Corn Cob Sprouting in Water
Description: This dramatic time lapse shows corn kernels sprouting over time. Each of the kernels represents a new corn plant and so corn cobs represent a wonderful organism for studying genetics. In elementary this phenomenon can be used to show what plants need to survive. In secondary students can investigate specific crosses, analyze patterns in the offspring, and could even study transposons "jumping genes".
Web Resources: Why Is Our Corn Changing? - Next Gen Storylines, Corn Genetics - Biology4Friends, Corn Genetics - Wikipedia
Hemingway’s Polydactyl Cats
Description: The author Ernest Hemingway was given a six-toed cat that his son named Snow White. His former home in Key West, Florida was turned into a museum and houses nearly 50 cats that are ancestors of this original cat. Cats with extra digits are called polydactyl cats and have inherited a dominant gene. Roughly half of the cats are polydactyl. This phenomenon could be used to study inheritance and variation.
Web Resources: Hemingway Cats: The Felines That Rule Papa's Key West Estate - Paw Culture, Polydactyl Cats - Wikipedia
Cute Baby Animals
Description: Why are baby animals (e.g. kittens and puppies) so cute? This phenomenon can be used in Grade One to show that baby animals look like, but not exactly like their parents and how their appearance leads to parental care that allows them to survive. The reason that we as humans find most baby animals cute has its roots in evolutionary biology. Humans babies are helpless when they are born and require parental care for years. We find baby animals cute because they resemble cute baby humans.
Web Resources: BBC - Why are baby animals so cute?
