Statistics

• ActivStats ActivStats covers the material commonly found in an introductory statistics course. ActivStats uses a full range of multimedia to motivate, explain, visualise, and apply statistical concepts.
• SCI REP Scientific report writing for A-level. Very good.
• Scientific report writing for GCSE. Funny and very good.
• Chi Square Looks at Chi square testing and contingency tables, calculations and assumptions involved with this type of statistical analysis.
• Naturefile Naturefile is a program designed for wildlife recording. It enables you to create your own database files, record locality and grid reference data, attach colour pictures, plot maps of distribution, plus much more.
• NCSS Statistical Software Download a working version of this statistical package for IBM. Includes data entry, descriptive statistics, t-tests, histograms, scatterplots and more.
• Scientific Investigation Simply explains the stages of a scientific investigation, including: defining the question, deriving a hypothesis, performing an experiment, and writing up the results.
• The Scientific Method A simple slide show illustrating the vital stages in following scientific method in research investigations.
• Welcome to Hyperstat An excellent site covering basic and more advanced statistics, experimental design, data analysis and research procedures. Well worth a visit.
• Western Michigan University Bios 150: Scientific Investigation Introduction to the basis of scientific investigation: making hypotheses, identifying the components of experimental design, and data collection. Provides help with common problems encountered with experimental work. An excellent site.
• What is a P Value? Covers the rationale behind the use of statistical calculations including: the difference between a population and a sample, the definition of a P value, confidence intervals for data and hypothesis testing.
• Interfacing in Biology - using probes Vernier Software Home Page

Lichenometry

• Lichens  A good starter page
• International collection of lichens - pictures. Good links to other lichen sites
• Botanical Society of America  Online Image Collection. Excellent slide collections.
• North American lichen project.  A very comprehensive site.

Daphnia Investigations

• Can Daphnia Live In Soap?
• Hydra and Daphnia Investigation
• BIOASSAY OF COPPER SULPHATE IN DAPHNIA MAGNA
• Effects of Pain Killers on Heart Rate of
• Aspirin - Molecule of the Month
• How Caffeine Works
• Coffee and Caffeine's Frequently Asked Questions
• Chemical of the Week -- Ethanol
• Toxic alcohols: Ethanol
• Caffeine lowers heart rate!

Caffeine

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question531.htm
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~mqzwww/adenosine.html  The Pharmacology & Biochemistry of Adenosine Receptors
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~tommyb/Caffeine.html Caffeine. Scroll down!
http://www.hhmi.org/askascientist/neuroscience.html  Excellent short summary
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/caff.html Neuroscience for kids. Again excellent
http://www.brainmachines.com/body_neurotransmitters.html Neurotransmitters
http://www.krasnow.gmu.edu/ascoli/Teaching/Psyc372_01/hw3.htm Deals quite well with the ‘tricky bits’ as well as with caffeine.
http://web.mit.edu/~davidf/www/Science.htm Hard. Find where the impulse goes
http://www.sciam.com/askexpert/biology/biology37/biology37.html From Scientific American. Gives you new ideas.
http://www.pharmcentral.com/stimulants.htm#4-caffeine Shows structure of caffeine

Excellent article in November 2001 Biological Sciences Review on caffeine. Ask for a photocopy if you haven't got the magazine. It includes some ideas for this particular experiment.

http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/curriculum/humanorg/activities_3-5.html  Links to various sites with reaction timers. There are also different TYPES of reaction timers. Be careful. You need to do a t- test with your results, so don’t be TOO ambitious (in other words, don't test your speed of reaction to variety of colours, for instance). Choose a reaction timer that provides the greatest accuracy.

Enzymes - the following will give you background and ideas for work with catalase.

• Introduction to Enzymology: a good general introduction to practical work with enzymes, including catalase. (Drexel University, USA)
• Polyphenoloxidase Structure-Activity Relationships - using potatoes as a source of enzyme for practical work
• A Quantitative Enzyme Study Using Simple Equipment More reference to catalase.
• Enzyme properties: a study of catalase
• Computer interfacing expts - catalase
• Good catalase reference
• Peroxisomes
• Why does hydrogen peroxide foam when you put it on a cut? And why doesn't it foam in the bottle or when I put it on my skin?
• Catalase - some technical notes (Worthington Biochemical Corporation)
• Catalase - An Extraordinary Enzyme - some useful facts!

The industrial applications of enzymes

• Enzymes.co.uk. This site is excellent. It will help you to think out a framework for your writing.

• Novozymes.

This site belongs to a biotech company that produces enzymes – some using micro-organisms in fermenters, and         others by genetic engineering. It is by far the best site for your J skill. The linked page takes you straight to the heart of enzymes. Explore the site: it is an excellent launch pad for your work and you will discover LOTS of applications of enzyme technology that you hadn’t thought of.

• Enzymes in the textile industry 

• A small pdf file on bioethanol.

• A good LIST of enzymes’ uses on this page.

• Further ideas for industrial applications of enzymes

• A most unusual use of enzymes!

• http://www.ifis.org/index.html

• Want MORE? This page gives links to other enzymes sites.

• http://www.sbu.ac.uk/biology/enztech/sucrose.html

• Sucrose, plus excellent material for some of the tricky work on biological molecules.

More enzymes

• The Wonderful World of Laundry Detergents
• The use of enzymes in the manufacture of fruit juices.: This useful article describes the rôle of pectin, pectinases and other enzymes in fruit juice production (an NCBE site)
• Phosphatase enzymes in plants
• Enzyme section in How Cells Work

Beetroot / membranes

Pectinase

For your PECTINASE investigation, your analysis will be based largely on the general effects of changing enzyme concentration on the rate of reaction. To link this specifically to this practical you should try to find the answers to the following types of question: Where is pectin found in a plant cell? What is its function? What is the substrate for pectinase? (should be obvious!). What GROUP of enzymes does pectinase belong to? (Alternatively, what type of enzyme-controlled reaction is this?) What bonds are therefore affected? (You could draw a general diagram of this) What are the products formed?

Good – but not exhaustive - links include the following

Older references (one or two of these might not work now. Please tell me).

• Investigating seed germination
• Seed Germination
• Effect on temp on germination
• Effect of metals on growth of algae
• Effect of pH on plant growth
• Seeds and seed germination.  Basic, but a good start
• Barley  Very simple but useful images.
• Barley amylase  3D model.
• Growing radishes in film cans
• The response of seedlings to light
• To study the behaviour of the hypocotyls of small seedlings
• Investigating plant growth regulators
• Pollen Tube Growth
• The effect of removing cotyledons on plant growth
• Acid rain practical

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Osmosis

Useful references to the Chardakov method

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Duckweed experiments

• Duckweed - growth
• Duckweed - more experiments
• Duckweed - Effects of nitrogen
• Duckweed - influence of copper on growth

. Vitamin C

• Vit C experiment
• CHEM 1112 Vitamin C
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin C in plants
• OnHealth: Vitamins & Minerals - VITAMIN C
• Two kinds of Vitamin C

Fermentation and other biotechnology

• NCBE: Ideas for practical biotechnology projects
• Fermentation practical- Background & ideas for additional projects. (Drexel University, USA)

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Index