Research Guides: Biology: Websites with Biology Content

Websites with Biology Content

These broad biology websites listed below are just a few examples of credible websites on the internet. The listing also contains some information from national organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health.

Biology - Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a database of free videos, providing overviews of a series of concepts on biology, including the basics of biology (including the physics and chemistry that underpin the subject), cellular biology, genetics, ecology, and physiology. The videos are short and full of information.
iBiology- Science Communication Lab
"iBiology's mission is to bring the stories of cutting-edge research in the life sciences to a global audience without paywalls or other barriers to learning. Our primary means of communication is through videos, so the scientists themselves explain their research and the process of scientific discovery."
Biological Sciences - National Science Foundation
"The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense..." NSF is vital because we support basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future."
PhET Interactive Simulations - University of Colorado: Boulder
PhET provides fun, free, interactive, research-based science and mathematics simulations. We extensively test and evaluate each simulation to ensure educational effectiveness. These tests include student interviews and observation of simulation use in classrooms. The simulations are written in Java, Flash or HTML5, and can be run online or downloaded to your computer. All simulations are open source (see our source code). Multiple sponsors support the PhET project, enabling these resources to be free to all students and teachers.
Biology 2E - Openstax
Openstax is a repository of free, high quality textbooks. Biology 2E provides a good, college level, overview of most basic biological concepts, including cell biology, genetics, ecology, and the Theory of Evolution.

Genetics/Microbiology Websites

How to Use a Microscope - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
One of the most important tools in Microbiology is the Microscope, allowing us to see small structures that we would not be able to see with the naked eye. This website by the University of Michigan Medical School describes the proper way to use a microscope.
Cell Image Library - Center for Research in Biological Systems (University of California: San Diego)
This library is a public and easily accessible resource database of images, videos, and animations of cells, capturing a wide diversity of organisms, cell types, and cellular processes. The purpose of this database is to advance research on cellular activity, with the ultimate goal of improving human health.
Image and Video Gallery - National Institute of General Medical Sciences
The Image and Video Gallery of the National Institute of General Health includes a searchable collection of scientific photos, illustrations and videos. For the most part, the images are microbiology, including images of cells, organelles, proteins, and organ structures.
Learn.Genetics: Genetic Science Learning Center - University of Utah
Learn.Genetics are a series of interactive lessons hosted by University of Utah on biology, focusing mostly on genetics and its relationship to other subjects such as health and evolution. It includes videos, text (with plenty images), and interactive games.
National Human Genome Research Institute
The Human Genome Project, was an international project, originally founded in 1990, set out with the task of fully sequencing a human genetic sequence. While this project was finished in 2003, the National Human Genome Research Institute, funded by the National Institute of Health, focuses on continuing research on the human genetic code. This website, hosted by the organization, describes information about the human genome as well as current research being done on genetics.
Stanford Explainer: CRISPR, Gene Editing, and Beyond - Stanford Report
An overview of the CRISPR process of gene editing by Stanford University bioengineer Stanley Qi. CRISPR allows biologists to edit the genome of an organism by inserting or replacing genes. It serves as one of the most major, recent, developments in genetics and bioengineering. The website answers several frequently asked question on the technology such as how it works, what are the applications of the technology, and potential ethical concerns.

The "Inner Life of a Cell" is an animation by XVIVO Scientific Animation, a company who works to create simulations for medical professionals. The Inner Life of a Cell shows the process of DNA Transcription (the process of making a protein from DNA) as well as showing off various organelles such as the Mitochondria, Golgi Apparatus, and Ribosomes.

Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, also known as CRISPR is a technique for editing the genetic code of various species, up to and including humans. This TED talk, by geneticist Jennifer Doudna (who helped discover the process) describes how the process works, the potential benefits that could come from the application of this process, and the ethical implications of CRISPR.

