ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
2026 EDVOTEK ® RESOURCE GUIDE
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Can Biotechnology Help the Environment?
Biotechnology and the environment are not usually associated in a positive way these days. However, the use of molecular biology techniques has rapidly improved environmental monitoring in recent years and biotechnology may help to solve some environ- mental problems in the future. The sensitivity of molecular biology enables scientists to quickly and accurately identify both the type of contamination and its source, and whether it is microbial or man-made. For instance, use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) enables the identification of outbreaks of pathogens such as E. coli O157:H7 much more quickly than was possible using traditional microbiology techniques. Such methods could take days or even weeks to identify a pathogen and could never be able to identify the source of contamination with complete accuracy. This has now all changed thanks to develop- ments in molecular biology.
Students can try both traditional and molecular techniques for analyzing contamination. In Kit #S-30 How Clean Is the Water We Drink and Air We Breathe , your students can identify contamina- tion using simple microbiology techniques. Kit #951 Chromogenic Analysis of Water Contaminants uses more sophisticated microbio- logical techniques and fluorescent dyes. In parallel with the increased use of molecular techniques to detect and identify contamination and pollution, the same techniques are being developed to remove pollution once it has happened. Tradi- tional methods to clean up oil spills with detergents cause almost as much harm as the oil itself. New methods using oil eating bacte- ria remove the oil without causing harm to the environment. Your students can try this for themselves with Kit #956 Bioremediation by Oil Eating Bacteria .
Cat. #926 Nutrients in Balance: How Phosphates Help and Harm Ecosystems
FREE KIT RESOURCE!
• Use simple colorimetric methods to detect and mea- sure phosphorous levels in real or simulated water samples. • Explore how fertilizer runoff contributes to eutrophi - cation and related health concerns. • Interpret experimental results and propose solutions to reduce nutrient pollution. • This project was made possible by a Science Edu- cation Partnership Award (SEPA), Grant Number 2R44GM143977-02, from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
For 10 Groups. Although phosphorus is an ele- ment that is essential in many aspects of daily life, excess of the element can negatively affect ecosystems. In this FREE lesson, students will measure phosphate concentration in water samples. By comparing their results to environ- mental safety guidelines, students will connect how nutrient levels connect to ecosystem health.
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