Health Science

Anatomy and Physiology

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NOVA

RESOURCE	GRADE LEVEL	MEDIA TYPE
Amazing Heart Facts This feature from the NOVA "Cut to the Heart" Web site highlights facts about the heart -- including its size and placement -- and will help you to understand the importance of this wondrous organ in our bodies.	6-8	Document
Anglerfish This video segment from NOVA: "Animal Imposters" shows the lightning-fast strike of the anglerfish.	6-8	Video
Animal Hearing Students explore how sound is created, the importance of hearing in certain environments and some environmental causes of hearing loss.	6-8	Lesson Plan
Atmospheric Pressure Did you know that air has weight? This illustrated essay from the NOVA Web site explores conditions that affect air density and atmospheric pressure.	6-12	Document
Beavers This video segment explores the world of the beaver, including the biology of the species and, more importantly, its ability to transform an ecosystem for its own benefit.	K-5	Video
Bee Navigation This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores honeybee communication and navigation.	6-8	Video
Beneath the Waters of Cocos Island The nutrient-rich waters surrounding Cocos Island set the stage for astounding predator-prey interactions, as seen in this video segment from NOVA: "Island of Sharks."	6-8	Video
Blood Vessels Help Tumors Grow In this video segment, adapted from NOVA, Dr. Judah Folkman uses the scientific method to discover how cancer cells induce the formation of new blood vessels, which in turn nourish those cancer cells.	6-12	Video
Body Breakdowns This interactive feature from the NOVA "Surviving Denali" Web site details the variety of ways the body can fail while climbing a high-altitude peak.	6-8	Interactive
Body Needs This interactive feature from the NOVA "Dying to Be Thin" Web site describes the nutritional needs of the body and how to meet them.	3-8	Interactive
Brain Geography Which part of your brain controls your ability to swallow? Your instinct to survive? And how do all the brain's parts function cooperatively? Find out with this interactive feature from the NOVA: "Coma" Web site.	6-8	Interactive
Build a Steroid In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the molecular structure of steroids. See the intermediate molecules that are part of the pathway for synthesizing cortisone from diosgenin.	9-12	Interactive
Centripetal Force: Pulling Cs and Gs In this interactive activity from NOVA, discover how centripetal force can affect you when riding in a car or flying at high speeds in a fighter jet.	3-8	Interactive
Classical vs. Transgenic Breeding This video segment from FRONTLINE/NOVA: "Harvest of Fear" explains that genetic engineering and classical breeding both alter the genetic makeup of crop plants.	9-12	Video
Creepy Crawlies This interactive feature from the NOVA: "Odyssey of Life" Web site explores the often unwitting relationship we share with the billions of organisms that reside in our bodies and in our homes.	K-8	Interactive
Crocodiles! Clickable Croc This interactive feature from the NOVA "Crocodiles!" Web site details some of the characteristics that have enabled crocodiles to thrive for 200 million years.	6-8	Interactive
Deep-Sea Bestiary This interactive from NOVA describes the physical and behavioral traits of some of the least-known and most unlikely creatures on Earth.	6-8	Interactive
Duck Development This video segment from NOVA: "The Shape of Things" follows the growth of a duck embryo, from a single fertilized egg cell to a complex, hatching duckling.	6-8	Video
The Embryo Takes Shape This video segment from NOVA: "Life's Greatest Miracle" explores the developmental process of an embryo beginning just two weeks after fertilization.	9-12	Video
Embryo to Duckling This video segment from NOVA: "The Shape of Things" follows the growth of a duck embryo, from a single fertilized egg cell to a complex, hatching duckling.	K-5	Video
Energy Flow in the Coral Reef Ecosystem This video segment, adapted from NOVA, describes the energy flow in a coral reef, including its food web.	3-12	Video
Everest: Test Your Brain This interactive feature from the NOVA "Everest" Web site lets you take the same brain quizzes that researchers used to test the brain function of climbers on Mount Everest.	6-8	Interactive
Extreme Temperatures on the Moon In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, astronaut John Young experiences extreme temperatures on the Moon that are a result of the Moon's low gravity and lack of atmosphere.	3-12	Video
A Family Disease This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explores the implications of genetic testing for breast cancer.	9-12	Video
Finding Cures Is Hard This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explains the difficulty of curing genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis.	9-12	Video
Finding Lucy This Evolution video segment depicts the landmark hominid fossil finds by Don Johanson and his team in Ethiopia.	9-12	Video
From Seed to Flower Watching plants grow is like watching paint dry: It happens so slowly that the changes are imperceptible from one moment to the next -- and yet the end results are dramatic. This video segment shows just how amazing plant development can be by depicting various phases of the process using time-lapse photography. Footage from NOVA: "The Shape of Things."	K-5	Video
Frozen Frogs This video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW shows how the common wood frog freezes solid every winter, an adaptation that allows the organism to survive the cold winter.	6-12	Video
The Function of Sleep In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, discover what researchers are learning about sleep by examining the dreams of rats.	6-12	Video
Genetic Modification This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" looks at the potential created by understanding the human genome.	9-12	Video
Genetic Variation This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explores the genetic similarities and differences among organisms.	9-12	Video
The Science Behind Appetite This video segment, adapted from NOVA, tells the story of a ballerina battling anorexia. It explains how serotonin regulates appetite, and presents some of the health risks that accompany the eating disorder.	5-12	Video
Homo Sapiens Versus Neanderthals This video segment, adapted from NOVA, explores reasons why Homo sapiens had an advantage over Neanderthals in the pursuit of territory and natural resources.	6-12	Video