Zoology/Ecology Content

Encyclopedia of Life - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
To increase awareness and understanding of living nature through an Encyclopedia of Life that gathers, generates, and shares knowledge in an open, freely accessible and trusted digital resource.
Tree of Life Web Project - University of Arizona Library
"The Tree of Life Web Project (ToL) is a collaborative effort of biologists and nature enthusiasts from around the world. On more than 10,000 World Wide Web pages, the project provides information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history (phylogeny)."
Animalia Encyclopedia
Animalia is an encyclopedia that focuses on presenting information on different species of animals in a clear and concise way. The encyclopedia includes information on 35k animals and is furnished with 160k photos.The Animalia Encyclopedia also includes Animalia Pets, which focuses on pet species and Dinosauropedia, which focuses on extinct species.
The World's Biomes - UC Museum of Paleontology (University of California: Berkley)
Biomes are an environment that plants and animals live in. Biomes are an intersection of climate, water, and soil. This website by the University of California Museum of Paleontology describes the different types of biomes, describing the various factors in those biomes, providing examples as well as images of those biomes.
Inaturalist
Inaturalist is a website and app that allows users to take photographs of various wildlife in their area. Users can use the insights of other users (many of which are professionals in the field) to help identify local species in their backyard. The app/site also serves to help crowdsource ecological data for scholars doing research in the field, in order to better judge the spread of certain species.
New Mexico State Wildlife Action Plan - New Mexico Game and Fish
The New Mexico State Wildlife Plan serves as a database of the various animals who live in the state of New Mexico, with a particular focus on animals in danger of going extinct. The database divides animals based on their habitat, region, and extinction status.
Maps and Data - New Mexico Environment Department
One important element of our understanding of ecology is the impact that human activities such as grazing, pollution, and water usage has on natural environments. The New Mexico Environment Department includes a large amount of data on human impacts on the environment, including maps, information about environmental regulations, and data about pollution.
Museum of Southwest Biology
The Museum of Southwestern Biology is a research and teaching facility that is part of University of New Mexico's Department of Biology. The museum has extensive natural history collections, associated databases, and staff expertise, which allows it to share information about the natural world to local, national, and international agencies and constituents. The website includes information about the types of research done at the museum and web-accessible archives and databases of various flora and fauna of the local area (New Mexico) and the world.

New Mexico's state reptile, the New Mexico Whiptail Lizard, is fairly unique among animals, in that it is a female only species. The species is able to reproduce through Parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction where a female organism produces offspring from unfertilized eggs without the need for a male. These eggs are able to turn into embryos. Because no other species are involved in the process of reproduction, New Mexico whiptails offspring are perfect copies of their parent. Occasionally, New Mexico Whiptails will engage in pseudocopulation, where two members of the species simulate in engaging in sexual contact, but no genetic information is shared. This pseudocopulation stimulates ovulation. The fact that this species is all female and frequently engages in "same sex activities" has given them the nickname of the "New Mexico state lesbians."

Anatomy and Physiology Websites

Introduction to the Human Body - National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Center's Introduction to the Human Body provides brief articles on the various systems of the human body and how they work. The articles start with broad discussions of various systems, then going more specific into the various organs that make up those systems and their functions.
Health Videos - MedlinePlus
Medline Plus, a product of the National Library of Medicine, has created a number of videos that provide overviews of various disorders that can impact us, providing visualizations of how different illnesses and procedures function. It also provides overviews of some bodily functions.
Zygote Body - Zygote Media Group
Zygote Body is a body Atlas that allows users to peel back layers of the human body in order to see the various structures of the body, and how they interact with each other. It is useful for visualizing and identifying but does not go into the functions of the various organs.
Bassett Collection of Stereoscopic Images of Human Anatomy - Stanford Medicine, Lane Medical Library
Many times, when we look at anatomy diagrams, they seem clean, with all of the parts of the body blown up and shown distinct from each other, and colored differently. Bassett Anatomy uses actual pictures of human cadavers alongside diagrams which explain what exactly you are looking at.
Human Anatomy: Learn All About the Human Body - Innerbody
"Welcome to InnerBody! Established in 1997, InnerBody.com is celebrating its 20th year anniversary, providing the world with high-quality, free information about the human body and health science technology."
Institute of Human Anatomy
The Institute of Human Anatomy is a private human cadaver laboratory that educates health, fitness, and medical professionals on human anatomy and physiology using real human cadavers. The videos discuss issues relating to various health conditions such as cancer and obesity. The video uses real human cadavers to illustrate these concepts.
Collections of the Mütter Museum - The College of Physicians of Philadelphia
The Mütter Museum is the museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia. The museum's collections include several of its digitized physical materials such as models of the human body and materials related to the history of medicine, such as historic medical implements. The digital image gallery includes historic pamphlets, anatomical diagrams, and other documents on the history of medicine.
Did an Accidental 'Blood Plague' in World of Warcraft help scientists model COVID Better? The Results Are in - University of Melbourne
In 2005, in the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, the developers added in a debuff that could spread between players, similar to a disease. It was designed to remain in a boss room, however, through a glitch, it left the boss room and ran rampant throughout the virtual world. Epidemiologists from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention studied data from the spread of the virtual disease in order to better create models for the spread of diseases in the real world. Some of this information might have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic, when creating models. Information for biology can come from the strangest places.