution - From Harvard.
• Evolutionary Time - How long did it take to get from there to here?
• Interactive (Shockwave animation) Timeline from the Big Bang until modern times - A fascinating AND informative resource about "deep time".
• HUMOR ALERT - The website for the Darwin Awards, which annually "commemorate (the remains of) individuals who eliminate themselves in an extraordinarily idiotic manner, thereby dousing our gene pool with chlorine." Often gross, but usually hilarious.
• HUMOR ALERT II - The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) website: If "Intelligent Design" should be taught in Kansas Schools, how can we exclude alternative theories with equivalent scientific support (i.e. zero facts, zero proof, but lots of humor)? An open letter to the Kansas Board of Education explains it all!
• Off-topic - Abiogenesis (the study of the origin of life) is not part of evolutionary theory, but this video of Julia Child explaining the recipe for "Primordial Soup" is too good to pass up!

• Phylogeny - The Tree of Life - From the University of Arizona, a journey into the relationships between all the organisms (living and extant) on this planet
• Phylogeny tutorial - from UC Berkeley (The ancestor/descendant relationships which connect all organisms that have ever lived)
• Tree of Life - From Science magazine June 2003