It has been a while since we added new Giant Microbes. They’ve added some things to their line but we weren’t very impressed. But this cycle we have added two new items from their catalog. The first up is the Tapeworm:
We finally have them in stock, the Dino Pet! The glowing, living dino-shaped pet!
For several years now, we have sold the EcoAquarium Dwarf African Aquatic Frogs in our store. They are delightful to watch and easy to maintain since they need to be fed only twice a week and have their tank cleaned twice a year.
Safariology is a series of models sets by Safari LTD, who are known for their toy animal kits. Safariology aims at being more educational by producing packs of 4-5 models that show the growth of an animal, insect, or plant. The first example is probably the more popular Life Cycle of the Frog:
Two new kits for kids age 6+ have arrived in the store today. They are Photosynthesis in a Tube and Pendulums and Collisions
We’ve been selling BenchMark’s Agarose LE ever since they announced it. Agarose is a very Multi-Purpose, High purity growth medium used in laboratories for growing bacteria cultures and other special growths.
But now BenchMark Scientific has released 3 new Agaroses as part of their expanding molecular biology line. These have the purity of the Agarose LE, but have other features various laboratories may find useful.
First up is the Agarose LM, or Low-Melt. This is an Agarose designed to remain liquid at just 37 degrees Celsius and gels from 26-30 C. Most other Agaroses need gel at 33 or more degrees C. This allow procedures such as restriction digests and labeling to be carried out in the gel.
The 2nd new Agarose is the Agarose HR, this Agarose is excellent for dealing with very small fragments. Agarose HR is for applications such as analysis of STR’s, AFLP’s, and PCR products where separation of small fragments is required, Benchmark’s Agarose HR is ideal. Clear resolution of 20bp to 800bp fragments can be carried out in this intermediate melting agarose.
Finally, the 3rd new Agarose is the Agarose 3:1, this blended high resolution agarose is designed for separation of fragments less than 1,000bp. Gels made with Agarose 3:1 are suitable for analytical and blotting applications.
All BenchMark Agarose is manufactured under a “green” process that eliminates the use of organic solvents. They provide gels with enhanced resolution and clarity, low EEO and low backgrounds. All the agarose is tested to be RNase, DNase, Protease and Endonuclease free.
These new agaroses have free shipping within the Continental USA.
Want to buy Agarose, Agar, and other biological mediums?
We’ve had great success with science themed playing cards, such as the Night Sky Playing Cards or the Rocks & Minerals Playing Cards. But we have now added four regional playing card sets, each with a nature theme!
These decks are made by Adventure Publications, who take the time to craft a quality product. Each card in the deck shows a different specimen or species from the theme of the deck. Even the jokers get specimens!
First up is the Mammals of the Northeast playing cards
This deck shows 54 different species of mammals that live in the Northeastern portion of the USA.
Next up is the Wildflowers of the Northeast playing cards
Each card in this playing deck has a brilliant image of an attractive wildflower native to the Northeast USA.
Going from flowers to trees we have the Trees of the Northeast playing cards
This deck has leaf images of tree types of the Northeast USA.
In addition, we also have Bird of the Northeast playing cards, which will be available online as soon as the artwork is ready.
All of these decks are standard decks of playing cards with four suits, Ace thru King, and two jokers. Each card has a different specimen or species with image and name.
Want more Nature and Life Science Toys?
One aspect of life science education that should be covered several times throughout the K-12 syllabus is that of composting – not just for gardening purposes, mind you, but to show how nature is very good at recycling dead material into fresh, useful material.
The problem is, composting is a dirty processes that, let’s face it, smells. Some schools are lucky enough to have large campuses where a section can be used to experiment with composting – but most schools do not. Especially schools in tight urban environments. Even in schools with rural areas composting outdoors might not be the best choice for an educator. Many a teacher has found their composting system to become a nest for opossums,rats, or other unwanted creatures. There’s also the issue that often you don’t see what is happening in the composter – just the starting material and results!
So what to do? Well one excellent solution is to use the Worm Watchers Classroom kits:
Middle/High School Wormwatcher Kit
Spectrum Scientifics has added two new tissue floating baths to our product line!
Tissue floating baths are used in Histology pr pathology to loosed hard or embedded tissue. This needs to be done in a manner that does not result in wrinkles or folds. Slices of tissue also need to be spread out without the aforementioned folds and wrinkles. The tissue floating bath does with a combination of heat and water surface tension. Usually tissue sections are placed right onto slides.
Our first unit is an economical tissue floating bath. Costing just $175 this unit still has excellent features, such as a 2.3 liter black interior chamber for high visibility, a glazed glass lid, and non-stick coating for easy cleaning!
An important feature with any tissue bath is visibility as you be able to view the specimens to make certain everything is going properly. That’s why for more advanced users we have a Light Tissue Floating Bath
This more advanced model has side illumination that uses LEDs. This makes the chamber bright and visible for work. In addition, the unit uses a digital temperature control with push-button controls. Both set temperature and actual temperature are shown in the display for accuracy.
Sometimes we just add things that are plain silly fun – if they have a science and nature theme of course. These little guys have both, being both nature (animals and dinosaurs) and magnets! So let’s have a look:
First we have a Penguin
A nifty Stegosaurus
Don't ask why it is giraffe colored.
There’s always a popular Panda!
Everyone loves a magnetic shark
And of course a T-Rex!
Rawr!
Each of these toys has magnets in either the feet or the ‘arms’. Each is $3.99 so you can pick up a bunch and fill up the fridge door or filing cabinet.
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