We all get sick from time to time. Wintertime, in particular, brings with it colds and flus. Rights: Image licensed through 123rf.com Sick child We all get sick from time to time and don’t feel ...
Your body has a two-line defence system against pathogens (germs) that make you sick. Pathogens include bacteria, viruses, toxins, parasites and fungi. The first line of defence (or outside ...
If the pathogens are able to get past the first line of defence, for example, through a cut in your skin, and an infection develops, the second line of defence becomes active. Through a sequence ...
Recent research has revealed that the large intestine and its resident bacterial population have key roles to play in determining our health and wellbeing. It is much more than just a waste ...
Nutrients are substances needed for growth, energy provision and other body functions. Macronutrients are those nutrients required in large amounts that provide the energy needed to maintain body ...
The Earth’s atmosphere blocks most of the Sun’s UV radiation from penetrating through the atmosphere. The small amount that gets through has both positive and negative effects. Positive ...
Bacteria range from the essential and useful, to the harmful. Essential bacteria Without the key functions of some bacteria, life on earth would be very different: Some bacteria degrade organic ...
This interactive looks at the electromagnetic spectrum. To use this interactive, move your mouse or finger over any of the labelled boxes and select to obtain more information. Select here for a ...
The discovery that genes are made up of DNA and can be isolated, copied and manipulated has led to a new era of modern biotechnology. New Zealand has many applications for modern biotechnologies ...
We can’t see them. We can’t hear them or feel them, but they are with us. There are 10 trillion (10 x 1,000,000,000,000 or a million million) cells in the average body. For every cell, we have 10 ...
Rongoā is the traditional Māori healing system. Rongoā is a holistic practice that often includes using the medicinal properties of New Zealand native plants. Rights: Creative Commons ...
The digestive system plays a critical role in breaking down large food molecules into smaller readily absorbable units. This animated video details how food is processed as it moves through the ...
It has now been well established that gut hormones have a key role in controlling food intake and energy expenditure. The gut is the body’s largest hormone-producing organ, releasing more than 20 ...
The macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats and oils) we consume in our diet help to supply the energy needed by the body to keep it working. This energy is used to drive the complex ...
A virus is a very simple thing – a coat of protein wrapped around some genetic code (DNA or RNA). It’s not a cell and it’s not living. Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato ...
This interactive is a simple version of the human immune response to two different pathogens.
This timeline provides an overview of some of major developments in medical imaging. 8 November 1895 – X-rays discovered X-rays are discovered by German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen. He takes the ...
Since their discovery by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, microorganisms have been found in almost every environment on earth. Microorganisms are capable of causing disease but are also used to make ...
This interactive explains the different cells, microorganisms and molecules involved in the human immune system.
Xenotransplantation is when living cells, tissues or organs are transplanted between species. To be successful in humans, xenotransplants must overcome issues of transplant rejection ...
Radioactive isotopes have many useful applications in a wide variety of situations, for example, they can be used within a plant or animal to follow the movement of certain chemicals. In ...
Food plays an extremely important part in the lives of all humans. After ingestion, the food is mechanically broken down into smaller pieces and then chemically digested through the action of ...
An interactive that shows how early Māori used different fungi for food and medicine.
It doesn’t breathe, it doesn’t eat, it doesn’t excrete, and it doesn’t grow – so it can’t be alive, can it? It hijacks a living cell and uses it to produce so many copies of itself that it bursts ...
