Library: Biology: Guide Home

Research Starter

Here is a list of the most useful sources for biology. Some strategies for getting your research started are:

Consult reference books and databases for an overview of a topic or quick information.
Find books and e-books from the library catalog and e-book databases for in-depth information.
Search journal databases and indexes for articles with the most current research.

Frequently-used Resources

Reference databases and books

Anatomy & Physiology Revealed This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference and Ebooks This link opens in a new window
PubMed This link opens in a new window

Journals

Journal of Applied Physiology This link opens in a new window

Journal collections

CINAHL Ultimate This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE Complete This link opens in a new window
ScienceDirect This link opens in a new window This multidisciplinary resource indexes thousands of Elsevier journals and books. Full text is available for some of these publications. It is especially strong in topics related to the sciences, medicine, and technology.
SpringerLink Journals This link opens in a new window The Springer eJournal collection includes more than 2,400 peer-reviewed journals in science, technology, business, engineering, medicine, and the social sciences. Coverage for most journals is from the first issue to the current issue. Full-text available.

Credo Reference and Ebooks This link opens in a new window
EBSCO Ebook Collection This link opens in a new window
Science Reference eBook Collection This link opens in a new window

Print books will be listed in the library catalog.

Library Catalog This link opens in a new window

Print books on biology are likely to have shelving numbers starting with the following letters:

QH - Natural history - biology
QK - Botany
QL - Zoology
QM - Human anatomy
QP - Physiology
QR - Microbiology

Search Engines

Google Scholar Use this tool to search through millions of scholarly articles on the web. If you have an article title, searching it in google scholar is the quickest way to find out if it available online for free.

Free Anatomy and Physiology Resources on the Web

Anatomy & Physiology
Along with tutorials, this site provides multiple-choice, true-false, and drag-and-drop quizzes for the muscular, respiratory, urinary, cardiovascular, reproductive, lymphatic, endocrine, skeletal, nervous, digestive, and reproductive systems. It also includes a section on cells, tissues, and membranes.
Anatomy & Physiology I Animations: Movies & Interactive Tutorial Links
Includes links for basic neurons/synapses, the endocrine system, the muscular system, cell transport, DNA replication, and more.
AnatQuest
U.S. National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project has produced high resolution cryosectional color images of human anatomy.
Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body
Includes the full-text of this landmark publication along with over 1,000 images and a subject index with 13,000 entries.
Hole's Human Anatomy & Physiology (10th ed.)
Has flashcards, animations, labeling exercises, crossword puzzles, and quizzes. Consult the book to determine contents for each chapter.
Inner Body
Interactive guide to human anatomy.
WebAnatomy
This comprehensive website includes quizzes and labeling exercises for anatomy and physiology divided by body system.

Cardiovascular Physiology Concepts
These tutorials were developed to provide a logical sequence for learning about the heart and circulation.
Learn Your Arteries
Click on images to learn the names of the various arteries in the body.
Map of the Human Heart
Provides an anatomical diagram of the heart and has a moving image of how blood moves through the heart.
Shockwave animations
Includes animations of heart circulation, an EKG, an electrocardiogram, and a heart sounds graph.

Cat Dissection Videos
Diagrams, videos, quizzes and additional websites for cat dissection.
Cat Muscular System
Quiz yourself on cat muscles.

Abdominal Organs
Place the abdominal organs in their correct locations.

Eye Simulation
Shows what happens to eye motion when particular muscles or cranial nerves are not functioning.

Muscular System
Origins, actions, insertions, innervations, and animations of movements
Learn Your Muscles
For each muscle, it provides an image that highlights the muscle and provides information on origin, insertion, action, and innervation. Muscles are listed in alphabetical order or by region.
Muscle Atlas
Depicts each muscle and gives information on origin, insertion, action, and innervation.

Actin and Myosin
Slideshow with questions.
Actin Myosin Crossbridge 3D Animation
Muscle Cell Contraction
This animated activity examines muscle cell contraction, relaxation, and the role of calcium ions.
Poke-A-Muscle
This interactive site helps you learn the names and locations of major superficial muscles.

Genes to Cognition
G2Conline focuses on cognitive disorders, cognitive processes, and research approaches. Use the 3D brain model to learn its basic structure.
The Brain: Anatomy and Function
Learn about the functions and deficits associated with brain structures and test yourself on brain functions.
Brain Basics
An overview of the brain by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
The Nervous System-Labeling Exercises
Label the nerves by dragging and dropping the names on the corresponding section.
Learn Your Cutaneous Innervation
Has anterior and posterior views for the upper and lower extremities showing areas innervated by particular nerves.
Learn Your Nerves
Click on drawings to learn the names, spinal cord segment(s), and muscular innervation(s) of individual nerves.

AnatQuest
One section provides "cut-away views of the front, side and top of the entire male body." The other section labels anatomic objects in the male chest area.
KU Radiographic Anatomy
View plain film, CT, MRI, GI contrast, sonogram, and angiogram images by region.
LUMEN Cross-Section Tutorial
Images for cross-sections of the following regions: head & neck, upper limb, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and lower limb. Includes male and female thorax and pelvis cross-sections.
LUMEN Radiological Anatomy
Includes plain film, CT, and MRI images. Click on the image for anatomical labels.
Visible Human Cross Sections
Includes CT, MRI, and labeled and unlabeled cross-sectional images.
The Whole Brain Atlas
View normal and abnormal CT, MRI, and PET images.

