When students are first introduced to the idea of radioactive decay, a large conceptual hurdle must be overcome. The thought that an object's age has no bearing on the chance it will "die" (decay in this case) on a particular day is completely at odds with biological notions of life and death. Through the use of a simple…

A project module designed for biochemistry or cellular and molecular biology student which involves determining the secondary structure of Bacillus circulans xylanase (BCX) by circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy under conditions that compromise its stabilizing intramolecular forces is described. The lab model enhanced students knowledge of the…