Science One-Pagers

Short, college-level readings for Advanced Biology & Chemistry students

This site is the companion to Everybody’s Science, Mr. Schwebach’s in-progress book on thinking with evidence — currently in draft.

This is a growing library of one-page readings written for advanced high school students working at an introductory-college level. New topics are added over the course of the year — check back often. Each page is a single, self-contained reading with key vocabulary and a few questions to check your understanding. Teachers should also see the new Teaching tab above for classroom-facing guides, protocols, and reference material.

Biology

  1. Cyclospora and Unwashed Produce: How a Parasite Hitchhikes on Raspberries Microbiology · Public Health
  2. Warming Seas, Dying Reefs: Coral Bleaching and Disease Along Florida's Atlantic Coast Ecology · Evolution · Marine Science
  3. Racing a Pandemic: Alexis Kalergis, Chile's Homegrown COVID-19 Vaccine, and How It Compares to the mRNA Sprint Immunology · Vaccine Science · Public Health
  4. Virus or Bacteria? How Doctors Tell the Difference, and Why the Treatment Depends on It Microbiology & Immunology · Diagnosis and Treatment
  5. Six Kingdoms Along a Virginia Streambank: A Field Guide to Life in a Riparian Zone Taxonomy & Ecology · Virginia Field Biology
  6. Teaching the Immune System to See Tuberculosis: My PhD Research on the M. tuberculosis Surface Immunology & Microbiology · My PhD Research
  7. Life's First Foothold: Pioneer Species and Primary Succession from Glacier National Park to the Brooks Range Ecology & Succession · Climate-Exposed Landscapes
  8. AlphaFold and the Fifty-Year Protein Problem Molecular Biology & Biotechnology · Artificial Intelligence in Science
  9. Sixty Years of Failure: How the mRNA Vaccine Really Happened Molecular Biology & Immunology · Vaccine Innovation
  10. The Biology of Sex, Gender, and Parenthood Genetics & Evolution · Reproductive Strategies

Chemistry

  1. Written in Carbonic Acid: The Chemistry of Virginia's Natural Bridge Aqueous Equilibrium · Geochemistry
  2. Testing the Water: The Acid-Base Chemistry an 18-Year-Old Pool Manager Runs Every Morning Solutions & Acid-Base Equilibrium · Chemistry and Society
  3. What If the Genetic Code Ran Backwards? Chirality, Racemic Chemistry, and Mirror Life Stereochemistry & Molecular Geometry · Origins of Life
  4. The Chemistry of Lightning: Plasma, Excited Electrons, and the Miller-Urey Connection Atomic Structure & States of Matter · Atmospheric Chemistry
  5. Chemistry Without Gravity: What Changes on the International Space Station, and How Student Experiments Get There States of Matter & Reaction Mechanisms · Scientific Review
  6. The Fifth State of Matter: Bose-Einstein Condensates and the Search for a Unified Physics States of Matter & Quantum Behavior · Fundamental Physics
  7. Reading Tissue With Radio Waves: The Chemistry Behind MRI Research on Placenta Accreta Subatomic Particles & Magnetic Resonance · Medical Physics
  8. Carbon-14: The Isotope That Proves We Did It Atomic Structure & Nuclear Chemistry · Climate Attribution Science
  9. Electrolysis and Rust: The Everyday Chemistry of a Trolling Motor in Saltwater Electrochemistry & Redox Reactions · Materials Science
  10. Did Mars Have Oceans? The Chemistry of Water Across the Solar System Planetary Science & Astrobiology · The Search for Life

Careers

  1. Beyond Pre-Med: Real Careers Built on a Biology Foundation Health & Life Sciences · Labor Market Evidence
  2. Beyond the Lab Bench: Real Careers Built on a Chemistry Foundation Chemical & Materials Sciences · Labor Market Evidence
  3. Building Your Science Sequence: A Course-Selection Guide for Advanced Science Students Academic Planning · Dual Enrollment & AP
  4. The Real Runway: A STEM Timeline from Senior Spring to Sophomore Year Time, Money, and Momentum · Planning for STEM Students
  5. Finding Your Big Idea: A Real Method for Navigating the Hypothesis Space Research Mindset · Idea Generation
  6. Why Teaching Science Might Be the Best Decision You Ever Make A Case for the Classroom · Mentorship & Science Policy
  7. How Science Actually Gets Funded: Peer Review, NSF Criteria, and What “Consensus” Really Means How Science Works · Peer Review & Research Funding
  8. Why Science Funding Should Work Like Military Readiness How Science Works · Federal R&D Policy
  9. Using AI Without Losing Your Own Insight: Vision, Hypothesis Space, and the Limits of the Machine How Science Works · Working With AI

Teaching

Classroom-facing guides, protocols, and reference material for teachers — companion pieces to Everybody’s Science and to the readings above.

  1. A Modular Index: Finding the Right Piece for Whatever You're Already Teaching Whole Book · Reference & Lookup Tool
  2. Can We Go Outside? Timing Field-Based Lessons for Biology and Chemistry Classrooms Field-Based Learning · Ch. 1–3 (Wonder)
  3. Numbers Every Science Teacher Should Have on Tap: Deep Time, Molecules, and the Air in Your Lungs Quick Reference · Ch. 3 (Wonder)
  4. Teaching Biotechnology: CRISPR, PCR, Gel Electrophoresis, and mRNA in the Biology Classroom Biology Educators · Ch. 5 (How Breakthroughs Happen)
  5. Using CER Pragmatically in Advanced Science Courses: An AI Template for Building In-Class Activities and Assessments Classroom Protocol · Ch. 14 (The Path Forward)
  6. Talking About Misinformation Without Talking Politics: A Classroom Guide to Chapters 10–11 Sensitive Material · Ch. 10–11 (The Assault on Science)
  7. Peer Review in the Classroom: Helping Students Evaluate Each Other's Science Classroom Protocol · Ch. 6 (How Breakthroughs Happen)
  8. One-Pager, Public Good: Building Scientific Reasoning and Engineering Skills That Serve the Community Student Activity · Ch. 13 (The Path Forward)
  9. The Instrument vs. the Reasoner: A Classroom AI-Literacy Protocol AI-Literacy Protocol · Ch. 14–15 (The Path Forward)
  10. Battlefield Science as a Model: How to Start a Student Research Publication How-We-Did-It Guide · Ch. 14 & Epilogue (The Path Forward)