The Bone Box
Provides quizzes on the names of bones and landmarks.
eSkeletons
Interactive skeletal anatomy of human and non-human primates.
Skeletal System
Shows an image of the cross-section of a typical bone and provides anatomical information. Labels a skeletal diagram and lists bone names along with their common names. Clicking on a bone name provides the Latin origin and meaning for the name.
Spine: Normal Anatomy
Click on "Spine: Normal Anatomy" to see moving images of the spine and learn about its anatomy and physiology.
Skull Anatomy Tutorial
Interactive maps of the human skull using JavaScript.
The Skull Practical Exam
Take quizzes on the skull parts and landmarks.

Animal Tissues
Includes images and information on epithelial, muscle, connective, nerve, and blood tissues.

Hand Kinesiology
Provides diagrams and information on the hand’s bone and joint structure, ligament structure, muscle arrangement, and nerve distribution.
Inside the Shoulder Joint
Illustrates and describes anatomical components of the shoulder joint.

Free Biology Resources on the Web

BioInteractive
Includes animations on hearing, heart circulation, and invasions of bacteria and viruses. Includes modules on obesity, cancer, neuroscience, cardiovascular, DNA, RNA, biological clocks, infectious diseases, immunology, and genomics and chemical genetics.
Biology Lectures
Free general biology video lectures from Academic Earth.
Get Body Smart
Includes exceptional interactive tutorials on the skeletal system, muscular system, muscle tissue physiology, nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, urinary system, and histology.
Significant Body Systems
Provides diagrams and information on the nervous, skeletal, musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems. Also includes some radiologic anatomy images.

CELLS alive!
Interactive exercises allow you to examine cell structures, see the stages of mitosis, and learn about the immune system, cell structure and function, and microbes.
Cellular transport animations
Following an overview, this website provides annotated animations on membranes, diffusion/osmosis, passive transport, and active transport.
DNA replication animation
This detailed animation includes audio and subtitles.
DNA workshop activity
In this activity, you must match bases to make two new DNA strands, match DNA and RNA bases to make a mRNA strand, and match tRNA anticodons to mRNA codons. Requires Adobe Shockwave to run properly.
Protein synthesis animation
Provides detailed, annotated animations on protein synthesis.

Multi-dimensional Human Embryo Atlas
Includes MRI and optical images of the embryo in Carnegie stages 13-23.
The Visible Embryo
"The Visible Embryo is a visual guide through fetal development from fertilization through pregnancy to birth."

GeneEd Web
Genetics education resources from the National Library of Medicine.
Learn Genetics
Educational materials on genetics, bioscience and health topics from the University of Utah's Genetic Science Learning Center.
My Family Health Portrait
Department of Health and Human Services online tool for creating a printable family health history.

Animated explanation of a dihybrid cross
The baby boom
Generate alien offspring, explore the database of traits, and quiz yourself on trait frequency.
Interactive exercise on sex determination and sex-linked genes
Interactive exercise on Punnett squares
Mendel's experiments with peas
Breed peas and quiz yourself on trait frequency.
Sex-linked inheritance problem set
Click on the Tutorial button for explanations on how to solve the problems.
Working out Punnett square examples
Immune System
Host Defense
Includes drag-and-drop quizzes on the components of the specific and nonspecific host defense system.

All the Virology on the WWW - Video Library
Includes videos of macrophage phagocytosis, how bacteria swim, how bacteria divide and grow, and HIV replication.
Cells Alive
Covers bacteriophages, bacterial motility, streptococcus, and parasites. Includes a quiz on microbes.
Dennis Kunkle Microscopy, Inc. Scientific Stock Photography
Includes "over 1,500 light microscopy images and electron microscopy images (colorized and black & white)" of bacteria, viruses, protozoa, fungi, and other organisms.
Malaria: Cooperation among Parasite, Vector, and Host
Describes and animates the life cycle of the malaria parasite.
Microbiology: Principles and Explorations, 6th edition, Student Companion Site
Includes animations, chapter overviews, and practice quizzes.
Phagocytosis and Bacterial Pathogens: Flash Animations
Includes animations of normal phagocytosis by a macrophage, a macrophage being infected by yersinia pestis, and a macrophage being infected by mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Molecular Expressions
Gallery of photomicrographs.
Science Animations
Includes links for animations on the e. coli infection mechanism, viral infection, herpes infection, and more.
WEHI TV - The Infection Pathway of the Malaria Parasite
Clips show the penetration of blood cells by a parasite and the sticky bumps that help infected blood cells stick to artery walls. Also includes a clip of gene targeting of infected blood cells.

Radio Bio
RadioBio is a podcast where UC Merced biology graduate students talk with scientists about biological systems, from molecules to ecosystems.
The guardian science podcast
Weekly podcast from The Guardian covering current events in science.

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