article icon
Nature & Environment
In your garden: Birds and nesting boxes
Vicky Johnson explores why birds need nesting boxes and how you can create one to help the birds in your garden.
article icon
Society, Politics & Law
A bird on the edge: the story of the chough and how it speaks for people
Dr Andy Morris looks at one of the less familiar members of the crow family - the chough. Is there a connection between this bird and Celtic speaking areas?
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Fire ecology
This course explores the role of fire as a natural disturbance in ecosystems. It introduces the concept of a fire regime and its influence on the type and distribution of organisms that occur in fire prone ecosystems. It also looks at some of the adaptations of plants that have evolved in these ecosystems and how animals either avoid or exploit ...
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Nature & Environment
Microbes – friend or foe?
Microbes often get a bad name. Whilst some of them do cause disease, others play vital roles in recycling nutrients in the soil to enable plants to grow, and in breaking down human waste. Without microbes, we would have no beer, no yoghurt, no coffee. That's quite impressive for something too small to see. This free course, Microbes friend or ...
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
Nature & Environment
Eating for the environment
This free course, Eating for the environment, will explore the links between food, nutrition and environmental sustainability.
free course icon
level 2: intermediate icon
Nature & Environment
Animals at the extremes: polar biology
The extreme challenges of life in the polar regions require the animals who make their habitat there to make many adaptations. This free course, Animals at the extremes: polar biology, explores the polar climate and how animals like reindeer, polar bears, penguins, sea life and even humans manage to survive there. It looks at the adaptations to ...
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Nature & Environment
Introducing mammals
Mammals come in a bewildering variety of shapes and sizes, and yet all species have some characteristics in common. These similarities justify the inclusion of all such diverse types within the single taxonomic group (or class) called the Mammalia. This free course, Introducing mammals, offers a starting point for the study of mammals. It will ...
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Nature & Environment
Introducing the environment: Ecology and ecosystems
What is ecology and why is it important to our understanding of the world around us? This free course, Introducing the environment: Ecology and ecosystems, looks at how we can study ecosystems to explore the effect that humans are having on the environment.
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Nature & Environment
Aquatic mammals
Mammals come in a bewildering variety of shapes and sizes and yet all of the 4700 or so species have some characteristics in common, which justifies the inclusion of diverse types within a single group. Although mammals evolved on land, a number of species have become adapted to spending part or all of their lives in water and it is these ...
free course icon
level 1: introductory icon
Badge icon
Science, Maths & Technology
Can renewable energy sources power the world?
We ask the question ‘Can renewable energy sources power the world?’ as a response to the growing awareness that increased use of renewable energy technologies is making a major contribution to global efforts to limit anthropogenic climate change. The course begins by examining the environmental concerns that have caused a rise in interest in ...
free course icon
level 3: advanced icon
Society, Politics & Law
Changing cities
Urban processes are increasingly held to be responsible for causing a variety of problems environmental destruction, social injustice, global financial instability. They are also identified as harbouring the potential to meet these challenges through urban experiments in sustainable living, creative culture and alternative economies. This ...
article icon
Nature & Environment
Sea level rise in Bangladesh
Sea level rise will have effects around the globe, from large countries such as the USA to many smaller island nations. One place which is in the frontline of present and future sea-level rise is Bangladesh, a luscious country in South Asia.