This activity, from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), explores how the antenna part of body centric antennas (BCAs) work and encourages students to consider ethical issues surrounding the use of advanced technology to control prosthetics.

This Catalyst article describes how bacterial colonies produce antibiotics and explains how their growth depends on the medium they grow on. Over sixty years ago, a Russian soil scientist called Selman Waksman discovered that soil bacteria belonging to the Streptomyces genus produce some very useful...

From the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), this student factsheet looks at the development of antibiotics, how they work, bacterial drug resistance and how the risks of developing resistance to antibiotics can be reduced. BBSRC is a part of Research Councils UK (RCUK).

This resource can be used to demonstrate an understanding of the use of anti-caking agents that allow powdered food products to flow more freely through machinery. The action of an anti-caking agent in cocoa powder is investigated in one activity and a case study using real results from an industrial setting...

This poster looks at the nature of antimatter. One side of the poster discusses Dirac’s prediction and the subsequent discovery of antimatter, in the form of the positron. The difficulty of the storage of antimatter is explained and the use of positrons in medical imaging (PET scanners) is described. The other side...

This resource can be used to demonstrate an understanding of the role of antioxidants in food processing to delay oxidation. A data based activity analyses types of fat in foods and an investigation into the browning of apples under varying conditions allows a quantitative measure of the oxidation reaction. 

This article discovers how geneticists are beginning to discover the significance of junk DNA. The article is from Catalyst: Secondary Science Review 2015, Volume 25, Issue 4.

Catalyst is a science magazine for students aged 14-19 years. Annual...

This historic footage, from Footagevault, was recorded at the top of the Apollo 1 rocket stack shortly after the fire which claimed the lives of the first Apollo astronauts. The film shows how ferociously things burn in a high pressure pure...

The EU has recently imposed limits on the power ratings of vacuum cleaners, and proposes further limits on appliances such as hairdryers. In this activity students consider a further (fictional) future restriction, on home electricity use. Students calculate the energy transferred in kilowatt-hours by the...

The project involved members of staff from the STEM subjects at the Kingswinford School working collaboratively to plan and deliver sessions to a group of Year Nine students. These sessions were held after school for an hour each week during the summer and autumn terms...

Modern society depends on programmable systems, from industrial robots to smartphones. The systems of today are only possible because of past inventions. The resources in this collection require students to research details about programmable system from the past, to present their findings to their peers and to...

This set of ten video case studies, from around 2010, illustrate a range of technician roles that use science and mathematics. The examples feature young college students and apprentices who talk about their area of study or work and who have a clear career route in mind. 

The case studies cover:

...

A Catalyst article about the role of environmental scientists working for a local authority. Climate change science needs to be applied to everyday life and this article explains how local authorities and their staff are often in the front line applying the science and making it work for public benefit.

This...