Backgrounders

Plants have specific needs - light, air, water, nutrients, and space - to survive and reproduce.

Learn about pollination and other forms of sexual reproduction in plants. And did you know that plants can also reproduce asexually?

Learn about soil, soil texture and the various layers of soil.

Learn why seasons change. Discover how they’re different in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Information about cavities, plaque, tartar, gingivitis and how to keep teeth healthy.

Mitosis is an important part of cell division that helps organisms grow and repair themselves.

Learn about telescopes, how they work & why they're important to astronomers.

Learn about the wide variety of fuels used in vehicles.

Learn how sound travels in waves and how it is measured in this backgrounder.

This backgrounder explains what greenhouse gases are and how they contribute to climate change.

Learn about the different types of radiation, how they interact with atoms and how they can affect you.

Electricity demand changes constantly. Suppliers need to generate more electrical energy when demand is high, and less when demand is low.

Today, you know it's the same time everywhere in your time zone thanks to Universal Coordinated Time. But when humans used the Sun to tell time, they couldn’t tell time precisely.

This backgrounder explains what temperature is, how it is measured, how it affects people, and how it is controlled on the International Space Station.

Temperature is an important part of life on Earth and life in space. This backgrounder explains what temperature is, how it affects people and how it is controlled on the International Space Station.