Health Science

Disease

RESOURCE GRADE LEVEL MEDIA TYPE
Blood Vessels Help Tumors Grow

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. OER Level

6-12

Video

Body Needs

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

Creepy Crawlies

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

A Family Disease

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

Fighting Back

Fighting Back

Help the immune system fight off an infection in this interactive feature from the NOVA: "Surviving AIDS" Web site.

6-8

Interactive

Finding Cures Is Hard

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 Disease Genes

Finding Disease Genes

This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" explains the process of finding genes that cause disease.

9-12

Video

Genetic Modification

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

Genetics Case Studies

Genetics Case Studies

Wrestle with ethical issues concerning genetic rights and practices from the NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site.

9-12

Document

Genome Facts

Genome Facts

This list from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" Web site provides some of the basic, yet impressive, facts and figures about the Human Genome Project.

9-12

Document

Guess What's Coming to Dinner?

Guess What's Coming to Dinner?

Browse through a table full of genetically modified (GM) foods to see what's available now and what's to come. From the FRONTLINE/NOVA: "Harvest of Fear" Web site.

9-12

Interactive

The Science Behind Appetite

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. OER Level

5-12

Video

HIV Immunity

HIV Immunity

Although repeatedly exposed to HIV, Steve Crohn's blood cells were never infected. Dr. David Ho investigates in this video segment from NOVA: "Surviving AIDS."

9-12

Video

How Cancer Cells Grow and Divide

How Cancer Cells Grow and Divide

This animation from NOVA: "Battle in the War on Cancer: Breast Cancer" describes how oncogenes cause cancer and how cancerous cells can spread throughout the body. OER Level

6-12

Video

How Cancer Grows

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

Human Genome Project

Human Genome Project

This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" looks at the meaning and significance of the effort to decode the human genome. OER Level

6-12

Video

Making Cortisone From Plants

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. OER Level

6-12

Video

Map of the Human Heart

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

Nature's Pharmacy

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

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

One Wrong Letter

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

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

Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis

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

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. OER Level

9-12

Interactive

Risky Genetics

Risky Genetics

In this lesson from NOVA scienceNOW, students explore genetic testing for specific diseases, and consider the pros and cons of discovering a person's genotype for a particular disease.

9-12

Lesson Plan

RNAi Discovered

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. OER Level

9-12

Video

RNAi Therapy

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. OER Level

9-12

Video

The Role of Genetics in Obesity

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. OER Level

6-12

Video

The Sequencing Race Begins

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

Sources of Radiation

Sources of Radiation

This interactive activity from the NOVA Web site explores sources of radiation, both harmful and beneficial, natural and manmade.

6-12

Interactive

Stem Cell Debate

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

Synthesizing an Alkaloid

Synthesizing an Alkaloid

In this video segment, adapted from NOVA, learn how chemist Percy Julian revolutionized chemistry by synthesizing the alkaloid physostigmine from scratch—the first total synthesis of a chemical compound. OER Level

9-12

Video

Synthesizing a Steroid

Synthesizing a Steroid

This video segment, adapted from NOVA, tells the story of chemist Percy Julian's quest to make progesterone from a plant steroid, an important medical advancement of the 1940s. OER Level

9-12

Video

Talking Bacteria

Talking Bacteria

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, microbiologist Bonnie Bassler shares her discovery that bacteria coordinate group activity by communicating through chemical signals. OER Level

6-12

Video

Tour the Electromagnetic Spectrum

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

Who Owns the Genome?

Who Owns the Genome?

This video segment from NOVA: "Cracking the Code of Life" examines the social and ethical implications of genome research.

9-12

Video