How Cancer Grows Follow the growth of a carcinoma from initial mutation to widespread metastasis in this feature from the NOVA: "Cancer Warrior" Web site.	6-12	Interactive
How the Body Responds to Exercise In this video segment adapted from NOVA, follow novice runners as they train for a marathon, and discover how quickly the body responds to regular aerobic exercise.	6-12	Video
Journey into DNA Travel deep into the human body to see exactly where your DNA resides. From the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.	6-12	Interactive
Laetoli Footprints This Evolution video segment describes how the famous track fossils known as the Laetoli footprints might have been formed and what they can reveal about the creatures who left them.	6-12	Video
Making Cortisone From Plants This video segment adapted from NOVA is a dramatized story of chemist Percy Julian’s work to synthesize cortisone. Find out how a biological process, not a chemical one, proved the key to producing cortisone in bulk.	6-12	Video
Map of the Human Heart See how the human heart moves blood through the body in this animated feature from the NOVA: "Cut to the Heart" Web site.	K-8	Interactive
Marathon Mouse In this lesson from NOVA scienceNOW, students explore how our bodies respond to exercise at the cellular level.	9-12	Lesson Plan
Metamorphosis: Change of Plans All animals develop and grow over time. The animals in this video segment, however, undergo very dramatic changes on their way to adulthood -- a developmental process known as metamorphosis.	K-5	Video
Mirror Neurons This video segment, adapted from NOVA scienceNow, introduces the latest research on a system of neurons that plays a part in how people relate to each other.	6-12	Video
More Than an Image This video segment explores how humans perceive the world through vision. Footage from NOVA: "Mystery of the Senses: Vision."	3-8	Video
Moriussaq: A Case Study in Hearing Loss This video segment follows neurophysiologist Allen Counter as he studies an epidemic of hearing loss in Moriussaq, Greenland, one of the quietest places on Earth. Footage from NOVA: "Mystery of the Senses: Hearing."	6-8	Video
Mountain Weather: A Climber's Story In this video segment adapted from Interactive NOVA, a mountain climber's perilous journey reveals the extreme range of microclimates on Mount Kilimanjaro.	6-12	Video
Nature's Pharmacy In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about chemicals in nature that are used in medicine.	3-12	Interactive
Nature vs. Nurture Revisited Which dictates our existence -- our genetic makeup or the environment we grow up in? Kevin Davies offers an update on this long-standing debate, from the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.	9-12	Document
Night Vision This interactive feature from the NOVA "Leopards of the Night" Web site highlights the nighttime habits and abilities of a wide range of nocturnal creatures.	6-8	Interactive
One Wrong Letter This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" describes the genetics of Tay-Sachs disease.	6-12	Video
On Human Cloning Three cloning experts share their opinions in these interviews from the NOVA "18 Ways to Make a Baby." Web site.	9-12	Document
OPERATION: Heart Transplant Perform a virtual heart transplant in 19 easy steps with this interactive feature from the NOVA: "Electric Heart" Web site.	6-8	Interactive
Picky Eaters In this lesson from NOVA scienceNOW, students take a taste test as they explore the role of genetics in our sense of taste.	9-12	Lesson Plan
The Power of Touch This video segment explores the role of touch in the development of young animals, including humans. Footage from NOVA: "Mystery of the Senses: Touch."	3-8	Video
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis This video segment from NOVA: "18 Ways to Make a Baby" describes a technique used to determine the health of a developing embryo.	9-12	Video
Ringed-Carbon Compounds In this interactive activity adapted from NOVA, learn about alkaloids and steroids, both examples of compounds with carbon rings. Short videos with interviews, animations, and photographs are featured.	9-12	Interactive
RNAi Discovered In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how RNAi, a mechanism that has evolved in cells to prevent viral infection, was discovered and how it works.	9-12	Video
RNAi Therapy In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about RNAi's potential to treat a wide range of genetic and infectious diseases.	9-12	Video
The Role of Genetics in Obesity In this video segment from NOVA scienceNOW, meet researchers who are studying obesity and trying to understand the role that hormones and genetics can play in regulating appetite.	6-12	Video
Scent of an Alewife This video segment from NOVA: "Sea Behind the Dunes" tracks the return of spawning alewife fish from the open ocean back to the freshwater streams and ponds where they were born.	3-8	Video
Seahorse Basics This diagram from the NOVA: "Kingdom of the Seahorse" Web site reveals some of the more remarkable traits of this enigmatic creature.	3-8	Document
The Sense of Taste This video segment explores the sense of taste in humans -- why we have it, and what happens when we lose it. Footage from NOVA: "Mystery of the Senses: Taste."	3-8	Video
The Sequencing Race Begins This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" looks at one of the key players in the race to decode the human genome.	9-12	Video
Shape of Things: Trees This video segment from NOVA: "The Shape of Things" describes the pervasiveness of branching systems, which are found in all multicellular organisms.	6-8	Video
Shark Attack! The Hunt This interactive feature from the NOVA "Shark Attack!" Web site details the six senses sharks use to find and capture their prey.	6-8	Interactive
Stem Cell Debate This essay from the NOVA "Life's Greatest Miracle" Web site explores the debate over the use of embryonic stem cells in scientific research.	9-12	Document
Surviving Winter In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students learn about the varied physical and behavioral adaptations that animals rely on to help them survive changing environmental conditions, such as the arrival of winter.	5-12	Self-paced Lesson
Tour the Electromagnetic Spectrum Take NOVA's interactive tour of the electromagnetic spectrum and find out why your eyes are like antennae for a narrow band of electromagnetic radiation.	6-12	Interactive
Trying to Breathe on Mount Everest In this video segment adapted from NOVA, climbers attempting to reach Mount Everest's summit must contend with the low levels of oxygen at high altitudes.	6-12	Video