Biology

ARTICLES

3 min

Aspergillus tubingensis; the quick fix to global plastic pollution?

We all know plastic is having a detrimental effect on our planet, but to recap - as plastics break down into smaller pieces these manmade...

MEDIA RECOMMENDATIONS

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot

The Epigenetics Revolution

Nessa Carey

The Selfish Gene

Richard Dawkins

Sapiens

Yuval Noah Harari

This Is Going to Hurt

Adam Kay

When Breath Becomes Air

Paul Kalanithi

Do no harm

Henry Marsh

The British Medical Journal

School login available on the firefly library page (click to view!)

The Lancet

Medical journal (some articles require a subscription but many are available for free)

Nature

Collection of journals, some require subscriptions but there are free articles

MOOCs

edx has really good courses e.g Harvard Fundamentals of Neuroscience is good for A-Level students who want to learn Y2 course content in advance

Human behavioural biology

Lecture series from Stanford University. In each session, you are able to develop your understanding of how and why humans behave in the way they do, learning about fascinating examples that are relevant to daily life. For example, one of the topics discussed is whether a person’s genetic makeup can influence their religious and political views.

TED-ed

Ologies

Really interesting podcast covering a wide range of topics

The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat

Gives an insight into incredibly interesting neurological cases encountered in clinical practice. Each story teaches you about various mechanisms you may learn about at the university level and their neurobiological manifestations.

Human Errors by Nathan H. Lents

A really great book that explores the evolutionary flaws in humans. Most biological books explain how evolved human anatomy is but this book shows why humans still have so many pointless bones, why we are susceptible to vitamin deficiencies and how our bodies are not entirely equipped for childbirth. This book is accessible for anyone to read and enjoy.

The gene: an intimate history by Siddhartha Mukherjee

This book explains how genes were discovered and the ethical implications gene technology can play in the future. It involves some GCSE knowledge, but again anyone can enjoy this book.